Communist Officials Oblivious to Disappearing Children

Man arrested in Yunnan cannibalism-murder case accused of selling victims' flesh

Police arrest Zhang Yongming, a 56-year-old farmer. They find human flesh and eyeballs in his house. He is accused of killing teenagers and then selling their flesh. Local Communist officials are suspended for ignoring residents' complaints.

Beijing (AsiaNews) - Police in Yunnan arrested Zhang Yongming, a 56-year-old farmer, for murder and cannibalism. He is accused of killing about 20 teenagers in Jinning County and then eating them. Residents blame Communist authorities for ignoring their complaints that young people were going missing.

Zhang Yongming was detained two weeks ago in Nanmen village in Yunnan province but police entered his home only today where they found human flesh, eyeballs and bottles with blood, Hong Kong's The Standard newspaper reported.

Zhang had previously served 18 years in jail for murder. The victims' bodies were usually dismembered, the Guangxi News website reported on Friday.

Media and residents are blaming Communist authorities for ignoring repeated complaints.

Two top county officials, Da Qiming and Zhao Huiyun, were suspended for failing to take action to solve the "vicious" crime, it was reported.

Kunming-based Chuncheng Evening News reported three weeks ago eight possible victims, males aged from 12 to 19. The Shanghai-based Dongfang Daily reported that the number of people missing had reached 17. Internet users have speculated that the final count could be at least 20.

However, none of these reports has been confirmed.

Link to Asianews....

Muslims Attack Catholic Church in India

Srinagar (AsiaNews) - An "planned" attack, with the clear goal of "scaring to death the Christian community. The chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir must act to ensure security for the faithful and places of worship", says Sajan George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC), reacting to AsiaNews to the arson attack on the Holy Family Catholic Church in Srinagar, two days ago. The main entrance was completely destroyed, but the timely intervention of a security guard prevented the fire from degenerating. Cameras captured two attacker who targeted the Church in the evening (20.30 hours the local, ed) their names are still unknown. All Christian communities in the valley of Kashmir have expressed solidarity with the Catholic Church.

The films show two men taking advantage of the temporary absence of the security guard. In those moments, the attackers threw petrol and other flammable material at the front door, then set it on fire. Fortunately, the guard came back in time to stop the fire to spreading: the entire building structure is made of wood.

Fr. Mathew Thomas, pastor of Holy Family, told AsiaNews: "What happened to us is very worrying. Watching the video, you understand that it is a premeditated attack, and that the two attackers were well aware of what happens in church. At the end of January, my bike was burnt, we have not found out why, nor who the culprits were. It was clear that even then, the goal was the church. On two other occasions, the Virgin has interceded for us. May She protect us and save us
Link to Asianews...

Vatican Leaks: The Butler Did It!

Edit: as was promised, the man who leaked the Pope's confidential mail to a malicious journalist is going to jail.
[Guardian] The pope's butler has been arrested by Vatican police on suspicion of leaking a large number of confidential letters addressed to Benedict XVI which have lifted the lid on alleged corruption and nepotism at the Holy See.

A Vatican spokesman declined to confirm the butler's arrest, which was widely reported by Italian media on Friday, stating only it had arrested a person discovered in illegal possession of "confidential documents".

Paolo Gabriele, 46, who has worked as Benedict's butler since 2006, was reportedly taken into custody after investigators found a mass of documents in the Vatican apartment he shares with his wife and three children.
Link to Guadian...

Out With The Bad in With The Good

Edit: The SSPX is in and Cardinal Bernardin's experiment in Church undermining is out.

Even Regensburg's Bishop calls them parasites.

Cardinal Schonborn might legitimize them by meeting with them and even secretly agreeing with their message and techniques, but they are increasingly finding that not all are welcome as this group below in the video, Minnesota's Call to Action knows.

Let us be serious, however,  we know the song and the billboard says "all are welcome", but is anyone who disagrees with their message of tolerance for sin and disobedience really welcome?



H/t: Colin

Unprecedented: SSPX Questions Vatican II on USCCB News Source

Edit: Members of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pope Pius X are seen here expressing the same notions and concerns once expressed by Archbishop Lefebvre in a high quality presentation.  You won't see any fire breathing madmen in cassocks here.   Sincere and ardent young men are shown expressing their love for the Church and concern for doctrinal purity, as much as their spiritual father did, but this time they are doing it on the official USCCB Catholic News Service.

In the past, Catholic priests have challenged non-negotiable Catholic teachings [women's ordination, sexual purity, the authority of the Church] through various news media.  The same priests and laity, ironically, have been the ones to challenge and attack those who question the correctness religious liberty or the New Mass.

Increasingly, it seems to us, the voices of dissent are being heard less and less, while those who revere the doctrinal thesaurus of the Church are more frequently being heard.

What's clear is that the Church's communications media, which hasn't always been the best, let's face it, is trying to sell the reconciliation to the Catholic world at large.

 

Pilgrims Ride by Horse on Blutfritag

Europe's largest procession of horses: about 2,600 riders in dress coats and top hats of pastors and ministers, ride through city and field.

