Pope Francis Visits Controversial Manger

(Rome) At the end of the year, Pope Francis, as is customary in tradition, sought the great nativity scene in St. Peter's Square after Vespers and Te Deum. There he welcomed a number of personalities, this was a rare encounter.

The crib has been the focus of irritation and polemics in recent weeks. It is meant to present the seven bodily works of mercy this year and is a gift of the Benedictine abbey on the Montevergine in Campania. Displeasure caused a homoerotic connotation that some see in it. This is a perception reinforced by the jubilation and satisfaction of homosexual organizations. On Christmas Eve and on Christmas Day there had been femen attacks on the crib. A "sextremist", as the female militants of Femen describe themselves, who are often recruited from the Red milieu, tore the baby Jesus from the crib and threw him to the ground.

Francis welcomes Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos

Pope Francis greeted various people around the Nativity scene, said Vatican News,. the new news platform of the Holy See, included a video with the picture. Among those welcomed by the pope was a senior church representative, who had not appeared in public for a long time, much less in the close circle of Pope Francis.

On December 31, the now 88-year-old Darío Cardinal Castrillón Hoyos appeared in St. Peter's Square. The canon lawyer was appointed Bishop of Pereira in 1976 by Pope Paul VI.. In 1982, Pope John Paul II made the appointment as Archbishop of Bucaramanga. After the Archbishop had helped to publish the new Catechism of the Catholic Church, John Paul II summoned him to Rome in 1996 and appointed him Prefect of the Congregation of Clergy. In 1998 he created him a cardinal.

In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI replaced him. at the head of the Congregation of Clergy with Cardinal Claudio Hummes, one of the most curious personnel decisions of that pontificate. From 2000 to 2009, Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos was President of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei for the Church's traditional communities. Since 2008 he is cardinal priest. For reasons of age, he could no longer attend the conclave of 2013.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi 
Image: Vatican News (Screenshots)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

Cardinal Hoyos: "The Society of St. Pius X Never Accomplished a Complete Schism"

(Rome) Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos stated in an interview with Rome Reports that the priestly Society of St. Pius X, "has never completed a complete schism".

The emeritus Curial Cardinal from Colombia, was chairman of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei from 2000-2009. Since 2012, this office has been subject to the Prefect of the Roman Congregation for the Congregation for the Faith, Gerhard Cardinal Müller.

Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos repeated what he had said in earlier years, at a time when only a few said it, and many had held the opposite. There were times when "Lefebvrians" were fought as schismatics and sectarians. This has changed since Pope Benedict XVI. Fundamentally changed. The opening of official talks between the Holy See and the Society has led to a clear relaxation. The unconstrained dealings of Pope Francis with the Society has left the progressive part of the Church largely silent.

Rome Reports has published only a small part of a very extensive interview. It can therefore only be reported what has been made public. In this, the cardinal expresses himself as "satisfied" about the "possible solution to the conflict". The Holy See offered canonical recognition to the Society  as a personal prelature. Only Opus Dei has such a legal status.

Castrillon Hoyos has said of the Society, founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1970:

"In one case, we have always agreed: they have never taken the path of heresy. They had moments of distance, but they never accomplished a complete schism."

The Cardinal stated that the Society "never created its own jurisdiction" because "to create a jurisdiction outside the jurisdiction of the Church, which means to separate itself."

The cardinal also refused to speak of "Lefebvrians", but the right name of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X.

According to Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, the "majority" of the Society and of the faithful  had "served in full unity with the Church". On statements of Council documents, which are controversial between the Holy See and the Society, the Cardinal said that these were, on the part of the Society, is in part a reaction "to a postconciliar abuse"

"There are points in which there is a lack of complete clarity [formulations suitable for different interpretations, note Rome Reports.] And on these points, many postconciliar actors have treated the subject in a way that is not the correct way of the Council.

There were interpretations that were "neither in the light of the Council nor the Magisterium.

https://youtu.be/Ry2J9oL1u60

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Benedict XVI and the Case Williamson: "The fault was alone the Ecclesia Dei Commission"

The New Interview Book of Benedict XVI: The case of Williamson
was "alone the fault of the Ecclesia Dei Commission

(Rome) Over the recent week book by Peter Seewald with Benedict XVI., which went on sale on September 8, already reported, by many of the leading newspapers. One issue that stands out here is the Williamson case and the Holocaust.

