This week the Catholic Church is in chaos. And Pope Francis is to blame

By Damian Thompson

(The Spectator) The Catholic Church is this week in the biggest mess it’s been in since the Second Vatican Council, and Pope Francis is to blame.

The Vatican cardinals in charge of doctrine, finance and worship are believed to have written to Francis at the beginning of the Synod on the Family – now in its second chaotic week – privately warning him that it was likely to spin out of control. That’s because most of the world’s bishops don’t support any major change to the church’s rules on allowing divorced and remarried people to receive communion, or to the way it treats gay couples. You may think they’re wrong, but that is the situation. Also, the cardinals were exasperated by changes to the synod’s procedures that seemed designed to give undue prominence to liberal voices.

A version of the letter was leaked yesterday. There’s confusion over its wording and the names of the 13 cardinals who reportedly signed it, but we know roughly what it said and we can be pretty confident that it had the support of Cardinal Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Cardinal Pell, Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy; Cardinal Sarah, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship; Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York; and Cardinal Napier, Archbishop of Durban. So there we have three out of the four most powerful cardinals in the Curia, plus the most important American cardinal. Sarah (who is from Guinea) and Napier are the two most influential African cardinals.

When the letter appeared, liberal Catholic journalists made desperate attempts to play down the story – making them look like idiots when, this morning, Cardinal Müller described it as ‘the new Vatileaks‘, referring to the revelations of Vatican skulduggery that probably triggered the resignation of Benedict XVI.

I don’t know how all this will play out. The conflicts and the boundaries between liberals and conservatives are too difficult to map. But it’s time to recognise that – however endearing you find him – Pope Francis is responsible for this crisis. Not only has he made bad decisions, but he has sometimes made the same bad decision twice. In order, then:

First, he decided to kick off a debate about admitting divorced and remarried Catholics to communion by handing the microphone to Cardinal Walter Kasper, a retired German theologian who takes the – by Catholic standards – extreme view that people should be allowed to decide for themselves whether to receive the sacrament. Kasper is an old adversary of Benedict XVI, with whom he clashed on the fundamental subject of the authority of bishops vis-à-vis popes. This offended Benedict loyalists and confused everyone, since it seemed to imply that Francis, like Kasper, favours devolution of spiritual authority to local churches.

Second, Francis called a preparatory synod on the family a year ago during which the two officials running it, Cardinal Baldisseri and Archbishop Forte, were allowed to stage a mid-synod briefing suggesting that the synod fathers favoured lifting the communion ban for people in second marriages and granting a limited degree of recognition to same-sex couples. Since this wasn’t true, all hell broke loose. Baldisseri and Forte should have been banished to dioceses in Antarctica. Instead…
Third, Francis reappointed these two prelates to run the full-scale synod that’s falling apart as I write. Why, I have no idea. It was hardly in his interests to tell the world that he couldn’t learn from his mistakes.

Fourth, the Pope made the aforementioned changes to synod procedures that enabled conservatives to go around saying that the whole thing was rigged. I’m not saying it was, but yesterday Cardinal Napier, no less, said it was ‘hard to tell’ whether the result of the synod had been decided in advance (i.e., rigged). What I do know is that more than one of the alleged signatories to the leaked letter have been very angry about the changes for some time and felt the Pope wasn’t taking their objections seriously.

Fifth, Francis personally invited to a synod on the family the ultra-liberal Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who five years ago tried to conceal the fact that a bishop had molested his nephew. The invitation was a disgrace and it reflects badly on all the Synod Fathers that none of them has interrupted the proceedings to demand Danneels’s expulsion.

These serious errors have been seized on by conservatives, as you’d expect. But if I were a liberal (and, for what it’s worth, I do favour some of the changes espoused by the radicals) I’d be furious that the stubbornness and questionable judgment of a good and holy man, Pope Francis, has turned sensitive debates into ideological warfare.

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• This week the Catholic Church is in chaos. And Pope Francis is to blame

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• Crisis for Pope Francis as top-level cardinals tell him: your synod could lead to the collapse of the church

Crisis for Pope Francis as top-level cardinals tell him: your synod could lead to the collapse of the church

By Damian Thompson

Update, 3.20pm Monday: As I write this, various cardinals have said they didn’t sign the letter, some of them waiting several hours before distancing themselves from it. Now Erdö says he didn’t sign it. It’s extremely hard to get at the truth. ‘Not signing’ can mean a number of things, ranging from an outright false claim that a cardinal supported the letter to panicky backtracking by cardinals who did assent to it but are grasping at the technicality that they didn’t personally append their signature. But the damage to the synod is done.

