CDF Explains Relationship to Charismatics -- But Pope Francis?

Pope Francis at Meeting With Charismatic Renewal in Rome 2014

(Rome) The Congregation of Doctrine and the Faith has clarified the relationship between the bishops and the charismatic movements. Moments where Pope Francis will kneel in public, are scarce, and if so, hardly before the Blessed Sacrament. One of those rare moments occurred on 1 June 2014 as Francis took part at the 37th Annual Meeting of the charismatic Catholic movement "Renewal in the Spirit" (Renewal nello Spirito) in the Olympic Stadium of Rome.

It was the first time that a pope participated in a meeting of the charismatic movement. To the Charismatics, to which movement are attributed about 100 million Catholics,  the Argentine Pope earnestly recommended  Cardinal Leon-Joseph Suenens and Archbishop Helder Camara as models.

Pope Francis was already in his time as archbishop of Buenos Aires the charismatic movement sympathetic to. This is connected with the contacts to the evangelicals, about which it is, however, calmed recently.

CDF: "relationship between hierarchical and charismatic gifts"

Jorge Mario Bergoglio  being blessed by evangelical preachers and Father Cantalamessa  (Buenos Aires, 2006)

This coming June 14, the Roman Congregation will issue a document by which the relationship between the bishops and the charismatic movement should be clarified.  Cardinal Prefect Gerhard Müller of the CDF, Cardinal Prefect Marc Ouellet of the Congregation for Bishops, Msgr. Piero Coda, a member of the International Theological Commission, and Maria del Carmen Aparicio Valla, a lecturer at the Faculty of Theology of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome should take  part.

The document, Iuvenescit Ecclesia (The Church Rejuvenates Itself) by the CDF, is addressed to all bishops and refers to the relationship between "the hierarchical and charismatic gifts for the life and mission of the Church".

This should be remove any ambiguity and  ensure the recognition of the competent hierarchical authority.  In the past there had been friction between charismatics and bishops because the former do not feel bound by the authority of the bishops. [LOL]

But what about the relationship between the CDF Prefect and Pope Francis?

As is known, there is no great agreement between Pope Francis and the Faith Prefect Cardinal Müller in the understanding of the Church and theology. There is also included on the part of the Pope, at least according to media reports,  personal reservations. The Argentine pontiff can feel it if he sees someone as a friend or not.

What role the document Iuvenescit Ecclesia plays in this internal Church  factional dispute at the highest level, can not yet be said. It still can not be ruled out that with this document, Cardinal Müller  is sending Pope Francis very different signals.

One first such opposition was expressed  by Pope Francis a few months after his election, when he received on 6 June 2013, to the board members of the progressive Latin American and Caribbean Conference of Religious  (CLAR). The progressive Chilean publication Reflection y Liberacion soon released an audience transcript. Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi SJ intervened  on this, explaining that the transcript was not "unauthorized," but did not deny its contents.

CLAR delegation to Pope Francis, June 2013

Among other things, Pope Francis confirmed to the CLAR delegation the existence of a " gay lobby " in the Vatican. The Pope himself used this formulation.

In the private audience for the CLAR Board Pope Francis also attacked tradition in the Catholic Church for the first time,  accusing traditionalists of "Pelagianism " and "restorative forces" saying that they "distress" him.

The CLAR representatives, however, got quite a different message, namely from the CDR, who condemned their engagement and theologians because of erroneous and heretical theories. How important this was to the progressive religious, was shown   Reflection y Liberacion published the transcript beginning with this topic. Pope Francis gave the delegation de facto permission to not worry about  the CDF's letter and to just keep going.

The pope said according to Reflection y Liberacion :

"If you do something wrong, get yourself off on the wrong track: that happens! Maybe then you get a letter from the CDF that says you have said this or that  ... Explain what there is to explain, but continue ... Open doors, do something where life calls. I prefer a Church that makes mistakes, rather than one that is sick because it imprisons itself ... "

Statements that have not been denied by the Vatican spokesman Lombardi.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: RnS (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Reformation Anniversary: Dialogue Paper Between the Vatican and Evangelicals?

(Washington / Rome) According to reports from U.S. media, the Vatican intends to Reformation 2017 with the Evangelicals to publish a common "dialogue paper". The aim of the declaration is  a "shared commitment to mission" as the Boston Globe reported.

