Cardinal Ouellette Criticizes German Bishops’ Push for Laicisation

Plans to include laypersons in a reform process have sparked anger in the Vatican. The Catholic Church in Germany is now on a head-on collision course with Rome.

The German Bishops' Conference received a stern warning from the Vatican over planned reform consultations, it was revealed on Friday.

The letter from Rome criticised the German Church's "synodal path," which is due to begin in December. The initiative is meant to deal with topics such as celibacy, sexual morality, abuse of power and the role of women in the church, as well as coming to terms with abuse cases. 

The Vatican's assessment, written by Cardinal Marc Oullet, who heads the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, was also especially critical of the fact that the Conference had included the Central Committee for German Catholics (ZdK) in the process. [We Are Church people in Germany. The usual over educated liberals and academic elites who are gradually graying into incoherence.] 

This means that laypersons will have a voice alongside the clergy. [No, it just means that professional Catholics will impose a progressive narrative that most Catholics in the pew don’t care about.]

https://www.dw.com/en/vatican-rebuffs-german-bishops-over-reform-proposals/a-50423772

AMDH

Cardinal Oullet Stabs Archbishop Vignanò in the Back — Still Confirms His Story

Edit: Cardinal Marx Ouellet confirms Archbishop Carlo Vignanò’s principle charge and accuses himself. His description of the pope as merciful doesn’t coincide with his treatment of faithful bishops, notably Bishop Livieres Plano  who called out the homosexual Redemptorist Archbishop Eustaquio Pastor Cuquejo Verga and earned himself a summary dismissal without a hearing. When he went to Rome, he found the Pope’s mercy in a door slammed in his face.

While it’s encouraging to see Ouellet confirm Vignanò’s primary contention about McCarrick’s impunity, it’s disappointing to see how poor his judgement is. It’s hard not to say that his (and the Pope’s) benign indifference towards McCarrick’s degeneracy, turning a blind eye to McCarrick’s  public and hypocritical witness as a very liberal Cardinal (no doubt as a payoff thanks to his support of the St. Galen Mafia and Bergoglio’s illegal connivance at the Papal throne), is criminally negligent. This is the kind of malfeasance and hypocrisy that the press and overfed false brethren at Patheos love to sink their teeth onto, while it’s the true witness of the Church’s moral teachings and legitimate authority that are blamed, as everyone, including those who should know better, cry “clericalism”.

Looks like Oullet sent Pentin an open letter:

“OPEN LETTER FROM THE PREFECT OF THE CONGREGATION FOR BISHOPS, CARDINAL MARC OUELLET, ON THE RECENT ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THE HOLY SEE
Dear brother Carlo Maria Viganò,
In your last message to the press, in which you make accusations against Pope Francis and against the Roman Curia, you invite me to tell the truth about certain facts that you interpret as signs of an endemic corruption that has infiltrated the hierarchy of the Church up to its highest levels. With pontifical permission, and in my capacity as Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, I offer my testimony about matters concerning the Archbishop emeritus of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, and his presumed links to Pope Francis, matters that are at the center of your public accusations and your demand that the Holy Father resign. I write my testimony based on my personal contacts and on documents in the archives of the Congregation, currently the object of study to clarify this sad case.

Out of consideration for the good, collaborative relation we had when you were Apostolic Nuncio in Washington, allow me to say, in all honesty, that I find your current attitude incomprehensible and extremely troubling, not only because of the confusion it sows among the People of God, but because your public accusations gravely harm the reputation of the bishops, successors of the Apostles. I recall a time when I enjoyed your esteem and your trust, but now I see that I have been stripped in your eyes of the respect that was accorded to me, for the only reason I have remained faithful to the Holy Father’s guidance in exercising the service he has entrusted to me in the Church. Is not communion with the Successor of Peter an expression of our obedience to Christ who chose him and sustains him with his grace? My interpretation of Amoris Laetitia, which you criticize, is grounded in this fidelity to the living tradition, which Francis has given us another example of by recently modifying the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the question of the death penalty.
Let us address the facts. You said that on June 23, 2013, you provided Pope Francis with information about McCarrick in an audience he granted to you, as he also did for many pontifical representatives with whom he met for the first time that day. I can only imagine the amount of verbal and written information that was provided to the Holy Father on that occasion about so many persons and situations. I strongly doubt that the Pope had such interest in McCarrick, as you would like us to believe, given the fact that by then he was an 82-year-old Archbishop emeritus who had been without a role for seven years. Moreover, the written instructions given to you by the Congregation for Bishops at the beginning of your mission in 2001 did not say anything about McCarrick, except for what I mentioned to you verbally about his situation as Bishop emeritus and certain conditions and restrictions that he had to follow on account of some rumors about his past conduct.
AMDG

