Remembering Mario Palmaro

Edit: the eminent thinker and Catholic passed away two years ago today.   Thanks to Vigilinae Alexandrinae for the timely reminder.  

"The Last Prophesy" -- Antonio Socci Recognizes the Pope as Pope, but Steadfastly Continues His Criticism

(Rome) Antonio Socci, Rector of the School of Journalism of the public service broadcaster RAI at the University of Perugia, is among those journalists and publicists who to suffer even at the risk of personal disadvantages in directing criticism against the pontificate of Pope Francis. Despite all the assurances, observers like Antonio Socci do not believe that there is "a sheet" of difference between Benedict XVI. and Francis.

Among the most mentally tough critics of Pope Francis was the legal philosopher Mario Palmaro, who died in March 2014 at the early age of 45 years, so now it seems that Antonio Socci, albeit on a different level, will briefly take over his role.

In 2014  Socci called the validity of the Pope's election into question

AD 

HERE YOU CAN ADVERTISE »

In October 2014, he published the book "Non è Francesco" (He is not Francis. The Church in Great Storm).Therein, Socci went so far in his criticism of the pope as to challenge the validity of the his election in conclave on March 2013. It's an enduring position that has been ignored in fact in the Catholic world. While Socci  has run of the track some time in wanting to prove his alleged thesis, it was attacked by a canon lawyer.

Now Socci has introduced a new book with "La profezia finale" (The Last Prophecy. Letter to Pope Francis on the Church in a Time of War). Both books were published, of course, not by religious publishing companies, yet also not in some unknown "samizdat" publisher, but at Mondadori and Rizzoli, the two largest publishing houses in Italy. The discussion was open and even Socci's theses were given place, since they promise business in the book market.  Socci's book questioning the Pope's election was on the best seller list for weeks on the Apennine peninsula.

Antonio Socci: "It is not Francis", 2014

While Mario Palmaro was in the grip  of a fatal, incurable disease,  he still received a personal phone call from Pope Francis, Antonio Socci has been ignored by the Vatican. He has since been cut off in the second and third rows of the Catholic hierarchy,  A longtime employee of Radio Maria was shown therefore the door, because he attended a festival in which also Socci was invited. The criticism of the validity of the Pope's election has been considered "fundamentalist" and cost a lot of sympathy for Socci even from those who wish him well.

Socci corrects himself, and recognizes the validity of the election 

In his new book "The Last Prophecy"   Socci takes a step back and gives up his 2014 formulated thesis. Socci sees the validity of the conclave and the papal election of 2013. The book is a long "letter" from a "son of the Church" to the Catholic Church leader, whom he addresses as "Father".   Socci made a daring approach in his Pope-criticism: it was direct, eloquent and pointed as before.

He reminded  Pope Francis that he is not only called "Holy Father", but also to behave  "like a father."  Francis should "watch less twitter and pay attention less to the number of followers  and the media flatterers galore circling around Santa Marta, ready to à la bowing Leonardo Di Caprio including ring kiss and always in the front row,  when it goes down, to celebrate every gesture and every sigh ".

Antonio Socci: "The Last Prophecy", 2016

Instead, should Francis "reflect more on what the Blessed Mother, Father Giussani, Don Tantardini, the Blessed Emmerich and Don Bosco have prophesied that the trumpets of the apocalypse will announce as never before that the world's end is near and the demons are dancing  to rhythm of the Tango on the dome of St. Peter  (Leo XIII. had seen this during Mass at the end of the 19th century  and was horrified)."

Soon,  three years after the conclave  Antonio Socci also recognizes Francis as the validly elected and therefore legitimate Pope. Socci has given up his argument about irregularities in the Pope's election. Irregularities complained of by  no conclave participants and not picked up by any canon lawyer.

Criticism of Francis remains justifiable, because "the situation of the Church is frightening"

"Socci is an honest Catholic," said the Vatican expert Matteo Matzuzzi to the daily newspaper Il Foglio . He takes  his faith and membership in the Catholic Church very seriously. He is questioning, struggling with himself, because his conscience demands it of him.

"He has just shown this honesty  that he has the courage to correct himself, but noted at the same time his criticism of the pontificate of Pope Francis." The question of the validity of the Pope's election is off the table. "The low affinity for the reigning pope,"  is something Socci  still holds as ever like a banner in front."Not because he wants to, but because he must," because, says Socci, "The position of the Church is frightening".

Socci directed the question to Pope Francis: "If today all the enemies of Catholicity you adore as the one who adapts the Church in the modern world, does not then mean that something is wrong in your message? Have you never asked?"

Socci quotes the Magisterium of the Popes to Benedict XVI. including a counciliar gap, and he quotes especially Fatima and the mysteries surrounding the phenomena of the past century and a half.  "To withdraw the Church on their behalf from the resistance (and witness) against falsehood and evil, means to sail on the 'banal grande'  [pun on Grand Canal in Venice] and to leave the boundless 'mystery of iniquity' to rule," says Socci.

According Matzuzzi, Soccis criticism gets "jammed" especially when it comes to evil, because none of the recent popes speak as frequently about the devil and evil as Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Accident?Argentinian heritage?

Socci and the "Bergoglio- (D) effect"

There is little prospect that Antonio Soccis book will be published in German translation [Or English for that matter.]. His form of papal criticism stops at the Alps. However, it is knocking with effect at the doors of the Vatican.

Whether Socci will be released from  quarantine by church hierarchs and Catholic organizations remains to be seen. In Italy it is at least more probable than it would appear in the German language. Socci is a powerful voice whose merit credit for  disclosing the "Bergoglio- (D) effect". These mainly include the "false friends" of the Pope. Socci documented this in early 2014 on the basis of anti-clerical Radical Party of Italy of Marco Panella and the former European Commissar Emma Bonino. The Radicals are the abortion, divorce, euthanasia, homo- and gender party par excellence. The rejection and combating of the Catholic Church is its defining feature. . Under John Paul II  Pannella and Bonino stood on St. Peter's Square and shouted: "Wojtyla go home." Under Benedict XVI .: "No Taliban, No Vatican". Under Francis they stand there and shout "Viva il Papa. We radicals love you."

Socci repeatedly directs the question to Francis, if he had never asked himself why this is so.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Il Foglio / Rizzoli (screenshots)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

"Unjust Laws and Civil Disobedience" -- Conference in Honor of Roberto Palmaro

(Rome) On May 11,   at the European University of Rome a conference was held on "unjust laws and civil disobedience". The conference was organized by the Faculty of Human Sciences at the University. The  administration invited the legal historian, Luca Galantini and the legal philosopher Tommaso Scandroglio.

The meeting took place as part of the "Week of the Law" by the Campus Ministry of the Vicariate of Rome. It was aimed at commemorating the legal philosopher Mario Palmaro, himself a faculty member of the European University of Rome and the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum. Palmaro had become  one of the internationally best-known critics of Pope Francis in his last months.