In 2017 the Protestant world will celebrate  500 years of "Reformation" with Martin Luther's theses at Wittenberg. In 2017   the Catholic Charismatics will also celebrate 50 years of "Revival" by the "Spirit Baptism".

According to the Pope's biographers and journalist Austen Ivereigh in the Boston Globe,  it is a joint document on the "Reformation" which will include three priorities: "the Nicean-Constantinople Creed, which Catholics and evangelicals share; the core of the Catholic-Lutheran declaration of 1999 making clear there is no disagreement over justification by faith; as well as a final section asserting that Catholics and evangelicals are now “united in mission because we are declaring the same Gospel,”  as the KAP reported.

Tony Palmer Handed Pope Francis Text Draft

According Ivereigh the recently deceased Anglo-Irish Bishop, Tony Palmer, passed away on the 24th of June, had issued  in Rome at a meeting of the Pope with Evangelical representatives to draft a joint statement. The title of the document reads: "Declaration of Faith in Unity for Mission."   2017 would be an appropriate occasion for publicly signing  a joint declaration, said Palmer and other Evangelical televangelists,  because of the Reformation anniversary year (1517) and   in the same year, the 50-year anniversary of the emergence of the Charismatic Renewal in the Catholic Church (1967 ).

Since the beginning of Pope Francis sent out a number of benevolent signals towards Evangelicals and Pentecostals. These include several informal meetings at the Vatican, a video message and on 28 July the "private visit" the Pope at an evangelical denomination in Caserta. Here, the Catholic Church leader sent a request for forgiveness to 300 invited from all over the world evangelical representatives.

 Relations Between Catholic Church and Evangelicals in Latin America

Observers have put the papal efforts  in the context of the strained relationship between the Catholic Church and the Evangelical Free Churches in Latin America. For several decades Evangelical groups have drawn from the Catholic Church's masses of believers. A movement that is being done in the United States and again is  also associated with the political interests of the United States in its "backyard". Sociologists of religion see in the spread of evangelicalism   among a number of attempts, to export the American Way of Life.

Mission or Cessation of Mission?

Critics accuse the Pope of sacrificing the necessity for salvation of the Catholic Church and indiscriminately recognizing  groups that call themselves Christian or nominally appointed to Christ. Pope Francis was several times to understand that it waives a conversion to the Catholic faith. This raises the question of what a joint statement with the Evangelicals might just mean to the issue of Mission. A shared commitment to evangelization of non-Christians or an official recognition of a mutual  cessation of mission? Along with the one-sided embedding of the "Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification" of 1999, the Catholic-evangelical "dialogue paper" it would  pass over in precedence, the more significant for the Catholic Church and especially more binding declaration Dominus Iesus of the year 2000.

Already in 2013 the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) have published a dialogue paper for the  "Reformation Jubilee",  whose relevance has remained in an almost imperceptible range. From the Lutheran side there were hesitations for the "Luther Year" in 2017, at a mutual recognition several times of  "Lord's Supper".

500 Reformation, 50 years Charismatic Renewal - And 100 years Fatima?

2017 marks not only the 500th year of the "Reformation" and the 50th anniversary of the emergence of the Charismatic Movement in the Catholic Church, but also for the 100th anniversary of the apparitions of Fatima. It's an anniversary that has so far remained unnoticed in Rome.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: unavox.it

Pope Francis Recommends Charismatics Suenens and Helder Camara as Models?

Camara and Suenens as Models for Charismatsm

(Rome) Pope Francis took part on Sunday, June 1st, at the 37th annual meeting of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Italy, which is organized asby the Community Rinovemento nello Spirito Santo (RnS, renewal in the Holy Spirit). It was the first time that a pope took part in such a meeting. In the Olympic Stadium of Rome there were also 50,000 participants from worldwide, managed by the Charismatic Renewal. The charismatic movement is represented in all countries of the world. According to their own information it  includes 100 million Catholics. Pope Francis has recommended  two models for Charismatics: Leo Cardinal Suenens and Helder Camara. In which camp does the Pope want to drive the Charismatic Renewal?

The speech of the Pope in the Stadio Olimpico garnered new attention according to the official and unofficial reports, meeting with evangelical delegations in June and his "private visit" with the evangelical pastor Giovanni Traettino on July 28th in Caserta. Jorge Mario Bergoglio was already supportive as Archbishop of Buenos Aires in the Argentine Episcopal Conference for the charismatic movement.

