Franciscans of the Immaculata --- Founder’s Health Situation “Serious” AVM

(Rome) A letter from the Apostolic Commissioner of the Franciscans of the Immaculate laid bare last week what has been long suspected. The dismissal of the Order's founder Father Stefano Manelli, as General Minister and the entire Order’s leadership was carried out with the approval of Pope Francis for a reason,  Pope  Francis' really sharp criticism. He repeatedly admonishes that he does not to see the Church as an ideological battleground. The Apostolic Commissioner Father Fidenzio Volpi  wrote to the daily La Stampa that the action was taken because it is “ Crypto-Lefebvrian, anyways traditionalist”. The attitude of the Commissioner can be recognized in the formulation. Obviously, they came across some curial representatives  who noticed that  the Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception  sought a canonical recognition of the Society of St. Pius X.. Meanwhile,  there are suggestions  that  about150-200 brothers, who were loyal to Father Manelli and his charism, want to start a new order. A request has already been sent to the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei. 

Meanwhile, to the health of the 81 year old Founder, Father Stefano Maria Manelli, who was almost completely isolated from the outside world, has deteriorated dramatically. For this reason, we are publishing the following guest commentary of "Cordialiter".

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For the Health of Father Stefano Maria Manelli

of Cordialiter

Readers have recommended prayers for Father Stefano Maria Manelli (FI) , who needs them really badly. The health status of the founder of the religious family of the Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception is serious and it seems like the time is approaching to leave this world of misery and enter into eternity for him.

In the 90s, my grandfather gave my father a little book with the title: "The Great Promise of the Sacred Heart", whose author is Father Manelli. Also, I wanted to read it and asked my father about it. The book impressed me deeply. It addresses the key question of the eternal salvation of the soul, of mortal sin, the existence of the devil, the concrete possibility to end, because of a mortal sin, in  eternal damnation, of the apparitions of Fatima. The reading of this document caused a spiritual sensation in me because I was until then, used to the usual shallow sermons and religious instruction, which were focused on a kind of life advice entirely on people and their daily lives, which are as sweet as sugar and serve only to stun souls. Of the last things , nothing  was never spoken, because God is so infinitely merciful, that he has actually long since abolished hell,  would  not even be limited to very bad villains as Adolf Hitler, who would otherwise not be so accommodated. If minds differ about Joseph Stalin. 

For the good people who actually all go to heaven, it is completely pointless to seek a spiritual life, because at the end of both a penitent souls like St. Francis of Assisi and the souls of those who spent a lifetime wallowing in numerous vices and abominations, experience the same promotion.

At that time I was a boy, but by the writings of Father Manelli it was clear to me that this patronizing view of religion is just a scam. It is quite true that God is infinitely merciful and can forgive any sin, but he is also infinitely just,  so the forgiveness of sins requires sincere repentance.

This booklet did my soul so much good. I wanted this instruction to deepen, but was convinced that the author must be dead long ago. And anyway, that priests like him had died out long ago. Only years later did I learn that this zealous servant of God lived and worked and was the founder of a religious community, who had enjoyed a good reputation and whose brothers  thought of him as their religious father.

I sat down at the desk and wrote a letter to one of the monasteries of this order, I basically addressed it to the brothers.To my great surprise, I received a reply, not from anyone, but a handwritten letter from Father Stefano Maria Manelli personally. It was not just a courtesy reply with the usual friendly phrases. It was a letter of great spirituality with numerous spiritual references, recommendations and instructions. A letter which comparable those those which   St. Francis de Sales wrote, whom I got to know later.

Some time ago I finally had the chance to meet Father Manelli personally and exchange a few words with him.

The Franciscans of the Immaculate were thrilled with the  2007 Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, I was excited about their joy and their decision a year later,  internally to fully adopt the traditional Rite. I was then convinced then   that the faithful who came to the Masses of the brothers in the Old Rite, did not only for aesthetic reasons, but the Mass locations entrusted to the Order’s Mass\developed an intense spiritual direction themselves. Today you can see in not a few churches, the faithful after Mass stampede even before the priest has left the sanctuary. The Franciscans of the Immaculate stopped the faithful to persevere a little after Mass and give thanks to God, as the fine manual of asceticism, as well as Pope Pius XII., recommend. And so it embraced the faithful also. Much misery lies in the widespread error even  among priests  that believers of this and that "today" would no longer accept. Not infrequently,  it is concealed behind a  lack of willingness to give instruction. The fact is that the faithful may be instructed willingly and gratefully, often eagerly if this instruction attended by their shepherds.

So we pray to Mary Mediatrix Gratiarum, the Mediatrix of All Graces, to assist Father Stefano Maria Manelli  in this crucial hour of his life. The Founder understood his life as a life of penance, he offered to accelerate the triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In this spirit, a loyal and faithful heart, he will sacrifice the recent adversity. The world does not like to understand. Let us pray for him and for his spiritual sons.

Introduction / Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Cordialiter

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmailcom

Link to Katholisches...

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Archbishop Gänswein Denies Making Statements to "Die Zeit"

Curial Archbishop Georg Gänswein has denied the alleged quotes by "Die Zeit". 

By Petra Lorleberg

Vatican (kath.net / pl) "That is nonsense, if I were against the Pope, he would not have confirmed me [in my office]." With this devastating judgment, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Prefect of the Papal Household, commented on a report in "Die Zeit" about his alleged difficulties with Pope Francis. "I had not read the article. This morning I received some mail that criticized me. I do not know what I said. I spoke a few months ago with a journalist, but it was not an interview." The Archbishop stated this during the presentation of a Bible-app in the headquarters of Vatican Radio, as the Italian newspaper "La Stampa" already reported.

The German weekly newspaper "Die Zeit" had previously tried an in an article with alleged Gänswein quotations, to create a conflict in Gänswein's conscience between the current Pope Francis and his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI. Gänswein, both private secretary of the Pope Emeritus is also at the same time, the Prefect of the Papal Household in close collaboration with the current Pope, who had sentences placed sentences in his mouth like: "I must be as honest with myself, which is a pain, to live up to the new role." He had the impression that he was supposed to be "living in two worlds," unsure of what he expected from Pope Francis' "every day anew, what will be different today". For example, he is already supposed to have felt "insulted" by the Pope's refusal to take up residence in the papal living quarters in the Apostolic Palace. In general, the resignation was like a "amputation" for him. A Quote from the "Die Zeit": "Nevertheless, he also reveals himself as faithful to Benedict. 'There is only one Pope '"

These alleged statements Gänswein is supposed to have been made ​​were in respect to the "Die Zeit", but they stay on the safe side as to when, how and to whom.

These alleged Gänswein-statements have now been hastily spread by various national media in Germany. Internationally they were little addressed. That these phrases in no way fit to other explicit Gänswein statements, was not discussed. Neither has the denial of Archbishop Gänswein - which after all, has already taken place at 5:12am, and has been distributed by an Italian news agency - which is used by the media in Germany.

