What Vatican II REALLY Was -- According to a Papabile

An appraisal of the Second Vatican Council from the mouth of a Bergoglian Papabile.

On October 11, 60 years ago, the Second Vatican Council opened. On this occasion an interview was conducted with Cardinal Matteo Zuppi to look back and take stock: What was the Second Vatican Council and what is left of it? Matteo Zuppi, member of the Community of Sant'Egidio, was appointed Archbishop of Bologna in 2015 by Pope Francis, in the spirit of a Bergoglian “kindness”, succeeding Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, visited by Francis in Bologna in 2017, created Cardinal in 2019, and 2022 by named by him as his deputy to the Italian Bishops' Conference. Since he received the purple, Cardinal Zuppi has been considered a possible papabile in the coming conclave, which is why his remarks are of particular importance. The historian and publicist Cristina Siccardi analyzed the interview.

Vatican II and the hopes and disappointments of Cardinal Zuppi

By Cristina Siccardi*

When Vatican II opened 60 years ago, on October 11, 1962, the progressive faction of the assembly, a minority, was scraping. Its protagonists stood ready, prepared and enthusiastic for the revolutionary changes that Pope John XXIII made possible. who, for no apparent reason, had decided to convene a council for a Church that was to be "dusted" with new and exciting goals - above all, no longer condemning the theological errors and mistakes of the world, but resolving towards them to accept and follow the secularized and anti-Christian "signs of the times".

Time is, as they say, a “gentleman”, we just have to practice the virtue of patience, and the causes of these revolutionary decisions have led to a physiological derailment of their effects. Through the decades we can make an informed assessment of motives and consequences, and we have evidence of this in the protagonists of the time themselves, which we hear and read with great Christian reverence. There is a poverty and sparseness in their elaborations that is embarrassingly impressive: they are ex-revolutionaries who have glorified themselves and are now stunned, with nothing left to say and groping in the dark, seeking support they cannot find, and about tripping over the shards that they themselves have broken.

"Cold Sweat Ran Down Our Backs"

Pope Francis quoted the conciliar theologian Henri de Lubac on Sunday, whom he also quoted in his last address as a cardinal before his papal election.

Bergoglio cites Jesuit Henri de Lubac

(Rome) "Two days after the election of Francis, with the illusion of being wrong, we expressed the thought that now the time could begin to put into practice what a certain author of the Nouvelle Théologie, Henri de Lubac, said in one of his writings,” as Secretum meum mihi recalls.

A few days later, "cold sweat ran down our backs," the blogger continued, when Cardinal Jaime Ortega, Archbishop of Havana, published Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio's final speech before his election as pope, in which he quoted de Lubac had, and thus "confirmed the fear".

Looking back is obvious, since on Sunday, August 14th, Francis again quoted the conciliar theologian of the Nouvelle Théologie, who still makes a "cold sweat" run down their backs of many people. Before praying the Angelus in St. Peter's Square, the Pope meditated on the Gospel of the 20th Sunday of the Church Year (Year C) of the Novus Ordo, which Francis said is "the only expression of the lex orandi of the Roman Rite," as stated in his Motu proprio Traditionis custodes and confirmed in his Apostolic Exhortation Desiderio desideravi. The Pope said:

“'Indeed', says one theologian, 'faith in God reassures us, but not in the way we wish: that is, not to give us a crippling illusion or a blissful satisfaction, but to empower action'.”

Francis did not say which theologians were involved. His name and a source are only found in the official reproduction of the speech on the Holy See's website: "De Lubac, About the Ways of God, Milan 2008, p. 184". The Spanish translation names the book but not its author.

Henri de Lubac was one of the key figures who prepared the ground for the Second Vatican Council and set the premises under which it met and unfolded. Under the influence of the post-conciliar period, de Lubac then changed course and founded the magazine Communio in 1972 together with Hans Urs von Balthasar and Joseph Ratzinger, which was intended to represent a counterweight to the magazine Concilium , which fueled the "conciliar spirit". 

For the overall assessment, it is important that the journals mentioned did not oppose modernists and traditionalists, but rather radical and moderate supporters of the Second Vatican Council, comparable to the Girondists and Jacobins at the time of the French Revolution.

De Lubac now lamented the feverish agitation with which the Council's interpretation was usurped. De Lubac belonged to that conciliar faction, as did the then theologian Joseph Ratzinger, who were appalled by the radicalism with which a section which they had hitherto seen as partisans of the same cause was proceeding. The more moderate ones like de Lubac and Ratzinger had helped these radicals to open Pandora's box.

This reversal was also the reason why de Lubac was elevated to the rank of cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 1983. However, even these representatives of the moderate faction could not really part with the fundamental necessity of the Council and also the correctness of the path it had taken. This was shown in a way that was as significant as it was tragic in Benedict XVI's last speech as pope, which he held shortly before his abdication to the Roman clergy. The lack of ultimate consequence seems to be a major reason why Benedict XVI. has failed in his efforts to correct course, indeed had to fail, as some observers believe.

It seems doubtful that Francis is citing Henri de Lubac for what John Paul II created him a cardinal for. The papal favor seems to have more in mind that de Lubac, who prepared the ground for the ecclesiastical '68 with the Nouvelle Théologie, which started a few years before the Paris student protests in May 1968.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Twitter (Screenshots)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

The Second Vatican Council Was Manipulated Through Obvious Acts of Sabotage

The Second Vatican Council must be discussed, says the Vaticanist Americo Mascarucci.

(Rome) Much attention is being paid to the debate on a revision of the Second Vatican Council, which was started by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano. It moves Catholics who take their faith seriously and live and suffer with their Church. The journalist and Vaticanist Americo Mascarucci, author of two books on the pontificate of Pope Francis, also speaks. In 2018, "The Revolution of Pope Francis was published. How the Church transforms from Don Milani to Luther"[1] and in 2019 a book on the changes in the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) "The Church in Politics. How the CEI has changed from Ruini to Pope Francis"[2] Marco Tosatti has published the statement of his colleague on the proposal of Archbishop Vigano.