Salvatore Martinez, President of the RnS  since 1997  said in greeting: "We were born under Paul VI, we have grown and matured under John Paul II and with them now begins this extraordinary missionary season..." Benedict XVI. was apparently for the charismatic movement, no offense, certainly not worth mentioning.

Some excerpts from the Pope's speech:

"In the Mechlin documents you have a guideline, a safe way, so as not to go astray. The first document is a theological and pastoral orientation. The second - 'Charismatic Renewal and Ecumenical Movement '- is from the pen of Cardinal Suenens, the great protagonist of the Second Vatican Council. The third is: Renewal in the Spirit and Human Service ', by Cardinal Suenens and Bishop Helder Camara."

"I expect from you that you are in the grace of the 'Spirit-baptism', the baptism with which the Holy Spirit shares with everyone in the Church - an expression that is found in Acts (cf. 1.5,. 11:16)."

"You shall bear witness to a spiritual ecumenism with all those brothers and sisters of other churches and ecclesial communities who believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior."

"Remember: The Charismatic Renewal is ecumenical in nature ... The Catholic renewal movement would be about what the Holy Spirit works in the other churches' (1 Mechelen 5.3)."

"This is great. I would also like to thank, because they are already organizing the great jubilee of 2017."

"And I expect you to celebrate all their charismatics in the world together with the Pope your big anniversary at Pentecost 2017 on St. Peter's Square! Thank you! "

Two Modernists as Role Models? - Suenens: "Be apostles Like Camara and Mohammed"

Pope Francis with RnS-Chairman Martinez (left). The Pope greets the audience as a politician who does not bless them, however, as did his predecessor.

Pope Francis said in 1974 at the suggestion of Archbishop Leon-Joseph Cardinal Suenens of Mechelen-Brussels that have been made "Mecheln Document". He called upon, as patrons for charismatic Catholics, the Belgian Cardinal Suenens (1904-1996) and the left-wing Brazilian liberation theologian Archbishop Helder Camara of Recife and Olindo (1909-1999), who are two controversial religious leaders of  recent Church history. Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre described them in a 1986 open letter as  "Confused Catholics".

Both belong to that part of the Neo-Modernist group which was more committed to an ominous "Spirit of the Council" than the Council itself. Suenens was one of the leading presenters of the Council and behind the scenes one of the main strategists of the opinion-making progressive Rhenish Alliance. Suenens turn said of his "great friend" Camara, that he had "played a key role behind the scenes, even though he never took the floor during the Council sessions"  at the Council (Suenens: Remembrance & Hope, 2000).

Cardinal Suenens as an advocate of a "theological pluralism"  described the Second Vatican Council as "French Revolution in the Church." In the summer of 1982, Cardinal Suenens said at an episcopal consecration of a new bishop: "Be an apostle like Gandhi, Helder Camara and Mohammed!"

Helder Camara Agitation Potential: From Fascist to Marxist

Helder Camara was in the 1930s, although already a priest, one of the leaders of the Brazilian Fascism, which was against the wishes of his bishop  when he became the General Secretary of Ação Integra Lista Brasileira (AIB), the Fascist Party of Brazil.  It was a curiosity that appeared nowhere else worldwide. A chapter, that he later avoided and most of his biographers ignored or minimized. In 1937  Brazilian fascism came to an end  by a ban, and a failed subsequent coup attempt in 1938. But Camara was able to quickly reinvent himself due to his charismatic abilities, even within the Church. His fascist past may explain his rapid swing to Marxism. His potential for extremes were given ​​sufficient proof by his agitation.

The Brazilian Catholic, Plinio Correa de Oliveira wrote on Camara: The Brazilian episcopacy had "proven up in 1948 as a staunch opponent of Marxism. But then  the episcopate came to a left turn,  with the formation of an ominous "Brazilian National Conference of Bishops" in 1952 and which was reinforced by  the choice of Helder Camara for their first General Secretary. The fruits of this U-turn were not long in coming: Priests during demonstrations, religious sisters in miniskirts and leading leftist Catholics who were in favor of the Communist agitation.  "Because of his leaning to the left, Camara was in the West, however, quick to be an uncritically celebrated demigod. His fascist past, usually not known anyway, he had washed clean by his Marxism.