Speakers at the conference were numerous renowned legal scholars, philosophers and historians, among them Giacomo Rocchi, Supreme Court of Italy, the ethicist Marco Pagani of the University Ca 'Foscari in Venice, the historian Roberto de Mattei of the European University of Rome, the canon lawyer Romeo Astorri of the Sacred Heart Catholic University of Milan, the legal philosopher Elvio Ancona of the University of Udine, the legal historian Luca Galantini of the European University of Rome and many others.

The systematic treatment of the subject was initially engaged from an ethical and legal philosophical point of view, illuminating the definition of an "unjust act". Secondly the event was the to explore historically as a focus the facultas resistendi against unjust laws  as an expression of a legitimate and compelling social contradiction. Finally, a bridge to the present day was completed with  references to government efforts to introduce unjust laws in legitimate jurisdictions, thus exercising unacceptable coercion.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Corrispondenza Romana

Vita christiana militia est -- Mario Palmaro Died One Year Ago Today

Edit:  a reader let us know, and we worked this out from Nardi's beautiful obituary on a truly great man.

(Rome) Exactly one year ago, on March 9, 2014,  Catholic legal philosopher Mario Palmaro died after a long illness at the age of only 44 years. Palmaro was in his last year, an internationally-known and most astute critic of Pope Francis.

He dedicated his life to defending the Catholic Church. Until his last breath he was an active publicist. "Those who knew him personally, heard his lectures at universities, attended his lectures and read his books, know that he was a real Miles  Christi, and led his good fight to the end with the elegance of a gentleman with mental clarity and lucidity, firmness and freedom of apologists of very different times," wrote the weekly magazineTempi.

Impressive criticism of the pontificate of Pope Francis

Mario Palmaro: "The good seed will bear fruit"

Because of his criticism of the Argentine Pope, he was dismissed a few months before his death, after ten years of service at Radio Maria Italy. The immediate cause was that he published together with Alessandro Gnocchi on October 9th, an article in the daily newspaper Il Foglio  "Christ is not an option among many, certainly not for his representative on earth - Why we do not like this pope ". A convincing critique of the pontificate of Pope Francis,  whose validity has not changed.

It was a text that was obviously read at the Holy See, for three weeks after his dismissal by Radio Maria for "criticism of the Pope," Mario Palmaro received a phone call from Pope Francis, where he was "surprised, astonished and moved above all". The dismissal by Radio Maria was still not withdrawn.

"For me, as a Catholic, what I experienced was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. I have assured the pope my unconditional loyalty as a son of the Church.  But also pointed to my duty to remind the Pope that I expressed together with Alessandro Gnocchi very precise criticism of his actions. The Pope  almost didn't let me finish the sentence and said he had understood that this criticism was made ​​of love and how important it is for him to get those," said Palmaro after the announcement of the call in an interview with the newspaper Libero.

"The hope is our certainty"

Immediately before the Pope's call Palmaro and Gnocchi had released another article critical of the Pope: The Church as a Field hospital of the Followers - encouragement inversely proportional to the clarity of the message? In it they wrote the following almost touching, Catholic, descriptive and also prophetic statement:

"In some small isolated church there will always be a priest, who celebrates the holy sacrifice of the Mass, in some small apartment there will always be a lonely old woman who prays the rosary with unwavering faith, and in some hidden corner there will always be a nun, who provides for a child whose life is regarded by all as worthless. Even when everything seems to be lost, the Church, the city of God continues to exude its light on those human beings."

Short CV

Mario Palmaro was born on June 5, 1968 in Cesano Maderno, a small town in the northern Lombardy. He studied law at the University of Milan, he graduated with a thesis on abortion. After he specialized in studies at the Institute San Raffaele in Milan on bioethics, he was a research associate at the Center for Bioethics at the Catholic University of Milan. Finally, he taught bioethics at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University in Rome and Theoretical Philosophy, Ethics, Bioethics and Philosophy of Law at the European University of Rome. A rich intellectual exchange with another defender of the Catholic cause, the historian Roberto de Mattei, arose at the European University. Palmaro was one of the most passionate defenders of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum of Pope Benedict XVI. and was one of the strongest critics of a "miserable, sometimes seedy small mind" with which some bishops impede the Motu Proprio.

Palmaro was the President of the Right to Life Association Committee  of Truth and Life and was a member of the Association of Lawyers for Life and the Catholic Lawyers Association of Italy.

Together with the Catholic journalist, Alessandro Gnocchi, Palmaro published several books and numerous essays and articles. Palmaro and Gnocchi were a congenial duo of sharpness of thought and  fluency.

Mario Palmaro is survived by his wife and four minor children.

Books for the first anniversary of death

Since 2000 Palmaro has published in the Catholic monthly magazine Il Timone.  Now all of  his contributions have been collected in one volume. "A period piece and a chronicle of events in the Church and the world at the beginning of the third Christian millennium by an unerring chronicler," writes the magazine. The proceeds will go to support the widow and four children.

Already since 2 March, a book about Mario Palmaro available in bookstores. "Il buon seme fiorirà" (the good seed will bear fruit), edited by his longtime friend Alessandro Gnocchi. Last Saturday it was presented by Gnocchi and his friends and colleagues in the Cathedral Bookstore of Monza, in Palmaro's  hometown. Following this, a requiem for Mario Palmaro in the traditional Roman rite was celebrated in Monza. On today's memorial an office of the dead will be celebrated in Monza Cathedral.

Edit: At present we know of no titles available in English.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Riscossa Christiana

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

50,000 at March for Life in Rome -- Dedicated to Mario Palmaro

(Rome) Last Sunday, the 4th of May, the fourth March for Life was held in Rome. Within a few years it became the largest  right to life action in Italy and one of the largest in Europe. On the first march on May 28, 2011 in Desenzano on Lake Garda, 600 people took part. Since 2012, the March for Life will take place in Rome. Last Sunday, 50,000 people for the right to life marched through the streets of Rome to protest against the murder of innocent children by abortion. The fourth march was dedicated to  the recently deceased legal philosopher Mario Palmaro, who was one of the founders of the Italian March for Life.

March for Life has "Revolutionized" the Pro-Life Movement in Italy

The initiative led to a radical change of the right to life scene in Italy. For many years this was coupled in a kind of  alibi for   the ruling Christian Democrats, although here and there in relation to reassure the electorate's anti-abortion position, but took no action against child murders. The March for Life originated in the United States. Its adoption in Italy provided a powerful break from the  political party embrace. Since then, the pro-life movement on the Apennine peninsula is independent and since then, her voice has become audible in the public debate. All major media reported on the extraordinary feed on the right to life march, which coursed on Sunday through the streets of Rome and ended in St. Peter's Square. The success was expected neither by pro-abortion nor opponents, was invited four years ago for the first time to a "march". The march is not an organization but an event and sees itself as a platform for the protection of life. All groups and organizations may participate in it on the basis of a clear common denominator: an uncompromising NO to abortion and the injury of innocent life.