Pope Francis and the Appointment of Bishops: "He Looks For the Most Progressive Candidates"

Pope Francis and Cardinal Ouellet shortly before the Conclave
of 2013 on St. Peter's Square

(Rome) Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the Roman faith prefect is not the only cardinal who is marginalized by Pope Francis (see Pope Francis and the Marginalization of the CDF). This also applies to another "Ratzingerian", the French-Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect the Congregation for Bishops. 

In his first interview with the atheist Eugenio Scalfari on the October 1, 2013 for the daily newspaper La Repubblica,  Pope Francis said, looking at some members of the Roman Curia: "the court is the leprosy of the papacy ".

But Francis seems "to fight the leper and not the leprosy," said Secretum meum mihi . The daily newspaper Le Journal de Montréal headline in yesterday's edition: "Cardinal Ouellet no longer has the ear of the Pope".  Cardinal Ouellet is responsible, as prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, for the appointment of bishops. His dicastery is preparing the appointment of bishops by the pope, is collecting the necessary information and recommends candidates.

Pope Francis "throws Ouellet's recommendations in the trash"

Under Pope Francis, things have fundamentally changed: "Pope Francis has thrown his recommendations for the appointment of new bishops into the trash," said the French-Canadian newspaper.

"It is worrying because it is the task of Cardinal Ouellet in Rome to propose in the Pope's name, but he ignores them and decides on all other candidates," said Quebec Religion specialist Alain Pronkin.

The French daily La Croix reported a few days ago that "it has already happened, that Pope Francis rejected all three names submitted to him by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, [...] and even sought out others for direction. "

According to the weekly magazine L'Espresso that was the case, for example, in the replacement of three important Sees: Chicago, Madrid and Sydney.

The appointments for Francis are not only a question of suitability, but a question of direction. The real revolution of Pope Francis is done by appointment .

Pope Francis looking for "the most progressive candidate"

According to Le Journal de Montréal , it was even "very rare" that the Pope follows the recommendations of the Cardinal, although that is his task and Cardinal Ouellet, through his staff, has the best overview of the situation in a diocese.

However, the Pope uses his own channels, not the official, but informal, and which may also come about by accident. According to Alain Pronkin, Pope Francis is looking for the "progressive candidates". For this he has to rely on recommendations. What he rejects with Cardinal Ouellet are accepted from among the Pope's confidants. In other words, the belief and understanding of the Church by Cardinal Ouellet, a Ratzingerianer, displeases the pope.

"A concrete example: The Pope believes in the fact that the divorced and remarried can receive Communion, while Cardinal Ouellet, however, expressed his rejection of this," said Alain Pronkin.

The same applies to the issue of homosexuality.

For this reason, Francis shuns everything that is presented to him by Cardinal Ouellet and relies instead on labile random recommendations.

Recommendation by a progressive confidant enough to be Bishop

This was not quite by chance. The Pope operates by information obtained from part of the Jesuit Order.  What is decisive for Francis is the progressive attitude of the candidates who must be confirmed to him by a confidant. That is enough. The Pope then needs no dossiers and reports, as they are presented to him by the Congregation for Bishops. A person's recommendation of trust is sufficient to make someone a bishop.