Weingarten (kath.net/pdr) On the day after Ascension Thursday, riders from the outlying and further distant village and cities as well as pilgrims from Weingarten's sister city Mantua in Italy arrived punctually at seven o'clock. In the streaming sunshine they turned back after 10km without any major incidents toward the inner city again for Blutfritag (Blood Friday Procession).

In their midst is Dean and Basilica Pastor Ekkehard Schmid (photo).He blessed the people, the homes and fields on the sides of the street as he passed with a Relic of the Most Precious Blood. Up until the closing of the Monastery in Autumn of 2010, this event was organized by the Benedictine Monks. The relic goes back to the soldier Longinus, who pierced Christ's side with a lance. In the year 804 all of the blood appeared again in a miraculous way in Mantua. In the eleventh century a part of the relic was brought by the Guelphs (the Pro-Papal Good Guy Party Factions in Medieval Italy) to Weingarten, whereupon a pilgrimage developed, in which many people are led today to the Martinsberg.

"As the Misterpresident it is an hnor and as a Christian a joy to participate in this event," greeted Winfried Kretschmann. Next to other representatives in politics, business and culture he was noot able to participate in the Blutfritag in Weingarten, because of his appointment at Katholikentag. A solemn Pontifical High Mass with Feldkirch's Bishop Elmar Fischer in the Basilica brought the rider's procession t a close.

Pro-LCWR Protests: Not a Person Under 70

Edit: not a single person in the crowd under seventy, and they're spouting the usual cultural Marxism, complaints about corporate power and so forth.  So, it's not just the protesters who are old and tired, but it's their rhetoric.

The news media likes portraying the nuns as victims of an oppressive power structure, but it's not true.

 If anything, it's the nuns who are often oppressive.  They are in charge of very powerful charitable, medical and educational organizations which enforce the maxims of political correctness and a regime that is so thoroughly secular that if it weren't for the vaguely shaped crucifixes and minimalist Catholic statuary, no one would think of associating these institutions with Catholicism.

Here they are "protesting" in front of a church that offers a Latin Mass.  It's on the marque.

The Vatican is cracking down on a group that represents 80% of the nuns in America. It says America's Leadership Conference of Women Religious is speaking out on issues the Catholic faith doesn't support, but now local Catholics and other faiths are standing in support of the group. 

 In its assessment the church asked the LWCR to reform and separate themselves from issues like women's priesthood the inclusion of the gay community and social-economic justice. Today, nearly two dozen Catholics, and even people of other faiths gathered here outside St. Mary's in a strong showing of local support. Helaine Arnold – Supporter of LCWR: “We're not here to protest anything. We're here to support, here to say we believe in these people.”

Link too wbday...

Opus Vatican Bank Chief Ousted: Leaker Caught?

Edit: This Opus Dei type just may be the one leaking. Isn't that the case, when betrayal comes it always comes from capital? The troubled Vatican Bank continues to struggle for respectability and reform.

Vatican bank chief ousted in no-confidence vote

By NICOLE WINFIELD, Associated Press – 5 hours ago  

VATICAN CITY (AP) — The president of the Vatican bank has effectively been ousted after receiving a unanimous vote of no-confidence from bank overseers for having leaked documents and failed to do his job at a critical time in the Holy See's efforts to show financial transparency, the Vatican and officials said.

Ettore Gotti Tedeschi has been a polarizing figure ever since he was named president of the bank, known as the Institute for Religious Works, or IOR, in 2009. He is under investigation for alleged money laundering by Italian magistrates, but the investigation isn't believed to have factored into the decision since the Vatican considers the probe to be motivated by outside political interests.

The Vatican said in a statement Thursday that the vote was taken because of Gotti Tedeschi's failure to fulfill the "primary functions of his office." He himself has told prosecutors that he barely paid attention to the bank's works, showing up only two days a week while tending to his primary position as head of Spain's Banco Santander's Italian unit in Milan.

Link to original...

Allegations of Police Corruption at Benedictine University

Edit: there's more going on at Collegeville lately.   A University employee has admitted to a criminal act, but the local law enforcement officials refuse to investigate any further.  Meanwhile, the target of a threat lives in fear for their safety.

This event gives some further credence to claims that County officials were deliberately incompetent in their investigation of the disappearance of Josh Guimond in 2002.

What's happening can only be described as Kafkaesque.

Gagliadi Only Sees Evil Abroad

[Eponymous Flower]  Collegeville is a small town which includes the decadent Old Liberal Monastery of St. John's Abbey and has a population of approximately 3,000.

Some may recall that football's most winning football coach, John Gagliardi, had hypocritically commented on the Sandusky scandal, ignoring the substantially more significant problem in his own back yard.

 Despite admitting that he himself has had knowledge about predatory Monks at the Modernist Abbey of St. John's Abbey in Collegeville Minnesota, he did not know “if there was enough punishment in the world for a guy like that" when it came to a softball interview for the national news at the St. Cloud Times.