Camara made, as Chaplain of Catholic Action  in 1948 and established at a time when there were no bishops' conferences, a "Brazilian National Bishops' Conference " (CNBB) and became its general secretary. Although the CNBB ultimately consisted only of his person and  the then Nuncio and eight of more than 150 bishops,  Camara was in the media played to convey the impression that opinions, suggestions, program projects of the CNBB, were the opinion of the Brazilian Bishops. Paul VI. dissolved the CNBB in 1964, but then made Camara the Archbishop of Olinda and Recife.

Camara's Subversive Council Influence

Camara, a gifted agitator, kept in the wings, while representatives of the Rhenish Alliance worked in public. Two days after the beginning of the first session of the Council  Camara presented against the texts prepared by John XXIII., a  "spirit of the Council". After the Council he would do the same against the Conciliar documents.

In the background it was his formulations, through the Information Service International Documentation on the Catholic Church (IDOC)  by which he significantly influenced how the media perceived the Council. And it was through the media in turn, which not insignificantly influenced the Council. Camara created a kind of subversive means to influence the Council. He coordinated coverage of  privileged media contacts, organized voices for voting in the Council sessions and developed their own encodings, because you never know who else is listening on the phone. Cardinal Suenens then was always called by the code name "Father Miguel".

Camaras Opus Angeli - Modernist Think Tank

These dark institutions which Camara formed are still influential today, such as the ominous Opus Angeli , as a think tank of modernism, whose Secretary is  Elisabeth Hollants, who was also Camara's personal secretary. About Opus, circled figures like Hans Küng, the Italian priest and politician Giuseppe Dossetti, the German moral theologian Bernard Haring, the Austrian theologian Ivan Illich. All figures of the so-called "democratic Catholicism '. The most ideas developed in the workshop of Opus Angeli  (for collegiality, Bishops' Curial Reform, election of the pope by the Synod of Bishops, relations with other religions, ecumenism, Women Deacons, then women priests, the abolition of priestly celibacy) were so radical that they were not enforceable on the Council.

Instant "with preparation of the Third Vatican begin"

The appointment of Camaras as a cardinal that was already referred to in 1965 by his friends as "necessary, indeed indispensable," would never be reality. This, although an "old Austrian archbishop" had told him: "It was just revealed to me that you will be Cardinal."

The largest defeat, according to his own admission, Camara saw the refusal of Pope Paul VI., to allow the Council to comment on the subject of contraception. A refusal already anticipated in the Encyclical Humanae Vitae. No sooner was the Council of Paul VI. completed, than Camara asked in a secret circular of his friends and colleagues to immediately "begin the preparation of the Third Vatican Council." Since his followers ascribed a  "prophetic charism" to him, he met already on 13 October 1965 with senior representatives of the Jesuit order, to talk about the Third Vatican Council. He said to them: "If you call me a prophet, you must be my teacher: So tell me please, is there any really decisive argument that women are not permitted access to the priesthood, or is it just a male prejudice that can be smashed by the Third Vatican Council? "

Camara's Delusion of "Artificial Life" and His War Against Humanae Vitae

On the same occasion  the "prophet" predicted that man will penetrate space within ten years, with all the surprises: "I do not believe in a jealous God, who is afraid of his own shadow, afraid of the power he has granted his co-creator.  I think that man is creating artificial life that he will succeed in the resurrection of the dead and he will realize the old dream of Voronoff ". ¹

The encyclical Humanae vitae criticized Camara as "error" and "on her way as a new condemnation of Galileo", even "murder of the Council", as "practical denial of collegiality", as "de facto cancellation of ecumenism". Camara wrote a satirical poem against the Catholic teaching on women as "victims" of the same, because they are "forced" to be, to bring children into the world. The mockery begins with the verse:

"Children, children, children ...
If it is the joy that you want
(but what choice have you the poor?)
you have to testify,
you must bear witness! "

The "poetic" work by Camara ends with an invocation of the Blessed Mother to pray to God the Father, "not to participate in the birth of monsters." 

It shows mocking rhymes of "the most prolific Brazilian Church representative of the 20th century", who had formed  deeper and more radical contradictions within the  Church  against Humanae Vitae.