The archdiocesan chair of Chicago is one of the most influential in the US.  and Pope Francis rejected all three candidates that were presented to him by Cardinal Ouellet,  in collaboration with the Apostolic Nuncio and the former Archbishop Cardinal Francis George. Instead, he appointed Bishop Blaise Cupich, who was regarded as one of the biggest outsiders in the episcopate of the United States because of his progressive views. Thus, Francis not only drove a splinter, but a real stake into the heart of the Catholic Church in the United States. Archbishop Cupich has already called for the communion for divorced and remarried and the acceptance of homosexuality.

Shortly before his death, Cardinal George wrote about the Synod of Bishops in Rome:

"The pope has said he wants to see on every question, and so it happened, so he got what he wanted, and now he has to fix it. [...] This raises the question of why he does not clarify these things himself. Why is it necessary that apologists have the burden to find the best interpretation? He has not realized the consequences of some of his statements, or even his actions? Does he not realize the impact? "

As is known,  the post-synodal Letter of Amoris Laetitia did not receive papal clarification, for the "apologists" are busy again on the road, "to find the best interpretation".

Appointments: Here the "revolution" Francis performs most effectively

Pope Francis has been working meticulously on a new personnel network on the decision-making level, which should lead the Church structurally well beyond his death in a particular direction. Maybe his personal policy, which is usually revealed very quietly, revealed even in the most important field of activity in which he transposes his vision of the Church vision. Here his "revolution" is at its most enduring.

According to Pronkin, Cardinal Ouellet could soon be replaced by Pope Francis. The French Canadian, says Pronkin, would not be the first high Curia employee who would deposed because of his criticism of the papal course. However, Francis had found a way to make the appointments himself, although the competent Congregation is in the hands of persons whose convictions he rejects. The informal, semi-clandestine appointments to official bodies in the  past is not only a temporary solution, but probably corresponds to the disposition of the Pope and his aversion to rules and laws. [Or he doesn't want to spend the political capital to get rid of him, when he can do the job himself.]

There have been advantages for the "revolution" of episcopal appointments that a Ratzingerianer still officially stands at the head of the Congregation for Bishops. It maintains the impression in the Church  that there is a balancing counterweight, but one  that does not exist in reality. [There were still very, very bad appointments under Benedict.]

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: MiL (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Priestly Celibacy "in the Example of Christ" -- Cardinal Secretary: "One can talk about it, but without haste"

(Rome) at the Pontifical Gregorian University  a star-studded conference on priestly celibacy was held in the past week. Celibacy was talked about from the 4th-6th February  as a constitutive element of the priesthood and defend to this. The planning for the conference began in the last period of the pontificate of Benedict XVI. It was carried out now at a time, since there is   grumbling around Pope Francis and a number of his collaborators, claiming he was thinking abandoning  priestly celibacy, which only the Latin Church had realized and preserved in the two thousand year history of Christianity. Therefore,  the opening address by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and the closing speech by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin were awaited with particular anticipation.

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Both defended their remarks on priestly celibacy energetically and brought a wealth of theological arguments. Priestly celibacy has remained in practice, despite the challenges and many difficulties. 

"The tradition of priestly celibacy goes back to the Apostles and follows the example of Jesus Christ"

Cardinal Ouellet founded his remarks in the New Testament and the example of Jesus Christ, from which priestly celibacy is deduced. He confirmed, however, that the issue is conceived as "controversial" after 2000 years.

"The Church tradition of celibacy and abstinence of the cleric did not arise just at the beginning of the 4th century as something new, but rather, was - both in the East and the West - the confirmation of a tradition that goes back to the apostles. As the Council of Elvira in Spain 306  confirmed  that the priests have the duty to live in perfect continence, it is important to understand that this need in the early years of the Church was for both celibacy and the ban against marriage as well as also the perfect abstinence for those who were already married."

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops

The remarks made by Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin were expected with more expectation. When the then Nuncio was appointed by Pope Francis at the head of the Roman Curia in September 2013, he stressed in an interview the striking fact that priestly celibacy was  "no dogma" and could therefore be "discussed". As the institutionally highest ranking appointee of Pope Francis and personally selected as well, his statements have special weight.