It's easy to be brave at times like that. Yet this was his statement in view of Penn State's Jerry Sandusky, who was accused of 50 allegations of sexual misconduct.

Gagliardi has been in close proximity to over 16 credibly accused homosexual perpetrators who preyed on students for as long as he's been coaching at St. John's. As the Pine Curtain notes, they taught at the schools where Gagliardi's children were schooled, and one of them even drove the bus for Gagliardi's football team. Impossible not to know, and what if they'd molested one of his children? There is no comment.

Perhaps some level (a very feeble level), of professional loyalty is in play here, as we pointed out before. Surely, Gagliaridi has a certain responsibility to his employer St. John's University, but at what point does the institution to which you belong become so morally compromised, dishonest and corrupt that it tarnishes your reputation as well?

SJU Employee Terrorizes Alum

It's easy to make brave statements about how "shocked" you are at sexual abuse when someone else is at fault, it's almost as easy as making criminal and terroristic threats on Facebook, and almost as easy as getting away with it because your grand father is the football coach.

Normally, such transgressions would result in termination from a job, some jail time and possibly community service, but this is St. John's Abbey of Modernism we're talking about here.

Corruption in Local Law Enforcement?

In any cease, such observations were likely to arouse profound anger and hatred on the part of Gagliardi's family members. Recently, John Gagliardi's grandson, Johnny Gagliardi, admitted to making a threat on the Facebook page of a person who had made a point of posting about John Gagliardi's possible complicity in the sexual abuse at St. John's Abbey and University. Despite the fact that the target was concerned for their safety during a visit to the campus where the perpetrator worked in "Life Services", local law enforcement and the prosecutor have decided not to investigate the case. Pine Curtain writes:

On February 3, 2012, however, Stearns County Sheriff’s Department Captain Pam Jensen called the target to report that her office had decided to close the matter. Remarkably, she told the target that the suspect was still “angry.” [Incredibly, implying that the target is actually at fault]

On February 3, 2012, the target of the threat sent an email to Stearns County Sheriff’s Department Captain Pam Jensen, cc’ing Stearns County Sheriff’s Department Lieutenant Jon Lentz, Stearns County Sheriff’s Department Sergeant Danial Winkels, and Stearns County Attorney Janelle Kendall.

The target explained that he felt the threat was real and that the suspect’s “reference to ‘what is coming’ is worrisome, given his and his family’s influence and connections.” He wrote, “it is important that my (and my family’s safety never be in question, whether in my own home and community or on future visits to my alma-mater. That is not currently the case.”
[Note: Less than a month earlier, a member of the suspect's family was made aware that the target was planning to visit the area in early February.]

If the local authorities have dismissed any further investigation into the case, it is very likely the result of a conflict of interest. The Pine Curtain Writes:

The February 3, 2012 request for an independent prosecutor was denied. This request was made because:

1) Stearns County Attorney Janelle Kendall’s children attend Saint John’s Preparatory School.


2) Stearns County Attorney Janelle Kendall’s husband, John Kendall, is currently listed as a faculty member at Saint John’s University.

3) Janelle and John Kendall give money to the Saint John’s University Annual Fund.

4) Stearns County Sheriff John Sanner and at least one of his sons reportedly attended Saint John’s University.

5) Sheriff John Sanner has been a fixture on the sidelines at Saint John’s University football games.

Read further at Pine Curtain... 

Anti-Catholic Media Continues its Crusade in Philadelphia

It wasn't that the Church had been too much like the Church, but that the Church had become too much like the world.

Edit:  Few people writing about Catholic issues in the press like commenting about the effect of introducing modern psychological perspectives into Catholic institutions in the 50s and 60s.  The attempt to liberate a Catholic nunnery in California by Doctor Coulson who introduced the nuns to "encounter groups" where the notions of evil and any judgements at all were dispensed with, opening the door, it was hoped to a Utopian dream.  But things weren't that simple as Maslow observed:

"But we didn't have a doctrine of evil. (Abraham) Maslow saw that we failed to understand the reality of evil in the human life. When we implied to people that they could trust their impulses, they also understood us to mean that they could trust their evil impulses, that they weren't really evil. But they were evil."

 "Humanistic psychology, the kind that has virtually taken over the Church in America, and dominates so many forms of aberrant education like sex education, and drug education, holds that the most important source of authority is within you, that you must listen to yourself."

 "Maslow believed in evil, and we didn't. Maslow said there was danger in our thinking and acting as if there were no paranoids or psychopaths or SOB's to mess things up. We created a miniature utopian society, the encounter group."

The result exposing the nuns to this psychological outlook and the spirit of the world was devastating.  Fortunately, no one could accuse the nuns of being sexual deviants, but this approach destroyed their lives and their community as Coulson later admitted.

What about the introduction of these methods into Catholic circles where children were involved?  The result was predictably disastrous.