Camara's Interpretation of Fatima

Unlike most of his fellow progressive European Bishops, Camara believed in the messages of Fatima (1917).  However, he interpreted them in his way. The mention of the Mother of God for the conversion of Russia, he understood not as the end of the Soviet Union, but only as the end of the atheistic, but not the communist Soviet Union. Camara wrote: "The Communist masses will rejoice on the day on which they will realize that they do not have to deny God and eternal life, to love people and to defend the righteousness in this life." Quotations from Camara are the essay  "Come i progressisti non vinsero al Concilio "(For Progressives, the Council Did Not Win) cited by  sociologist Massimo Introvigne.

Pope Francis and Gioacchino da Fiore

The fact is that Leo Suenens and Helder Camara are those two participants in the Second Vatican Council, who most commonly spoke of "charismatic", "Pentecostalism" and "new Pentecost." A direction that adheres, unsettlingly close to heresy of Joachim da Fiore (see separate report , the new age of the Spirit - Father Cantalamessa, Pope Francis and Joachim da Fiore . Suenens and Camara were in Pope Francis' role call as models for Charismatic Catholics. 

The "Anniversary" in 2017, for which the Pope was already grateful for its preparation, refers to 50 years of Catholic Charismatism. In 1967 that initial spark flashed at a meeting at the University Duquesne in Pennsylvania, the establishing of the resultant Charismatic movement under Protestant guidance in the Catholic Church.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Wikicommons (assembly)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMGD

Vatican Publishes Pope's Caserta Speech to the Pentecostals

(Caserta / Vatican) The meeting with Pastor Giovanni Traettino was announced as a "private visit" by the Vatican. Subsequently, the Holy See doubled the visit so as not to  snub the Catholics of Caserta.   The visit to his "friend" Traettino was conceived as  an international meeting with leading evangelicals and Pentecostals from around the world. More than 300 selected guests had been invited by Traettino to Caserta. The presence from the USA was particularly strong.  Not present was the Celtic-Anglican Bishop Tony Palmer, who suffered a fatal motorcycle a week previously.  Palmer was a significant architect of the "private meeting" in Caserta.

Meanwhile, the Holy See published the text of the speech, which the Pope gave  before the assembled evangelicals. It in any case is becoming difficult to distinguish between official and private acts of the Pope, as well as between the papal Magisterium and private statements. This is an unusual duality, which Pope Francis introduced, being discussed, which of the two parts is the authentic one.

"Private Conversation" or Part of the Magisterium?

With the publication of the text of the Vatican obviously wants to counteract speculation about what the Pope actually said and what he did not. Such speculation has already repeatedly triggered the papal crisis line, as well as the no less numerous non-protocol-related audiences granted by the Argentine Pope along side the official, and whose contents are only reported from the side of the visitors. Without mentioning  the controversial interviews with the atheists Eugenio Scalfari.

In fact, KNA and KAP published speech excerpts  yesterday    that exceeded in their accentuation from what the Pope actually said (see separate report Pope Asks Pentecostals for Forgiveness: "Catholics who were possessed by the devil" ) .

The official text confirmed that Pope Francis reduces all heretical schisms within Christianity on envy and jealousy caused by the devil. Martin Luther as a jealous envious? The Pope directed no blame and weighed them all equally.

Schisms in the Church's History Reducible to Envy and Jealousy?

According to the newly published text of the Holy See, the Pope said, among other things, (translation Zenit):

When one walks in God’s presence, there is this fraternity. When, instead, we are still, when we look too much to one another, there is another way … which is bad, bad! -- the way of gossip. And we begin to say, “but you, don’t you know?” “No, no, I’m not for you. I’m for this and that …” “I am for Paul,” “I am for Appollos,” “I am for Peter.” And so we begin, and so from the first moment division began in the Church. And it isn’t the Holy Spirit who creates division! He does something that is quite similar to it, but not division. It’s not the Lord Jesus who creates division! He who creates division is in fact the Envious One, the king of envy, the father of envy: the sower of darnel, Satan. He interferes in communities and creates divisions, always! From the first moment, from the first moment of Christianity, this temptation was in the Christian community. “I belong to this one,” I belong to that one.” “No! I am the Church, you are a sect.” And so the one who wins over us is him, the father of division – not the Lord Jesus who prayed for unity (John 17(), he prayed!