Involuntarily one wonders: What interests are behind such false reports? If you want to actually play to those German Catholics who appreciated Benedict and appreciate, by hook or by crook and are using unacknowledged quotations against the current pope? Cui bono?

And the next question arises: would, even if it's wrong, it's correct - i.e. that Benedict-inclined Catholics have a hard time with Francis, even then we could ask: Yes? And?

For in the Catholic Church is not required that one must put on hold representing the normal interpersonal processes of sympathy or personal struggle, of approval or constructive criticism entirely, not even against popes. The Catholic Church has never been a monolithic block. Contrary to many predictions, it remains that there is a place in the Catholic Church for many voices. If they present their criticism in a moderate, constructive, well-meaning way. However, this condition is more happily felt than clearly fulfilled!

The author follow on Twitter!

Link to kath.net...

Gänswein About Benedict XVI: Resignation Was "Amputation" -- About Francis: "I wait every day anew, what will be different today"

Update 18:41 GMT, Monday, Dec 9:  Msgr. Gänswein has denied that he made these statements as was reported in La Stampa and Radio Vaticana.  See recent report from Kath.net.

(Vatican / Cologne) Curial Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the personal secretary of Pope Benedict XVI. refers to the surrender of the German Pope as "pain". This he said in an interview published on last Thursday with the Hamburg weekly Die Zeit. The resignation of Benedict XVI. , he had experienced as "amputation". The years as personal secretary to the reigning Pope had been very intense: "I left eight years of blood and also tasted blood, sometimes."

Archbishop Gänswein continues to speak of Benedict XVI. as "Holy Father". This does not alter the basic fact: "There is only one Pope."

He feels today in his two roles as though he is torn  between two worlds.  For a year Archbishop Gänswein has been Prefect of the Papal Household, as he serves the new pope. At the same time he is also secretary of Benedict XVI., who lives retired at the monastery Mater Ecclesiae. "I have the impression of living in two worlds," he is quoted by Die Zeit. And with a view to the reforming activities of Pope Francis: "I wait every day anew, what will be different now."

The decision of Pope Francis, not to live in the papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace, but the guest house Santa Marta of the Vatican,  Gänswein considers as an "affront" against Benedict XVI. Especially because the Pope from Argentina said that the apartment in which the popes lived before him makes him "gloomy", and anyway, he wanted to live "among people". In the meantime, the new pope and his Prefect of the Papal Household could even share a joke with each other, as Gänswein confided to the weekly paper.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Papa Ratzinger

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholishes....

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Libya Introduces Sharia -- The Result of the "Arab Spring"

(Tripoli)  Sharia is the basis and "source" of all law in the North African Mediterranean state Libya. A committee will now consider all applicable laws and regulations to determine whether they are in accordance with Islamic law.Two and a half years after the outbreak of the "Arab Spring", the results are devastating: a torn country in which various islamist groups and clans have controlled  whole regions and now has also saw the introduction of Sharia.The Libyan Parliament decided last Wednesday the introduction of Islamic law. The Sharia have to submit to all laws and regulations of the country. Therefore, the Parliament set up a commission to review all legal standards for compliance with the Sharia. Provisions that are not compliant with Shari'ah must be abolished or replaced.

A country in chaos

Two and a half years after the outbreak of the "Arab Spring" and little more than two years after the assassination of "revolutionary leader" Muammar Gheddafi by the rebels supported by NATO, the oil-rich Mediterranean country is in the depths of chaos. Several armed militias, independent of the State militias  parts of the territory under their control. They fight each other and the state. The real power has the Grand Syrtis in hand.  The transitional government has already declared Sharia as the basis of the entire law after the fall of Gaddafi. Now this has been officially adopted by Parliament.

The new law shows that the Islamists who were suppressed by the old regime, are becoming an ever more dominant factor in Libya. The Islamist militias have forced the Parliament to introduce Sharia  with violence and threats to the government, which can hardly exercise authority in the state, hoping thereby to appease the most extreme groups of Islamists. What is meant is mainly Ansar al-Sharia , the "followers of Islamic law," a Salafist militia  which is connected to Al-Qaeda.  An offshoot of Ansar al-Sharia exists in Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt, Mali, Morocco and Mauritania.

"Sharia is the Law"

Mohammed Al-Zaroug of the Libyan Muslim Brotherhood Party of Justice and Construction declared contentedly: "Sharia is the law. Now no one can say that the Parliament does not work with Shari'ah." Ibrahim Al-Gharyani of the. Alliance of National Forces said: "The law already contains hardly any laws that contradict Islamic law." The Muslim Brotherhood holds 17 of 80 seats in parliament, the Alliance has 39 seats.

Also on Wednesday, the Parliament appointed 60 members of a commission to draft a new constitution for Libyan.Christians, who can hardly move freely in the government-controlled capital of Tripoli in Libya. In the rest of the country they are fair game.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: As Sabhab (screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

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Servite Prior Bans Traditional Mass to Pilgrims in Austria

(Vienna) A Liturgical scandal occurred in the Austrian Servite  Monastery of Maria Luggau. The prior of the monastery has banned a group of pilgrims, who want to celebrate Holy Mass in the Sanctuary of Mary in the Immemorial Mass of All Ages.  The Fatima initiative that undertakes a pilgrimage to Maria Luggau  annually in October wanted to celebrate the Old Rite. Prior Andreas M. Baur, said the Carinthian newspaper, Kleine Zeitung : "I am critical of the Tridentine Mass. It does not correspond to the spirit of the Second Vatican Council ".

Under Benedict XVI. permitted, prohibited under Francis

In the years 2011 and 2012 the Mass was to be celebrated even without problems and with the permission of Prior Baur in the Extraordinary Form at the request of the pilgrims the Holy Mass. At that time Pope Benedict XVI. was still the leader of the Catholic Church, now the pilgrims are harshly rejected. Benedict XVI. was the one who  with the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum had restored the Old Mass in 2007 to Its full rights of citizenship in the Church. Now, however, that Pope Francis rules in Rome and the prior of the Servite Monastery no longer feels bound to the "rights of citizenship" for the Old Rite as a papally binding arrangement.

"It is absolutely allowed to celebrate Holy Tridentine mass in Church law. To ban us is an arbitrary act," said Anna Stranner of the Fatima Initiative who will venerate the Mother of Sorrows of Mary Luggau in a special way. "A prior can not but be more Catholic than the Pope," lamented Stranner at the unfriendly treatment of the prayer community. As in previous years, a priest would come to Maria Luggau to celebrate the Holy Mass in the Old Rite with the pilgrims.  In 2013 the celebrant would have been  the Austrian military Dean, Siegfried Lochner. So the Servites would not have been so  much as "bothered" that the Fatima Initiative  group of pilgrims, more than others who have been to visit during the year at the church. Dean Lochner is surprised about the cancellation and also angry about the behavior of the monastery superintendent: "I have often celebrated Holy Mass according to the traditional Roman Rite/ But such a brusque rejection of the faithful, as by this prior is new to me."