I defy anyone to find any major institution in the West that didn't handle sexual abuse according to this pattern. The going orthodoxy with respect to sexuality was non-judgement, guiltlessness and diversity. It was not out of the norm that sexual predators were not judged so much as coddled, and the effort to see the Catholic Church as somehow exclusively problematic in this regard is disingenuous. Those who come along for the ride in scapegoating the Catholic Church for accomodating a spirit which was really alien to it out of a sense of aggiornamento then popular, really need to reassess the bigger picture and take stock.

 The Catholic Church embraced a viper to itself when it accommodated psychological theoriesn [Usually predicated on by erroneous behaviorist, occult or humanist perspectives] about human nature alien to its own notions.

To be more direct, I don't think anyone will confuse the moribund and infirm Cardinal Bevilacqua, who is now being singled out with those under him of being paragons of orthodoxy or fervent advocates of sexual continence. Indeed, those guilty of the sexual abuse of minors aren't God fearing men and women, they're more likely to be conniving manipulators and moral relativists themselves.  It's convenient to such people that there's no God, or no objective morality and modern psychological approaches offer a kind of benediction for them to do and justify what they want.

To put it more brusquely, the Catholic Church was attacked, and is still attacked today, for its positions on sexuality and forgiveness and if some of its ministers.  Shame and guilt were supposed to be bad unhealthy things, and criminals, even sexual ones, were believed to be reformable if they could only be understood.  Now, people aren't so sure.  Could it be that the Church's original, and orthodox , anthropology which was the basis for its disciplinary outlook was actually right all along?

Now that those approaches have proven to be unsuccessful,  ministers in the Church like +Bevilacqua,  who tried to accommodate the modern West's emphasis on the reformability of human beings  and the elimination of shame and guilt from sexual aberrations, are being attacked again for attempting to alter the Church's previous disciplinary features with respect to sexual crimes by entering a spirit of good old late 20th century liberality and the legal profession is eager to take advantage of this momentary double standard.

Priest uses Nurenburg Defence- I was only obeying the Cardinal's orders

The Associated Press: Monsignor: Cardinal wanted accusers kept in dark:

"A Roman Catholic church official conceded that a 1994 list he compiled of 35 priests suspected of sexually abusing children in the Philadelphia archdiocese included some "pretty sick individuals."

Monsignor William Lynn took the stand in his own defense Wednesday in a groundbreaking child-endangerment and conspiracy case. Prosecutors blame Lynn for helping keep those priests and many more in ministry, where they were had access to countless other children.

Lynn testified that the head of the archdiocese forbade staff from telling accusers their alleged abuser had other victims."

Link to Cathcon...

Father Pfluger Sees Novus Ordo Being Abolished in 20 Years

Edit: there were some interesting elements regarding Father Pfluger's April 29th lecture to 'Spes Unica', including the important point that the Holy Father has accepted the preamble as it is written, including the Society's right to dialog about controversial points in the Vatican Council.

It seems to be also that this has been picked up by Cardinal Brandmuller, who delivered some covering fire for the SSPX recently when he said that the two documents are not binding.

"Our Problem is the Bishops"

The first assistant of the Society of St. Pius X confirms:  "We know that the Pope is agreed to the new form of the Dogmatic Preamble."

Father Pfluger's Lecture on unity at
‘Actio Spes Unica’.
© pius.info

(kreuz.net, Hattersheim)  The Bishops deal with the Society of St. Pius X as if they were still excommunicated.

The first assistant of the Society, Father Niklaus Pfluger, said this in a two hour lecture in the 25,700 population city of Hattersheim near Frankfurt am Main.

The host for the event was 'Actio Spes Unica', an organization very closely bound too the Society.

The break is obvious

Father explained himself about the negotiations with the Vatican.

At the end of the Dogmatic discussions it had been clear that there was no theological agreement.

The theologians of the Society had  depicted a break in the Church before and after the Council.

Because the Pope says it's so


The Vatican theologians had want to  demonstrate continuity.

They explained that the Second Vatican Council had ostensibly announced the enduring teaching of the Church.

There were new teachings.

It was established with the fact that the Pope says it's so.

At the same time the Vatican theologians had admitted the ecclesiastical decline, the abuses, errors and scandals of the Conciliar Church.

But they would not clearly admit to Father Pfluger that the Pastoral Council was the cause for this.

No time lost with the doctrine of the faith


Father Pfluger mentioned the September Meeting of the General Council of the Sciety with the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine and the Faith, William Cardinal Levada.

There had been not a word lost about the Dogmatic Discussions.

The Prince of the Church simply handed the text of the Dogmatic Preamble and proposed a Personal Prelature as the future legal form f the Society.

Much is in disarray

The second part of the discussion dealt with the Church crisis -- among other things in Germany.

The Congregation sees, "that much is in disarray."

That was discussed  -- said Father Pfluger -- also in a spontaneous discussion with the Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine and the Faith, Archbishop Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer (68)..

The Archbishop openly said: "Our problem for the last twenty years are the Bishops, the theologians and the Universities."

The Vatican doesn't speak with one voice

Father Pfluger mentioned the document to the Congregation from the middle of March.