After a short introduction, "I am not a theologian", but "a simple journalist who is passionate about  Vatican affairs," Mascarucci comes straight to the point.

"The historian Roberto De Mattei refuted in his book "The Second Vatican Council: A Hitherto Untold History" the thesis of the hermeneutics of continuity, which both Wojtyla and Ratzinger were so concerned with, and proved that it is impossible to separate the Council from the errors that followed it. (...) Today, De Mattei's thesis seems to be taking shape in the face of certain behaviours typical of the current pontificate, precisely where the Council becomes the cover for certain, at least questionable, positions to be reclaimed."

Pope Francis was "perhaps the best example of how the Second Vaticanum, far from renewing itself in the sign of continuity, was rather the event that put an end to the Catholic Church as the only Church of Christ in apostolic continuity, the one and only Church in which salvation lies."

According to Mascarucci, the theologian and philosopher Karl Rahner's thesis, "a great supporter of the Council as a break with tradition," according to which it is not belonging to the Church that guarantees salvation, but that the just conscience, which is oriented towards good, brings people closer to God, even if they do not believe in him (the theory of the 'anonymous Christian'), "seems to be the guiding star today, on which the current Pope orients himself."

"It is no coincidence that he is applauded and praised more by atheists than by practicing Catholics, and that he has never made a secret of having a greater affinity for certain infidels like Eugenio Scalfari than with the so-called traditionalist Catholics."

Thus, if it is not possible to separate the errors from the Council, "then it is not possible to believe that the schism of Isolotto, which developed in "Catho-Communist Florence," which gathered around the ideas of Giorgio La Pira, was the result of a false interpretation of the Counciliar spirit".

This entreaty requires a little excursion.

The schism of Isolotto

The schism of isolotto from 1968 refers to the one between the pastor of the Florentine district of Isolotto, Don Enzo Mazzi, and his archbishop. Don Mazzi, a "worker priest" who seemed to have more in common with Communists and Socialists than with the Christian Democrats, followed his own course. He justified this with the aim of "overcoming the dividing lines between believers and unbelievers, between good and bad, between priests and laymen, between the sacramental and the profane, between the parties." He made changes to the liturgy by introducing the vernacular and celebrating Mass facing the people. He was supported by Giorgio La Pira, then the mayor of Florence on the left.

Don Mazzi demonstrated against the Americans in Vietnam, showed solidarity with blacks in the United States, and supported a group of students from the Catholic University of Milan, which occupied Parma cathedral in September 1968 as part of the student protests. While Pope Paul VI condemned the action, Don Mazzi showed solidarity with the students. When Don Mazzi held a "basic democratic" meeting of his parish, even though his archbishop had forbidden it, he deposed him as a pastor.

Don Mazzi did not, however, depart, but founded a "base community" in the District of Isolotto as a substitute for the deprived parish, which became the model of the base communities in Europe. That was the schism. In 1974 he was suspended a divinis and was no longer allowed to exercise his priesthood. Shortly thereafter, he was transferred back to the layman. Although the basic community was not recognized by the Church, it was visited by like-minded priests from all over the world who celebrated there.

Mazzi himself became a permanent columnist for the left-leaning daily La Repubblica by Eugenio Scalfari and the Communist daily Il Manifesto. His last book, "The Value of Heresy"[3], was published there in 2010. Mazzi died in 2011 at the age of 84. According to his final request, his body was burned.

So we return to Mascarucci's remarks.

Therefore, the commitment of many Catholics to the side of the Communist Party or the support of divorce in the referendum by well-known priests and theologians was not the result of a "false interpretation" of the Council. Nor was it  due to a "misinterpretation" that Giacomo Cardinal Lercaro, Archbishop of Bologna from 1952 to 1968 and one of the four Council moderators, "in the middle of the Cold War, delivered his famous sermon against the Vietnam War and American imperialism, while the Communists drowned the uprisings in the countries of Eastern Europe in blood and tortured priests and religious."

The Second Vaticanum was manipulated by outright sabotage

Archbishop Vigano had rightly pointed it out:

"The Second Vatican Council was in fact manipulated by veritable acts of sabotage, which, inside and outside, saw proper centers of conspiracy at work. Among these, an organization called Opus Angeli deserves attention, whose main initiators were the ultra-progressive Belgian Cardinal Léon-Joseph Suenens and the Brazilian Bishop Helder Camara, one of the most important representatives of the liberation theologyoften praised by Francis."

They tried "with the support of powerful media they attempted to influence the work of the Council and, above all, its final result.

"Although they failed, that the Council should approve their civil rights agenda, the abolition of priestly celibacy, the opening up to the priesthood of women and the change in sexual morality by allowing the laity to use artificial contraceptives for birth control by colusion with the state, they were very adept at clouding the clear water, confusing the contents and contaminating the texts, so that a free and ambiguous interpretation of the council documents and the doctrine of faith was opened to a modernist key, which became the basis for the errors following the Council.'

Pope John Paul II recognized many of the wrong developments and made an active, sometimes courageous, effort to put the Council on the right path in its perception and effect. He was tirelessly supported by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, his Prefect of Doctrine and the Faith.

"But he too was misled on some issues that abounded, perhaps because he was the first foreign pope in the midst of a Vatican curia still wholly controlled by Italians, the heirs of the Montini era, who themselves were often associated with the Council period and its errors."

In other words, Mascarucci says, the hard line taken against Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the great critic of the Council, and the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X, which he founded, cannot be explained. A line vigorously defended by Cardinal Secretary of State Agostino Casaroli (1914–1998) and his spiritual son Achille Cardinal Silvestrini (1923–2019), even after the death of Paul VI, as well as both influential defenders of the Eastern Policy and its rapprochement of the Church with the Soviet Union and the Communist Eastern Bloc.