Cardinal Secretary of State Parolin: "You can talk about it, but without haste and constructively"

The Cardinal Secretary of State it was then, that where in the conference the door was closed, he yet  opened the door relatively the widest towards possible exceptions. The door to exceptions had already been opened in the Second Vatican Council. The most visible manifestation of this are since then in the Latin Church, permanent deacons who may be married at the time of the diaconate. These so-called "viri probati"  are considered by some since then as a "precursor" the abolition of celibacy   following the example of the Greek Church.

Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin

The Eastern churches have not kept celibacy and allowed wide exemptions. The bishops and monks are celibate, while the diocesan clergy is married. This has the consequence that all bishops come from the monastic life. Whoever is married at the time of consecration, he can remain as a secular priest. After the consecration, marriage or remarriage is excluded also in the Eastern Church. An inner-Church ascent for lowly married  secular clergy is not possible.

Cardinal Parolin said:

Celibacy is a vocation, which is seen in the Latin Church as particularly appropriate for those who are called to the priestly office. The celibate spirituality of the presbyter is a "positive" constructive intent, aiming that the people of God has always defended from the danger of corruption and bourgeoisification of the radical free shepherd.

And further:

To acknowledge the level, which this intent brings  with it, but it does not exclusively, as the Second Vatican Council in Presbyterorum ordinis said,  by declaring that it was not " demanded by the nature of the priesthood itself (is), as the practice of the earliest Church and the tradition of the Eastern Churches show where there are also married priests of the highest merit,  along with those who choose the celibate life out of the grace-like appeal together with all the bishops."

And as well:

The Catholic Church has never forced upon the Eastern Churches the celibate decision. On the other hand, it has allowed exceptions in the course of history as in the case of married Lutheran, Calvinist or Anglican pastors who - received into the Catholic Church - received a dispensation to receive the Sacrament of Orders. This happened already during the pontificate of Pope Pius XII. in 1951

Recently, 2009, the motu proprio Anglicanorum coetibus of Benedict XVI. allowed the establishment of territorial dioceses of the Latin Church allowed where  Catholic priests were consecrated to hold office who were former Anglican pastors.

In the wake of the massive emigration of Catholics from the Middle East, Pope Francis allowed in 2014 with the papal decree, Praecepta de clero uxorato orientali,  married oriental priests to act in the Christian communities of the diaspora and thus outside their historical areas, where previous bans forbid it.

In the current situation then,  a kind of "sacramental emergency" is frequently emphasized by the lack of priests, particularly in some areas. This has given rise to the question of contingency from multiple sides in the question  to consecrate the so-called "viri probati".

If the problem does not appear to be unimportant, it is surely not imperative to make hasty decisions and only due to emergencies. Yet it is also true that with the needs of evangelization, together with the history and the diverse traditions of the Church, the opportunity for legitimate debate leaves open the door, when they are motivated by the proclamation of the Gospel and are led in a constructive manner, while always preserving the beauty and importance of the celibate decision.

Celibacy is a gift that requires it to be accepted with joyful perseverance and maintained, so that it can bring real fruits. To live it profitably it is necessary that every priest all his life long feels as a disciple on the road, which sometimes requires the rediscovery and strengthening of his relationship with the Lord and also "healing".

The Department of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin " The in persona Christi ordained priests " in full length (the original in Italian).

Text: Giuseppi Nardi

Image: MiL/ Chiesa e postconcilio/ kairosterzomillenio (screenshots) 

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Celibacy: Is Pope Francis Going to Ordain Married Deacons to the Priesthood in Mexico?

(Rome) The divorced and remarried and homosexuality are only two fronts. Behind the scenes there is struggling in the Catholic Church about much more. A meeting began at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome this afternoon, whose theme in view of the circumstances of the time has been particularly explosive: "Priestlly celibacy is a path of freedom." The Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and the Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, Cardinal Marc Ouellet will be siding with the defense of priestly celibacy in the Latin Church. "But Pope Francis gave the German bishops again to understand that he wants to break with this tradition", said Vatican expert Sandro Magister.