In that a positive answer was expected from the Society and in the opposite case threatened with excommunication.

In any case, in the middle of March Bishop Bernard Fellay received a second dispatch: "You must not take that letter seriously."

The Pope wants a solution and is prepared to be gracious.

"We need the Societey"

Father Pfluger cited a Cardinal, who regarding the breakdown in the Council said to Bishop Fellay: "We need you".

For Father, that is one possible explanation why the Pope wants to achieve  the reconciliation, even though practically all of the Bishops are against him.

It is after forty years for the Society a new situation, that a Pope offers a regularization almost without any concessions on the side of the Society.

In the light of Tradition


Father Pfluger mentioned the Dogmatic Preamble which the Society had reworked for the middle of April .

The Pius text is shorter and more precisely formulated than the original edition by the CDF.

The Society had enjoined in the text that the Pastoral Council and the subsequent Magisterium be discussed.

The Pope is in Agreement

Father let some information slip through.

One knows, that the Pope is in agreement with the Society's version of the Preamble.

The fact is only to be returned to the CDF, in order too follow normal channels.

Pope Under Pressure


Father stressed that "very many" in the CDF and inn the Vatican do not want a positive solution for the Society.

There is "pressure" being exercised against the Pope.

As an example, the clergyman described the Old Liberal President of the Pontifical Council for Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch.

He has already ruined his own Diocese of Basel as Basel:  "They don't come more modern than he, really."

When he became a Roman Cardinal, he started praising the Old Mass.

With 'kreuz.net' it's easier

Father Pfluger mentioned his other crises in the Church during his lecture -- for example the time when there were three Popes simultaneously.

There was no internet or television then, in order too find out, who the real Pope was.

In the current crisis it's easier to inform yourself.  "Now we can go on 'kreuz.net' and look at what Father Andreas Steins is saying, what says Father Franz Schmidberger."

In twenty years the Novus Ordo will be gone

Father Pfluger ventured the understanding that the Pope is still not able to abolish the New Mass.

At the present all priests and Bishops celebrate this rite.


But: "In twenty years, then the Pope will do it."

Disagreements Between Cardinal Koch and Cardinal

Edit: There was a minor translation change in the statement by +Koch at his astonishment at the fixation about the SSPX after 50 years of dialog, rather than implying that he was thinking it would stall the talks.  Thanks to P-Hall.


What binding level t the texts of the 2nd Vatican Council have?  A decisive question.  How the media plays the Cardinals against each other::  "Divide et impera?"  by Armin Schwibach

Rome (kath.net/as)  The discussion of the forthcoming unification with the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X (FSSPX) driven some strange blood, which are in view of the interpretation of the texts of the 2nd Vatican Council.  So it happened in the last days that the media has played two Curial Cardinals who have expertise in the matter, against each other: a completely far fetched situation of a published opinion without foundation.

The play began after the President for the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity,  Kurt Cardinal Koch,  had held a lecture with the title "Building on 'Nostra Aetate -- 50 Years of Christian-Jewish Dialog" at the Papal University of St. Thomas (Angelicum) in the "John Paul II" center.   All questions in the concluding press conference resolved themselves  then, however, on the FSSPX and the negotiations in the Congregation for the Doctrine and the Faith:  it was a question of
the long expected 'feria quarta', on the meeting of the Congregation over the document presented by the FSSPX and being informed about the possible coming unification.

Cardinal Koch explained to the media concerned with this only that the discussions were in process and he could not say what they concerned till Pope Benedict's decision.   At the same time the Cardinal announced his surprise at this that over fifty years of dialog with Judaism would be fixated in such a way  by the Society of St. Pius X.

Journalists constructed from this statement the opposite.  It was loudly announced  that Cardinal Koch himself as the first according to the full committee of the Congregation of the Doctrine and the Faith had expressed himself about the unification with the Society, which wasn't the truth, because:  Koch had refused for that reason to  comment.

Cardinal Koch further explained that the Second Vatican Council and all its texts are binding for a Catholic, from which the journalists determined that it was a "mandatory obligation". In the sense of Pope Benedict XVI's called for Hermaneutic of Continuity with Tradition, Koch underlined, it is important to stress that it is the Magisterium which determines the authentic interpretations with respect to Catholic doctrine and answers all subsequent open questions. With his address to the Roman Curia on the 22nd of December 2005, Pope Benedict XVI presented a "key for the interpretation of the Conciliar texts offered: "Reform in Continuity" against the "Hermeneutics of Rupture".