Vatican Radio - German section, the Argentine newspaper La Nacion, whose Vatican correspondent is very close to Pope Francis, and others highlighted, an excerpt of the book, which deals with the case of Bishop Richard Williamson. The Briton Williamson was consecrated a bishop in 1988 by Archbishop Lefebvre without permission of Pope John Paul II. for the Society of St. Pius X.

Pope Benedict XVI. in early 2009, declared the excommunication of the four consecrated Bishops void, but statements of Bishop Williamson even threatened to be a stumbling block for the Pope, who was severely attacked for his gesture. Williamson had made statements on the Holocaust and questioned the figure of six million Jews murdered by the Nazis and also the use of gas chambers.

The opinion-leading media generated a storm of indignation, the less directed against Williamson, but was utilized as an additional opportunity by them to attack the little beloved, Benedict XVI. and his understanding of the Church. Benedict XVI. speaks in new interview book of a "huge propaganda war" against the Church.

The Vatican defended the pope at that time by saying that he was unaware of the relevant statements by Williamson who gave an interview for Swedish Television STV. The STV interview had indeed been recorded a few months previously, but was only broadcast in connection with the lifting of the excommunications. Above all, have his decision was unrelated to historical views, but related strictly to spiritual and ecclesiastical matters.

Benedict XVI. said the same to Peter Seewald.

In the interview book Benedict XVI. speaks of the "stupid Williamson case". Seewald on the events of 2009 that the predecessor of Pope Francis defended against criticism that he had lifted the excommunication of the "Holocaust denier" Williamson, who lived at that time in Argentina. Ratzinger now has said that he is not to blame for the Williamson case.

The blame was alone that of the Pontifical Commission erected for communities in the traditional rite in 1988 in the wake of the illicit episcopal ordinations by Pope John Paul II, Ecclesia Dei. They did not inform him about the positions represented by Williamson on the Holocaust. "I see the blame only on this Commission."

Ecclesia Dei was headed at that time by Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, who Benedict replaced a few months later with Cardinal William Levada. Officially, Castrillon Hoyos had reached his 80th birthday, and was expecting the change.

In 2012 Williamson was excluded from the SSPX because of "continuing disobedience," after he had spoken out against reconciliation with the Holy See and the canonical recognition of the Fraternity by Rome.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi

Image: MiL

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

"Prophesies" of Two Cardinals: The "Death" of Benedict XVI and the Election of Francis

(Rome) A Cardinal "prophesied" in all seriousness, that Pope Benedict XVI. would die within the next twelve months. He is still alive, but resigned as pope. A macabre "prophecy" that came true. Another Cardinal took the words seriously and informed then Benedict XVI verbally and in writing about it.

Today, progressive parts of the Church are jubilant, especially in Italy, and claim with the election of Pope Francis, that another "prophecy" had come true: the "dream" of Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini of "another" Church. Is it just a confusion of spirits to pomposity or are both "prophecies" related to an obscure politico-ecclesiastical shift in the Church? The latter is at least not ruled out by Messa in Latino.

Famiglia Cristiana is the top-selling Catholic newspaper in Italy. It is not a progressive agitator rag, but they are clearly characterized by a progressive flip side, as it were by the "normal progressivism" a Christendom-lite as found in almost all official diocesan Church media and also in a number of religious publications. The weekly magazine Famiglia Cristiana is published by the Society of St. Paul the Apostle, a religious foundation of Don Alberione.

The Cardinal, who "Predicted" Pope Francis and the "Council of Milan"

The cover story of the latest issue of Famiglia Cristiana was devoted to the former Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, deceased in 2012. The occasion was the first anniversary of his death. Even the title page presents "alarming, shocking and as a harbinger of worse premonitions," said Messa in Latino. Why? The title is meaningful: "The Cardinal Who Heralded Pope Francis. A year after his Death, his Dream of a New Church is a Reality."