Cardinals Ouellet and Scola Attack Kasper in Communio

(Washington)  A few weeks before the start of the extraordinary Bishops' Synod on Family, a special edition of the International Catholic Review Communio will appear, which will address the theme of the Bishops' Synod, "Pastoral Initiatives in the Context of Evangelization."  It is the German International Katholischen Zeitschrift Communio (IKaZ) in its  English edition appearing in Washington.

Under the title Marriage:  Theological and Pastoral Considerations the special edition (Edition 41.2 -- Summer 2014) contains a series of essays, among them one by Archbishop Angelo Cardinal Scola of Milan, the Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops Marc Cardinal Oeullet and other Catholic personalities, who are connected to the Pontifical Institute of John Paul II. for the Study of Marriage and Family.

Special Edition Against Kasper's Attempt to Confuse Truth and Mercy

The themes discussed preliminary to the Bishops' Synod like pastoral care for divorced persons, Communion for divorced and remarried, same-sex relationships run the danger, obscuring the beauty of married life and the connection of the sacrament of the Eucharist. The mercy toward remarried and divorced is not purely a psychological consideration, but must be lived with the help of the secret of the cross.   The opposition between the Christian and the current individualistic thinking has led to a distorted view of marriage, as if "homo-marriage" is no stranger than a marriage between a man and woman.   Because of these assertions and with a view to the upcoming Bishops' Synod is the reason for the conception of a special edition.

Essays by Cardinals Ouellet and Scola

Among other things, the extensive special issue contains a text by Pope John Paul II. written in 1982 on Marriage and the Eucharist and the direct relationship between two sacraments.  The essays of  two Cardinals Ouellet and Scola move along this line, by holding up and showing the Christian anthropology, such as the nature of the two sexes and the bond between man and woman, will become apparent from the gospel as well as the connection between the sacraments of Marriage and the Eucharist. Cardinal Ouellet addresses thereby, the direct  impossibility of allowing remarried divorcees to Communion. The emphasis is not placed on  "punishment", but in the affirmation and better visualization of the  bond to Jesus Christ.



The question of the admission of  remarried divorcees to Communion has dominated almost the entire discussion in advance of the Synod of Bishops, as it is the only, or the main theme of the meeting. In addition, there may be  homosexual pastoral care and the education of "their" children. The concern of the special issue by Communio is to counter and shift the weights of the time influenced discussion on  today's level to the timeless, always valid, level.


The Constructed Contrast of Formalism Versus Compassion


The public debate will often try to reduce the question to a false contrast of "mercy" against "laws". Remarried divorcees and homosexuals are shown in this view as  "victims" of Church "formalism", where the "mercy" of God will be "denied".
 The personal responsibility for failing to agree with the Church's teaching is a largely hidden behavior.

Thus, the Oxford graduate and cultural philosopher Nicholas J. Healy Jr. is concerned with the  provocation of Cardinal Walter Kasper, to permit remarried divorcees to Communion, and shows the limits of this proposal: the indissolubility of marriage, which  Kasper (exclusively)  bases  as  a personal decision of the individual, but not - especially - as the work of others; the (exclusive) idea in Kaspers thinking, is that mercy and forgiveness  are placed outside the indissoluble relationship.



The Basis of the Pastoral Must be A Unity of Truth and Mercy

Similarly, Father Fabrizio Meroni (Theological anthropology),  argues when he emphasizes that the basis of pastoral care for couples, divorced, remarried divorcees must always be a unit of "truth and mercy". Frequently, says the author,  mercy is  also often conveniently reduced to mere psychological benevolence excluding  the Passion of Christ. The first and most important gesture of mercy towards the divorced, is the relationship between sacramental marriage and the pain of their breakup, which is an intensive participation in the mystery of Christ's suffering. Since the sacrament of the Eucharist is a pure gift, it can never be the subject to "demands" and "claims" which also applies to the desire of remarried divorcees to admission to communion.

