Pope Francis Abolishes Celibacy

Francis and the Amazon Synodal - sophisticated regional circles with pre-fabricated results and global ramifications.

By Roberto de Mattei *

The message we anticipated was in the air. The confirmation is sent to us confidentially by some bishops who have received part (not all) of the post-synodal Apostolic Exhortation from Pope Francis on the Amazon Synod. This part essentially deals with paragraph 111 of the Synod's final document.

“Many church communities in the Amazon region have enormous difficulties in accessing the Eucharist. It takes months or years for a priest to return to a church to celebrate the Eucharist, to offer the sacrament of reconciliation, or to celebrate the anointing of the sick for the ill in the church.

We value celibacy as a gift from God insofar as this gift enables the missionary disciple ordained to the priesthood to devote themselves fully to the service of the Holy People of God. It stimulates pastoral love, and we pray that there are many vocations that live the celibate priesthood. We know that this discipline 'is not required by the nature of the priesthood itself' (PO, 16), although there is a ratio of usefulness to it for many reasons. In his encyclical on priestly celibacy, St. Paul VI. upheld this law and exposed the theological, spiritual, and pastoral motivations that motivate it. In 1992, the post-synodal exhortation of St. John Paul II for priestly training confirmed this tradition in the Latin Church (PDV, 29). In view of the fact that legitimate diversity does not affect the community and unity of the Church, but expresses it and is at its service (cf. LG, 13; OE, 6), as evidenced by the existing diversity of rites and disciplines, we propose that within the framework of Lumen Gentium 26, the competent authority shall lay down criteria and provisions for the ordination of suitable and recognized men of the congregation to priests who practice fruitful permanent diaconate and receive adequate priestly training to support the life of the Christian community to be supported by preaching the word and celebrating the sacraments in the most remote areas of the Amazon. "

So the breach has been made. There is then no reason to ban what other regions of the world will allow in some areas of the Amazon. The German bishops, and not just them, are ready to open priesthood to married men who are deemed appropriate by the competent authority. What is thereby liquidated is not only a changeable "Church discipline", but a law of the Church, which is based on a commandment of divine and apostolic origin.

Fifty years ago at the symposium of European bishops in Chur in July 1969, Cardinal Leo-Joseph Suenens read an appeal by Hans Küng to abolish the celibacy of priests in his closing speech. This demand coincided with the role assigned by the progressive theology of sexuality: an instinct that man should not suppress by asceticism, but "liberate" by finding a form of "realization" of the human person in sex. Since then, this demand has expanded and has gone hand in hand with the Church's process of secularization and self-destruction.

In reality, the violations of celibacy and simony were always the great plagues that afflicted the mystical body of Christ in times of crisis. And the call for abstinence and poverty, as the Gospel calls it, were the banner of the great saints of church renewal. In the coming days of February, the anti-reformer will not, as is so often the case, be a bishop or a group of bishops, but the successor of St. Peter.

Ecclesiastical celibacy is the glory of the Church, and what makes it so is the will of Christ, which the apostles have handed down to our times.

Is it conceivable that the Catholics can remain silent in the face of this scandal?

* Roberto de Mattei, historian, father of five, professor of modern history and history of Christianity at the European University of Rome, chair of the Lepanto Foundation, author of numerous books, most recently in German translation: Defense of Tradition: The Insurmountable Truth of Christ, with a foreword by Martin Mosebach, Altötting 2017 and The Second Vatican Council. A previously unwritten story, 2nd adult Edition, Bobingen 2011. [His books are available in English on Amazon.com]

Books by Prof. Roberto de Mattei in German translation Martin Mosebach's books can be obtained from our partner bookstore.
Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Corrispondenza Romana
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
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The Pope’s Revenge — Archbishop Gänswein Fired

Curia Archbishop Georg Gänswein is the most recent victim of Pope Francis.

(Rome) Francis has been described as vindictive and vengeful by several authors critical of the Pope. The retaliation for the latest book by Cardinal Robert Sarah and Benedict XVI follows: Pope Francis removes Archbishop Georg Gänswein from his office as Prefect of the Pontifical House.

There have been similar rumors several times in the past, but now it's fixed. However, official confirmation of the latest Bergoglian sentence is still pending. "Apart from the media advance notice, Santa Marta is once again afraid of it," said a Vatican employee. This should be less to be expected, because Pope Francis has so far not been deterred by critical voices in his intentions, least of all if they come from faithful circles.