The presentation says little about Pope Francis, but a lot about those who now feel upswing in the Church. Messa in Latino wrote: "Only now I understand what a high prelate said to me a few days after the funeral of Cardinal Martini. I want to try to reproduce the content as literally as possible: 'The funeral at which I saw such a large turnout of cardinals, bishops and priests, was a Council: The Council of Milan! This is the Church.  In Rome, they will have to take note of that!' Those were his words. And indeed they have been taken note of five months later. Pope Benedict XVI., the successor of Peter and Vicar of Christ on earth tendered his resignation. The last act of the head of a Church that had suffered from a serious love for the Church and for Its impossible unity, he endured coercion and harassment of different kinds that will ever be known as Via Crucis of Pope Benedict XVI remaining engraved in our memory," said Messa in Latino.

Via Crucis of Pope Benedict XVI.

The surrender of the German Pope, so singular in the history of the Church, still remains a mystery and employs more so with a view of the state of the Church and its current development. Was Benedict XVI's resignation perhaps engineered? He talked about having more concretely suggested a resignation was under consideration after his trip to Mexico in early 2012.

But in February Cardinal Paolo Romeo, Archbishop of Palermo and no Ratzingerianer was to burst a "bomb". "Cardinal Ratzinger's prophesied death," he wrote on the 10th of February 2012, almost exactly a year to the day before the announcement of his resignation, in the daily newspaper Der Standard. Numerous media took the message. The daily newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano published an article on the same day with the title: "Conspiracy Against Benedict XVI. Within 12 months he Will Die," triggered speculation.

"Within 12 months, He Will Die" or Renouncing His Throne

Pope Benedict XVI. would not be dead "inside" of exactly twelve months, but renounced his throne, which the government of the Church came out with at about the same time.

What was it then? In the first half of January 2012, the Colombian Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos sent Pope Benedict XVI. a confidential letter from the Cardinal and a statement of the facts. A letter written by the Cardinal in German. Not so much a tribute to the native language of the Pope, but more to significantly restrict the circle of uninvited fellow readers. In it, he revealed what Italian Cardinal Romeo learned in several meetings in November 2011 during his trip to China by himself: "His discussion partners thought with horror, that this was an assassination plot against the Pope," wrote Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos. In the letter is to be found explicitly, the word "murder plot". The statement of facts bears the date of 30 December 2011 and was sent to the Pope and the Secretary of State in the first days of January, wrote the Colombian Cardinal. To play it safe, Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos informed Pope Benedict XVI in mid-January in person at a private audience.

Cardinal Romeo's "Strange Journey" to China

The statement of facts transmitted by Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos was divided into three parts. The third part was titled: "The Successor of Pope Benedict XVI" This was the reconstruction of "strange journey" ( Fatto Quotidiano ) of Cardinal Romeo to China. The former Vatican diplomat Romeo is considered an influential man in the Church because of his contacts with the diplomatic corps and Cardinal Sodano and his position in the Italian episcopate. A man from a house of wealthy parents and in children, who is extroverted and enthusiastic about technology. His trip to China was suspicious because he met no representatives of the Church in China, but Italian businessmen working in China and partly living there. Officially, he said, he was dispatched by the Pope to clarify the links between the Vatican and the People's Republic. The Vatican knew nothing of such a mission.

Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi immediately denied the press reports in February 2012. He called them "so incredible that they can not be commented upon." Even As "absurd and frivolous".

The press at the time reported about the "Death of a Pope." "Maybe a physical death was not necessarily meant, but simply the resignation of Benedict," says Messa in Latino .

A Resignation, would not be Allowed and a Strange Announcement of this Resignation

"We do not know what has actually taken place around the resignation of Benedict XVI.," said Messa in Latino. "We're seeing signals and trying to interpret them. We see a resignation, the need not have happened and which stands unique in the history of the Church. We see a strange announcement of this resignation by Cardinal Romeo. And we see a letter from Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, who took the matter so seriously that he informed the Pope and recited it to him personally. We see the denial of Vatican spokesman Father Lombardi. But poor Father Lombardi had much to explain about everything, as we know. We have seen the election of Pope Francis, about which no one had expected. The choice of the direct opponent of Benedict XVI. in the conclave of 2005, which at that time, was wished by the failing Cardinal Martini in order to prevent Cardinal Ratzinger as Pope. And we see the progressive part of the Church cheering, who feel themselves on the rise. It may be a lot of optimism, and yet there must be signals that suggest to them this optimism. Therefore, we know one thing, and say quietly to all those who today, had so much hope yesterday, who wish for "Sister persecution" as Gamaliel said to those who wish for millstones tied around necks, "And now, therefore, I say to you, refrain from these men, and let them alone; for if this council or this work be of men, it will come to nought; [39] But if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest perhaps you be found even to fight against God."(Acts 5,38 f), so says the traditional blog Messa in Latino.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Concilio e Postconcilio
Trans: vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to katholisches... 