Prior Baur: "Critical of the Tridentine Mass"

Prior Baur is struggling to justify his decision, which is in open contradiction to church law. He explained that the group of pilgrims had "not involved" him. In addition, he was "being harassed by phone", for "days" by the pilgrims because of the prohibition of the Old Mass. "I'm not going to be forced" said the Servite priest energetically to the Kleine Zeitung  and came to an idiosyncratic understanding of the law. According to Prior Baur the Ancient Mass does not correspond "to the spirit of Vatican II", from which he concludes that this "spirit" breaks the current law.

The diocese of Gurk-Klagenfurt does not want to mess with the monastery and certainly not because of the Mass of Saint Pius V., the diocesan chancellor, diocesan official, and cathedral canon, Msgr. Jakob Ibounig, says of "such Masses", by which he means the traditional rite: "The prior makes the house rules." And anyway: "If he does not want that such Masses are celebrated in his church, this is the legitimate," said Msgr Ibounig.

At least   Prior Baur, whose consecration year is [groovy] 1973, hasn't closed the door completely, to the press: "The tone has to change. I also want to have a talk with the priest holding the Mass. Then we'll see,"  he is  quoted as saying by the Kleine Zeitung .

The monastery with the pilgrimage church of Maria of the Snow in Maria Luggau lies in the diocese of Gurk-Klagenfurt in Upper Carinthia Lesachtal. The pilgrimage goes back to a devout woman, to whom the Blessed Mother appeared in 1513 in a dream and instructed her to build a church on a wheat field. The present church, whose foundation stone was laid in 1515, has as yet no Volksaltar [Cramner Table].  Since 1639 the Servites have overseen the pilgrimage they took over from the Franciscans. Currently, three Servites live in Maria Luggau monastery after a brother from Nigeria joined the Convent.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Wikicommons

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

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200,000 Protest Aberromarriage in Taiwan

(Taipei) 200,000 people demonstrated on Saturday in Taiwan's capital, Taipei against efforts to legalize "gay marriage".  The German media hasn't to our knowledge reported a single word about it.

The "People of the Family" have called a  protest along the lines of the French civil rights movement Manif pour tous. More than 200,000  Nationalist Chinese came and marched in front of the presidential palace. Taiwan's parliament has begun  debate on a draft law with which marriage is to be extended to homosexuals. The mass rally not worth a line in the  media. Deutsche Welle did not report the rally to protect marriage and the family, but instead that HIV-positive people in Taiwan were "not welcome".

The BBC, however, reported. In its interviews, Taiwanese citizens voiced their concern that children are condemned by the "gay marriage", including adoption rights for homosexuals by law to have to grow up without a family. The protesters accused the politicians who support the design of trying to impose opinions by law. Under the new law, one must consider homosexuality as something "normal".  Yet the state must not dictate opinions. The articles published in Taiwan polls for "gay marriage" are contradictory. According to the BBC, the resistance against the legalization of "gay marriage"  is continuous.

Attack Against Franciscans of the Immaculate Because "Crypto-Lefebvrian, Anyways Traditional"

(Rome) The Apostolic Commissioner, the Capuchin Father Fidenzio Volpi OFM Cap from the Congregation of Religious, with the approval of Pope Francis, instead of the Order leadership, with sole decision-making power at the head of the Order of the Franciscans of the Immaculate set (FI),  has given the real reason for the drastic intervention in the life of the Order for the first time.

The progressive Vaticanist Mario Tosatti had published a few days ago in the daily newspaper La Stampa a letter from a member of the Third Order of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, in which the radical approach of the Commissioner has been criticized (see separate report "Unrestricted War" against the Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception? The Unspeakable "Blemish" ). The interventions affect not only the male religious branch, but also the Third Order, which was completely paralyzed by Father Volpi.

Egypt's Most Famous Convert Imprisoned Again -- Because of "Proselytism"

(Cairo) Bishoy Armiya is the most famous Egyptian convert. On 4 December, the Christian was again arrested by the Egyptian police.

Before his conversion he was called Mohamed Hegazy and was a Muslim. After he had converted to Jesus Christ,  Bishoy Armiya was desperate to avoid the current practice that conversions of Muslims to Christianity are not recognized officially in Egypt. Other converts become Christians, but do so outside of constraints by the authorities. Armiya however, began a protracted battle in order to be officially accepted that he is not Muslim, but Christian.

Specifically, he demanded that his religion is changed in his identity card. For this he was arrested in 2010. The charge was "proselytizing". In police custody Bischoy Armiya was severely maltreated. Through torture, the police tried to force him to return to Islam. Several fatwas were imposed against  Christians, in which he was condemned to death as a "renegade". Armiya was forced to move several times for safety with his family.

On Wednesday, Egypt's best-known convert was arrested again. The charge is again "proselytism". This time, however, Armiya is accused of persuading other Muslims to apostasy from Islam and to have them converted to Christianity.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi 

Photo: Christian News

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches....

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Will The Dismissal of Cardinal Cañizares be Announced Today? -- Change of Direction

(Rome / Madrid) Tomorrow, Saturday, it will be made ​​known in Rome that Pope Francis will appoint Cardinal Cañizares Llovera Antonio as the new Archbishop of Madrid. This was reported by the Spanish Church Historian and well-known blogger Francisco de la Cigoña. The appointment means he will be transferred from Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and  removed from Rome. "They tell me that the appointment of  Cañizares as Archbishop of Madrid will be announced on Saturday," said de la Cigoña. "On Saturday we will see if these rumors are confirmed," said the personal informant of the most well-informed Spaniards.

The appointment of Cardinal Cañizares as Archbishop of Madrid would be a classic case of ecclesiastical "path clearning" and would confirm the rumors that Pope Francis is removing those cardinals like the Prefect of the Roman Curia, who were especially close to Pope Benedict XVI. and his understanding of the Churches and liturgy.  Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, a student of Cardinal Siri, has already been replaced as prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy and appointed last September as Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary. Benedict XVI. had asked him after the failed attempt to put him at the top of the Congregation for the Clergy, to raise the Cure of Ars as patron and model of priests. A strengthening of the sacramental priesthood, which came within the church and also in the Curia  met   some violent resistance and led to the removal of the Cardinal from his office in the new pontificate.

Cardinal Piacenza represented the priest image of Benedict XVI., as Cardinal Cañizares Llovera supported the liturgical renewal of the German Pope, which received  no less hostility. Due to several signals observers have expected for months then that even the Spanish Cardinal would be removed by Pope Francis from his post as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.

Unclear is also the future of Kardinl Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops. Cardinal Cañizares was raised to the Prefect in 2009, Cardinal Ouellet, like Cardinal Piacenza, in 2010. If Cardinal Cañizares is actually replaced, an intention by Pope Francis of a change in direction from areas that were practically important to Pope Benedict XVI  will be confirmed.  Each pope is to appoint his own employees; however, each appointment is also a choice of direction, which will be slowed down,  which positions reversed or which to be promoted.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: ACI Prensa

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholishes....