Initiative Traditional Catholics

Relevant initiators of the march are Catholics who could no longer endure the suffocating situation of the pro-life movement in Italy. Among them is mentioned in the first place the historian Roberto de Mattei, as ever, he has  discovered traditional Catholics to play   a central role in the March for Life  in the city of the pope. With this addition to members of various other orders,  the Franciscans of the Immaculate were there from the outset.  Many brothers and sisters took part in the march, but above all they recruited at all their branches and involved churches and places of pilgrimage for the march.

As early as 2012 and 2013, led the march for life again after a two-hour course on St. Peter's Square, where they  participated in the Regina Coeli, as the   Pope concluded. Unlike previous years, this time thousands of Pro-Lifers went immediately to St. Peter's Square. By their banners, the burning issue of the mass murder of unborn children to the media was made ​​even more visible.

Pope Francis, who greeted the participants in the past year and to petition the European citizen petition One of Use - was only evident in Italy, although it was an EU-wide action,   last Sunday stressed yet more the international character, the the initiative March for Life has now. Coming from the U.S. such marches take place as found today in several European cities such marches, including in September, also in Berlin and Zurich.

In Memoriam of Mario Palmaro

In front of  the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli and the Martyrs, the chairman of the initiative March for Life, Virginia Coda  Nunziante said in her speech: "We show that there is a movement for life, that it is alive and that it has not resigned in the face a widespread indifference and the daily killing of innocent children in the womb."

One of the most poignant moments of this year's march was when the Chairman called for a minute of silence for the deceased last March, legal philosopher Mario Palmaro: "This year we have a painful gap in our ranks:  of Mario Palmaro. He was a teacher in thought and life for us. To him we want to dedicate this fourth March for Life ". A banner was to read: "Thank you Mario Palmaro".

Mario Palmaro, who was only 45 years old, died on March 9, from an incurable disease, one of the initiators of the Italian edition of the March for Life. The  convinced life defender  was among the most intellectually fierce critics of Pope Francis and the conduct of his office in his last months of life.  A year ago he had taken yet on the third march for life. In the morning before the march Bishop Marco Agostini celebrated a memorial Mass in the Immemorial Rite in the crowded Carmelite church of Santa Maria della Vittoria for Mario Palmaro. Another Mass in the Immemorial   Roman Rite was celebrated after the march in the equally crowded church of the Fraternity of St. Peter in Rome, SS Trinità dei Pellegrini.

Cardinal Burke held Eucharistic Adoration and Marched Again

14 cardinals supported this year's march. Previously, it was only Cardinal Raymond Burke, who moved especially demonstratively through the streets of Rome and invited the bishops and cardinals  to go anywhere in the world on the road for the right to life and against abortion and euthanasia.

As in past years Cardinal Burke led Eucharistic Adoration on the eve of the March in the Basilica of S. Andrea della Valle. And again  the traditional Cardinal demoted by  Pope Francis walked along all the way from Piazza della Repubblica to the railway station to St. Peter's Square.

Rome Life Forum: Appeal to Bishops, no Communion for Abortion Politicians

On Saturday Cardinal Burke took part in   an international right to life meeting, which took place in Via della Conciliazione in the hall of Pius X.. In his speech, the cardinal affirmed the prohibition of the Catholic Church against giving  Holy Communion to public sinners. The Cardinal thus supported by the presence of 52 leading Pro-Life  advocates from around the world who appealed on the same day to the Catholic bishops, "in a spirit of love and mercy" to refuse Catholic politicians who are for abortion Communion. The appeal was supported by the Rome Life Forum organized by  LifeSiteNews, Human Life International and Family Life International. From the German-speaking countries, Jugend für Leben joined in the appeal next to the offshoots of Human Life International.  The March for Life in Rome was supported by 107 Italian organizations, associations, initiatives, groups, and even parishes.

The next March for Life will take place on May 10, 2015.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Corrispondenza Romana

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches....

AMGD

Mario Palmaro's Last Essay --- "Kasper's Speech is Made From the Stuff of White Flags"

(Rome) "We do not need a Church that moves with the world, but a Church that moves the world." With these words, the legal philosopher Mario Palmaro quoted GK Chesterton a few days ago. On Sunday night, Mario Palmaro died after a long illness. Until the last moment, he remained a champion of his Catholic Church. On this occasion, we are publishing his last essay he wrote  together with Alessandro Gnocchi published on 5 March in the daily newspaper "Il Foglio".. 

It is not known if Pope Francis in his address to the parish priests of the Diocese of Rome held on 6 March, could be  understood as a response to the article by Palmaro and Gnocchi. An answer ante eventum. The picture shows Mario Palmaro, already haggard from the disease, with his wife and four children in May of 2013, when he received the "Faith &  Culture" award.

Language World's Crisis  Instead of Dogmatic and Supernatural Truth?

Mario Palmaro and Alessandro Gnocchi

A field hospital, where one of the sick, injured and dying says they are fine just as they are. There's no talk of returning to the original state of health, and especially of those medicines that do not suit the palate, certainly not. If you want to Pope Francis such an effusive metaphor that has been received by media, chattering classes and retained in the collective Catholic memory, one can  not otherwise define   the meaning of the speech with which Cardinal Walter Kasper opened the consistory on the family. There can be no doubt, when he says, "but we must be honest and admit that a chasm has opened up between the Church's teaching on marriage and the family and the convictions of many Christians."  There is no doubt, because  all of his  considerations do not focus on, retrieving and returning the fugitive and lost sheep from the herd, and not on the reasons why they have been lost in the first place, but on the need to adapt to the new situation. The shepherd is not only to acquire the scent of his sheep, but especially those sheep who have gone.

Mario Palmaro is Dead -- The Suffering Critic of Pope Francis is Silenced

(Monza) The well-known Catholic legal philosopher and journalist Mario Palmaro has  died on Sunday night ,  Catholic who was one of the sharpest and most perceptive critics of the pontificate of Pope Francis, of the consequences of a long illness. 

"This evening it has pleased God to dismiss him from his earthly life. The pain we feel about it can be found only in the consolation of the Catholic faith, the intrepid defender and witness he always was. Our affection goes out to his wife and his children, to whom we are close with our heart. We ask all friends to pray  with that confidence of Providence, which He has taught us, by accepting the suffering in Christian humility and is also to become an edifying example to us. “ With these words  the editors of Riscossa Cristiana, with whom Mario Palmaro had worked since its inception, greeted his death.