The presentation of the book "Le chiavi di Benedetto XVI per interpretare il Vaticano II"  (The keys of Benedict XVI for the interpretation of the Second Vatican Council)" took place on the 22nd of May in Rome.   The work was written by Walter Cardinal Brandmuller together with Curial Bishop Agostinoo Marchetto and the Italian theologian and liturgist, Msgr. Nicola Bux.  At the presentation of the book, +Brandmuller touched on the various levels of binding of the Council texts.  There is a big difference between a Constitution and a simple Declaration, as well as those on Christian Education, the Mass Media or even "Nostra Aetate".  Those "controversial documents" for the FSSPX as even over religious freedom and the relationship to the other religions have no binding doctrinal content, said Brandmuller, as is the case with the Dogmatic Constitutions.  For that reason they may be discussed.  Oddly  both of the controversial texts, namely, "Nostra Aetate" and "Dignitatis Humanae", according to the estimation of Canon Lawyer Klaus Morsdorf would have no doctrinal content.  That doesn't mean, however, said the Cardinal, that one need not take them seriously:  they are expressions of the living Magisterium, without binding the entire Church.

Brandmuller's address was taken up by the media immediately represented as the opposite to the words of Cardinal Koch.  This then did not correspond to reality.  As to the question if he was in contradiction with Cardinal Koch's comments, +Brandmuller explained that this couldn't have possibly been the case.  It is completely correct, when Koch says, that a Catholic has to accept the decrees of a General Council.  That doesn't preclude, "that the Decrees have various levels of binding".  Also there is a "Free space for theological discussion abut the correct understanding of the Conciliar texts":  "Where then is the disagreement?"

This begs the question: is the reason that these differences which are as obscure as the Antipodes be a wedge driven between two Cardinals, these two who could or will be the spearheads of Benedict XVI's work of reform and  give significant contributions for the reflection over the Vatican Council right in the wings of the upcoming "Year of Faith?  "Divide et impera" appears to be the motto. Cui bono?

Link to origial kath.net....

Vatican Leaks and the Dark Nights of Benedict XVI

"It is important to have friends around one's self"  

(Vatican)  He is called Luigi Martignani and is a Capuchin.  He is employed to the Investigation Committee of the Vatican State Secretariat, whose mission from the Pope should uncover the Vaticanleaks scandal.  What is meant are the confidential documents which have been skimmed from the Vatican and manipulated by the press.

Pope Benedict XVI has approached the incident not without concern.  From his circle much is hear that the Pope is very distraught over the document theft and the breach of trust associated with that which come from his closest associates.  At yesterday's lunch with the Cardinals, which the College of Cardinals gave in honor of his 85th birthday, he said these words not accidentally:  "It is important to have friends around you."  Then he continued:  "In my life I have experienced wonderful times, but also dark nights.  Even the nights were necessary, and today, surrounded by Cadinals, my friends, I feel myself sure in this company.  The evil will master the world, and does this either through violence or by presenting itself as good.  In this manner, it destroys the moral foundation of society."

Margignani must operate on another level.  He is the operative arm of Cardinals Herrnaz, Tomko and De Giorgi, who are directing the investigation.  Their mission is to find out who the person responsible for the theft of documents is, whom Journalist Nuzzi has given the code name "Maria" in his tell all book.  The journalist insists, that behind this is not only one person, rather several.  In the Vatican ne suspects that behind this statement by Nuzzi is a distraction in order to protect his informant.

The figure of the secret traitor is naturally a no recent occurrence.  Every Pontificate had its leak.  The deceased Doyen of Vaticanistas, Benny Lai wrote many times in his Vatican diaries about this.  For the most part it was the doing of one person within the Leonine walls who's been allotted "strong protection", which can be so strong, that even when he himself is unseen, it is not said that he can be far from his post.  Lai maintains that for the collection of information he relied on all imaginable methods available. "We ourselves paid 10,000 Lire every month to Riccardo Galeazzi Lisi for that reason, ( Lisi was the doctor of Pius XII)  so that he could inform us about the course of the Pope's health."   As Pius XII discovered that Galeazzi Lisi betrayed him, he did not dismiss him, but said, "If he wants to remain in the Vatican, he should stay, but arrange for it so that I will no longer see him",  said the Pope.  And the corrupt Archiatros thanked him not, rather arranged to take photos of the dying Pope with a hidden mini-camera.

The history must be repeated, however.  The mole of 2012 can at least not count on that.  He is not in any case shut out, that even he, once detected, will stay in his position.  Even with his improvised camouflage he will be discovered.  The Vatican Gendarmes have already made their investigation. The mole had access to the archives of the State Secretariat and that the part in which Msgr Gänswein, the private secretary of Pope,  which correspondence addressed  to himself and the pope was filed after their dispatch. The circle of people is very small.

Text: Palazzo Apostolico/Giuseppe Nardi
Bild: Palazzo Apostolico
Trans: Tancred

Link to original, katholisches...

Cardinal Awaits Pan Orthodox Council

Cardinal waiting for Pan-Orthodox Council before ecumenical 

Kardinal Koch: Ökumenisches Warten auf ein gesamtorthodoxes Konzil – kipa/apic

A stumbling block in relations between the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches continues to be the Pope's primacy, Cardinal Kurt Koch said in an interview with the press agency Kipa in Einsiedeln in Switzerland. It is now necessary to wait for the Council before there are any further decisive ecumenical steps. - Cardinal Kurt Koch was staying on 20 May in Einsiedeln on the occasion of an Aid to the Church in Need pilgrimage .