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"Total War" Against the Franciscans of the Immaculata? The Unspeakable "Blemish"

(Rome) No other order has suffered such dramatic consequences on  the change of pontificate in late winter 2013  as  the Franciscans of the Immaculate. In July,  the Order  was placed under provisional administration by order of the Congregation for Religious  with papal approval.  Although the Order actually exactly corresponds to what Pope Francis wishes, namely evangelical poverty, missionary zeal and new evangelization, of which the  Franciscans of the Immaculate are one of  the only orders, against which the new pope has proceed with drastic measures. 

So dramatically that even a progressive Vatican expert like Marco Tosatti has now asked what should have these poor friars have only arranged, yes, done wrong, to deserve such a harsh punishment?  He could not fine an answer because he could not find a "crime", with which to  burden them. He therefore published a letter that describes the radicality with which the Order is being rebuilt. The question remains: Why did you destroy a thriving Order?

Young, Poor, Missionary and Evangelizing, but with a "Blemish" ...

The answer is in fact to look at a whole different level and observe the punished innocently. It  immediately arives at the level of intrigue. As  a cold as well as brutal coup by a minority in the Order. This was possible but only because this minority has been heard by the  Congregation for Religious  and in his  turn heard by the Pope. The Order had a major "flaw."  The "flaw" was that under the leadership and guidance of Pope Benedict XVI. they rediscovered the traditional rite and implemented it internally within the Order. The pastoral care of the Order was bi-ritual, internally it was old ritual. All in perfect accordance with the applicable rules and the canon law.

The Order is one of the few orders that have numerous vocations and can be described as a flourishing religious family in both the male and the female branches. The cons discovery of the liturgical riches of the Church makes the Franciscans of the Immaculate more to a unique phenomenon in the Catholic Church. Franciscan, missionary, flourishing and altrituell. Was unique to the Franciscans of the Immaculate, that a New Order was changing  to the Old Rite. It was a  combination that didn't only win  the Order  friends in the Vatican. With the rediscovery of the ancient liturgy,  the Order began to intensively study  the Second Vatican Council and of its examination and interpretation took place, working  in the light of the ever valid tradition.

The Order  Followed Benedict XVI. and discovered the Old Rite

A "flaw",  which was all the more serious,  because the Order had numerous vocations. A "blemish",  that certain  church circles of  little friendliness  and probably envious, did not dare to criticize under Pope Benedict XVI.. All the more uninhibited and with incredible haste they struck after his resignation. And Pope Francis gave them leave. For none of the other  orders  were effected in the change of  pontificate  more dramatically  than for the Franciscans of the Immaculate.

Let us hear so what Marco Tosatti wrote in the newspaper   La Stampa  on Wednesday:

"We received a letter from a layman who is close to the Franciscans of the Immaculate, a small Order, which is under an acting manager  (a highly debatable matter), and he complained of a special hardness posed by the new management. Based on many years of experience, we know of the cruelty in dealing with fellow brothers in church circles toward those other circles inferior to nothing. But just as Pope Francis, who signed the provisional administration, demanded in his interview with the chief editor of the Civilta  Cattolica  an attitude of Compassion 'and softness'. He was as  one of those in the Church, who entered the field hospital after a battle  and said, I see clearly that what the Church needs today is the ability to heal wounds,'  because, 'Nevertheless, there are people weary of authoritarianism '.

Each reader should decide for themselves whether in fact the  authoritarianism plays a role in the  Franciscans of the Immaculate  and arrogance among the Sisters.   What  have these  poor men done? Have they speculated in money, sexually abused minors or maintained an immoral lifestyle? So here's the letter. "

Letter from a layman who is close to the Franciscans of the Immaculate

Little is known about how things went on after the Order of the Franciscans of the Immaculate was placed under provisional administration. Therefore, a brief summary is necessary. 

After Father Stefano Maria Manelli, the worthy and pious founder of the Franciscans of the Immaculate (FI) was placed under charges that he had led the brothers away from their founding charism, without explaining this to date, of which the father is said to have concretely carried anyone away; then, the priests' celebration of the old rite was prohibited, a ban that applies to this day, and has been followed in the Order with absolute and faithful obedience; after which the brothers, who are faithful to the charism of the founding fathers, were hastily charged in summary proceedings and removed, and all those brothers who support the "new" line were promoted in the various monasteries around the world,  then  without a visible reason, the General Procurator Father Apollonio, Director of the Theological Seminary and Guardian of the Cloister Roma-Boccea was dismissed and sent to Portugal, as the Order's Superior of Florence was dismissed and sent to Austria;  then Father Settimio Manelli and Father Siano, were dismissed as Rector and Vice Rector of the Order Seminary and sent to Africa; then they were replaced by  two brothers of the "new" line, one of which does not even have  a degree; then Father Budani, who was in the middle of completing his studies of the canon law to end overnight and without possibility of completing his studies was sent to Africa; then, after Founder Father Stefano Manelli was deposed as Superior General and exiled and even though he has met all instructions and guaranteed absolute obedience, even his closest relatives are forbidden to visit him, and it is forbidden to make phone or receive phone calls and any contact with the outside world is denied to him ... after all, now it's the Apostolic Commissioner, the Capuchin Father,  Fidenzio Volpi, with the assistance of Father Alfonso Bruno, who is the new powerful man in the Order, and it's all-out war against the laity who are in continuing connection to the Order. 

By a letter dated 27 November, he forbade any activity of the lay members of the Mission Immaculate Mediatrix (MIM) and the Third Order of the Franciscans of the Immaculate (Tofi). He refused that the Tertiaries to wear their robes. 

Is it resolving alleged internal difficulties claimed f a thriving religious community with such incredible hardness and such Stalinist purges? Or  its charisma be destroyed instead, which was not only able to arouse increasing number of vocations and to attract and expand the Order on all continents, but was, until yesterday, praised and promoted by the highest ecclesiastical authorities. Just think that the now outlawed Father Manelli and Father Lanzetta, were once welcome until a few months ago by cardinals and bishops and were welcome in the columns of the Osservatore Romano Publications were even open to them.

Text: La Stampa / Giuseppe Nardi
image: Franciscans of the Immaculate
Link to Katholisches....
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Tolkien and Faerie

This the main body of a letter I wrote some years ago to a friend of mine in response to a question about Tolkien and his apparent belief in existence of a faerie world. [1]

"There are some things which, perhaps, should not be subjected to the systematic prying of man, whose beauty is not from any theological niceties but rather intertwined with the mystery of it. At the same time my mind is of such an inquisitive nature that some explanation- though likely inadequate by far- should be sought. 