A Life for the Right to Life and  Catholic Tradition

Mario Palmaro was born on 5 June in 1968 in Cesano Maderno, a small town in northern Lombardy. He studied law at the University of Milan , he graduated with a thesis on abortion. After, he specialized in studies at the Institute San Raffaele in Milan on bioethics, he was a research associate at the Center for Bioethics at the Catholic University of Milan. Finally, he taught bioethics at the Pontifical University Regina Apostolorum in Rome and Theoretical Philosophy, Ethics, Bioethics and Philosophy of Law at the European University of Rome. A rich intellectual exchange with another defender of the Catholic cause, the historian Roberto de Mattei, there was at the European University.Palmaro was one of the ardent defenders of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum of Pope Benedict XVI. and was one of the strongest critics of a "miserable, partly shabby small mind" that impede with some bishops the Motu proprio.

Palmaro was chairman of the Right to Life Association Committee truth and life and belonged to the Association of Lawyers for Life and the Catholic Lawyers Association of Italy.

Together with the Catholic journalists Alessandro Gnocchi, Palmaro published several books and a variety of essays and articles. Palmaro and Gnocchi were the congenial duo of  sharp thinking and linguistic dexterity.

A Life in the Defense of the Catholic Church

Palmaro’s rich journalistic output included, among others, his essays in the newspapers Il Foglio and Il Giornale , the monthly journal Studi Cattolici and his work as editor of the Catholic monthly magazine Il Timone . For ten years, he designed his own show at Radio Maria Italy  "encounters with bioethics".  In the fall of 2013 Radio Maria discontinued its association with them because of Palmaro’s "criticism of the Pope." The immediate cause was his collaboration with Alessandro Gnocchi on 9 October in the daily newspaper  Il Foglio published essay, " Christ is Not an Option Among Many, and Certainly Not  His Deputy on Earth - Why we do not like this Pope ."  A convincing criticism of the papacy of Pope Francis, to whose validity has not changed.

Pope's Criticism, Dismissal by Radio Maria and Papal call

On 1 November, the feast of All Saints   Mario Palmaro was already seriously ill, on three weeks after his dismissal by Radio Maria he received a call from Pope Francis. Palmaro later said that this phone call "surprised, astonished and moved" him.

"For me as a Catholic, was what I experienced was one of the most beautiful experiences of my life. I have assured the Pope my unconditional loyalty as a son of the Church. But I looked also  recalled my duty, and  expressed to the Pope,    together with Alessandro Gnocchi’s, my very accurate criticism of his actions. The Pope   almost made me not finish the sentence and said he had understood that this criticism was made ​​out of love and how important it is for him, to get those,” said Palmaro to the newspaper Libero in an interview about  the call. 

Immediately prior to the Pope's call,  Palmaro and Gnocchi had released another essay critical of the pope:  The Church as a Field Hospital of  Twitter Followers - Encouragement inversely proportional to the clarity of the message?   Therein they wrote the almost touching Catholic, descriptive and certainlyl prophetic statement:

In some little, out of the way church there will be always be a priest who celebrates the Mass in a holy way; in a little apartment a solitary old woman with unshakeable faith will say the Rosary; in a hidden corner of a House of Divine Providence a Sister will look after a baby considered by all as having no worth. Even when all seems lost, the Church, the City of God, continues to radiate its light on the City of Man.

A Kingdom of Journalistic Work

Among the numerous books, often published Mario Palmaro in collaboration with Alessandro Gnocchi, only those of recent years may be mentioned to give an idea of ​​the tireless work of this Catholic intellectual.

• L 'ultima messa di padre Pio. L'anima del santo segreta delle stigmate (The last Mass of Padre Pio. The hidden soul of stigmatized saints), Milano, Piemme, 2010
• Cronache since Babel. Viaggio nella crisi della modernità (Babylonian Chronicle. Journey through the crisis of modernity), Verona, Fede e Cultura, 2010
• La Bella Addormentata. Perché dopo il Vaticano II è la Chiesa entrata in crisi, perché si risveglierà, Firenze (Dornröschen. Why the Church came after the Second Vatican Council in a crisis. Why they will recover), Vallecchi, 2011
• Ci salveranno le vecchie zie. Una certa idea della Tradizione (The old aunts will save us. A certain idea of ​​the tradition), Verona, Fede e Cultura, 2012
• Truth Be Told: diritto o delitto? Il Conflitto tra i principi Autonomia di e di indisponibilità della vita (Euthanasia: Right or offense, the conflict between free will and the unavailability of life), Torino, Giappichelli, 2012

"This Pope Likes Too Much" - Palmaros’ last book being printed

The last book by Mario Palmaro is currently under pressure. Written by Alessandro Gnocchi and Giuliano Ferrara, the editor of the daily newspaper Il Foglio , it bears the title " This Pope Likes Too Much. The passionate and critical reading of a pontificate," Piemme, 2014. The book will be presented on 25 March  in Rome. Mario Palmaro will no longer be among the three announced authors.

Whether the two critics will change something because of the phone call of the Pope, he was asked in November of last year? No, replied Mario Palmaro, "we will continue down the path we have always gone by, we follow our conscience, always connected to the Pope and the Church in faithfulness, but we will continue on our way, just because of this loyalty and love.”  The book is also  committed to this principle. 

From the Catholic Faith of the Disease and his Family

In an interview with a magazine of Dehonianerordens he said after the Pope's call about his disease and his family:

"Man looks at the cross and understands that this is the heart of faith: without sacrifice,  Catholicity does not exist. Then you thank God that he has made ​​you a Catholic, a very small Catholic, a sinner, but in the Church has a caring mother.

"The disease is therefore a time of grace, despite the vice of meanness that  has accompanied us for a lifetime, or even worse. It is as if the agony would have been used and you fight the destiny of the soul, for its own salvation no one can be sure.

On the other hand, the disease allowed me to get to know an impressive number of people who want good for me and who pray for me, families who pray the rosary at night with the kids   for my recovery, and I lack the words to describe the beauty of this experience. It is a preview of God's love in eternity. The biggest pain I feel, is the idea of ​​having to leave this world. I like it so much, that is so tragic but at the same time so beautiful, to let go of so many friends, my relatives, but most of all to leave behind my wife and  my children, who are still children. Sometimes I imagine my house, my empty study and life will go on there even if I will not. It is a painful, but very realistic idea. It makes me understand that I was an unprofitable servant, and I am, and that all the books I have written, all the lectures I held and the articles that I have written, are ultimately only straw.

But I hope for a merciful Lord and that other parts of my work, my aspirations and my struggles to pick up and carry on, will continue with the eternal duel. "

Requiem æternam dona ei, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat egg.
Requiescat in pace.
Amen.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Corrispondenza Romana / Pierre

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to katholisches….

AMGD

Radio Maria Separates Itself from Roberto de Mattei: "Critical Attitude" to Pope Francis

Update: here is the exchange between Dr. Mattei and the program director, Father Livio at Rorate.

(Erba) The layoffs at Radio Maria continue to roll. Now the famous historian, Roberto de Mattei's coooperation has been terminated because of his "critical attitude" towards Pope Francis.

