Panorama: "Francis Fears a Schism in the Church"

 (Rome) "The Pope fears a schism in the Church" is the headline of an article in the today's edition of the Italian weekly magazine Panorama . "A ghost goes around in the rooms of the Vatican palace and poisons the pope," says Panorama editor Orazio La Rocca.

Tthe pope's worry about a possible schism robs him of sleep. The statement is not presented as a play on words or a mere hypothesis, as was recently claimed, that Francis had declared "self-critically" to the "smallest circle" that he could not exclude himself as the pope in the history who would divide the Church. Walter Mayr reported in the weekly Der Spiegel, just before Christmas. Mayr made the following quotation to the Pope:

"It is not to be ruled out that I may go down in history as the one that divided the Catholic Church."

La Rocca now wrote in Panorama:

"Without discounting the reforms of the papal dicasteries and beginning an inclusive work of purification in the shadows of the dome of St. Peter's for which, however, he has had to count on resistance and criticism, even those who contributed to his election. Francis continues to do this, even giving no weight to them in public. The Holy Father, one wonders at the Curia, fears that this criticism could split the church in the long run. His greatest concern is to keep the Catholics together and to avert any danger of schism. Worries and fears are heard in the Vatican, which have begun in the wake of public initiatives by some cardinals, for example, the famous open letter in which Cardinals Burke, Caffarra, Müller [sic] and Meisner asked for a 'clarification' from the Pope in Doubts (Dubia), which, according to them, had arisen through the admission of remarried divorced to Communion. Doubts, which the Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Congregation of the Faith, Gerhard Ludwig Müller, too, has adopted, has spoken in an alarming interview of 'Dangers' for traditional teaching. More or less veiled objections to which Francis, after months of silence, indirectly responded by giving his placet to the most criticized part by the conservative cardinals, namely the Communion for the remarried divorced, and the publication of a study of a canonical nature of cohabitation."

Issue 4000 of Civiltà Cattolica - Audience with the Pope

La Rocca is creating a simple black-and-white painting: there is the good pope, who is concerned about the church, there are the evil "conservative" cardinals who do not seem to matter. In his hapless reading his research is so inaccurate that he mistook Cardinal Müller for Cardinal Brandmüller among the four signatories of Dubia . It's a proof of how little the author has dealt with the internal Church discussion in the past months. What is firmly established by the article is that the concerns of the four cardinals mentioned are not taken seriously by La Rocca or by Pope Francis. Obviously, the ideologically defined role for La Rocca is so clear that it can be meshed into every (ecclesiastical) story.

All in all, La Rocca's portrayal appears to be unimportant. If Pope Francis were indeed concerned about a possible schism, he would have every opportunity to reply at any time to the Dubia of the four Cardinals, Brandmüller, Burke, Caffarra, and Meisner. Or to invite these cardinals at least to have a conversation. Instead, he uses his energy to evade their questions for months, to send Cardinal Burke to Guam, and to let his closest collaborators publicly denounce the four cardinals. Taking the concerns of others seriously, should look different. If the Pope were to take seriously the concerns of the numerous appellants who had turned to him with appeals to Amoris laetitia, he would not have to worry about possible tendencies to splitting. Since he has not done this and still does not want to do it, La Rocca's report on the concerns of the pope is also unbelievable.

On the 9th of February, the Corriere della Sera published a preface of the discussion that Pope Francis had on the 25th of November 2016 with the General Superiors of 140 men of the order. The complete inscription, made by Father Antonio Spadaro, was published on 11th February in the jubilee edition of the Roman Jesuit publication, Civiltà Cattolica. According to the inscription, Pope Francis then said among other things, that in the administration of the Church there was also a "healthy menefreghismo", or a "healthy indifference".

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Panorama / Civiltà Cattolica (Screenshots)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholilsches...
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Vatican in the Crosshairs of the NSA? Cardinal Bergolio Watched Since 2005 Conclave

(Vatican) According to the weekly magazine Panorama, comparable to the German magazine Focus, the American NSA and the Vatican spy have intercepted phone calls intercepted and read emails. Vatican spokesman Father Lombardi puts a good face on a bad game.

"We know nothing about it and above all we do not have any worries in this respect." With these words, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi tried to downplay reports that the National Security Agency of the USA also systematically monitors the Vatican. These significant technical eavesdropping techniques have even been used against the Pope . According to Panorama against Benedict XVI. and now against Pope Francis, but probably already against John Paul II.

In Italy, as has been confirmed officially, between the 10th of December 2012, and the 8th of January 2013, 46 million phone calls between the U.S. and Italy were recorded by the NSA. Among them are the phone calls to and from the Vatican. Despite the denial of Father Lombardi, there are no illusions at the Vatican. Actually, no one assumes that the Vatican had been excluded from the coverage monitoring. The discussion circles in this context are concerned especially whether the whole preparations for the conclave or of the resignation announcement of Pope Benedict XVI. were also overheard. Just overheard? The distinction between the passive to the active player is fluid in espionage. According to the USA it was about the "national security" and is defined in terms of "national interests" and the particular ideological orientation of the government in Washington.

Italian observers are convinced that the monitoring of course did not only include the period of 10 December to 8 January, but before and after, and probably also applies now.

According to Panorama the Domus Internationalis Paolo VI was among the objects being monitored, and the second guest room of the Vatican, where Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio usually stayed when he was in Rome. As mentioned in the Wikileaks releases is known to the Vatican, Cardinal Bergoglio has been monitored at least since the 2005 conclave, as he was the opposing candidate of Benedict XVI.

Still according to the Panorama report not only were incoming and outgoing phone calls in the Vatican monitored, but also those to cardinals and bishops outside the Vatican were classified and assigned by the NSA to four categories: leadership intentions, threats to financial system, Foreign Policy Objectives, Human Rights.

Among other things, the filling of leadership positions of the Vatican Bank IOR aroused the interest of the American. A few days after Pope Benedict XVI. announced his resignation, a new board president, German banker Ernst von Freyberg, was appointed by the competent Commission of Cardinals for the Vatican Bank with the approval of the Pope. Since the resignation of the Director General Freyberg shall exercise this interim office also from the 1st of July.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
 Image: Vatican Insider
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to katholisches...

H/t to Eye Witness also.  We saw this last night and got around to just translating it and must confess that Voice of Russia and Al Jazeera are not savory sources we like at all, since they have a suspicious point of view.  We have more trust, such as it is, for Panorama.


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