"Archbishop Lefebvre was excommunicated in 1988, as demanded by the most left-wing sectors of the Roman Curia, although Cardinal Ratzinger had spoken out against it."

However, according to the above-mentioned sectors, the French archbishop had to be punished precisely because "he denounced with the greatest determination the lack of continuity of the Second Vatican Council".

John Paul II could not completely contain the "Spirit of Assisi" and other excesses, "as even his friend and great admirer Vittorio Messori repeatedly lamented."

"Messori noted the unacceptable episode of the World Day of Peace,which took place on 27 May. On October 1, 1986, in Assisi, in the presence of representatives of all world religions, pagan rites took place in the Basilica of St. Francis, chickens were slaughtered on the altar of the Basilica of St. Clare, esoteric dances and other, denounced excesses that had themselves escaped the attention of Cardinal Ratzinger, who had intervened vigorously in the days before to prevent other questionable and sacrilegious initiatives."

The German influence on the Church

Mascarucci concludes from the development:

"All this has laid the foundation for this ecumenism, which, far from promoting a relationship of mutual respect between the different faiths in the spirit of dialogue, has led to the legitimisation of the idea of a universal church, the one and the same God for all, for a person who is almost entirely free to choose the Church that best suits his preferences, because it is sufficient to believe in the true God in order to find salvation independently of baptism.

An idea that, in the years since the end of the Ratzinger era, which was marked by Benedict XVI's attempt to counter the projects of the German episcopate, based on ideas of the theologian Hans Küng to accelerate the break with tradition, by affirming the hermeneutics of continuity, especially in the ethical questions and independence of the national Episcopal Conferences from Rome. Under Bergoglio, these projects fall on fertile ground thanks to the influence exerted on the current Pope by the German Cardinal Walter Kasper, the keynote speaker for the Family Synod and the openings to remarried divorcees, dissolute marriages and homosexuals. Kasper also has the promotion of ever closer relations with that of the Lutheran and Protestant worlds as a whole." 

Cardinal Walter Kasper and his influence on the pontificate of Pope Francis

The Amazon Synod was the logical consequence of a policy "aimed at affirming the triumph of syncretism in the name of the only God of a world unity religion." As such, this could be "recognized and revered under every form, symbol and deity, whether Christian or pagan."

The result is a Catholic Church "which, despite assertions to the contrary, is reduced to a mere agency for the promotion of good, a kind of NGO empowered solely for support, solidarity and hospitality without any conversion purpose, and rather interested in subjecting faith to the project of planetary globalism. Only in this way can the Koran recited in the Church be declared a sign of respect for Muslim migrants who are welcomed in the name of universal Soros goodness."

Archbishop Vigano is therefore right, says Mascarucci:

"The time has come to discuss the Second Vatican Council and the fruits it produced, in the hope that the future Pope will submit the request for a profound revision in the sign of the only true faith, the only true Gospel, the only true Magisterium and the only true Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the God incarnated for the salvation of mankind, as its own."

Text: Giuseppe Nardi Picture: MiL/Vatican.va (Screenshot)

[1] Americo Mascarucci: La rivoluzione di Papa Francesco. Come cambia la Chiesa da don Milani a Lutero, Historica Edizioni, Cesena 2018.

[2] Americo Mascarucci: La Chiesa nella politica. Come cambiata la CEI da Ruini a papa Francesco, Historica Edizioni, Cesena 2019.

[3] Enzo Mazzi: Il valore dell'eresia, ManifestoLibri, Rome 2010.

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

The Vatican II Revolution Reexamined

 By David Martin

While the gale force of the post-conciliar tempest continues to uproot the Faith, dislodge morals, blow apart revered traditions, topple the Church's edifice, and spread doctrinal debris throughout the Church, there are those who insist that the problem today isn’t due to Vatican II but to a “misinterpretation” of the Council.

Unfortunately, misinterpretation had nothing to do with this, for this revolution was the result of years of careful planning. We might see the conciliar documents as the blueprint for this plan. The ambiguities, omissions, and outright errors in the documents were deliberately calculated by progressivist theologians and bishops who intended to exploit these errors in the text after the Council closed.

If we have lay people today assuming priestly functions as “Eucharistic ministers,” it’s because Vatican II defines the laity as a “common priesthood.” (LG 10) If the Church today ecumenically dignifies other religions, it’s because Vatican II says that “Christ has not refrained from using them as means of salvation.” (UR-3) Clearly, there was a plan for change in the works.

General Superior of SSPX: “Rome Doesn’t See Us as Schismatic”

Interview with Fr. Davide Pagliarini, Superior General of the  Society of Saint Pius X  (FSSPX), in the Salzburg news.

(Vienna) "This Pope shakes us deeply," is the title of a detailed interview, the Salzburger Nachrichten published in its Saturday edition (15 December) with the new Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity. Pius X (FSSPX), P. Davide Pagliarni.

Pope Francis seeks dialogue, according to the daily paper: "How does the new superior general respond to the pope's approach?"

Fr. Pagliarini affirmed in the interview the position that the excommunication of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, its founder of the Society "was never considered valid.”

Asked what the Society was expecting from Rome, as "Francis too" came to “approach it,” Pagliarini replied:

"We expect what each Catholic expects from the Church at his baptism. The divine revelation is complete and it is the task of the Pope to faithfully pass on this material of faith. The Pope must therefore put an end to the terrible crisis that has shaken the Church for 50 years. This crisis was triggered by a new concept of faith, which is determined by the subjective experience of the individual.”

On the relationship with Rome, the Superior General said:

"In fact, Rome does not consider us schismatic, but 'irregular'. However, I would leave the Society immediately if I did not have the peace of mind to work in and for the Roman Catholic Church.”

And the relationship with Pope Francis:

"The Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X is deeply attached to the successor of Peter, even if he embraces the errors of the Second Vatican Council."