What does the Holy Spirit do? I said he does something else, which perhaps one might think is division, but it isn’t. The Holy Spirit creates “diversity” in the Church. The First Letter to the Corinthians, chapter 12. He creates diversity! And this diversity is truly very rich, very beautiful. But then, the Holy Spirit himself creates unity, and so the Church is one in diversity. And, to use the word of an Evangelical whom I love very much, a “reconciled diversity” by the Holy Spirit. He creates both things: He creates the diversity of charisms and then He creates the harmony of charisms. Therefore, the early theologians of the Church, the early Fathers – I am speaking of the 3rdor 4thcentury – said: “The Holy Spirit is harmony,” because He creates this harmonious unity in diversity.

On this path we have very often done the same thing as Joseph’s brothers, when jealousy and envy have divided us. Those who arrived first wanted to kill their brother – Ruben succeeded in saving him – and then sold him. Our brother John also spoke of this sad story. That sad story in which the Gospel was lived by some as a truth who did not realize that behind this attitude there were ugly things, things that were not of the Lord, a terrible temptation of division. That sad story, in which the same thing was done that Joseph’s brothers did: denunciation, the laws of these people: “it goes against the purity of the race …” And these laws were sanctioned by the baptized! Some of those who made these laws and some of those who persecuted, denounced their Pentecostal brothers because they were “enthusiasts,” almost “madmen “ who ruined the race, some were Catholics … I am the Pastor of Catholics: I ask forgiveness for this! I ask forgiveness or those Catholic brothers and sisters who did not understand and who were tempted by the devil and did the same thing that Joseph’s brothers did. I ask the Lord to He give us the grace to admit and forgive … Thank you![...]

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Lettera43
Trans: Tancred vekron99@homtail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMGD

Pope asks for Pentecostals Forgiveness: "Catholics Who Were Possessed by the Devil"

July 28, 2014 19:44 | Message to the Editor

Pastor Traettino Pope and embrace

(Caserta) Upon the  "private" visit of the Pope by his "friend", the evangelical pastor Giovanni Traettino there were  more than 300 selected guests in Caserta. Pope Francis asked the Evangelicals and Pentecostals for forgiveness for the "assault and slander" that were committed by Catholics.  Literally, the Catholic Church's leader said: "Among those who are members of the Pentecostals were prosecuted or convicted, as if they were madmen who would destroy mankind, were also Catholics." Next, the Pope said: "I am the shepherd of the Catholics, and therefore ask you for forgiveness for those Catholic brothers and sisters who were possessed by the devil and did not understand anything."

Pope Francis said nothing about the timing, nature, and those responsible for the alleged persecution of Pentecostals by the Catholic Church. He also said nothing more about the "possession" of Catholics. The Pope's visit was based on the evangelical "brothers" visit with him at the Vatican. That's why he came to Caserta to meet the "brothers".

It is "a temptation to say: I am the Church, you are the sect. Jesus prayed for unity. The Holy Spirit creates diversity in the Church. He makes the differences. But then Holy Spirit makes the same unity and the church is one in diversity. A diversity reconciled through the Holy Spirit," said Pope Francis according to Lettera43.

It was the first time in a little more than the one hundred year history of the Protestant Pentecostal movement that  the first visit of a Catholic pope at a Pentecostal community took place. The Vatican stressed that the visit of the Pope is  "strictly private", but attached great value to the fact that the meeting is known. As mentioned at the meeting at the Vatican a number of leading evangelical preachers from the U.S. and other countries came to the meeting with the Pope to Caserta.

Following his address Pope Francis prayed the Our Father  with Pastor Traettino and the invited guests. This was followed by a lunch at the community center of Traettino's Denomination.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi 
image: Settimo Cielo / Asianews

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link...

AMGD

The "Secret" Meeting of Pope Francis With Pentecostals in Caserta

Unity in Diversity. Report From the Evangelical Side
on the Meeting with Pope Francis

(Rome) On 26 and 28 July, Pope Francis  has been in Caserta twice already. On Saturday as a public visit for the Catholics of the southern Italian diocese. Then to meet on Monday for a "private visit" with his "friend" Giovanni Traettino, an evangelical pastor (see separate report Pope Francis in Caserta twice - Once for the Evangelicals, Even for Catholics in German). On the question of Catholic-evangelical dialogue, the lawyer, sociologist of religion and former OSCE representative against the discrimination and persecution of Christians, Massimo Introvigne, wrote an essay, which contains some interesting information on the historical development and current issues. The intertitles are from the editorial staff of Katholisches.

