Amoris Laetitia: Pope Francis Has Proposed a "New Form of Application" of Ecclesiastical Doctrine

(Rome) Is the Spanish Episcopal Conference forging the path that the whole Church will soon be using to follow the Apostolic Letter Amoris Laetitia? Yesterday  Archbishop Carlos Osoro of Madrid, the deputy president of the Spanish Bishops' Conference held a press conference yesterday. He was accompanied by the rector of the seminary of his archdiocese, a professor of the Pontifical University of Salamanca, José María Gil Tamayo, Secretary General of the Episcopal Conference and two Jesuits who played an important role.

Ambiguities of "Amoris Laetitia" bring Archbishop of Madrid to embarrassment 

One wants to "value" the Exhortation of Pope Francis explained Archbishop Osoro the reason for the press conference. In this, however, it became clear that there is considerable unrest among clergy since Amoris Laetitia and there are numerous requests from priests asking how  they would have to act now.

After 55 minutes of the theoretical explanations involving the controversial aspects of Amoris Laetitia, there was ​​a detour, then came the first question from journalists and it was aimed immediately on the ambiguities in the papal document.  How do you respond to the "possible paradox" that a priest could grant the divorced and remarried communion and another does not.

It was one question that brought Archbishop Osoro and the others present to clear embarrassment. No one wanted to answer the question until finally the Jesuit Pablo Guerrero, pastoral theologian at the Pontifical University of Comillas, gave an answer that none of the others present contradicted, not even Archbishop Osoro.

"That would have put this decision at the discretion of the priest. But this is not the case. The Pope has asked in a clear exercise of synodality and communion with the entire College of Bishops of the Church Pastors of each diocese, to appoint the priests of his diocese a number of general and equal criteria in order to avoid arbitrary judgments. No priest should feel as if he is the owner of the word of God," Father Guerrero.

"New Style of the Magisterium" not divided into "good" and "bad"

All participants of the press conference stressed that the Church's teaching "does not change". Pope Francis had  proposed to the bishops, however, "a new form of application" of this doctrine. The papal letter "recommends," said Father Julio Martinez, Rector of the Pontifical University of Comillas and the second Jesuit at the conference table, not to divide the world into "Pure and Impure" and not in "good and bad".

"The full recognition of the Magisterium is not inconsistent with an internal Church debate. We are facing a new style of  Magisterium. It is about the harmonious coexistence between salvation and morality in order not to fall into a religious rigor."

With this the Spanish Episcopal Conference seems to acknowledge the softening of the indissolubility of marriage.  Because with the aforementioned "universal and equal criteria" that should be given to the priests in guiding, implicitly recognizing that there are situations in which the indissoluble marriage is still dissoluble. At the same time, the Episcopal Conference is trying to prevent anarchic situation  that according to Amoris Laetitia, every priest could decide at their own discretion. The Episcopal Conference is expected to draw the question of "general and identical criteria" for the clergy itself.

"Tactical finesse" of the Pope?

Prior to the publication of the post-synodal letter was, depending on the position, the worry or the hope was cherished that Pope Francis could adopt a general rule that it would accept the divorced and remarried to communion so that recognizes the divorced and remarried and lifts the indissolubility of sacramental marriage. That would have been guilty of heresy in the eyes of the defenders of the marriage sacrament. He did nothing of the sort  and everything else. The "tactical finesse" ( Secretum meum mihi ), as now emphasized by proponents and critics, lies precisely in the absence of a general rule. Thus Francis has introduced no new rule, but even more has not confirmed the existing traditional rule. He proves to be a "door opener", without being challenged on it.

In "pursuit of synodality" as the Jesuit Guerrero put it at the press conference in Madrid,  Francis put the iron in the fire by the convening of the Synod of Bishops on Marriage and Family. With Amoris Laetitia he is pushing the now-hot iron to the bishops, which specifically, since their introduction by the Second Vatican Council, is what Episcopal Conferences are meant to do. Through the unrest  borne into the church, among the faithful and the clergy, the bishops are obliged to adopt this general rule, to which the Pope has renounced.