What then is the nature of faerie? It is the same nature as that of the hills and the forests and the soil.. When our fathers perceived the nymphs of the waters and the dryads of the woods it was because of their intimacy with the land. Faerie is far too earthly to be angelic. King James VI & I, in his Daemonologie, took the position that it was demonic, but a Calvinist of his calibre cannot be expected to be as tolerant of faerie as his Catholic predecessors certainly were.  

Something else entirely then? The evidence- both folkloric and scholarly- to support the existence of all manner of phantasms and spectres is truly immense. Like the folk of faerie these are beings far too bound to this world to be angelic. Many are no doubt demonic; others may be the souls of men- purgatorians (though visitations from the damned are by no means unheard of), although one could debate whether they roam beyond purgatory or if their place of purgation is somehow upon this earth; but there are others still which can only fall into a third category, beings 'neither of the Heavenly Host nor of the Infernal Horde', as you say. A number of Renaissance Neoplatonists believed in discarnate intelligences which were neither angels nor demons, and connected somehow with the celestial bodies. Blessed Anne-Katherine Emmerich spoke of such 'planetary spirits, who are entirely different from devils, but who may yet have to be judged'. Of the Fathers of the Church I do not know. In regards to faerie itself, Fra' Sinistrari posits the existence of rational creatures possessing body and spirit, but distinct from man- scripture attests to the existence of such a race once, the antediluvian giants, offspring of incubi. [2]

A more earthy creature is described by St. Jerome in an event from his life of St. Anthony of Egypt, where the holy hermit comes across a faun and, confused as we might be, assumes the thing to be demonic and douses it with holy water, to which the faun responds by positively, clearly indicating that it is something else entirely. [3]

As I said in my last message, I am sure our fathers did indeed 'see' faerie. But did our ancestors behold these creatures in the same way as one man may behold another? They may have spirit and body, as Sinistrari suggests, but is their flesh like the flesh of man? Are they material in the same manner as we are material? Or do they partake of a matter more subtle than our own flesh? Like all living things they must possess souls- though these must not be immortal as our own, but mortal and utterly bound up with the earth. [4]

That is how I am inclined to answer anyway, a Tolkienesque perspective as you might say. Truly, the more I read Tolkien's mythologies the more I am certain that in them he has accurately represented an entirely Catholic- though distinctly Platonic- metaphysics and ontology. As the professor himself lamented, too many people try to read his legendarium with an allegorical eye, as they might Lewis, rather than as literature for the sake of literature. And yet in its themes and worldview it is the most Catholic of fiction literature. His letters and essays on other topics of course reveal a far more expressed relation to a Platonic and Catholic worldview. Tolkien presents a mode of thought that is indeed a very much needed breath of fresh air. I also see such thought as a call to return to our roots.  

..."

[1] This letter was a response to a question about a line attributed by myself at the time to J.R.R. Tolkien in a letter to Arthur Greeves.

"[Family life must have been different] in the days when a family had fed on the produce of the same few miles of country for six generations, and that perhaps was why they saw nymphs in the fountains and dryads in the wood – they were not mistaken for there was in a sense real (not metaphorical) connections between them and the countryside. What had been earth and air and later corn, and later still bread, really was in them. We of course who live on a standardized international diet…are artificial beings and have no connection (save in sentiment) with any place on earth. We are synthetic men, uprooted. The strength of the hills is not ours."

With more recent research into the origin of this quote I am able to correct my earlier mistake. This is actually from a letter by C.S. Lewis to Arthur Greeves in which he paraphrases Tolkien. The full quote is thus:

"Tolkien once remarked to me that the feeling about home must have been quite different in the days when a family had fed on the produce of the same few miles of country for six generations, and that perhaps this was why they saw nymphs in the fountains and dryads in the wood–they were not mistaken for there was in a sense a real (not metaphorical) connection between them and the countryside. What had been earth and air and later corn, and later still bread, really was in them. We of course who live on a standardised international diet (you may have had Canadian flour, English meat, Scotch oatmeal, African oranges, and Australian wine to day) are really artificial beings and have no connections (save in sentiment) with any place on earth. We are synthetic men, uprooted. The strength of the hills is not ours."

The final sentence is a reference to the fourth verse of Psalm 95 in the King James Bible, "In his hand are the deepe places of the earth: the strength of the hilles is his also."


[2] This is a reference to Fra' Lodovico Sinistrari, a 17th century Franciscan priest and advisor to the Holy Office of the Roman Inquisition, and his work, De Daemonialitate.


[3] The story of the Faun is not from a life of St Anthony of Egypt, but rather from St Jerome's Vita Pauli monarchi, though the protagonist is still the same St Anthony. Nor is it a Faun that St Anthony first encounters but a "hippocentaur". St Jerome is uncharacteristically unsure whether, "the devil took this shape to terrify Anthony, or whether it be that the desert which is known to abound in monstrous animals engenders that kind of creature also, we cannot decide." Following this episode St Anthony finds the faunus, which speaks and gives some indication of its nature: "I am a mortal being and one of those inhabitants of the desert whom the Gentiles deluded by various forms of error worship under the names of Fauns, Satyrs, and Incubi. I am sent to represent my tribe. We pray you in our behalf to entreat the favour of your Lord and ours, who, we have learnt, came once to save the world, and ‘whose sound has gone forth into all the earth.' ".


[4] The existence of "subtle matter" was defined by the Second Council of Nicea in approving the following passage by John of Thessalonica:

"Respecting Angels, Archangels, and their powers, to which I also adjoin our own Souls, the Catholic Church is indeed of the opinion that they are intelligences, but not entirely bodiless and senseless, as you Gentiles aver; she on the contrary ascribes to them a subtle body, aerial or igneous, according to what is written: "He makes His angels spirits, and His ministers a burning fire." Although not corporeal in the same way as ourselves, made of the four elements, yet it is impossible to say that Angels, Demons, and Souls are incorporeal; for they have been seen many a time, wearing their own body, by those whose eyes the Lord has opened."

Pharmacist Dismissed Because She Refused to Sell the "Morning After Pill" in France

(Paris) A French pharmacist refused to sell the early abortive morning after pill out of conscience and has now been discharged. Jacqueline F. had asked a colleague to serve a customer the morning after pill. The customer received the product that has both a contraceptive and abortifacient effect. A complaint was brought against the pharmacist.

The question of conscientious objection concerns in France don't just include the mayor who refuses "gay marriage",  who they want to compel by the socialist government by state law. The French law also prohibits pharmacists of conscience to refuse sale of the morning-after pill. Who does so anyway, risks losing their job, as happened to Jacqueline F. In a report by  the  Objection Association she made ​​known her case.

The woman had completed her pharmacy degree two years ago and has since worked as an employee in the branch of a major pharmacy company. The idea that she would have to sell the morning-after pill as a contraceptive, but also with an abortifacient effect, and thus contribute to the killing of an unborn child, put her under ever greater strain. After a long struggle with herself, she trusted her manager and pharmacist colleagues as to her conscience problems. To her amazement, she found that they shared her concerns and themselves had difficulties with selling the killing medication. "He made ​​me the proposal, to refer customers who wanted abortion products to other colleagues," said Jacqueline.