Yet:

"One of the features of the present pontificate, however, shakes us deeply: the completely new application of the concept of mercy. This is reduced to a panacea for all sins, without pushing for true conversion, for the transformation of the soul through grace, mortification, and prayer. In his post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia, the Pope gives Christians the opportunity to choose their own personal conscience on a case by case basis. This clearly contradicts the necessary and clear orientation to the law of God. We see in it an echo of Luther's spirituality: a Christianity without a demand for moral renewal, a subjectivism that no longer recognizes universally valid truth. "

Referring to the Luther Year 2017, P. Pagliarini said:

"Since the 16th century, the Catholic Church has approached the Protestants to convert them and to return them to the true Church. The year of Luther did not serve this primary purpose of returning the Protestants. On the contrary, these were reinforced in their errors. The reason for this is that since the Second Vatican Council, the Church has believed that every person can find God in his religion. This is a premise that reduces faith to a personal, inner experience rather than clinging to the divine revelation.”

At the Second Vatican Council, the Superior General emphasized that, while it was a “self-proclaimed" pastoral council, it did in fact "make serious dogmatic decisions," such as freedom of religion and ecumenism.

"Pope Benedict XVI. said that the differences between Rome and the Society of St. Pius X were a problem in interpreting the texts of the Council. One must only remember these texts themselves, then an agreement is possible. This is not our position. The fraternity of St. Pius X rejects everything that does not accord with the Catholic tradition in the Second Vatican Council.”

Specifically, he demanded:

"The pope must declare the decree on religious freedom as false and correct it accordingly."

The Italian born in 1970 in Rimini, Fr. Davide Pagliarini, previously District Superior of Italy and then Rector of the Society in Argentina, was elected General Superior of the Society founded in 1970 and the third successor to Archbishop Lefebvre at the General Chapter last July. His term of office is twelve years and lasts until 2030.

I 

Text: Giuseppe Nardi

Image: Salzburger Nachrichten (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

Jesuit College Founded After Vatican II in Brussels Closing

(Brussels) The Jesuit Institut d'Etudes Théologiques (IET) in Brussels, Belgium, is on the way out. According to the Jesuit Order, from the autumn of 2019 onwards, the theological college will no longer offer lectures.

Jesuit College Brussels


The Press Declaration of the Order endeavors to give the event a positive note. This can not, however, brush away the decline. The Institute was established fifty years ago in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. In 1968 the course of studies was established for students who saw their future as a priest in the Jesuit Order. Soon, "improvements" took place. Because of the decline in vocations, seminarians from numerous French dioceses were able to study at the university, as well as male and female religious, and even laymen from the new communities that have emerged over the past decades.

In 2004 the real purpose was abandoned. The European Jesuits, studying theology in French, were concentrated in Paris.

Despite this reorganization, the institution could not be sustained because the number of students and financial resources decreased year after year. In the press statement of the Order, it reads like this:

"The Society of Jesus, therefore, has decided to reorient its theological presence in Brussels."
After an "intensive" internal exchange and dialogue with the Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, the new Jesuit General Arturo Sosa Abascal made the decision to cease teaching at the Theological University of Brussels in September 2019.

From Egenhoven to Brussels

In this way, the possibility remains to celebrate the 50th anniversary of its existence. In 1968 the school was founded in Egenhoven near Löwen. It was to have replaced the older, Flemish Jesuit College, named after St. Albert of Lions (1191/1192 Bishop of Liège). The university itself writes on its website:

"La crise qui suivit le concile Vatican II (1962-1965) toucha de plein fouet l'Église et les différentes provinces de la Compagnie de Jésus, en particulier ses maisons de formation et d'études, entre autres les philosophiques et théologats situés à Eegenhoven, près de Leuven. En 1968, au terme d'une référion lucide, les supérieurs jésuites faisaient un constat sévère sur la formation théologique de l'époque. "

The crisis that followed the Second Vatican Council hit the Jesuit Order very hard, especially its houses of study, including Egenhoven. A group of professors was asked to found a new philosophical-theological college capable of responding to the "challenges" through the development of the humanities, social sciences and theology. Against this backdrop, the study was opened to laymen, then to women. This was a development which was "a small revolution" and "not without difficulties", as described on the website of the university.

In 1972, the university moved from Egenhoven to Brussels. In 1980 the first non-Jesuit took up his studies. In 1981 Cardinal Lustiger, then archbishop of Paris, sent the first diocesan seminarist.

In the 48 years of their existence, more than 1,100 priests were trained at the Brussels College. Seven of them are bishops today. In the remaining two years, the Jesuit Order wants to redefine its collaboration with the Archdiocese. It is intended to take up less human and financial resources, but to focus on the "service to the inhabitants of Brussels with their European dimension".

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Photo: IET (Screenshots)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

The Destruction of the Church in the United States Long Prepared at Benedictine Monastery

Saint John's Abbey, Heresy in Stone

Edit: the Remnant is a newspaper produced fortnightly which has, "For nearly fifty years we have been fighting in defence of the traditions of the Catholic Church and the proclamation of the Kingship of Christ. In print or online, The Remnant calls a spade a spade no matter who is using it to bury God."  Despite being so long in the trenches, they only seem to have first come across nearby St. John's Abbey as the source of trouble just this year. They seemed horrified by the recent national news item which recounted one of the many sexual predators of Collegeville who claimed to have had 200 sexual partners, but still managed to wax nostalgic about the Matt family visits with one of the founders of the so-called "Liturgical Renewal," Father Virgil Michel, and asked incredibly, "what happened?"

Alas, the Remnant doesn't see the connection between the hideous architecture of the campus, the evil of her monks,  Michel, Vatican II and the aftermath.  It's not a controversial statement to say that Father Virgil Michel was one of the forerunners of Vatican II.

