German Tax-Church Receives Record Income As Catholics Defect

CNA Staff, Jul 20, 2020 / 07:15 am MT (CNA).- The Church in Germany received more money in church tax than ever before in 2019 despite losing a record number of members.

According to official figures released Monday, the German Church received 6.76 billion euros ($7.75 billion) in 2019. 

This represents a increase of more than 100 million euros ($115 million)  compared to 2018, when the Church gained 6.64 billion euros from the tax. The rise is believed to be due to the growth of Germany’s economy in 2019.

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Communion For Islamists is Around the Corner

Edit: Anyone in contact with a regular parish setting knows that most priests don’t care if they’re giving Communion to whomever, or whatever. It makes one wonder, that if anything goes on in most NO parishes at all, why safeguard it from sacrilege? It’s just an empty symbol, right? After all, most NO parishes don’t have much respect for the Blessed Sacrament, hence only a minority of Catholics really believe in the real presence.

It’s “common practice” in Germany that Protestants in "mixed marriages" receive Communion, Stefan Orth writes on the German bishops' katholisch.de (February 19). He mentions that the bishops meet this week in order to push for Holy Communion for Protestants.

According to Orth, it is “inconsistent” for the bishops that Protestants are allowed to receive Holy Communion during the wedding ceremony with a Catholic spouse but not afterwards.

This argument is flawed. First, Protestants who do not believe in the Eucharist (otherwise they were not Protestants) and never go to confession which is a precondition for receiving the sacrament, are never allowed to receive Communion. Second, Orth hushes up that for decades it has been a common practice in his country to invite all Protestants to receive Holy Communion. So what the bishops push for, has already been introduced.

This shows the pattern according to which Germany and later the Vatican subvert the Catholic faith: They first tolerate outrageous abuses and then proceed to "legalising" them.

Germany has a big Moslem population. It is a question of time until those Moslems will be invited to receive Communion, if they are not already.

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"Pope Francis is a Reformer Like Martin Luther" -- Margo Käßmann in "Osservatore Romano"

Edit: Käßmann is the first female Lutheran Bishop who was arrested for drunk driving in 2010, yet never the less, appears frequently to promote gender ideology, contraception and heresy at events staged in the fabulously wealthy German Catholic Tax-Church.   

(Rome) German Catholic media started ​​it, the Osservatore Romano now follows, and is "celebrating" the commemoration of the Protestant Reformation with pleasantries. On May 7, the daily newspaper of the Pope published the article "A Year to Celebrate the Reformation". From October 31 2016 to the October 31, 2017 "the German Evangelical Church has" a calendar full of events.

"The 500-year celebration of the Protestant Reformation will last exactly one year, which is traditionally associated with the publication of the Disputatio per declaratione virtutis Indulgentiarum which was in conjunction with the 95 theses, which Martin Luther nailed at the door of the episcopal church of Wittenberg in Saxony-Anhalt on 31 October 1517," said Osservatore Romano .

The kickoff  on October 31, 2016 will be a "great ceremony in the Marienkirche of Berlin". In May 2017 the "World Exhibition" in Wittenberg will take place, where "the products derived from the Reformation in the various countries and churches,  but also the fruits of culture and civil society," will be showcased.

The Kirchentag will be held from May 24-28.  A Kirchentag "in motion", which will be held in eight German cities, and then all will merge in Wittenberg for its completion.

"The German Evangelical Church has been preparing for this anniversary beginning in 2008 with a way of contemplating and to set up a network between 69 cities of the Reformation in Germany and in Europe, important places for the history and the presence of Protestantism. The conclusion of the festivities will take place at the national and international level on 31 October 2017 with a number of public events. The calendar of the ecumenical events is rich," said the Vatican daily.

Ecumenism is "in a very good state, thanks to Pope Francis"

"We can 2017 make a critical revision daring to see the reformation on an international and ecumenical horizon as a complex factor," said the "theologian and Lutheran Bishop Margot Käßmann, Ambassador of  Luther Year" recently held at a Catholic-Lutheran Reformation Conference at Pontifical Athenaeum Sant'Anselmo in Rome.

Käßmann said this about Ecumenism in an interview with Vatican Insider:

"We are in a very good stage because ecumenism on the one hand is a discussion about what the Church, the Eucharist, baptism, officials, means, but then also acting as Christians in the world, and since we are currently [the Catholic Church] very close, thanks to Pope Francis, a reformer in his Church, as Martin Luther a reformer was in his."

For Käßmann, said Osservatore Romano, it was "a good opportunity" to ask, "what we can find in his other church, which we did not." As a specific example she cited: "What I really admire about the Roman Catholic Church is that it preserves the global unity of the Church, despite the many internal differences."

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Photo: Osservatore Romano (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

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The Double Standard Continues -- C8 Kasperian Cardinals in Lap of Luxury Get a Pass -- German Tax-Church Dominates World Church

Edit:  Since Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone is again in the news about his "luxurious" living quarters with which Pope Bergoglio, from his entire floor in a four star hotel, was once furious, we thought it would be a good idea to remind people about Cardinal Marx's luxurious lifestyle, whether he's driving in a BMW 730Ld with 258 PS. In comparison to Marx's palace villa in Rome, Cardinal Bertone's expenditure is around 300,000 Euros for his apartment sounds rather modest, but you wouldn't know that from most of the English language coverage, again, such as the Daily Beast, which has nothing but praise for the Pope's "humble" living quarters. 

Cardinal Marx certainly isn't the only one in the German Bishops' Conference with such lavish accomodations, including a 10 million euro villa in Rome and a rennovation project that far outspent the disgraced Bishop Tebarstz-van Elst's project, but then, he's been entrusted to the Pope's fabulous C9.