In 2007 in Ravenna (in Italy), there was a meeting of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.  On that occasion an agreement on the question of the primacy of the Bishop of Rome was near, Koch said.

For the first time separated churches stated in a common expert document that, according to the tradition of the church that at a universal level there was pre-eminence of a "Primus" as had the Bishop of Rome during the first millennium. - The document was entitled "Ecclesiological and canonical consequences of thesacramental nature of the Church; conciliarity and authority in the Church ."

Translation:  Chris Gillibrand @ Cathcon

Switzerland: Pontifical High Mass by Embattled Bishop of Chur

Edit: He's been frequently attacked in the press and by his own clergy and those laity in the Diocese who primarily subsist on the tax subsidies offered to them as part of a nationally recognized ecclesiastical body.  Despite this, he perseveres and thrives.

(Birnau)  On Thursday, the 17th of May, on the Feast of the Ascension the Diocesan Bishop of Church, Msgr Vitus Huonder celebrated a Pontifical High Mass in the pilgrimage church Birnau in Bodensee (Baden-Württemberg).   The liturgical service was organized by seminarians of the Society ofo St. Peter from their seminary at Wigratzbad.  The musical program was in the hands of the Collegium Musicum.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Photo:  Priesterruderschaft St. Petrus
Trans: Tancred


Link and more photos, here....

Alois Gluck: The Pastoral Council Has Broken With the Mass

The Peter Priest Bernard Deneke is speaking against his slander, which has been disseminated against him by quality medium 'Südwestrundfunk'.

(kreuz.net, Mannheim)  Last Friday Father Bernward Deneke of the Society of St. Peter celebrated Mass at the Mannheim Katholikentag in the actual Roman Rite.

For that reason he was decked by the public broadcaster 'SWR' on Sunday with a pan.

Never said that

According to reports from 'SWR' Fr. Deneke described the Old Mass in his sermon as "the only true form of Mass celebration".

"He is in horror of a normal church service,"  stated the broadcaster.

Father denied this today at 'gloria.tv'.

He had never made the statement ascribed to him.

The minister was preaching, as to how the faithful connect through the sacrifice of the Mass and Holy Communion with Christ, the vine.

Another False Report

Alois Gluck -- the President of the Central Committee of German Catholics -- was allowed another false report in the same 'SWR' broadcast.

The poorly informed man insisted that the Old Mass celebrated by Father Deneke did not take place in the context of Katholikentags.

In reality the Mass was announced in the program.

And still another false report

Gluck also said that the Parish of Maria Hilf in Mannheim "in any case" celebrates the Old Mass.

That is also false.

Because there are no regular Old Masses in Mannheim.

Gluck falls into the abyss

Finally Gluck explained that the New Eucharistic celebration had broken with the Holy Mass introduced by Jesus Christ.

Because in the Old Mass of All Times it happens in a way "that is of a completely different understanding of the people of God" or a "completely different understanding of the celebration of the Eucharist" as in the Novus Ordo.

The Old Mass is a rejection of the Pastoral Council -- for those whom the Mass was celebrated -- and it has "for that reason" no place in a Katholikentagsprogramm.

If that is right, then the contrary is also true:  the Pastoral Council has broken with the Mass of all Times.

Link to original...kreuz.net...

Turks Decide to Turn Hagia Sophia in Nicea into Mosque

The church in question was built in the sixth century by Emperor Justinian I. It is located in the Turkish city of Iznik—in earlier history called Nicea.

Nicea is where two Ecumenical Councils were held—in 325 and 787. The latter council was held in the very church of Holy Sophia. In Nicea the Symbol of Faith was composed and accepted, and still bears the name “Nicene Creed”. Here the Arian heresy was dealt a decisive blow, reports Pravda.ru.

The church of Holy Sophia received the fathers of the Ecumenical council who condemned iconoclasm. That this church in particular has been turned into a mosque is a wound for the entire Christian world. Adding insult to injury is the fact that this church was built as a scaled-down Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.
Read further....

Benedict XVI: "It would be easier for me not to recognize the Society"

The struggle for Unity

The SSPX is at a crossroads. The Pope is pusing for a decision -- with or against the Vatican. 

(kreuz.net) The structure Rome is offering the Society of St. Pius X is "unbelievably convenient". General Superior Bishop Bernard Fellay said this at the end of a sermon in Vienna. A section of the sermon is on the videoportal 'gloria.tv'.


"We remain, what we are"


After the upcoming possible recognition there would be no noticeable difference compared to now, says Msgr Fellay:

"We will remain what we are."

The guarantee of the freedom of the Society is something Bishop Fellay views as a problem.  At the moment several points are unclear.

There is a fear that the Vatican will attempt to manipulate the SSPX.

Bishops want to prevent the reconciliation

Bishop Fellay recognized that the offer to the Society is also controversial in the official Church.

At the same time he assures that the Pope personally desires that the reconciliation with the Society will take place.

There could be no doubt:  "But it is also surely not what all in the Church desire".