We could go so far as to say that he even laid out the praxis in so far as he put his erroneous liturgical notions ad experimentum, using the local laity of Sterns County and the environs as guinea pigs.

Eponymous Flower doesn't normally link to Diocesan newspapers, particularly ones of poor quality like the Catholic Spirit, but the following article really does accurately describe many of the actors which prepared the Archdiocese and indeed, the United States, for Vatican II.   Some of the actors in the article are more guilty than others, some have misgivings, others ascribe to Vatican II things it did not call for or address, but they were all in one way or another, advocates, whether they lived to see the results or not, of a disastrous situation for the Church and the world.

Cardinal Sarah: "Second Vatican Council Never Required Us to Give up the Mass of Pius V"

Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect of the
Congregation of Divine Worship

(Paris), the French editors of Aleteia have published an interview with Cardinal Robert Sarah, the new Prefect of the Roman Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. The interview by Elisabeth de Baudouin touches on a wide range of topics, "the liturgy war, criticism of the Pope, Manif pour tous, Islam and Islamism, the significance of Africa."  Cardinal Sarah stayed for a few days in Paris to present a  new book conversation with the writer Nicolas Diat  "God or nothing". On the subject of liturgy, the Cardinal Prefect said:

Eminence, in your book "God or Nothing" you mention the "Liturgy of war" several times that has separated Catholics for decades. A particularly reprehensible war, you say, because the Catholics in this matter should be particularly united. How can these separations be overcome today and all  Catholics unite around the cult offered by God?

Cardinal Robert Sarah: The Second Vatican Council has never required us to reject the past and abandon the Mass of Pius V, which has produced many saints, and never to even give up Latin. On the other hand, it was  self-willed by the Council liturgical reform itself. The liturgy is the place of direct encounter with God, to bring Him in all our lives, our work, and to offer all this as a sacrifice for His glory. We can not celebrate the liturgy in the weapons and wear armor of hatred, struggle. Jesus Himself said: "Before you  offer your gift at the altar, go first to be reconciled to thy brother." In this encounter, 'face to face'  with God, our heart must be pure, each free from all hatred and resentment. Everyone must remove from his heart that which can obscure this encounter. This assumes that everyone is respected according to his sensibility.

Is this not exactly what Benedict XVI. wanted?

Cardinal Robert Sarah: Yes, that is the meaning of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum. Benedict XVI. has put a lot of energy and hope in it. Unfortunately, it's not quite succeeded since  both the one and the other is "held fast" to their rites and are mutually exclusive. In the Church everyone should be able to celebrate after their own sensibility. This is one of the conditions for the reconciliation. You must lead the people to the beauty of the liturgy to its holiness. The Eucharist is not a "meal with friends", but a sacred mystery. If it is  celebrated with fervor and beauty, we arrive at a reconciliation that is self-evident. However, we must not forget that it is God who reconciles, and that takes time.

Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Aleteia

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Liturgical Memorial for John XXIII. and John Paul II. Established -- Canonization of the Council?

Liturgical Memorial Established For John XXIII.
and John Paul II

(Rome) The Holy See has established the liturgical observances for the popes canonized by Pope Francis in late April. The feast of John XXIII. will be celebrated in the New Rite on 11 October, that of John Paul II. on 22 October. The Osservatore Romano has published the Decree by the Congregation for Divine Worship in today's issue with the relevant provisions. As a Memorial Day usually applies the death of a saint, as the dies natalis, which s celebrated as the actual "birthday" in heaven liturgically. Justified exceptions are provided.

In both cases, the death was not established as a memorial. It would be neither 2 April, the anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II.,  nor 3 June, the anniversary of the death of Pope John XXIII. "occupied" by a higher ranking feast or the commemoration of a church in the world, of particularly revered saint.

Memorial  of John XXIII .: Anniversary of the Opening of the Council

As a commemoration of John Paul II. was determined as October 22,  the day of his election as Pope, as this also applies to other holy popes. John Paul II. Reigned from 1978 to 2005. As a memorial for John XXIII. was determined with the 11th of October, or the anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), which he had convened. Thus this reinforces the impression that the canonization of Pope Angelo Roncalli, which was completed by Pope Francis, contrary to the applicable regulations, arbitrarily without miracles, not only serves as the "neutralization" of the canonization of John Paul II.  but the "canonization" of Second Vatican Council. John XXIII. reigned from 1958 to 1963.

The unexpected double canonization by Pope Francis took p[lace last April 27 in Rome. The day went down as the "Day of the four popes" in the church history, as well as Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI., took part in the solemn canonization and concelebrated with  Pope Francis.

On the 19th of October, Pope Francis will beatify Pope Paul VI. (1963-1978) another  pope of recent Church history and thus raise him to the altars.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image:

Trans: vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDC

Rodriguez Carballo Lets the Cat out of the Bag: “Fidelity to the Council is Not Negotiable"

(Barcelona / Rome) Does the Congregation of Religious suffer from a villainous portrait of  tradition? This question has hung in the air since last weekend. The Franciscan José Rodriguez Carballo, for a year secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, participated in a Conference of Religious of Catalonia. In his speech he delivered  last Saturday  without directly mentioning the Order by name, gave a first official hint as to why the Franciscans of the Immaculate have been reprimanded by his Congregation. The reason  implied much to the young religious Order, and is of a fundamental nature.

In his speech, Archbishop Rodriguez Carballo said that fidelity to the Second Vatican Council constitutes a central point for the religious life. Literally, the number two of the religious congregation said. "For religious the Council is a point that is not negotiable.”    Whoever see the "reforms" of Vatican II,  all the evils  besetting   religious life, "denies the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church.” [It’s ok if you deny the real presence though?]

