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| Cardinal Marx's Stinkfinger |
(Rome) Yesterday, Pope Francis received an "ecumenical delegation", as it is called in the Italian
part of the official website of the Holy See, or a "delegation of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany", as it is called in the German part of the Internet site.
The fact is that the EKD delegation was accompanied by Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich-Freising and President of the German Bishops' Conference, which made the evangelical delegation evidently an "ecumenical"one in the eyes of some. Some really love the word "ecumenism".
At the subsequent press conference, Cardinal Marx also took a position on the "interpretation" of the German Bishops on the disputed post-synodal letter Amoris laetitia by Pope Francis. On 1 February, the German Bishops' Conference announced its guidelines for the implementation of Amoris laetitia. The bishops speak of a "renewed marriage and family pastoral in the light of Amoris laetitia." By "renewed" is meant specifically the particularly controversial chapter VIII. According to the DBK interpretation, newly married divorced persons are now admitted to the sacraments.
Cardinal Müller to German Bishops: "When the blind leads the blind"
On the same day another German bishop and cardinal, Prefect of the Congregation for the Congregation of the Faith, Gerhard Müller, spoke in an interview with the monthly magazine Il Timone, declaring that the reception of Communion was "impossible" for remarried and divorced couples. Without naming them by name, he described his German confreres among the Bishops as "the blind who lead the blind." But it was not "the task of the bishops to create confusion." Cardinal Müller also said:
"For us marriage is the expression of participation in the unity between Christ the Bridegroom and His Bride to the Church. This is not a vague analogy, as some have said during the Synod. No! This is the substance of the sacrament, and no power in heaven and on earth, neither an angel, nor a pope, nor a council, nor a law of bishops, has the authority to change it."
Cardinal Müller instisted that "all those who talk too much," to "study" the Council, especially the Council of Trent, and the Magisterium of the Church.
Cardinal Marx: "I believe that unanimity prevailed"
To Cardinal Marx, however, such "recommendations" appear to be dismissed. He showed the stinkfinger at the press conference - probably quite unconsciously but conspicuously as an AFP photographer captured it in the above picture. Was he referring to Cardinal Müller or marriage and morals?
In any event, he stressed the fact that the new directives on the remarried divorced were "unanimously approved" by the German bishops. However, there are doubts about this.
The Press Agency Askanews reported on the press conference with Cardinal Marx:
To the journalist, who pointed out that a thousand priests say that the papal text is not clear, the Cardinal replied, "You can read Amoris laetitia, and I think that in our episcopal conference, unanimity prevailed, some bishops have asked questions, but I believe the position is clear, and the line of the pope is very clear. I was a member of two synods, and the discussions between the synods, and the discussions in the Synod, and then I read Amoris laetitia and said: This is absolutely clear. I can not understand why the answer is not clear."
The Press Agency SIR of the Italian Bishops' Conference gave the same statement by Cardinal Marx:
"I think there was unanimity in our bishop's conference. Some bishops have asked questions, but I believe that the pope's position and line are very clear. I do not understand why, according to some, the answer is not clear. "
According to different statements, neither unanimity nor consensus prevailed in the German Bishops' Conference. The unusual formulation of Cardinal Marx, that he "believes" that "unanimity" prevails, indicates this. At least six bishops are said to have rejected the new directives, especially the interpretation of the VIII chapter of Amoris laetitia.
This raises the question whether Cardinal Marx's statement that the Bishops' Conference had adopted the directives unanimously or even unanimously, agreed with the facts. Or is it attempted, for the first time, that the bishops' conference, which has no jurisdiction, should be replaced by the bishops who are individually responsible? These are questions that ask for clarification.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: AFP / SMM (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
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