The question is shifted to 130 Episcopal Conferences and 3,000 Dioceses

Pope Francis has burst the door open so that every Episcopal Conference and every diocesan bishop may adopt criteria to allow divorced and remarried to communion. The traditional doctrine must now be confirmed individually by each Episcopal Conference and every diocesan bishop. The probability that there will be at least only one Episcopal Conference or a bishop who softens the indissolubility of sacramental marriage is based on approximately 130 global Episcopal Conferences and Synods of Bishops and nearly 3,000 dioceses is quite likely. In any case, a question valid for the unity of the entire world Church is a question to be answered a hundred times.

The Spanish Episcopal Conference feels the actual or even perceived pressure of the faithful and priests. Uncertainties caused by Amoris Laetitia were palpable at the press conference in Madrid. Neither has it been consistently reaffirmed if the indissolubility of marriage actually means indissolubility, neither has it been affirmed that this logically leads to a categorical no to admission to the sacraments public adulterers, as it has always taught the Church.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Religion Confidencial (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Edit: just a small point of disagreement.  This has been ongoing for a long time since the Episcopal Conferences were put into effect, and the tragic results in terms of the implementation of the Bugnigine Missal are clear for anyone to see who cares to. It reminds us of Father Malachi Martin's explanation of the "superforce" as that diabolical grip on the Church, freezing even some of the most fervent defenders of the Church into general inaction and lassitude.

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Cardinal Müller: Pope Is Not Above the Word of God and the Catholic Faith

Edit: Rorate tends to understate things.  They want a sober response.  We'd like to offer this translation of Giuseppe Nardi's appreciation of their take on Cardinal Müller's recent letter appearing in the Osservatore Romano and additional commentary from other important Italian blogs.

(Rome) The extremely progressivist French newspaper Golias has sounded the alarm because of the "danger" that churchmen like the Cardinals Burke, Müller, Ranjith, Cañizares, Ouellet, Sarah and other "young cardinals" could prevent further "liberalization" of the constitution of the Church  with support of older cardinals like Scola, Pell and Caffarra.

The traditional  website Chiesa e Postconcilio contrast wrote: "God allows evil only so it is good bring about an even greater good. The immense disorder in the Bishops'  Synod on the Family led to wonderful declarations of faith by high-ranking prelates, the signs of hope for the future of the Church."

Cardinal Gerhard Müller is prefect of the Congregation and one of the five cardinals who wrote for the anthology "Remain in the Truth of Christ" along with the other bearers of the purple,  Brandmüller, De Paolis, Burke and Caffarra for the Synod of Bishops on the family in 2014.  Recently he had made ​his lecture public ​on the website of the CDF,  the referendum on the 13th of January by the Hungarian Esztergom on "The Theological Nature of the Doctrinal  Commissions and the Office of Bishops as Teachers of the Faith."

Put things into place

"In a very Ratzingerian way" says Rorate Caeli , "Cardinal Müller (referring to the Motu Proprio Apostolos Suos of John Paul II.), puts things in their place." He distinguishes between the supplementary authority of the Bishops and their organs, such as the Commissions on Faith, which are tasked to harmonize the various pastoral orientations, and the divine right of the successors of the apostles, that is of a different nature, and to the  extent makes them  teachers and guardians of the faith for their local churches, as they accept at the same time, the universal Church in union with the supreme pastor, the Pope.

The Cardinal recently wrote about this: "So the predicates of the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church in the Roman Church  are realized a fortiori. Since ancient times it has called forth the Holy Roman Church - not because of the subjective holiness of her head and her members, but because of the holiness of its specific mission which is to pass down and preserves intact the apostolic tradition, the deposit of faith.".

The following passage in the speech by Cardinal Müller on the papal magisterium held some attention in Rome:

Cardinal Mülller: The Pope 'like all believers - is subject to the word of God and the Catholic faith "

"At the level of the universal Church the special mission of the Successor of Peter is especially mentioned to strengthen his brethren in the faith (cf.. Lc 22,32). This is not the place to deal with the doctrine of papal infallibility, but the characteristic and ultimate responsibility of the Roman Pontiff  emphasizes protecting healthy doctrine. In its "Considerations on the Primacy of the Successor of Peter in the Mystery of the Church "of 1998, the Congregation declared: 'The bishop of Rome is - like all believers - subject to the word of God and the Catholic faith. He is the guarantee for the obedience of the Church and in this sense servus servorum. He decides according to his own will, but it is voice  the will of the Lord who speaks to man in Scripture lived and interpreted by tradition. In other words, the episkope of primacy has limits, resulting from the law of God and contained in   revelation  in the untouchable divine institution of the Church. The Successor of Peter is the rock that against arbitrariness and conformism, he guarantees a relentless fidelity to the Word of God: It also follows the  martyrological characters of his primacy.'"