Hasenhüttl Sees No "Serious Movement" In the Direction of Progressive Demands Under Francis

(Berlin) The suspended priest, theologian and critic Gotthold Nathan Hasenhüttl sees no "serious movement" under Pope Francis   towards progressive demands and cites as an example that Franzikus "strictly refuses women to the priesthood". Hasenhüttl said, leading to  an interview that the Saarbrücken newspaper on the occasion of his 80th birthday.

The former Professor of Systematic Theology at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Saarland  became  known when he  celebrated Mass in  support of the Ecumenical Church Council in Berlin, where he also expressly invited  Protestants and non-Catholics to the reception of the Holy Eucharist, and which he in the current interview referred to as the "most beautiful church service I have held in my life."  2004 saw his suspension from the priesthood by the Vatican, 2006, the withdrawal of permission to teach by the then Bishop of Trier, Reinhold Marx. In 2010 Hasenhüttl , who considers himself  "through and through Catholic", departed from the Roman Catholic church, since he felt "much the same as before," he told the  Saarbrücken news. He is proud that he had "frequently met students,  that I had freed from a Catholic corset."

Hasenhüttel Proud of his Theology Students From Having "Catholic Corset"

Hasenhüttl admits the new Pope is indeed "sympathetic in his way. as he approaches people" . But he misses the next "new momentum", which are the actual reforms as Pope, "you have to look exactly at what he really does. So far, there are mostly announcements. Particularly bad says Hasenhüttl , that  Francis does, is the encyclical "Lumen Fidei" signed by his predecessor, Benedict XVI.: "This is a very reactionary encyclical which repeats what the theology in the 19th Century has said. "

When asked which of the six popes who Hasenhüttl  liked the most  since his ordination in 1959, and his "views on the next" coming, he exclaims "without a doubt. John XXIII. He then yes also considered whether to lift the celibacy law",   the suspended priest claims to know. He continued: "As we all had high hopes that the 2nd Vatican Council  would be that something would happen in terms of openness and new movements. John XXIII. has opened the windows and doors of the church. But the popes have not only closed a window to others, but even bricked it in part. In this way, the reactionary forces have prevailed in the Church. "

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Rorate Caeli

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Katholisches...

AMGD

Holland's Bishops in Rome -- Holland's "Progressive" Direction "Manifesto" to Pope Francis

(Amsterdam) There are rumors on the progressive wing of the Catholic Church in the German speaking nations, that the Lower German Dutch are to be added. From theologians Manifesto "We want women Cardinals" about the uprising German Bishops and Ordinaries against the indissolubility of the marriage sacrament, on the demand for priestesses by the new President of the Superior Conference of Male Religious Communities in Austria, is immediately seconded by the President of the Association of Women's Orders of Austria to the memorandum Cologne Catholics for an anti-Meisner as the next Archbishop of Cologne, the bandwidth registers nervous twitches. The latter demand is reminiscent of the desire for an anti-Benedict XVI. as the new Pope. The bishops of the Netherlands are on an ad limina visit to Rome. These progressive groups have written a "manifesto" to Pope Francis, in which they make statements of support for the new head of the Church as a "defender" of the Church and of the Church's heritage. However, the ulterior motives are different.

Horror Missae: Church as a Play Space for Children -- and Saps

Liturgical Carnival (New York / Munich) to American hard Thanksgiving was in the Calvert Hall College High Schoo, a "Thanksgiving Liturgy' celebrated in Maryland's Aula Magna of the Institute. Rorate Caeli published that picture speaks for itself. The same applies to the interdenominational project for youth churches in the German language area.

Dozens of projects of these youth churches there are dozens of these projects in the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg. "Engaged know-how" supplier with several full-time employees is the association Juki (youth church). The project is funded by youth churches of the Catholic Church and Protestant churches. Service's performed without discrimination.

Among the promoters in Austria, is Vienna's Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, who already participated in youth churches himself. Some pictures from youth churches in Catholic churches, threaten to deface, mask, caricature, camouflage and dechurch to lure young people into the church? Where the truths of faith wane, the symbols of the faith and the Church lose their meaning and have to be replaced by new "symbols". Without fuss, booming music, light show, dance performances, Flash Mob, climbing wall and swimming pool in the church, you can not keep the young people there? This opinion seems to be that of the youth churches and diocesan youth ministry responsible for supporting such projects. Otherwise, they would all "committed" expenses outside the church to perform where it belongs, and call the young people for prayer in the Church and the Holy Mass before or after. If only! But there will only images that cause pain.

Ed: you may visit the site and look at the blasphemy for yourself in  a slide show.

Link to katholischess...

Report to the Redaktion...

Influence of American Promontory Group Over the Vatican Grows --- New Director of Vatican Bank Named

(Vatican) Rolando Marranci is the new Director General of the Vatican Bank IOR. Marranci was appointed last July 1st, provisionally to succeed Tullis after the surprise resignation of Director General Paolo Cipriani and Deputy General Director Massimo Tulli.

After five months Marranci was promoted to General. Prior to his appointment to the Vatican, the new IOR-General worked for a well-known Italian bank in London. The personnel decision was announced today by the head of the IOR after the Cardinal Supervisory Commission had given its approval. Ernst von Freyberg justified the appointment with the outspoken efficiency, Marranci has proven in the past few months. The IOR-General is responsible for the entire operational area of the Institute.

Career of BNL on Promontory to the Vatican Bank

Marranci operated the Italian Banca Nationale del Lavoro (BNL) from 1980 to 2011., where he held various management positions. From June 2013 he worked for the Promontory Group, which was tasked with investigations of IOR. A month later he was promoted to Vice-Genneral Director. Marranci, born in 1953 in the small town of Reggello in Tuscany near Florence, is married and the father of three children.

Discussions proceeded the appointment for weeks in internal Vatican internal discussions. A word also given by the Financial Information Authority (FIA) founded by Pope Benedict and under the direction of Cardinal Attilio Nicora. Marranci is a personal decision of IOR President, Ernst von Freyberg, who is close to the new Director-General.

Promontory Financial Group, with Close Contact to Financial Regulators

Promotory Financial Group, based in Washington DC is an American, internationally active consulting firm in the financial sector. The company was founded in 2001 by Eugene Ludwig and Alfred Moses. In addition to consultancy work for governments, including the U.S. government, the company was internationally known for its contract, a comprehensive investigation is performed for all customer contacts of the Vatican Vatican Bank IOR. Eugene Ludwig was Comptroller of Currency from 1993-1998 under President Clinton, inaugurating the bank's supervisory authority of the United States. Inn 1998/1999, before he founded his own company, he was deputy head of Bankers Trust Company , which belonged to Gruppe Deutsche Bank. Alfred Moses was legal advisor to U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, and from 1994-1997 U.S. Ambassador to Romania. From 1991-1994 he was chairman of the American Jewish Committee (AJC), which was in direct contact with the Vatican for the formulation of the Declaration on the relation of the Catholic Church to Judaism in the Conciliar document Nostra Aetate.