Congregation “Very Concerned": "Not Only Pre-Conciliar, but Anti-Conciliar Training"

The Curial Archbishop stressed that the Congregation of Religious is "particularly concerned”   on the subject: "We see real differences." Mainly because "many Institutes”  are "not only a pre-Conciliar, but even give  an anti-Conciliar formation” to their religious offspring, says Rodriguez Carballo. "This is not allowed, that is to say, to stand outside of  history. This is something that is very concerning to us in the Congregation. A  ”concern ", which is obviously shared by the prefect of the Congregation of Religious, Cardinal João Braz de Aviz.  Also from Pope Francis? There is some evidence.

The conference was organized by the Unión de Religiosos de Cataluña (URC). On Saturday it was open to all religious in Catalonia. Maxim Muñoz, the URC-chairman and provincial superior of the Claretians of Catalonia described the appointment Rodriguez Carballos as secretary of the Congregation of Religious as a "special recognition by Pope Francis."

Pope Francis had called the Spanish Franciscan Rodriguez Carballo on April 6, 2013, just three weeks after his election to his present office.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: OFM

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Katholisches…

AMGD

Papal Honor for Cardinal Siri: But not for His Pupils

(Rome) on 27 February  Pope Francis led the Plenary Assembly of the Congregation of Bishops. An "unprecedented presence", as the Prefect of the Congregation, Cardinal Marc Ouellet of French Canadians remarked.  In fact, no one can remember that a pope had ever before done the like. On this occasion, Pope Francis held a long speech for the assembled 33 members of the Congregation  on the criteria that they would have to consider when choosing a good bishop, and then he mentioned Cardinal Giuseppe Siri.

Among other things, the Pope said:

"The Church does not need apologists for their own account, nor  Crusaders in their own battles, but humble sowers  who trust in the truth, who know that they will always be renewed  and  trust in its strength. Bishops, even if it is going to be night and they are tired from the effort of the day, are aware that the seed germinates in the field. Patient men because they know that the weeds will never be enough to fill the whole field. The human heart is made for wheat. The enemy was the one who planted the bad seeds in secret. Thus the time of the weed has been  already unalterably set." 

Then he added:

"I would particularly like to emphasize: patient men! It is said that Cardinal Siri used to say, Five are the virtues of a bishop. Firstly, the patience, the patience, secondly, thirdly, the patience, the patience, fourthly and lastly, the patience with those who remind us to have patience."

The "Cleansing" of Rome of the Sirians

Cardinal Giuseppe Siri (1906-1989) was the masterfully eloquent  Archbishop of Genoa whom Pope Pius XII. would have wanted as his successor, but the cardinals in the conclave preferred, however, in 1958,  Pope John XXIII. and by the direction taken by this way, led to the Second Vatican Council in 1963 with Paul VI.  In retrospect, this was clearly a directional decision. Cardinal Siri was the only Church representative whom Pope Francis mentioned  in his address to the Congregation for Bishops. A naming which clove to a paradoxical connotation.

"Politics" by Gestures: Paradoxical Naming of Siri for the "Cleansing" of Rome of the Sirians

The naming ad honorem came after Pope Francis had removed from the Congregation of Bishops, precisely those two cardinals who were ordained priests by Cardinal Siri.  They were Cardinals Angelo Bagnasco and Mauro Piacenza. And after another man of the Church Cardinal Siri had laid his hands on for ordination to the priesthood, the Patriarch of Venice, Francesco Moraglia, was deleted from the list of new cardinals, although the patriarchal chair behind the archbishopric of Milan is connected to the cardinalate and traditionally ever heard of as the most important of episcopal sees in the world. From Venice there came three popes alone in the last century.  Among these included in the "purge" was  the removal of the American Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke. Although he does not come right out of the Siri School, he feels gladly associated with them and he counts his understanding of the Church with that of  the losing candidate of the 1958 and 1963 Conclave.

The highest remaining "Sirian" in the Vatican is thus Monsignor Guido Marini, the master of ceremonies of the Pope.  Guido Marini was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI. in 2007 to the office to initiate the reform of the liturgical reform.  As a seminarian, he  was the last of the Caudatarius Episcopi of Cardinal Siri. He was, however, already consecrated by Siris successor, Cardinal Giovanni Canestri. Pope Francis seems to have little in common with Cardinal Siri and his understanding of the Church. The mention of Siri with a content innocuous sentence, therefore, seems to be more a  part of that "policy" by gestures. This view is in any case that of those progressives who cheer most loudly for the Argentine Pope, who compare him since his election  with John XXIII. Also wanting   to attempt to create a new situation  as in summoning the convocation of the  Second Vatican Council.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Wikicommons

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMGD

Volker Beck Concerned About Pope Francis Being Pre-Vatican II

Volker Beck, the Religio-Political spokesman for the Greens, accusing the Pope in terms of gay marriage is suffering from a "theological relapse' to before Vatican II. His criticism is irrelevant and poorly formulated.

A commentary by John Graf

Berlin (kath.net / jg) Volker Beck, the religio-political spokesperson for the Greens in the German Bundestag, claims that Pope Francis is assuming a "theological backslide" to before the Second Vatican Council. Pope Francis had previously referred to a proposed draft law on equality of homosexual couples with married couples in Malta as an "anthropological throwback."

Beck employed the declaration "Dignitatis Humanae" to highlight his opinion, which he characterized as the "central font of the Council on religious freedom". In this the Church is said to provide freedom of conscience emphasized for those who would not follow its teachings. The Church should "stop urging that the secular legislator who is committed to the constitutional precepts of human dignity, freedom and equality, directly or indirectly against homosexuals to adopt the discriminatory sexual teaching of the Church," were Beck's exact words.

His argument can be summarized as follows. The Catholic Church is for religious reasons against the extension of marriage to homosexual couples. Secular legislators are under constitutional obligations that is not compatible with the doctrine of the Church according to Beck's view in the case of gay marriage. The Church has since the Second Vatican Council, the view that in matters of religion, freedom of conscience, the will of the individual is respected. Now, when Pope Francis asserts that the equality of gay marriage with the marriage of heterosexual couples is an "anthropological throwback," he thus makes two errors.