Cardinal Sarah: "Some want to sacrifice Christ's message for relativistic ideology of the West"

Cardinal Robert Sarah

Cardinal Robert Sarah, the new prefect of the Roman Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments made ​​it clear in his recently published book, "God or nothing" (Dieu ou rien) in France this week that he is on the "same wavelength" (on Rorate Caeli ). Cardinal Sarah explained in moving detail from his life and shows his solid theology and spiritual claims that he is a priest and pastors of the Church.The language of the African bishop and cardinal, who risked his life more than once, "reached a formal level, when he speaks of the relativistic ideology of the West, to which some want to sacrifice the message of Christ" and all there - as it is now fashionable - to adorn this  with winning quotes from Pope Francis, says Rorate Caeli.

Cardinal Müller: "Clean the Temple"

On February 8,Osservatore Romano published under the title "Purifying the Temple" a above-cited article by Cardinal Müller in Italian, in the German edition has appeared under the official title " Theological criteria for a reform of the Church and the Roman Curia", [Our translation, no idea where the English version is right now, will continue to check.] Müller points to the fact that the real reforms in Church history were always spiritual and not political reforms. The Curial reform must therefore, if it is to be of real importance for the renewal of the Church, be a spiritual reform in the first place. Its organizational structure and its operation must be subordinated to the special mission of the Successor of Peter.

In the words of Cardinal Müller: "The Curia is not a secular administrative structure, it is an essentially spiritual device that is rooted in the special mission of the Church of Rome, which is sanctified by the martyrdom of the Apostles Peter and Paul. (...) The structural organization and operation of the Curia has its measure in the specific mission of the Bishop of Rome. This [officeholder?] is defined as the Successor of Peter, the gift of Christ to his Church "the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity of the multiplicity of both bishops and of the faithful" (Lumen Gentium, 23). "

Cardinal Müller's criticism of permanent synod as part of the church leadership

Cardinal Oscar Maradiaga

He continued: "As we can differ only in the light of revealed faith from a purely human religious community, the Church, so we understand only in faith that the Pope and the bishops have a sacramental and healing supreme power  that connects us with God. This  distinguishes them from leaders those  religious community springs from sociological and organizational foundations," Cardinal Müller.

One  sentence rings forth with especial clarity: "The Synod of Bishops, the Episcopal Conferences and other coalitions of bishops belong to a different theological category than the Roman Curia." It's a direct criticism of a new idea that has formed in the circle of the C9 Cardinal Council, which is mandated to propose suggestions for the reform of the Curia. According to the new idea, ​the Synod of Bishops should become a sort of permanent institution that is part of the Roman dicasteries by a permanent delegation and should thus have a direct stake in Church leadership. [Like a sort of Universal Catholic Council of Bishops?] The spokesman for extending the influence of episcopal collegiality with a new Synodality is the Honduran, Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga.

"In definitive words, the Cardinals Miller and Sarah  express that which differs from figures such as Baldisseri, Marx, Tagle and Kasper," said Rorate Caeli.

Text: Giuseppe Mardi
image: Messa in Latino
Trans: Tancred verkon99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMDG

Swiss Bishop Attempting to Derail Reconciliation with the SSPX

Edit: His Lordship, the Bishop of Lausanne, appears as ill-informed about the dialogue as he is unwilling to concede good will on the part of Bishop Fellay. For someone who had participated in the dialogue, he is suspiciously unwilling to admit what other Church figures have been willing to admit, that there are two forces controlling the dialog. There is one which is willing to grant the SSPX recognition without any expectations, and there is another force which is completely uninterested in reconciliation and will look for pretexts and attempt to create an atmosphere of distrust.

Many blogs have pointed out that Protestant heretics are allowed to use Church property in the Diocese of Lausanne, but will dissident groups also be allowed to use these facilities? It seems to us that the SSPX's only true crime is that they have the temerity not only to hold, but to teach the Catholic Faith as well.