Emphasis on Unilateral Suffering 

 The author emphasizes the one-sidedness of the emphasis on the "suffering" of remarried divorcees, while the suffering of others, especially the children, but also the ecclesial community tend to be excluded.Some theologians today give the impression that the Fathers of the early Christian tradition were "generous" in dealing with the remarried divorced and had allowed a second marriage. It's a view which is also represented by Cardinal Kasper. In the Special Edition a text by Jesuit Henri Crouzel is reprinted from1977, which  refuted this claim.

Current Crisis in Marriage is the Result of an Anthropological Crisis 

 Other papers besides, deal in the theological, but also with philosophical and sociological aspects of the question. David C. Schindler (Philosophical Anthropology) indicates that the current crisis of the institution of marriage is the result of an anthropological crisis, in which the freedom of the human will is defined as a lack of commitment. For the Christian tradition, bonds are not only an essential part of being human and a gift, but form the pinnacle of freedom.



The moral theologian and family lawyer  David S. Crawford reveals that in the mentality of today, the marriage between husband and wife will be seen like "gay marriage", that is, that all of the individual is seen as a result of a functional private decision for the purpose of individual stakeholder in satisfaction. One that goes beyond the person's own welfare, the common good or fertility as an objective beyond the individual value would be eliminated from consideration.


And the German edition of Communio?

 Whether or not the special issue will also appear in German translation in the German edition of Communio, may be doubted. The "mixed" editorship and editorial staff, which also includes the Cardinals Walter Kasper and Karl Lehmann, raise the issue of a mutual "neutralization".  Cardinal Kasper is the spokesman of the position against which the special issue of the English Communiono - is directed.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi

 image: Communio

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Cardinal Ouellet Celebrates the Immemorial Mass for the First Time -- 25 Years of the Abbey of Le Barroux

(Rome) The prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, on Friday, will celebrate a Pontifical High Mass on June 27 at the  Benedictine Abbey of Le Barroux in France in the traditional rite.

The occasion was to commemorate the reconciliation 25 years ago  of the Benedictine Monastery of Sainte-Madeleine du Barroux with Rome. Since then  the Abbey  reports to   the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei . On June 27, the traditional Benedictine Abbey will celebrate this reconciliation, their elevation to the abbey, at which her late founder, Dom Gerard Calvet was raised to Abbot in 2008 and the consecration of the abbey church.

Abbot Gerard Calvet Could Not Accept Liturgical Reform

Born in 1927 Calvet entered   the Olivetans Order, a branch of the Benedictines, in 1950 and was ordained a priest in 1956. As a missionary, he worked for several years in Brazil. The monk saw a serious rupture in   the liturgical reform of 1965/1969, which he could not follow. He left with the permission of the abbot of his monastery Tournay and has lived since 1969 as a hermit in the Vaucluse department in the French Alps.

When young men joined him, who also wanted to live the traditional liturgy and Benedictine Spirituality, Calvet appealed in 1973 with his Convent to the Fraternity of St. Pius X. This led to a break with his Abbey and the Benedictine Congregation of Subiaco.  In 1978 Calvet began with the construction of his own monastery in Provence Le Barroux in the diocese of Avignon. In 1986, a subsidiary was founded in Brazil.

After a Few Fractures, Stability

Dom Calvet did not   follow Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in 1988 on the path of illicit episcopal ordinations. He broke the connection with the SSPX and Rome accepted the offer of reconciliation. It was step that split the community of Le Barroux. A part of the Convention separated from Dom Calvet, including the Brazilian subsidiary that was founded.

Daughter Founding in Aquitaine

In 1989,  Cardinal Augustin Mayer gave the Calvets abbatial blessing and the same year also the consecration of the abbey church was by Cardinal Edouard Gagnon. In 1995 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger aleo visited the traditional Abbey. In 2002,  the Monastery of Sainte-Marie de la Garde in Aquitaine was founded as  a new subsidiary. Today's Priory will  be an independent abbey in the future. 