Firstly, he demanded of the society, which - as shown above - is apparently required to accept different principles than is required by the Catholic Church, to accept its teaching.

Pope Francis demands as a representative of a religious community that lay bodies accept a doctrine contrary to its principles. That doesn't serve him.

Secondly, contrary to the Pope of the teaching of the Second Vatican Council. This emphasizes the freedom of conscience in religious matters. No one should be forced into religious matters, to act against his conscience. Exactly, however, this is what would be required if the Church would impose its doctrine of society. Since Beck claims Pope Francis has gone back before the Second Vatican Council with this statement, he is probably assuming that the Council would have changed the doctrine of the Church in this issue.

There are a number of glaring errors present in this argument. It's amazing how little a top German politician apparently understands a matter in which he is supposed to represent the position of his party.

The most significant flaw is an assertion that Beck does not explicitly respond. He accuses the Church of disregarding the freedom of conscience in religious matters if they "further prompt governments or parliaments to discriminate against homosexuals." This means, however, that the advocacy of the Church against gay marriage by Beck's view has a purely religious basis. That's not true, as one can read in the "Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Same Sex Unions" which had been published by the CDF in 2003. There were a matter that relates to the natural moral law. This is "recognized by right reason," it says in paragraph 6. The Church argued in this matter not only on the basis of divine revelation, but with arguments that are in principle available to all who "seek to promote and protect the common good of society" itself, regardless of their religious beliefs.

If Beck demands that the Church should cease prompting secular legislators to take over their sexual morality, the accusation contained in it is ineffective. Pope Francis has not requested, the sexual teachings of the Church on homosexuality should be the basis for civil law. He has spoken out against the equality of gay marriage with traditional marriage. That would really stand out to anyone who really deals with the statement of the Pope.

The Declaration "Dignitatis Humanae" offers precious little support to Beck's argument. It deals with the human right of free exercise of his religion. This right must be respected by the state legislature (DH 2). In this sense, the sentence is to be understood that in religious matters no one may be forced to act against his conscience. At the same time it insists, "that the highest norm of human life is the divine law itself" and every person has the duty and the right to "seek the truth in matters of religion" (DH 3). The explanation does not want to change, such as Beck seemingly takes the doctrine of the Church, when he speaks of a "back sliding" to before Vatican II. The Council questioned "the sacred tradition and the teaching of the Church, from which it continually brings forth new things that are in line with the old," it says literally in DH 1 Volker Beck's criticism of Pope Francis proves to be unfounded and irrelevant.

He is always noticed as a harsh critic of the Catholic Church. Is he just misinformed, or has he simply no arguments? Direct link to The Considerations Relating to the Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons.

Photo: (c) Wikipedia; Mathias Schindler; This file is not licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unsupported license.

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
AMGD

From the “Egomenical” Council to the Homosexualization of the Church -- Ariel Levi di Gualdos

 (Rome) He is young and combative, his life was a struggle between Judaism and Christianity, he decided for Jesus Christ and became a Catholic priest. The talk is of Ariel Gualdo di Stefano Levi, born in 1963. He is a student of the Jesuit Peter Gumpel, a priest of the Diocese of Rome and has the fire of a convert. He is the author of several books and editor of the theological journal series Fides Quaerens Intelletcum. In 2007 Erbe Amare, il secolo del sionismo (Bitter Herbs: The Zionist Century) appeared, 2009 Nada te turbe, 2011 E Satana si fece Trino relativismo, individualismo, disobbedienza. Analisi sulla Chiesa del terzo millenio (And the devil makes ​​himself triune. Relativism, individualism, disobedience: An Analysis of the Church of the third millennium).

The Priest and Jewish convert's writings to provoke

Each of his works is like a cold shower and a heated provocation at the same time. It is this emotional roller coaster Levi di Gualdo wants to achieve in his readers. A tepid middle ground does not exist for him. The most recent book, The Devil Made Himself Triune is a razor-sharp polemic from the priest and theologian, as it is explained in the subtitle. In order to tap the full meaning of the title, it is necessary to resort to the Church Fathers. St. Jerome and St. Augustine described the devil as a monkey god. A monkey aping God to turn things upside down and create a parallel perception to reality.

The book is divided into three parts. The first part is dedicated to the free loyalty and obedience to the Church. The Second Vatican Council was “deformed by the post-conciliar theologians into a egomaniacal Council" and abused as an instrument of apostasy and rebellion within the Church. The neologism of "ecumenical" and "egomaniacal" gives you an idea of ​​Levi di Gualdos militancy.

An Absolutist Mind at all Times is Characteristic of Apostates

Substantiated without circumlocution and with plenty of buttressing, the author assails the progressives in the Church who pretend to be an army of priest and theologian rebels, who are always have their mouths open and are ready at any time to demand "more collegiality and democracy" but to have built true dictatorships in the church at the same time.  "The hegemonic and absolutist mind is not something typically conservative, but rather of the apostates of all time, who gave rise to the worst forms of the suppression of freedom of thought and made the dominant opinion into a forced unity.”

This small army of dilapidated priests in jeans and tie theologians, who have neared to the people of the church, have initiated forms of clericalism, as they had never been before. The consequences were that "after decades of theological and liturgical scurrility, oddities, the churches of the West are half empty, and the crisis of credibility weighs like an executioner's ax on the clergy." The presumption of this modern clericalism was to reduce to the author, God, to an object, which one could impose one's will. "This fact leads to the denial of God as a God who is no longer recognized as the Lord of life and history.”

Bultmann to Ravasi - Is the condemnation of Modernism by Pius X no longer valid?