Some pertinent links:

Graz University Professor Makes Death Threats Against the Pope

Serious Death Threat Against Cardinal Bertone

Previously, there were palpable threats in the wake of reports about Father Oko's investigation of sexual predators and Communists in the clergy.

AMGD

Guillaume Ferluc: "It is Not Possible to Exile the Old Mass Back to the Closet Any More"

Edit: Guillaume Ferluc is an organizer with the Traditional Pilgrimage to Rome. Here's an interview which has appeared in German, but nowhere else on line in English.  Rather than scan the Remnant, we just translated this:

(Rome) After the surprising success of the First International Pilgrimage if Tradition to Rome last year, is the Second International Pilgrimage, from the 24th-27th Held in Rome in October 2013, already in the intensive preparation phase. The American journal The Remnant published an interview with Guillaume Ferluc, the Secretary of the Coetus Internationalis Summorum Pontificum (CISP), Who Organizes Pilgrimages.

How Far Has the Organization Progressed?

We have just completed the writing of the final program with the announcement of the celebrant of the Pontifical Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on Saturday, the 26th of October at 11 clock:

Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, which day coincides exactly on the of the 61st Anniversary of his ordination. The presence of Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos on this day is a great pleasure and an honor for us, for all the people of Summorum Pontificum. As President of the Ecclesia Dei Commission, the Cardinal had no shortage of pity for the rights of believers and priests who are connected to the traditional Liturgy, and adhered with great enthusiasm and loyalty to the publication of the Motu Proprio of Pope Benedict XVI. As the first point to note is the general dynamics of the pilgrimage that this year a great calm reigns over all the pilgrims, the religious and the individual institutions of Coetus. Last year there had been some the impression that we would speak out of nowhere to represent a new reality, they were a little surprised, even though they belong to the same traditional family. The surprise was perhaps also the fact that we ourselves were unable to to convey our initiative sufficiently. Also, they had little time to prepare for the pilgrimage. This year there is a greater openness on the part of all who deem it an important witness to our Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Faith. Roman in the sense, to express to him "ad Petri sedem, cum Petro et sub Petro". Of course there is also resistance, especially by those Church leaders who, because of Pope Benedict XVI's resignation from office would like to take advantage of in order to put the Mass of St. Pius V back in the closet.

Besides Bishop Athanasius Schneider will also Msgr Rifan, the Ordinary of the Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney of Campos in Brazil as celebrant: Why him exactly?

We see in Msgr Rifan a reality that we want to have more in the Church today, that is a bishop who has the mission to celebrate the traditional Liturgy of the Church, to teach and to preserve, but also the ability and the duty to ordain priests in and for the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. In order to advance our religious practice to our parishes to visit the Mass in the traditional rite, we need priests and therefore seminaries that train them in a logical sequence and also bishops, who can ordain. As Monsignor Rifan is currently the only bishop whose pastoral use is exactly that, it seemed natural to have him with us. In addition, we received excellent testimonials from the recent World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro, where Msgr Rifan held the catechesis for the traditional youth from Juventutem, a group that supports their apostolate to the traditional liturgy. The Church was packed, the Pontifical Liturgy was very worthy and they appreciated the sermons. Who would have dared to think not so long ago that hundreds of young Catholics in Brazil would participate for three days of preaching and witness the Masses, and could confess to priests who are connected to the tradition of the Church? And all with the official imprimatur of the Apostolic, Roman Church? Sure, someone could argue that it was only one of 300 bishops, but there already is an important goal that has been reached. Also the place was very impressive. The place allocated for Catechesis was the old Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro, a place full of history and faith of past generations and therefore of special symbolic significance. World Youth Day shows in a special way how much the traditional Liturgy attracts the youth. Therefore, we can not stay in our little fort, but must go to meet all who seek a greater solemnity and greater holiness in their lives of faith.