The "Black Pope", Jesuit General Arturo Sosa Abascal, formulated the situation on September 16, 2019 after six and a half years of the current pontificate:

"Pope critics know that Francis will not change his mind."

[Katholisches] The words were geared towards the Amazon Synod still pending at that time and its main intention to abolish priestly celibacy. This is exactly what the book of Cardinal Robert Sarah, Prefect of the Roman Congregation for Divine Worship and Order of the Sacraments, and Benedict XVI. did. Together they made a plea for priestly celibacy and the sacrament. With their “hands off celibacy” they drew a red line, the first unspoken addressee of this is Pope Francis. The post-synodal letter on the Amazon Synod is still pending, but it shows what faithful Church groups have feared since 2014: Francis creates an exception to the rule that leads to the intended dam break. The German bishops have been waiting impatiently for a long time. A whole series of bishops in the German-speaking world, in Austria and Switzerland it is no different, can hardly wait to dispose of celibacy on the dung heap of history. He is said to be carried to the grave with unctuous ramblings. That is why the Bergoglian bishop generation is not embarrassed (see Married Priests? What bishops of the German-speaking area say about this).

The book by the cardinal and the past pope, which makes it clear that Pope Francis crosses the red line with a softening of celibacy and breaks the tradition of the Church, caused an outburst of anger in Santa Marta. The result was a scandalous media theater, staged by the papal inner-circle, with which confusion about the authorship of Benedict XVI. was generated. Since the secular mass media has a wider reach, well-meaning Catholics still believe Benedict XVI. had denied authorship and must somehow have been "concocted" by Cardinal Sarah. In reality, the fake news campaign aimed to counteract the effectiveness of the book and its defense of priestly celibacy. Contrary to the widespread claim that celibacy is "only" a law of the Church and therefore can be changed at any time, it is "of divine and apostolic origin" (Roberto de Mattei), see also Cardinal Sarah: "Celestial celibacy is not just a law the Church". Celibacy, however, stands in the way of the "sexual revolution" and its view of sexuality. This has been the mainstay of the fight against celibacy since the 1960s.

Archbishop Gänswein came, because of his double position as private secretary of Benedict XVI. and as Prefect of the Pontifical House of Francis immediately and directly into the line of firing. He now also feels the revenge of Santa Marta, which affects him, but of course also and not least,  this means Benedict XVI. It remains to be seen whether the retaliation will be packed into a dismantling of the Papal Prefecture. Whatever the packaging should look like, Msgr. Gänswein is removed from his office, the motivation and the papal intention are clear.

The convinced Bergoglian and pope biographer Austen Ivereigh already asked in an interview on August 10, 2019 to isolate Benedict XVI, whose authority has remained unbroken in large Church circles worldwide. Ivereigh's invitation to Santa Marta was:

"We have to get the circle around Benedict XVI. under control."

Note the personal pronoun "we", which, besides Ivereigh, means the papal inner-circle and Pope Francis himself. The first, closest and most important “circle” of Benedict XVI. is his private secretary and long-time, loyal employee of Archbishop Georg Gänswein.

Ivereigh was the spokesman for Cardinal Cormack Murphy-O’Connor, a member of the ecclesiastical “gang of four”, which he referred to as Team Bergoglio, and Ivereigh himself revealed their existence. The four-member cardinal group (Kasper, Lehmann, Murphy-O'Connor and Danneels), according to the British journalist and author, organized the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope as the executive arm of the inner-Church secret circle of St. Gallen.

A struggle is raging in the Church “between two churches”, as the historian and President of the Lepanto Foundation Roberto de Mattei analyzed, one of which could not be the Church of Jesus Christ.

[Update, 12.05 p.m.] Curial Archbishop Georg Gänswein was "put on leave”  by Pope Francis. Informally, it is embellished that Gänswein should have more time to look after Benedict XVI. And take care of him. Vatican circles currently do not expect the post of Prefect of the Pontifical House to be filled. Access to the Pope, one of the prefect's main tasks, was handled by Francis from the start through other hands. Archbishop Gänswein's duties were largely reduced to the duty of attendance when receiving state visits and as an extra for papal activities.

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