As an example, the author draws the chapter "From Bultmann to Gianfranco Ravasi," the world of ideas published by Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture an "autopsy". Here Levi di Gualdo raises the question of whether the contents of the Encyclical Pascendi Dominici Gregis, with Pope St. Pius X. Modernism condemning it as a synthesis of all heresies would still be valid today. The question is of crucial importance, since many of the Pius X theses condemned today the basis of numerous published theological writings expected to be learned in the theological faculties and seminaries. "The question that arises is: This happens because of the changing historical circumstances that the validity of those condemnations is extinguished, or is it because the soldiers have risen from the belly of the Trojan horse and now frolic inside the walls?”

Levi di Gualdo maintains that Cardinal Ravasi illustrated in the preface to the first, the Italian edition of the first volume of the work, "Jesus of Nazareth" by Pope Benedict XVI. that the use of “real” instead of “historic” is able to contradict what the Pope says in the book. The author sees this as "the usual word game” used by Bultmann and the thesis of the reality of the myth. "A thesis in the preface to the book of Benedict XVI. hurled like a ripe tomato against a white wall. “

Psychological Homosexualization the Church an Epidemic Evil

The second chapter of the book is devoted to the psychological homosexualization the Church, which accounts for the author and held to be far more serious than the pedophilia scandal. In Church history it was made an unprecedented phenomenon in the last decades. Homosexuals have created an internal Church lobby, which they operate with mafia-like methods. This lobby has created a form of clerical Pornokratie and has a negative effect on the life and institutions of the Church. "The request from the Holy See for years has forcefully imposed, not to ordain candidates with open or latent homosexual tendencies, that is simply ignored by many dioceses in which they act contrary to Roman directives. You can not have peace of mind, when severely limited to strict public statements, while a homosexual priest then increases his, in the same proportion as the bishops increase who march parallel to the ideological advance of homosexualization, proceeding in concert with a latent homosexual psychology. Or to put it more bluntly: some seminarians in the seminaries formed "religious brotherhoods” during in the 70s and 80s are today bishops, and no sooner had it, than they have to be first surrounded with like-minded subjects who systematically are placed in all key positions in the diocese, including seminaries where they mutually protect each other and reproduce.”

Rome must remove Homo-bishops - to Crush the Snake's Head

Ariel Levi di Gualdo assesses the decision "to be moved to concrete action: removal of the bishops from their diocese who promote and propagate homosexuals to the sanctuary.” It means that the Church “is to be cleaned of this dangerous homosexual decadent disease," says the Roman priest. "In various dioceses in which homosexuality has come to power, today the heterosexual candidates are excluded from the ordination. If they are already priests, they are discriminated against and discharged by a homosexual lobby. Appeals and recommendations at this point are no longer sufficient, readiness must be to cut the snake off at the head.” The author himself doesn’t lack a sense of humor in this subject. “In view of a blatant case", but this by no means was even a single case where in a diocese "in the last 20 years, eight of ten ordained priests" had “evident operational errors”, then “it suddenly struck me," and I said to the bishop, "he would have rather been consecrated as the prioress of the Discalced Carmelite nuns, as the Reverend Mother was the last man in the clergy of his diocese.”

The third chapter is devoted to the freedom of free choice of the people for good or evil, will be discussed soon.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Fides et Forma
Translation: Tancred

SSPX Reaffirms its Wish to Continue to Criticize Vatican II and the New Mass

Edit: The Society of St. Pius X and its Superior, Bishop Bernard Fellay, are reconfirming their allegiance to the spiritual legacy of their founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre in their willingness to continue reaffirming the timeless traditions and dogmas of the Church and resisting those things which they say are inconsistent with it, like Religious Liberty, False Ecumenism and Collegiality. Bishop Fellay also identifies two Romes, which may as well refer to two parties working against each other during the discussions on the side of Rome.

The following letter, which comes from DICI, the Society of St. Pius X’s website, is going to reiterate the Society’s notion that the agreement they were expected, but not prepared, to sign is not something which they can accept. If you recall, the Society was being prepared to be brought into the official structure of the Church without the rigid and draconian restrictions on their religious liberty. As of present date, the CDF and the parities who have drafted the most recent Preamble for their signature, demand a level of obedience they expect from no other part of the Church at present date. We don’t know what this means, or if this is going to be accepted by those responsible in the Vatican for this reconciliation. Here’s an excerpt of the letter from Bishop Fellay:

Letter to Friends and Benefactors (April 2013)

15-04-2013

Dear Friends and Benefactors,

It has been quite a long time now that this letter has kept you waiting, and it is with joy, in this Easter season, that we would like to take our bearings and to present a few reflections on the situation of the Church.

As you know, the Society found itself in a delicate position during most of the year 2012, following the final approach of Benedict XVI in attempting to normalize our situation. The difficulties resulted, on the one hand, from requirements that accompanied the Roman proposal—to which we could not and still cannot subscribe—and, on the other hand, from a lack of clarity on the part of the Holy See that did not allow us to know precisely the will of the Holy Father or what he was ready to concede to us. The trouble caused by these uncertainties vanished as of June 13, 2012, with a clear confirmation, on the 30th of the same month, by a letter from Benedict XVI himself clearly and unambiguously spelling out the conditions that were being imposed on us for a canonical normalization.

These conditions are of a doctrinal nature; they entail the total acceptance of the Second Vatican Council and of the Mass of Paul VI. And so, as Archbishop Augustine Di Noia, Vice President of the Ecclesia Dei Commission, wrote in a letter addressed to the members of the Society of Saint Pius X at the end of last year, on the doctrinal level we are still at the point where we started out in the 1970’s. Unfortunately we can only agree with this observation by the Roman authorities and acknowledge the current relevance of the analysis by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, founder of our Society, which was unwavering in the decades following the Council, until his death. His very accurate insight, which is at the same time theological and practical, is still valid today, fifty years after the start of the Council.

And also:

“Compelled by the facts, it is necessary to conclude that the Council has favored, inconceivably, the diffusion of liberal errors. Faith, morals, and ecclesiastical discipline have been shaken to their foundations according to the predictions of all the popes. "

  Link to DICI….