Here's the article in German from the Radio Vatican webpage:

Switzerland:  "The Society is Irresponsible"

[Radio Vatican] The Bishops of Lausanne, Genf and Fribourg, Charles Morerod reiterates his skepticism about the SSPX. In an interview with Vatican Radio, Morerod, who was before his episcopal ordination part of a Vatican dialogue commission with the Society, made a statement on Wednesday evening about a decree that prohibits the use church space in his diocese by the Society.

"I am surprised that we're speaking of it now, because I have published this decree. It was the decree but in September 2011 was decided by the Episcopal Conference, from when I did not even belonged to it! So I thought it was already prepared on my desk when I became a bishop, and was told that the Bishops' Conference each of its members were given the freedom if they wanted to publish it or not. The Bishop of Sion and the abbot of Saint-Maurice have therefore published a decree in January 2012, the bishops of Basel and St. Gallen then in February 2012. When you consider that the seat of the SSPX is located in the jurisdiction of the diocese of Basel and the seminary at the area of the Diocese of Sion, I am astounded that they did not show any reaction, more than that year. "

Moreover, the decree also say regarding the SSPX anything new compared to episcopal directives from the year 1999.

"There's really nothing new in this regard - almost nothing new. Except that at one point there is an update, because the text of Benedict XVI was quoted from the year 2009. So I waited before the publication of the decree for a year because I wanted to see, first of all, the evolution of the dialogue. And I have to say I was disappointed in how the dialogue developed " [Wishful thinking, perhaps?]

This disappointment was associated mainly with a book of one of the bishops of the SSPX: It examines the theology Benedict XVI. , accusing the Pope several times "without talking about the grist" before, to be heretical. That was indeed "serious" says Bishop Morerod.

"But I said then: After all, not even the Superior General of the SSPX, who wrote that. This one - that Bishop Fellay - but had asked the other bishops to be more conciliatory. So maybe there was hope? But then I see in November 2011, the text of a sermon by Bishop Fellay, who said among other things: we can not recognize the so-called New Mass as it is allowed. I said to myself: Well, really - this shows that our dialogue did not help much. And then Fellay said in a sermon: We are in terms of the dialogue now, back at the same point where we were in 1975 already. He asserted practical: What we have done, has brought nothing, except that it has probably worsened the situation even "!

[Bishop Fellay has never said anything about the way the Holy Father says Mass. We're afraid that such gratuuitous leaps are unhelpful, unless they're meant to help those who don't want the SSPX situation resolved.]

"Serious problems for Unity"

"Deeply irresponsible": this is what Bishop Morerod took from what the head of the SSPX then declared in December during a visit to Canada. There are, according to Fellay, the "enemies of the Church," namely "Jews and Freemasons" who sabotaged the talks in the Vatican with the Society and halted it.

"This is deeply irresponsible, not only because it is a very harsh criticism at the Vatican, but also because the story we ought to have taught that one should abstain from such a manner of speaking about the Jews better! The Council's teaching and the visits of John Paul II and Benedict XVI. in the Roman synagogue, which have criticized the way the SSPX always show a different face of the Catholic Church! And I do not want priests, who claim to be Catholic, the Catholic Mass as, classify bad 'or the Jews call enemies of the Church, because I think this is disturbing. "

And yet the western Swiss Bishop was afraid to flatly describe the SSPX as "schismatic". Their classification by the Roman Catholic Church is currently even now "unclear".

"It's not clear, because the Church sought to use its benevolence in its approach. But when a bishop of the Society, without being denounced, accuses the Pope of being a heretic, the Superior General, then the describes the Eucharist, which the Pope celebrates, as ' bad ' rank and insist that it brings 'the loss of faith with itself', I would say: This provides at least serious trouble for unity! "

Morerod indicates that he has not spoken with members of the SSPX in his diocese. Although he was willing to meet, but there is in the west of Switzerland not so many SSPX. That talks with the Society could ultimately lead to their agreement with the Vatican, the Bishop looks decidedly skeptical. Finally, the attitude of Fellay has "hardened since last fall even further."

"But when I'm away too pessimistic now - all the better! Finally, I would be the first one would be happy if things should be all right after all. A decree as what we - I emphasize: not only I, but we bishops - have signed, can be indeed change again if the situation changes. That would be even better. "
Link Radio Vatican ...