Last fall, Mario Palmaro and Alessandro Gnocchi were dismissed and their broadcasts cancelled. Both the legal philosopher Palmaro and the Catholic publicist Gnocchi made their own broadcasts on Radio Maria Italy: Palmaro had the show "Encounters with Bioethics" and Gnocchi the program "People and Literature. Encounter in the light of the Gospel." Both belong to the most astute Catholic intellectuals of our time. On 10 October 2013 they collaborated together with an article in the daily newspaper Il Foglio, under the title "The Pope Does not Like Us", an accentuated criticism of the previous pontificate of Pope Francis published (see German text Christ is Not an Option Among Many, and Certainly not for his Deputy on Earth - Why We Do Not Like This Pope ). On the same day they were therefore were shown the door by program director Father Livio Fanzaga. "Father Livio is of the opinion that one can not simultaneously be a presenter of Radio Maria, and criticize the Pope," is what he told the dismissed workers.

Now Radio Maria has also separated itself from historian Roberto de Mattei. Unlike Palmaro and Gnocchi, who were already engaged during the pontificate of John Paul II, by the largest Catholic radio stations in Italy, the historian Roberto de Mattei was employed first under Benedict XVI. at the Catholic station. Since the 17th In February 2010, he produced once a month the broadcast of "Christian Roots." With the start of his broadcast Radio Maria grew close also to the traditional Rite. Since then, the broadcaster has transmitted the Holy Mass in the Old Rite.

But since the pontificate of Benedict XVI. is over and since then, break lines are forming. The reason for the termination of the collaboration is the recent essay by Roberto de Mattei "Motu in fine velocior", on 12 February of Corrispondenza Romana has been published (see German [Soon to be translated] text Roberto de Mattei: The End of Civilization - "Whoever Loves The Church, Defends Her").

Radio Maria Italy is the mother and main transmitter of the largest independent Catholic radio networks in the world. In the German-speaking areas is included Radio Horeb, Radio Maria Austria, Radio Maria Südtirol and Radio Maria German-Switzerland as well.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
 image: Corrispondenza Romana
 Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMGD

"Who in the Catholic Camp Makes Common Cause With the Enemy?" Palmaro and Gnocchi After the Telephone Call of the Pope

(Rome) The traditionalist legal philosopher Mario Palmaro, upon whom Pope Francis bestowed a phone call on All Saints Day, and the journalist Alessandro Gnocchi, deal in their recent essay with the criticism of "Denzinger", which has been in vogue. It refers to the "Enchiridion Symbolorum" which is first published in 1854 by Heinrich Denzinger, Würzburg dogmatic theologian, as a collection of the most important teaching documents of the Catholic Church. Palmaro and Gnocchi distinguish a deep-seated aversion to this dogmatic precision, which always distinguished the Church, and considered the reasons for this aversion. The starting point here is the interview that Pope Francis had granted to the atheist Eugenio Scalfari, now deleted from the Vatican website. It is an interview that caused a lot of confusion by its content, by the uncritical absorption in some Catholic circles, by defending it against internal Church criticism and not least, because of the way it was handled by the Vatican, such as the statements of Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi and the full publication without comment by the Osservatore Romano and the website of the Holy See. The two Catholic journalists were sympathetic to the recent criticism of Pope Francis in the "Spirit of the World". Consequently, however, those who make "common cause with the enemy" in the Catholic camp should also be called out by name, who makes the Catholic camp "common cause with the enemy," according to the invitation to the Pope, because the confusion is great that many Catholics no longer know what is actually Catholic and no it is hard to distinguish friend from enemy any longer. So it shall be, that Catholics, often without realizing it, defend uncatholic positions against other Catholics who hold to the Catholic doctrine.

Pope Francis thanked Mario Palmaro for the criticism that he "needs" in a telephone conversation. Radio Maria Italy had dismissed the two Catholic journalists for their comments critical of the papacy. Whether they will be reinstated after the Pope's call, is not known. Program Director Father Livio Fanzaga justified the expulsion in recent weeks several times with counter criticism of the "Denzinger-Catholics".

Palmaro and Gnocchi's essay appeared on 20 November in the daily newspaper "Il Foglio". The intertitles were chosen by the editors.

The "Denzinger" and Half-Worldly

by Mario Palmaro and Alessandro Gnocchi

It was recorded "with joy," as is customary in the Church today, defended without ifs and buts, hermeneutisized as needed and eventually deleted from the website of the Vatican, where it was published for one and a half months: the discussion of the interview Pope Francis gave to Eugenio Scalfari. It was established with a simple click on the file. It is reliable as a whole, said the director of the Vatican Press Office, Father Lombardi, but not in some single site, even if the controversial passage on the conscience is "completely compatible with the Catechism of the Catholic Church."

"Broker no Horse Trading with God's Faithfulness" or the Church as Equidistant Mediator Between God and the World?

Although it is now stored in the file folders for a mere chronicle of events, the incident remains an indicator of a degree of confusion, which is too much even for a field hospital. It's strange that no one asked the question before, and as a precaution, if the interviewer of the Voltaire-press was a patient who came to be healed, or a not particularly well-camouflaged poisoner. Seeing what the concern of the secular interlocutor was, is a question that referred to as fundamental by Pope Francis himself in his sermon in Santa Marta last Monday. Expounding on a passage from the Book of Maccabees, the Pope warned against using the faithfulness of God to engage in horse trading, because the spirit of the world negotiates everything. But the actual state of the postmodern Church has presents itself for decades more as a neutral place for mediation instead of a fortress which is determined to resist the world. It seems to be a place where many complacent standards, methods and tools to use with which both the flattery of the world are understood also as the complaints toward the Church.

The tension of a justified rigor, which under Benedict XVI had begun to return and along with asceticism and prayer protecting from the siren songs of the world, seems to evaporate. Today, it is sufficient to call the razor-sharp but loving precision in memory, with which the Church is always expressed to faith, doctrine and morals, to be disparaged as the ideologized specialist of the Logos. Woe to those who dare to mention the great work of a deserving pioneer of dogmatic theology of Henry Denzinger: he is immediately accused of wanting to replace the gospel with the Enchiridion Symbolorum, that crystal clear compendium of the main texts of the Magisterium, which should serve as a dam, where the world challenges, provokes, negotiates and corrupts. Constantly updated over the decades, the "Denzinger" is named after its first editor, one of the safest points of reference for those who want to know and practice the always valid thinking of the Church. But he is not liked. He irritates and annoys.

Aversion to "Denzinger"? Karl Rahner Knows Why

To find out the reason for this aversion, it is sufficient to read Wikipedia. In a pathetic single line it says in the Italian version: "The great fundamental theologian, the Jesuit Karl Rahner, warned students and scholars of the danger of a reductionist, Denzinger theology." When you consider that the inventor of the theory of the "anonymous Christians" has replaced St. Thomas Aquinas in the Church of today as Doctor Communis, the general dislike of the "Denzinger" of course becomes understandable, which is a severe judge against anyone who the likes to abandon it for some quite personal encounter with the Gospel. Somehow, the issue of personal conscience is coming back to the surface, which Rahner, a brother of Pope Francis, that concepts are believed with difficulty that has been made into a ​​school without a doubt and that: Everyone follows his own conscience, whether it because he thinks he has to be Christian or non-Christian, or because he thinks he's an atheist or a believer, such an individual is accepted and accepted by God and can reach that eternal life, which we call in our Christian faith, the professed goal is for all people. In other words, the grace and justification, the unity and communion with God, the way to have eternal life, everything is just a hurdle only people's bad conscience.