President of Promontory Financial Group for Europe is the Italian, Raffaele Cosimo, who worked for BNL in London before joining the U.S. company, like Marranci, to May 2013. Cosimo's predecessor as Promontory Europe President was the Italian Finance Minister (from 2009) Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa (2006-2008), who was the six-year member of the Executive Board of the earlier European Central Bank (1999-2005) and more recently also as a member of Fiat and as a consultant for the Greek Government actively involved in economics, banking and managing debt. Promontory employees come mostly from state financial regulators and work with them closely.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi image: Sacri Palazzi

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

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Patriarchs of the Orient Come to Benedict XVI. "as Pilgrims"

(Vatican) The Patriarchs of the Orient are visiting Benedict XVI. At the end of February the emeritus pope received the patriarchs "like pilgrims under the rain" in the monastery Mater Ecclesiae. This was reported by the Chaldean Patriarch Raphael Louis Sako I. on the website of his archdiocese in Baghdad. "We had a friendly encounter. We asked him about his health and he inquired about the situation of Christians in the Middle East," said the Patriarch.

The patriarchs have come to Rome for the Plenary Assembly of the Congregation for Eastern Churches from 19-22nd November. It was held at the Vatican under the theme: "The Eastern Catholic Churches 50 years after the Second Vatican Council". Among the participants were Leonardo Cardinal Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation, Cardinal Beshara al-Rai, Patriarch of the Maronite Church, Archbishop Louis Sako Raphael I. of Baghdad and Patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, Patriarch Gregorios III., Laham of Antioch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Ignatius Joseph III. Younan, Patriarch of the Syriac Catholic Church and Bedros XIX Nerse, the Patriarch of the Armenian Catholic Church. Alsso discussed was the persecution of Christians in the Middle East. The meeting with Pope Benedict XVI. took place on the afternoon of the 23rd of November at his chosen retreat, the monastery Mater Ecclesiae, which is located in the Vatican gardens. He is currently the only pope who has resigned from his office for reasons of age. The Chaldean Patriarch said to Benedict XVI. "Holiness, we are like pilgrims coming to you from under" and asked for a "special blessing and a special prayer for Iraq". Benedict XVI. replied: "I pray every day for Iraq, Syria and throughout the Orient and its Christians." When asked whether or not he wants to visit Iraq, Benedict replied: "I am now like a monk who has decided to spend the rest of his time in prayer and silence." Following the solemn High Mass on the 24th of November, with the Year of Faith was completed, Patriarch Sako I. also extended an invitation to Iraq to Pope Francis. "I told him that the time has come to visit us. He smiled and promised a visit."Text: Asia News/Giuseppe NardiPhoto: Asia NewsTrans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

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Pope Francis to Travel With Rabbi Skorka to the Holy Land on May 2014 -- Skorka Utters Nonsense About the Pope

Edit: basically, it looks like these reports by Jewish leaders, organizations, publications and some Catholic ones, are not credible.

(Rome) Pope Francis is to visit on the Holy Land 25th and 26th May, according to CNN reports, citing Israeli sources. He is not to do it with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, as hoped by Constantine Opel, but with his Jewish friend, Rabbi Abraham Skorka. Skorka recently gave an interview about his days as a "personal guest" of the Pope in the guest house Santa Marta and utters some veritable "nonsense" about Pope Francis. Or not?

The visit of the Pope to the Holy Land, was recently confirmed by the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Archbishop Fouad Twal for 2014, without so far announcing an exact date.

To the Holy Land Not with Patriarch Bartholomew, but with Rabbi Skorka

Pope Francis has long been already thinking about a trip to the Holy Land. Originally it was just after his election that he would visit together with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople the holy sites of Jesus. A gesture in memory of the joint meeting in Jerusalem of Pope Paul VI. and Patriarch Athenagoras in 1964. An event that could be found in 2014 to take place exactly fifty years later, so the desire of Constantinople. A sign to make the special closeness between the Roman and Byzantine church could be made visible.

But this idea soon appeared in the background. Instead, Pope Francis looked around for a personal tour guide. He contacted his friend, the Argentine Rabbi Abraham Skorka, with whom he had worked as Archbishop of Buenos Aires on a conversation book, and invited him to accompany him on his journey to the Holy Land.

Skorka: "The Pope Has Celebrated the Beginning of Shabbat in the Vatican"

Skorka said in an interview for the Jewish monthly Pagine Ebraiche, was completely reproduced in the Osservatore Romano in its issue of 25-26th of November, which he gave, when he met at the Community of Sant'Egidio in Rome, as a "personal guest of Bergolio in Santa Maria":

"We were close for a few days, the three daily meals and have shared other moments both public and private. We talked about everything: about dialogue, but also about the journey that we will do together to Israel [...] Together we have celebrated the beginning of Shabbat, he was by my side when I recited the Kiddush and has broken challah, which Zion Evrony, the Israeli Ambassador, brought to the Holy See. They were unforgettable days and I think that they have a value that goes beyond the affection and confidence that has always connected us."

In the interview, Skorka always speaks of Pope Francis as Bergoglio. Likewise, he does not speak of a trip to the Holy Land, but of a trip to Israel, which is considered another territory in extent and possible destinations and represents a delicate question. In September, the President of the National Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, has invited the Pope to Palestine. On Monday, Pope Francis will receive Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will in audience.

The Skorka interview is interesting because of the unusually harsh criticism were expressed by the rabbi against the "World rabbbinate  in all its parts," which in his opinion "is going through a deep and destructive crisis"  both in "Israel" as well as "in all communities of the Diaspora."

  Skorka sees "Ideal Judaism" According to Rabbi Heschel, Who Worked on Nostra Aetate

 "The Church is in crisis, we are in a crisis," said Skorka who sees the "model of the ideal Judaism" which is "according to Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel." Heschel, born in 1907 in Warsaw and died in New York in 1972, who together with the German Cardinal Augustin Bea, was instrumental in the "Jewish declaration" of the Second Vatican Council in the Declaration Nostra Aetate concerned with the relationship of the Church to non-Christian religions. In 1971 he was called by Pope Paul VI. and received in audience.

Most Important Signal of this Pontificate? "The Rejection of Proselytism"

However, as Skorka draws a parallel between his proposals for a reform of Judaism and those of Pope Francis for the Catholic Church, the rabbi responds to the question about the new pope's "important signal": "I see great value in Bergoglio's comments against proselytism. It is a point on which he insists with a special emphasis and gets even more weight when we think of the evangelizing framework within which these statements were made."

Pope Francis wants to Only Introduce More Catholics to Faith"?

 Skorka has in an interview then that one must remember how evangelization was until recently connected inseparably with proselytism:

"But now, the Pope speaks of it only to introduce Catholics to the faith."