"Much Pressure"

Msgr Fellay does not know the further course of the negotiations.

It could be that the Pope will decide within days or weeks.

Or  the proceedings could be sent back to the CDF.

There is "much pressure" in the Vatican.

The Pope is preparing for some blows

Bishop Fellay cited what the Pope has said about the situation of the Society.

Benedict XVI said:  "I know that it would  be easier for me and the Society, to leave things in their current situation."

The Holy Father knows that after he "will receive blows" for a reconciliation.

With or Against Rome?


Finally, Bishop Fellay explained that the current "seemingly comfortable" situation is coming to an end for the Society.

The current way will not contine:  "It will be a with or  against Rome from this point on."

Both will be hard.

Link to kreuz.net...

Cardinal Says Dignitatis Humanae and Nostra Aetate Are Non-Binding

Edit: this blurb is from Rorate Caeli, which recognizes what was said in earlier weeks by Cardinal Levada, who had said that the Holy Father was willing to concede points on Vatican II as far as the SSPX is concerned.

What this should do is take the wind out of the sails of those critics within the SSPX who are insisting that the Society will not have the opportunity to speak critically on Vatican II and it will also challenge those critics who frequently attack Catholics who are concerned about the binding nature of Vatican II and what doctrines are obliged for us to believe.

All one needs do now the next time one is criticized for questioning Vatican II is to cite Cardinals Levada, Brandmuller and Msgr Bux. All one needs to do when one says that Vatican II's doctrines won't be permitted to be criticized in the Church is to point to +Brandmuller. There he is, doing just that.

In an interview to Radio Vaticana, Abp. Marchetto answered several questions, including the following: Q. – Let us return to the hermeneutic of discontinuity, of rupture, and the hermeneutic of reform: which one prevails today within the Church?

A. – Unfortunately, I must say, the one of rupture prevails. I would rather add that it is acknowledged today that not only the extreme fringe - of what was the majority in the Council -, but also the Traditionalist movements say the same thing. For them also there was a rupture. Therefore, there is still much work to be done.

Catholic News Service recorded some interesting words by Card. Brandmüller, who was also present:

In the book, Cardinal Brandmuller said the SSPX and the Old Catholics who rejected the papal infallibility teaching of the First Vatican Council "have in common a rejection of the legitimate developments of the doctrine and life of the church." While the cardinal described the Old Catholics as having an "insignificant role" in global Christianity today, he said the vitality of the SSPX forces the church "to demonstrate that their protests are unjustified. One can only hope this will happen." Asked about the passage in the book, Cardinal Brandmuller told reporters, "We hope that the Holy Father's attempt to reunify the church succeeds." ...

"There is a huge difference between a great constitution," like the Vatican II constitutions on the church, the liturgy and divine revelation, "and simple declarations," like the Vatican II declarations on Christian education and the mass media. "Strangely enough, the two most controversial documents" for the SSPX -- those on religious freedom [Dignitatis humanae] and on relations with non-Christians [Nostra aetate] -- "do not have a binding doctrinal content, so one can dialogue about them," the cardinal said. "So I don't understand why our friends in the Society of St. Pius X concentrate almost exclusively on these two texts. And I'm sorry that they do so, because these are the two that are most easy to accept if we consider their canonical nature" as non-binding, he said.

Norway: The State Church to be Abolished

Edit:the State Church of Norway is going not so much with a bang, but with an interfaith whimper.

Oslo (kathnews/RV). In Norway the centuries long tradition of the Evangelical Lutheran State Church has come to an end. On Monday the parliament voted on a constitutional amendment which is the establishment for a new church law. It was expected to pass by a wide margin. Already the parliamentary committee for the church, education and science were unanimous. The new will see among other things, that appointees of the state in the future will name Norwegian church Bishops and provosts. The state is no longer "confession bound"; the status of the Lutheran recognition as the "official religion" will be abolished. Even church tax in its present form will be abolished. Ministers are no longer required to be church members.

Church Members Welcome the Development

Trude Evanshaug, speaker for the Church Council explained that this goal has been worked towards for a long time. "We desired this change, because we live in a diverse society, and many residence of this country are not church members. The new law is a sing for the equality of all faith communities," she said to Norwegian public television. For people themselves there won't be any significant changes forthcoming, and even the feast days (holidays) won't change. Jens-Petter Johnsen, the director of the Church Council states that it enables a future legal status in the church, to develop independently. "That is the best as well for the state as also foor the church and the population", said Johnson.

The state can engage with more conviction for human rights now, and the church will receive more space for its own initiatives. In a common announcement by the parliamentary committee and the Church it is what one has known all along as "State Church", that will become a more open and democratic people's church. Svein Harberg, President of the Council, spoke of a "historic" step. "The Norwegian church will then be a faith community just like any other", he said. The new law underscores the fundamental values of Norwegian peace in the Christian and humanistic heritage. The religious activity of the church is now no longer the subject of the state, actually it has this purpose to support the church as a faith community.
Link to original...kath.news...