Before the Gospel such a thought can't be anything else, than a revision shying away from the compelling austerity of "Denzinger", which is the compelling austerity of the Church. The Catholic Faith can not just be settled by a personal encounter with the Gospel itself. The Dominican Roger Thomas Calmel explains the why in the "Short Apologetics of the Eternal Church": "There is a strong interaction between the Scriptures and the Conciliar texts and the Catechism. So we change from the reading of the Old and New Testaments to the definitions of the Councils or the popes in order to understand the exact content of the true meaning of the holy texts. Then we return from the Councils and the Catechism back to the Scriptures to never lose the living, concrete, supernatural, inexhaustible text from the eyes, the necessary precision and the depth of the mystery is expressed in the texts of the Church's Magisterium."

Truth of Faith Incomprehensible for Modern People?

The war against the "Denzinger" and thus against the harmonious exposition and concretization of the eternally valid teaching of the Church, has come a long way. It is no coincidence, says Rahner, that the "pronouncements of the traditional faith are not suitable to a large extent, at least as regards the first and most important thing: the proclamation of the faith." Specifications such as "God consists of three persons" or "we are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ," were "for the modern man simply incomprehensible". They would convey the same impression as the mythology of a religion of yesteryear. According to the Jesuit theologian, Jesus, who Lazarus was raised from the dead, has the same taste for modern man as Heracles, Hydra, or Theseus, who defeated the Minotaur. Therefore, nothing else than to reform the Annunciation remains, to adapt to the wavelength of modernity and to transpose the words for the needs of the new audience.

Giuseppe Siri, a cardinal, who was elected pope, grasped the question with a brilliant clarity when, he wrote in "Gethsemane": "With the beginning of secularization the great death began: the world contains the forces for full development of the human and is also the environment in which the purpose of human life must be achieved, and it would therefore be sufficient to abolish the distinction between the sacred and the profane, between the Church and the world." The diagnosis was thought to be acquiescence, as confirmed by Edward Schillebeeckx, who said in 1970: "In Christ, it is now possible to say Amen to the reality of the world and to consider it as a cult, because since the appearance of Jesus the perfection of God lives on earth."

Church as a Field Hospital: But in Effect, There Are The Doctors Who Cure the Patient and Those who Euthanize Him

If the world is the object of the new cult, it is obviously impossible to encounter her in any conflict. The American bishops, who resist Barack Obama, so of course do not follow Rahner and Schillebeeckx. But hundreds of Jesuits with their Catholic universities and hundreds of rebellious nuns say Amen to the U.S. President and perform the worship of the world. The real problem of the field hospital, it is therefore to identify and distinguish who it distributes the salutary medicine and on the other hand who euthanizes the patient.

If it is true that the worldly spirit even tempts God's faithfulness to negotiate, as the Pope said in his homily, then you should also have the courage to say who makes common cause with the enemy in the Catholic camp. It is not possible to point the finger to the flattery of the world, but to tolerate Rahner, who says: "With the progress of the history of grace, the world will become more independent, mature, profane and must think to realize itself. This growing historical worldliness (...) is not a misfortune that obstinately resists grace and the Church, but in the way grace slowly realizes itself in creation."

In the wake of ambiguous and obsessive "primacy of the word" and the Lutheran sola fide, the church has come so far that it is reflected in the perverted horizon of Pelagianism, denies the sin and celebrates the world.

The result is in any case a weakening of tradition and its mission as Mater et Magistra. The free conscience, subjectivism, the sola scriptura, take control and undermine the importance of the bishops and the Pope. The logical framework of this operation is, however, feebly expssed because it is tradition that precedes the word and defines it. It is the Church that determines what the Holy texts are and how they are to be interpreted. A fact that makes it ultimately impossible to label Christianity as a "religion of the book," a misunderstood term that has entered from Protestantism to the Catholic Church. The church is historically and logically in written advance and therefore, Cardinal Siri said, "whoever makes tradition subjective, undermines the Scriptures."

The Eternal and Unique Beauty of the Catholic Church

The eternal and unique beauty of the catholicity consists in the ability to put together all these elements and harmonize. In the constant tension between reason and mystery, between worldly desire and heavenly, there is an impression in patience, in which the magmatic and formless creature prays to rise again like a butterfly from pupa. For to know the doctrine, he is called to love and follow by one agrees with its forms and definitions, and she accepts. There are prayers according to formulations that were formulated by unfathomable inspiration, but with precision, from others. Then it fulminates, away from feelings, digressions, unnecessary speeches and without one iota too much, what is granted by the happiness on this earth, a whisper, a practice and life instead of prattling: "Whoever gives many speeches does not benefit the soul", teaches the Imitation of Christ, "but a good life gives strength to the spirit".

The Annunciation to Mary by St. Luke the Evangelist, would not produce in the praying soul the same tension for the God bearer, as St. Ambrose preached, had not the Council of Ephesus in 431 so permeated and defined the truth in teaching the Virgin as Theotokos, Mother of God. There it is, if anyone does not confess that Emmanuel is God in truth and the Holy Virgin is therefore Theotokos because she gave birth to the incarnate, Who came from word of God according to the flesh, let him be anathema. The Christians loved nothing more than this clarity. "All the people of the city waited from morning to evening on the decision of the Holy Synod," says the Saint Cyril of Alexandria, who was instrumentally involved in bringing about the decision. "When we stepped out of the church, we were escorted to our accommodation. It was evening, the whole town was illuminated, women went ahead with incense. Those that flew to His name, the Lord showed His omnipotence."

To those who read it, who read it in a loving interaction with Scripture, which is told in "Denzinger" these testimonies of history and thus nourishes the righteous life, which in turn nourishes the spirit. This is the life of the Church, which flows through the centuries and gives them shape, it is the tradition, which always anew and imperiously, knocks on the soul and calls it to make a decision.

There is no Alternative to the Fight Against the Spirit of the World

There is no alternative to the fight against the spirit of the world. The temptation, even to negotiate the faith and faithfulness of God, one can only oppose the immutability and eternal validity of the Magisterium. For its entire life, the church has done this by disputing the world of time and space, the two dimensions in which tradition unfolds. The definitions that are collected in "Denzinger" were passed without change over the centuries, they came up with no change to the farthest ends of the earth and of faith. These pages, which you can so easily purchase in bookstores today, put the most adventurous way back through all the continents, as Arold Innis told in his epic work of Empire and Communications (Oxford 1950). They traveled on parchment, "heavy support", suitable for the preservation of unchangeable and eternally valid religious truth as opposed to what went on papyrus and paper, "ephemeral carriers", as they are preferred in secular bureaucracy, transitory and illusory.