Yes, the following article is about three years old and nothing much has been done about Marx's lavish lifestyle.  We expect that the corrupt German Tax-Church enjoys a great deal of approval far and wide.  What does that say about the malignancy of those who hail these men as worthy prelates?  We still don't understand how Cardinal Zollitsch was able to get away with trying to push Tebartz-van Elst to suicide.... Of course, the German Church does continue to bleed members who are opting out of paying for the Church-Tax. Apparently, the burial and convalescent home coverage which is covered by this aren't enough of an enticement.

This is also something to think about with respect to the Kasperians lording it over the rest of the Church.

The article is from Welt.de:

A noble rococo palace in Munich's old town is the recent home of Archbishop Marx. The restoration of the magnificent building has cost 8.7 million euros - paid mostly by Bavaria.

 The official residence of the archbishops of Munich and Freising in rococo palace Holnstein in Munich is now ready after years of restoration. The edifice, built by court architect François de Cuvilliés was renovated in 2008 for 8.7 euros.

One of the showpieces is a restored ceiling fresco by the painter and plasterer Johann Baptist Zimmermann in the historic staircase. had succeeded in consuming work, largely to enable the painting of allegorical figures of Justitia (right) and Pax (Peace) back to its original state, said the head of the Department of Art at the Archdiocese, Norbert Jocher. The Munich Archbishop Cardinal Reinhard Marx did not participate in the tour.

Chandeliers, tiled stoves, dressers

The house is one of the few Baroque mansions that have survived almost intact. In several rooms an old chandelier was also mounted in light Murano glass. Valuable too are the two baroque ornamental ceramics, but they are not just decorative.

In addition, some furniture such as dressers were erected in the 18th century. Several paintings, including two works by Zimmermann, were donated by the Freisinger Museum from its storage.

Archbishops Immortalized in Paintings

Another new feature is the gallery of the archbishops. The contemporary Düsseldorf painter Thomas Jessen immortalized in paintings the dignitaries who have resided in the Palais, from Lothar Anselm Freiherr von Gebsattel (archbishop from 1821 to 1846) on to Pope Benedict XVI. up to the current Archbishop Cardinal Reinhard Marx.

Otherwise offices, representative reception rooms, guest rooms and a chapel are housed, with an altar from the 18th century in the structure. Marx also has his office here and a service apartment with roof terrace.

Church paid around 2.2 million euros

Financing of the work was largely by Bavaria, to which the Palace belongs. Around 2.2 million euros were contributed by the Church. With the renovation, many structural damage had to be removed, including dry rot. Since last March, Archbishop Marx has lived in a newly refurbished residential and commercial seat.

Elector Albrecht had the palace erected from 1733 to 1737 for his illegitimate son, Franz Ludwig Graf von Holnstein. Since 1821 it has been the residential and official residence of the archbishops of Munich and Freising.

dpa / ah

Cardinal Brandmüller: "The Churches Empty, and the Coffers Are Filled"

Cardinal Brandmüller criticized German bishops: have not the bishops promised at ordination to proclaim the Gospel of Christ faithfully and to preserve the deposit of faith in the Church always holding tradition pure and complete?

Rome (kath.net) The German Cardinal Walter Brandmüller has directed harsh criticism of the German Bishops on certain social developments in an interview with the "Rheinische Post". When asked whether the affluent Church has a lesson to learn by being publicly beaten, Brandmüller said that it is the forces that dominate so-called public opinion, which has succeeded in formulating laws of "political correctness". Anyone contrary to this, is risking a media execution.

At the same time we have the phenomenon of the spiral of silence. In this succession, the majority which may see such an execution sits in silence. "The fact that such behavior was appropriate to Christians when it comes to fundamental questions of faith and morals of Christ's Gospel, no one will argue. What did we say when received the Sacrament of Confirmation? And: Did not the bishops promise at their ordination, to proclaim the Gospel of Christ faithfully and to preserve the deposit of faith, according to what was always and everywhere held in the Church's tradition, purely and completely," said Brandmüller. The cardinal recalled that the good Shepherd is not likely to be afraid of the wolves. He sees the Christian spirit the most in youthful movements and communities, but not in "ecclesiastical establishment."

Critical to Brandmüller was then also critical of the "institutional tank" of the Catholic Church in Germany. "What good is a 'Catholic' kindergarten when Santa Claus, an the Easter Bunny, etc. is mentioned instead of Jesus Christ? What help is a Catholic 'hospital when there get there no priest, no sister, who prays for the sick and operations are performed, which are contrary to the Christian moral law? It would be better, indeed necessary, in fact, that the Church is separated from such ballast, if it is not possible to fill the empty vessels with a Christian spirit," says the Cardinal.

To the development that believers are becoming fewer and that money increases, Brandmüller says that this is absurd. "The churches empty, and the coffers are filled. What is in place is a self-sufficient expensive apparatus, which drowns the voice of the Gospel with his rattling. Here, in fact, detachment from the world is called for, that is a thought that does not follow earthly economic principles, but the truth of the faith. We should at last, instead of preaching a 'Christianity light', have the courage to call for a program contrasted from today's the social mainstream, and exemplify what the Ten Commandments and the ethics of the New Testament contain. This alternative to the morbid world of antiquity was then a successful program. It would also prove its attraction again today. " Entire Interview with: Walter Cardinal Brandmüller in German: "The good shepherd must not be afraid of wolves" Link to Kath.net...

Trans: Tancred vekon99@hotmail.com

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