The "Secret" Meeting of Pope Francis in Caserta

by Massimo Introvigne

In 1996 I published for the publishing house of the Friars Minor, Messaggero Padova, a book entitled "Aspettando la Pentecost. Il quarto ecumenismo "(waiting for Pentecost. The Fourth Ecumenical Movement), including an interview with Giovanni Traettino. The interview-book found a considerable response in the Catholic charismatic circles and among the Protestants of Italy. In it, I did a public dialogue, of course, in consultation with the interviewee,  in which I had participated in the previous years and had taken place away from the media spotlight and the "official" ecumenism between a significant part of the Catholic Charismatic world and some Protestant Pentecostals. In the same year, Pastor Traettino made known ​​the dialogue in the magazine Charisma, the most widely read publication of the Pentecostal and Charismatic world of the United States.

Thus began a long road that led from the Buenos Aires of the then Cardinal Bergoglio and  will culminate on July 28th in the first private visit of a pope to a pastor of the Pentecostals. On this day, Pope Francis will go to a "Tutorial" with Traettino in Caserta. There he will pay a visit two days in advance to the public on July 26, which had been agreed, according Vatikanistas, so as not to convey the impression that he would be rude to the Catholics of Caserta.This could give the impression that the Pope is thinking mostly about the Protestants of their city.

Why the Pope visits a pastor of the Pentecostals and risks the chance of displeasing some Catholics, but also some Pentecostals and ultra-conservative Protestants, whose negative attitude towards ecumenism and on the internet are already speaking of a "scandal" and a "disgrace" and an implicit recognition of the role of the Pope by Traettino? In order to answer this question  a story must be told in which - as indicated - I also played a small role. But above all, it is important to remember who the Protestant Pentecostals are.

Medjugorje 206 Tour Group Continues Intransigent Disobedience, Montanist Celebrity from Steubenville Ohio Endorses

Edit: never mind that there are Magisterial proclamations against this site, forbidding Catholics from attending pilgrimages.  Never mind that it's heartily endorsed by the Vienna Cardinal, no less, who ignored the local ordinary's admonitions to stay away.  There's money to be made!  We've been made aware of this that a famous EWTN celebrity convert who continues to endorse Medjugorje through the 206 Tour Group,  both of whom are  ignoring Church teaching.  This is a point by point description of the situation which we've not edited in the slightest from ME.

1.) In 1996, the secretary of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith(CDF) wrote: Official pilgrimages to Medjugorje, understood as a place of authentic Marian apparitions, are not permitted to be organized either on the parish or on the diocesan level, because that would be in contradiction to what the Bishops of former Yugoslavia affirmed in their fore mentioned Declaration.
So while pilgrimages to Medjugorje are permitted, they could not be organized by Church bodies (parishes, dioceses) with the understanding that Medjugorje is “a place of authentic Marian apparitions.”
2.) In late October 2014, Cardinal Muller of the CDF issued a letter stating that priests AND the lay faithful "are not permitted to participate in meetings, conferences or public celebrations during which the credibility of such 'apparitions' would be taken for granted." That obviously includes pilgrimages which encourage belief in the apparitions.
Source: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/14-things-to-know-and-share-about-the-new-letter-on-medjugorje#ixzz2wEv13pCW3.) A group called "206 Tours" specializes in providing Catholics with pilgrimages to Catholic holy sites. In a January 18th Facebook update, 206 Tours clearly stated that they will continue to promote Medjugorje pilgrimages despite the CDF letter.
Source: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151990018948392&set=a.173253568391.123395.139209248391&type=1&theater4. Enter Dr. Scott Hahn of EWTN/Franciscan University fame. Dr. Hahn is paid by 206 Tours to help lead pilgrimages. This is evident through a simple Google search or a perusal of the 206 Tours Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/206-Tours/1392092483915. My concern is that, because 206 Tours caters to so many Catholic customers and makes its money off of Catholic holy places, it is unethical for this group to defy the Church on this matter, and it is therefore also unethical for Dr. Hahn to help promote and lend an appearance of legitimacy to this group.

EWTN contact information:

5817 Old Leeds Rd. Irondale, AL 35210-2164
 Canada mail: EWTN PO Box 157 Station A Etobicoke, Ontario, M9C 4V2
Phone: 205-271-2900