The rabbi emphasizes in an interview several times that Pope Francis rejects "proselytism". However, as the Vatican expert Sandro Magister draws attention, something is wrong in the end quite complete, when Skorka concludes with the statement: "Now, however, the Pope speaks of it to introduce only the Catholics to the faith."

L'Osservatore Romano Printed the "Nonsense" Without Batting an Eyelash?

"Only the Catholics?" Asks Sandro Magister. "The Osservatore Romano reprinted the interview without batting an eyelash. But how could Pope Francis ever say such nonsense?" asks the Vatican expert.

Overall, it is striking that since this pope took office Jewish representatives are often at the Vatican in and out. With the Skorka interview, who says he is reproducing a statement of Pope Francis, is in the last three months already the third controversial statement that was made ​​public after a meeting with the Pope by Jewish representatives (see the report What has Pope Francis really say as chairman of the World Jewish Congress - Violent polemics in Poland and the report Pope Francis Condemns Catholic protest against syncretistic "commemorative liturgy" in Buenos Aires A riddle? .

Text: Settimo Cielo / Giuseppe Nardi
 image: Settimo Cielo
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
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Christian Sat Behind Bars for Eight Years Because He Refused "to Pray Like a Muslim"

(Islamabad) The Christian Younis Masih is free again. For eight years he was in Pakistan in prison because he had refused "to pray as a Muslim". Since the 10th of October 2005 Younis Masih has sat in jail after Muslims had convicted him for blasphemy. Now he is free and still lives in fear." To be honest, I'm more afraid to be murdered in cold blood in freedom."

The Pakistani Younis Masih is 35 years old today. Yesterday he was released from prison in which he had been put at the age of 27 years. The release was decided by the Higher Regional Court of Lahore, as the Christian Association of Legal Evangelical Association Development (LEAD) reported.

Death Penalty

On May 30th, 2007 Masih was sentenced after one and half years detention to death by a Pakistani court and ordered to pay 100,000 rupees penalty. After six years on death row, he was acquitted last April 3rd by an appeals court. Yesterday he was finally released. Masih keeps on with his family at an unknown location. Fearing an attack by Islamists, the Christian Association had made the necessary arrangements. Even if the Court of Lahore stated his innocence and acknowledged that Younis Masih sat wrongfully in prison for eight years, the Islamists are not impressed. In Pakistan, there have been Christians who were accused of insulting Islam, and murdered by incited Muslims before a court ruling.

Masih was arrested on the 10th of October 2005 after he had been accused by Muslims of insulting Mohammed and the Koran. "The conviction was based on pure nothing," said Masih's lawyer. "Unfortunately, the testimony of Muslims suffices as evidence of a crime. The testimony of a Muslim is enough to condemn another human being to death."

According to counsel "a group of Christians had gathered on September 8th, 2006 in Chungi Ammarsiduh, a district of Lahore. A neighboring Muslim felt disturbed and asked them to leave. Abdul Aziz, one of the plaintiffs, urged Masih that Christians should pray like the Muslims, at that point a lengthy altercation developed. Two days later, Masih was arrested by the police. He was charged with insulting Islam."

Death Threats

Masih said yesterday at a meeting with the representatives of LEAD: "I have four children, and wasa innocent for eight years in prison and am now out of work. But above all, I live in fear of being murdered in cold blood at any moment. "The fear is justified, as shown by other events. Also, Masih has received a number of death threats over the past few years, as the lawyer confirmed.

Blasphemy Law

Since the military dictator Zia ul-Haq had put in force the notorious anti-blasphemy law in 1986, against insulting Islam, at least 50 of 130 Christians convicted under this Act have been executed in Pakistan. The law provides for life imprisonment or the death penalty for insulting Allah, Islam, the Koran or Mohammed.

The law is often abused by Muslims to take revenge on Christians, other non-Muslims or Muslims with each other or because they want to gain possession of their house or land. By 2009, 90 percent of 994 charges against Christians were thrown out as manifestly unfounded. For more than 1,600 days, or four and a half years, the Christian Asia Bibi has been in prison. Since the 8th of November, 2010 she has been sitting on death row, because a court has found her guilty of insulting Islam. Because they were0 campaigning for the release of Asia Bibi and a change in the law, the Catholic Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, and the Muslim Governor, Salman Taseer were murdered by fanatical Muslims in two attacks.

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

Link to Katholisches...

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Prayer Request

Yours Truly has found himself in quite a pickle due to some negligence on his part. Your prayers to get me through are greatly appreciated. Sancta Philomena, ora pro nobis!

Argentine Catholics Defend Cathedral From Feminist Attack -- Pope Francis Burned in Effigy

Edit: the videos are horrific.  Our subtitle would read, "The Rage of Sodom".



(Buenos Aires) Under the name of National Women's Meeting radical Church opponents, women as well as men stormed a Catholic church.

From the 23rd-25th November, in San Juan de Cuyo, Argentina, the feminist-leftist 28 Encuentro Nacional de Mujeres took place. Hordes of lesbians, abortion advocates, other feminists and their male peers bellowed noisy and anti-Catholic slogans drawing through the city. Over the past few years, these extremist gatherings have degenerated into violent attacks against Catholic institutions. The feminist hordes  have descended for years especially on Catholic churches.

Because Church-hostile feminists wanted to storm the church, 1500 young Catholics formed a human shield around the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista (John the Baptist)to prevent about 7000 antagonists from storming the Archdiocesan Church. Catholic institutions were daubed with slogans such as "Burn the Churches Down" or "Fire the Churches." The courageous Catholics, who though hemmed in, opposed the vile mob by praying, were insulted with slogans not reproducible here.

In the reports of young Catholics who defended the Church, according to their impression, it was a "satanic attack" "demonic figures repeatedly" are seen as part of an "anti-Christian world revolution." In one place the extremists lit a big fire and burned Pope Francis in effigy, as they danced around the fire.

Also, Pagina Catolica had called in advance to defend the Cathedral of San Juan. The same Catholic Internet initiative, which had asked for protest against the profanation of the Cathedral of Buenos Aires by a syncretistic Jewish-interfaith "memorial liturgy". In a statement describing the feminist aggression Pagina Catolica wrote: "On the other hand, we are aware: Even if the desecration of the church in San Juan could be prevented this time, we must not forget that it is the cathedral recently had not fared well when she was profaned, with the approval of Archbishop Alfonso Delgado, allowed celebration of a memorial liturgy for Kristallnacht 'on 12 November."

For incomprehensible urge of some Argentine bishops to host syncretic "commemorative liturgies" because of the Kristallnacht of 1938 in the German Reich, see separate reports: Young Catholics protest against "misuse" of the Cathedral of Buenos Aires for Jewish "commemorative liturgy" and the report of an alleged, but never confirmed by Rome, the "condemned" of young Catholics by Pope Francis, Pope Francis Condemned the Catholic Protest Against Syncretistic "Commemorative Liturgy" in Buenos Aires? A Riddle.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Bild: Pagina Catolica
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com





Link to Katholisches...



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