A Recent Report stated that a Mass in the Extraordinary Form is to take place even in the Helsinki Cathedral regularly.



Further proof of growth in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite and that the new priests who celebrate their first Mass in the Extraordinary Form [Immemorial Mass of All Ages], increasing from year to year. And not just those connected to Ecclesia Dei Institutes, but also among those being educated in the diocesan priests seminaries. It's a way for many priests to express their affiliation to what we do, what we call Generation Benedict XVI., just as you spoke of the John Paul II generation. This generation of Pope Benedict could also be called the generation of Summorum Pontificum. Starting next year, the majority of the newly ordained priests will belong to those who entered the seminaries after the publication of Summorum Pontificum. And here we are, as I believe, going to experience further growth of the traditional Liturgy. Of course, we hope that these priests will also make use of their rights and celebrate the Traditional Rite in their future parishes. It is also to mention the beautiful practice that many priests consecrated to the Ecclesia Dei Institutes celebrate their first Mass in their home parish and home diocese. I am thinking of Father Massimo Botta of the Fraternity of St. Peter, his first Mass on June 23rd, 2013 was celebrated in the Cathedral of Velletri and therefore the Old Mass was permitted to return, where had no longer been celebrated for 40 years.

What would be in your opinion, the challenges related in the traditional world of the new pontificate? We are convinced that the history of the Church didn't just end in 1962, just as It did not end with the pontificate of Pope Benedict [...] In the traditional liturgy is the partecipatio actuosa in which the faithful engage in a humble participation, from silence, worship, kneeling, petitioning and thanksgiving. Many conversations are not unlike that of a man in difficulty asking for help, a man who suffers. And we think the fact that among the many great holy priests, there were many simple priests and religious, from the Holy Curé of Ars, at Don Orione or Padre Pio. [...] it was always related to a liturgy in which all belonged, from the farmer to housewife, people who had certainly not studied Latin at the Sorbonne, or at any other school of high culture, but felt nevertheless as an integrated part of the Liturgy, because this cult was offered to God.

There is another challenge to take: to refute those who think erroneously, Pope Benedict had resurrected a dead man, and do not want to be carried out for us in the peripheries of the Church, but even outside the Church. For almost 50 years those faithful, religious and priests who are connected to tradition have been ridiculed, despised and ostracized. On the 7th of July in 2007, Pope Benedict XVI. brought this situation to an end, which had oppressed many souls, by sewing together the torn dress the church. It is up to us, to reject every attempt to put a new tear in the unity of the Church, and to be real members of the flock. We are well aware we are not to be the whole herd and we are happy to accept being just one among a hundred sheep, [sic] but we believe that we deserve no less attention and care from our pastors than the others. Some fear our "ideology", but I can reassure them. We have no "ideology" but the love for Jesus in the Eucharist, the Cross and the Resurrection.

Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: CISP
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...
AMGD

Preamble for Reonciliation With SSPX Allows Critical Discussion of Vatican II

Edit:  It's time for the neo-Conservatives to start eating some crow.  Wait, you can actually criticize Vatican II and still be Catholic?  Wow.

After conferring the leadership of the Society of St. Pius X, it is likely this document will be signed as it will allow the SSPX to continue its measured and reasonable criticism of the Vatican Council Documents.

In the linked article below, Bishop Fellay describes a phone conversation he had with Cardinal Hoyos wherein the Cardinal admitted that +Fellay could have such reservations and level those criticisms while being Catholic at the same time.

Today, for the sake of objectivity, I must acknowledge that in the doctrinal preamble there is no clear-cut distinction between the inviolable dogmatic sphere and the pastoral sphere that is subject to discussion. The only thing that I can say, because it is part of the press release, is that this preamble contains “certain doctrinal principles and criteria for the interpretation of Catholic doctrine, which are necessary to ensure faithfulness to the Church’s Magisterium and to "sentire cum Ecclesia" [thinking with the Church]. At the same time, it leaves open to legitimate discussion the examination and theological explanation of individual expressions and formulations contained in the documents of Vatican Council II and of the later Magisterium.” There you have it; no more and no less.

Link to here...Dici