Thus the Church of Rome has announced the kingdom of Christ and won from soul to soul for souls of simple and more sophisticated intelligence, but all require the same food. If the Blessed John Henry Newman had not seen the truth expressed in constant statements in space and time, he would never have had the strength and the desire to leave the Anglican community in order to belong to the Church of Rome. In his Apologia, explained the Cardinal, as he only made ​​the big move back home when he became aware that the arguments of the Anglicans against the Council Fathers of Trent were the same that were also raised against the Fathers of Chalcedon, and that to condemn the popes of the 16th century, meant to also condemn the Popes of the 5th Century. The drama of religion, the struggle between truth and error was always the same. The principles and procedure of the Church today are the same as those of the Church of that time. The principles and procedure of the heretics of that time are the same as those of the Protestants of today. "I have noted with horror," said Newman.

But the Church can not have a soul alone before a truth, which could frighten. Each offers them the strict and gentle caress of the Rite. The tradition of the people is becoming through a sacred poem, in its catholicity, which has its heavenly expression in the Eucharistic Celebration as Domenico Giuliotti writes: "It is the Holy Mass, and not the Divine Comedy, which is really sacred', applied to the heavens and the earth have on hand (...) God, the Trinity, and all the angels form the argument. The conversion, which renews the Incarnation, is the highlight of this immense mystery. And the priest is at the same Thaumaturge and Poet". The radiance of the heavens to the earth, tradition and liturgy are almost consubstantial even in the method by which the people have contributed to their formation. While one is the repertory of thought, purified from all that is purported not to be definitely divine, the other is the composition of gestures and words unchanging, free from all that is human.

The Church has always Forgave the Sinner. Forgives Sin Today?

There are two approaches to the same world where everyone always gets what is due to him, wherever he is located and in whatever age he lives. On earth there is nothing fairer. John Henry Newman explained this with gentle precision in his novel Loss and Gain (London, 1848), when he describes the thoughts and impressions of the young main character who attends a Catholic Mass for the first time. At that time, the same doctrine and the same liturgy were good for all, for the saints and for sinners, for the living and for the dead, for the Romans and the barbarians. There was still not that complaint, which Nicolas Gomez Davila should perceive later: "The Church once forgave sinners, now It has decided to forgive sins."

Introduction / Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: publisher / Polis (assembly)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to katholisches...

AMGD

Mario Palmaro on the Criticism of Pope Francis, the Society of St. Pius X, the Situation of the Church and his Illness

(Bologna) on All Saints Francis Pope grabbed the phone and called one of his harshest critics, the legal philosopher Mario Palmaro. The occasion was his criticism, but also a serious disease that weighs Palmaro down. A few days prior to the call ( see separate report ),  an interview with Mario Palmaro was published for the weekly newspaper for pastoral matters "Settimana” run by the Order of the Society of the Heart of Jesus, or Dehonians as they are popularly known. The Order and its publications represent a progressive spearhead in Italy, the more astonishing it is that and interview with a representative of the “other side” was published from this newspaper. This explains the introduction, the interview prefaced the Dehonian Priest Prezzi Lorenzo, editor of Dehonian Paper, "Testimoni". The first publication was in “Settimana", # 38 of 27 October 2013. Here is the full interview in English (From Nardi’s Italian-German translation). The intertitles were given by the Journal of Dehonians.

The Testimony of the Traditionalists - Interview with Professor Mario Palmer

Perhaps our readers will be amazed both by the interlocutor as well as about the contents of this interview. The lawyer and bioethicist Mario Palmaro belongs to the realm of traditionalist Catholics. As for what concerns the responses, it would be faster if we say what we share than to say what we do not share. It seems nevertheless appropriate to give to some other ecclesiastical sensibility to the word because, first, the dialogue requires its practical application within the Church and outside, so that the parts of the truth of the other will not be lost, because in the moment, when institutional discussions falter, the communities of faith must accept all. Palmaro, together with Alessandro Gnocchi wrote an article entitled: "The Pope Does not Like Us." We and the Christian people like him a lot. Nevertheless, and this counts, is the view of common faith and pietas before the trials in a life, which he writes about in his last response. (-Lorenzo Press)

The Lefebvrians Missed Opportunity

Professor Palmaro, you (and the Church world that you represent in some way) rightly supported the attempt by Benedict XVI., to bring the "schismatic" Lefebvrian movement back into the comunio. But when the General Chapter refused to give the invitation of the Holy See a positive response in May 2012, then what attitude you have taken? How do you judge the attitude of that movement now?

Although I never followed it, I had the good fortune a few years ago closely to get to know the Fraternity of St. Pius X founded by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. Together with the journalist Alessandro Gnocchi, I made the decision to go himself to see with my own eyes this world and then to describe in two books and some articles. I must say that many prejudices I harbored, proved to be unfounded. I have met many good priests, sisters and brothers who are facing a serious Catholic life and are equipped with a cordial and open humanity. I also was very favorably surprised by Msgr Bernard Fellay, the bishop at the head of the SSPX, a good man of great faith. We discovered a world of laymen and priests who pray each day for the Pope, even though they decided to take a critical position, particularly in the area of ​​liturgy, ecumenism and religious freedom. We saw a lot of young people, many vocations to the priesthood and religious life, and we saw a lot of "normal" Catholic families who frequent the Society. Priests in his cassock pass through Paris and are approached by people on the street, they ask for words of comfort and hope.

We know very well the diversity of the contemporary church in the world, that is the fact that today when someone says to be Catholic, it does not mean that he follows the same doctrine. The heterodoxy is widespread and there are sisters, priests, bishops, theologians who openly attack or deny parts of Catholic doctrine. For this reason, we asked ourselves: How can it be that in the church is room for everyone, except for those in all our Catholic brothers who are absolutely loyal to the 20 of 21 Councils that have taken place in the history of Catholicism?

As we wrote the first book, the news came that Benedict XVI. had lifted the excommunications: a historic decision. There remained the question of the canonical recognition of the Society. Pope Benedict attached great importance to this reconciliation, which has not initially specified. I am of the opinion that in the pontificate of Benedict XVI. there was an historic opportunity for the full reconciliation and that it is really a pity that this train was allowed to pass.

I have always been of the opinion that the SSPX must do everything humanly possible for their canonical recognition, but add that it follow that Rome offer clear guarantees of respect and freedom to Bishop Fellay and his faithful, especially with regard to the celebration of Vetus Ordo and as for the doctrine taught at the seminaries of the Society, which is the Catholic doctrine of all time.

Defensive Aggression

The full support by Benedict XVI. now does not seem to apply to Pope Francis. If one accepts the Popes, or “chooses” one for themselves? What represents the papacy today?