Since 2003 monastery's fortunes have been passed to  Louis-Marie de Geyer d'Orth, the second abbot of Le Barroux. A few months after the death of old abbot Calvet Le Barroux was in the 2008 Benedictine Confederation added. The Abbey  now has 55 monks, while the Priory of Sainte-Marie de la Garde 13 monks.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Wikicommons

Pope Francis Confirms Cardinal Ouellet as Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops

(Vatican) Francis Pope today confirmed Mark Cardinal Ouellet as Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops. The French Canadians in 2010 was called to Rome by Pope Benedict XVI. and entrusted with the leadership of the Congregation. He was "papabile" at the last conclave.

The Congregation for Bishops is also responsible for a portion of the appointment of bishops, insofar as these do not fall as a mission area, within the jurisdiction of the Propaganda Fide.

Cardinal Ouellet is the fourth of nine prefects, who was confirmed by Pope Francis. Cardinal Piacenza, head of the Congregation for the Clergy, has been withdrawn while the other four congregations are yet awaiting decisions.

At the same time the pope appointed the Curial Archbishops Pietro Parolin (Secretary of State), Beniamino Stella (new Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy) and Lorenzo Baldisseri (new secretary of the Synod of Bishops) and the Cardinals Donald William Wuerl, Francisco Robles Ortega, Ruben Salazar Gomez, Kurt Koch, Joao Braz de Aviz and the Archbishops Vincent Gerard Nichols, Paolo Rabitti, Gualtiero Bassetti and Bishop Felix Genn of Münster as new members of the Congregation for Bishops.

To confirm the members of the Congregation are included the Cardinals Tarcisio Bertone, William Joseph Levada, George Pell, Jean-Louis Tauran, Agostino Vallini, Leonardo Sandri, Giuseppe Bertello, Giuseppe Versaldi, Zenon Grocholewski, Antonio Canizares Llovera, André Vingt-Trois, Giovanni Lajolo , Stanyslaw Rylko, Francesco Monte Risi, Santos Abril y Castello, and the Archbishops Claudio Maria Celli, José Octavio Ruiz Arenas and Zygmunt Zimowski.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi image: Vatican Insider Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com Link to Katholisches... AMGD

The Patriarch of Venice is in the Running for the Diocese of Milan

Naturally all questions fall under the seal of papal secrecy. In other words: everyone knows everything.

(kreuz.net)The Patriarch of Venice, Angelo Cardinal Scola (69) and the prefect of the pointless Pontifical Council for Culture, Gianfranco Cardinal Ravasi (68)are the front leading candidates for the Archdiocese of Milan.

The Milan paper 'Il Giorno' reported this on Saturday.

With 4.9 Million Catholics Milan is one of the largest Diocese in the world.

The current office holder, Dionigi Cardinal Tettamannzi is 77 years old now.

As of March 2009 his age of retirement arrived, and Benedict XVI lengthened his mandate for two more years.

But 'Il Giorno' points out that the appointment of his successor is imminent.

In the beginning of March the Nuncio of Italy sent a letter to all Diocesan Bishops of Lombardy, Auxiliary Bishops of Milan, the Presidents of the regional Bishops Conferences and all Italian Cardinals and even lay representatives of the nation.

Among the lay representatives are members of the left leaning 'Catholic Action' and the neo-Conservative movement 'Communion and Liberation'.

They were all asked to recommend candidates for Milan.

From the applied names the Nuncio produced a list of three which was put to the Vatican Congregation of Bishops.

The prefect of the Bishops Congregation, Marc Cardinal Ouellet, compiled a definitive list of three which is sent to the Pope.

Then finally he makes a decision completely independently.

Actually the consultation till now has proceeded under the so-called "papal secret".

But that doesn't mean anything.

Because 'Il Gioarnno' knows the names which are on the list of three: Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, Cardinal Angelo Scola and Bishop Gianni Ambrosio (67) of Piacenza-Bobbio.

Cardinal ravasi and Cardinal Scola were ordained in Milan as priests.

Original, translated from kreuz.net...