Whether people "like” the pope is completely irrelevant in the two thousand year old logic of the Church: the Pope is the Vicar of Christ on earth and must please our Lord. This means that the exercise of his authority is not absolute, but subordinate to the doctrine of Christ, which is found in the Catholic Church, in Her tradition, and is nourished by the life of grace through the sacraments. This means that the Catholics may be critical of the Pope himself and criticize under the condition that this is done out of love for the truth and that the tradition, the Magisterium is used as a standard gauge. A pope who would contradict a predecessor in matters of faith and morals should be criticized without doubt. We must be against both the secular logic and suspicious of a pope, assessed according to the good pleasure of the democratic majority, as well as to the temptation of a papolatry, according to a "the Pope is always right". In addition, we are accustomed for decades to criticize destructively dozens of popes of the past, by applying the small historiographical seriousness of the day. So there is no apparent reason why the reigning popes should be immune from all forms of criticism. When Boniface VIII and Pius V is evaluated, why doesn’t that also go for Paul VI. or Francis?

On websites and in magazines that are particularly connected to (recent) tradition, a very aggressive statement is frequently observed. Is that true? What determines this? How do you assess that?

The attitude of some of the individuals or groups connected to tradition is a serious problem and can not be denied. One explanation advanced is that truth without love is a betrayal of truth. Christ is our way, our truth and our life, so we have to take Him as a model, who was unbeatable in the truth, always inflexible, and in love. I think the world of tradition is sometimes pointed and polemical for three reasons: First, because of a certain syndrome of isolation that they can be suspicious and resentful, and it is also expressed by problematic personalities; Second, because of the sincere scandal, the specific directions of contemporary Catholicism provokes in those who know the doctrine of the Popes and the Church well up to the Second Vatican Council; Third, because of the lack of love that is shown by the official catholicity towards these brothers on the day, who are entitled with a contemptuous tone as "traditionalists" or " Lefebvrians”, in which one forgets, that in the Church they are definitely much closer than any other Christian denomination, or even any other religion. For the official Catholic media this reality of hundreds of priests and seminarians isn’t worth devoting a line, while devoting entire pages to some thinkers who have not once said anything remotely Catholic.

Against Modernism

As you commented, the Vatican statement for the Franciscans of the Immaculate, they demanded the right to conscientious objection of religious against these liturgical arrangements. How is religious obedience applicable to the spiritual family? How would a conscientious objection be classified in the tradition of the Syllabus?

The matter of the Franciscans of the Immaculate in my opinion is very sad. There is a definite measure for provisional administration of Rome, which was met with unusual haste, and also inexplicable severity. Since I know this good religious family, I consider this decision to be completely unwarranted and I have submitted along with other scholars a kind of appeal to the Vatican. I am reminding with succinctness in mind that this measure “dismissed” the founder and prohibits the celebration of the Holy Mass in the Old Rite for all the priests of the Congregation and this is in open contradiction to what the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum of Pope Benedict XVI. had mandated. You rightly suggest: the resistance to the lawful authority always provides problems for the instruction of Christians, more so if he is a member of a religious family. Still, in this case there are obviously unacceptable aspects and I am of the opinion that the priests should continue to celebrate among the Franciscans of the Immaculate Holy Mass in the Extraordinary Form, in the Vetus Ordo, thereby ensuring that bi-rituality should, to the extent I know, be practiced by the brothers. I would add that everything else is as nice, to have to apprehend, how to go with the thousand of a thousand problems and rebellions that shake Church, a Church in which congregations are in glorious dissolution for lack of vocations, one then goes to beat Franciscans of the Immaculate, who have many vocations around the world.

What do you think are the most obvious boundaries of the Catholic "Council"-sensitivity (or "liberal" sensibility, if you prefer)? What are its most visible weaknesses?

The basic problem is in my view the relationship with the world, which is characterized by an attitude of subservience and dependence, almost as if the Church would have to adjust to the whims of the people, as we know, however, that it is the person who is the shall adjust the sake of Christ the King, and the history of the universe. When Saint Pius X. sternly rebuked Modernism, he wanted to beat this deadly temptation for the catholicity of changing doctrine to satisfy the spirit of the world. Since humanity is in the clutches of a process of dissolution that was unleashed by the French Revolution and has continued with the modern and the postmodern, the Church is challenged more than ever today, to resist the spirit of the world. There have been many decisions undertaken in the Church during the last 50 years, however, there are symptoms of resilience: the liturgical reform has constructed a Mass for today's sensibility by the destruction of a rite in force for centuries by an entirely on the word, of the assembly and the was created to trade orientation on participation and pushed back the centrality of the victim; the insistence on a universal priesthood, which emptied the ordained priesthood and led to depress generations of priests and a unprecedented crisis of vocations; the Church's architecture has produced anti-liturgical monster, the de facto abolition of the last things, but where the question of the salvation of souls (and the threat of eternal damnation) this is the only supernatural argument that distinguishes the Church from a philanthropic organization; and so on.

Be Holy

The believers are united in essence, but differ on the issues discussed. But all are called to respect and to accompany those who are marked by suffering and burdens of life. How does one's spiritual sensitivity when suffering - as it happens to you - encounters the violence of our days?

The first thing, is a disease that shocks us, that it falls on us without notice and at a time we do not determine. We are at the mercy of events and can do nothing but to accept it. The serious illness forces us to be aware that we are truly mortal. Even if death is the safest thing in the world, modern man tends to live as he would never die. By disease he understood for the first time that the lifetime is below a breath of wind. You can feel with chagrin, that that masterpiece of holiness God desires could never be managed. One sensesa deep desire for the good, that you would be able to do, or to avoid the evil that you want to have been able to avoid. You look at the cross and understand that this is the heart of faith, that without sacrifice catholicity does not exist. Then you thank God that he made you Catholic, a "very small" Catholic, a sinner, but the Church has a caring mother.

The disease is therefore a time of grace, but often the vice and meannesses remains which has been with us for a lifetime, or even worse. It is as if the agony would have been applied and you fight the destiny of the soul, for their own salvation nobody can be sure.

On the other hand, through the disease I was able to get to know an impressive number of people who want good for me and pray for me, families who pray in the evening with the rosary with their children for my recovery, and I have no words to describe the beauty of this experience. It is a preview of God's love in eternity. The biggest pain I feel, is the idea of ​​having to leave this world. I like it so much, that is so tragic but at the same time so beautiful, to let go of so many friends, my relatives, and especially to leave behind my wife and my children, who are still children. Sometimes I imagine how my house, my empty office and life will go, even if I am no more. It is a painful, but very realistic idea. It makes me understand that I was an unprofitable servant, and I am, and that all the books I have written, all the lectures I held and the articles I have written, are ultimately only straw.

But I hope for a merciful Lord and that other parts of my work, my aspirations and my struggles to pick up and carry on, to continue the eternal duel.

Introduction / Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
 Image: Concilio e Postconcilio
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches…
AMGD