(The Spectator) A group of cardinals – including some of the most powerful figures in the Catholic Church – have written to Pope Francis telling him that his Synod on the Family, now meeting in Rome, has gone badly off the rails and could cause the church to collapse.

Their leaked letter, written as the synod started, presumably explains why a few days ago the Pope suddenly warned against ‘conspiracy’ and reminded the cardinals that he, and only he, will decide the outcome of the synod.

This is the gravest crisis he has faced, worse than anything that happened to Benedict XVI, and he knows it.

And, talking of the Pope Emeritus, I suspect that, had he been free to sign the letter, he would have done so.

The cardinals warn the Pope, in diplomatic language, that (a) the synod is being hijacked by liberals obsessed with the narrow issue of giving Communion to divorced and remarried people; (b) going down the route of ‘pastoral flexibility’ could lead to the Catholic Church falling apart in the same way as liberal Protestant denominations; and (c) the synod working papers prepared by the Pope’s allies Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri and Archbishop Bruno Forte are a mess and going down badly with the Synod Fathers.

The seniority of the signatories shows how close the church is to civil war. Cardinal Gerhard Müller, Prefect of the Congregation of the Faith – the Church’s doctrinal watchdog – is on the list. So is Cardinal George Pell, head of the Vatican’s finances, and Cardinal Robert Sarah, in charge of the Church’s worship.

Sarah is the most prominent African cardinal in the church, along with Cardinal Wilfred Napier of Durban, who has also signed. Add to that the name of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York, and it becomes clear that the loss of confidence in Pope Francis extends far beyond the Vatican... (continued)

Read More at  The Spectator

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• Crisis for Pope Francis as top-level cardinals tell him: your synod could lead to the collapse of the church

Synod Showdown Report - October 6, 2015

By Michael Voris, S.T.B.

(Church Militant) There were a few fireworks at the very end of today's press briefing that took place after the morning sessions. It's clear what's going on here is that there are an awful lot of bishops sitting in the Synod who are not really expressing theological thoughts about some of these issues. Obviously some of them are, but some of them are getting their theology mixed up.

And in one particular episode right at the very end of the press conference, one last question came up from the press gallery, and on stage was the archbishop of Gatineau, Quebec, Paul-André Durocher, who was asked, "What about this question of the discipline versus the doctrine of administering Holy Communion to divorced and civilly remarried Catholics? Is it safe to say that this issue is still under debate? And if so, what does that say about the question of the dogma and the discipline?"

And he gave an answer that stunned a number of us inside the press room. He said, 'If you want dogma, go read Denzinger. The Synod will be deciding and talking about whether this is a discipline or it's a dogma."

That caused one priest who was sitting very, very close to us to sort of go into a rage. He actually confronted the archbishop on the way out of the door and said, "All you bishops, everything you're doing here, is this conciliarism, which is destroying the Church! You are confusing the faithful. You don't know the Faith."

There was a very, very strong reaction; you could see the division between faithful Catholic journalists and the more liberal crowd reporting — for America Magazine and National Catholic Distorter (I mean Reporter) and all this. There is quite the division here. It's really funny because every day they stand up and tell us there's no division. And then they stand up and say something divisive, and the whole thing falls apart again. This is very interesting, the way this is all playing out.
But hold on! This is only day two. Day two of 21! And I am shocked. I cannot believe a bishop said, "Oh well, you want dogma, go to Denzinger. We'll decide whether doing the discipline differently affects dogma."

Link:

• Synod Showdown Report - October 6, 2015

Pray for Fr. Peter Carota

Fr. Peter Carota wrote:

"Just a personal note as to what I am going through.  I was eating a little better yesterday, but back to the same today, (only able to eat and drink a small amount).  I am trying to offer it up with Jesus’ suffering, but it is hard.  My bottom hurts to sit or lie down on because I have lost so much weight.  I have done everything that the Doctors have said and my brother Dr. Carota.  But not working..."

Read More Here

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• Love, Prayers 
• Update on Fr. Carota

Ham Sandwiches And Sausage Rolls May Be Banned From Office Kitchens For Being ‘Offensive’

(Yahoo) Kitchens that are shared between office workers may soon be banned from storing pork products like sausage rolls over fears that they are “offensive”.

New guidelines proposed by interfaith group CoExist House say that employers should consider worker’s religions before allowing ham sandwiches placed in the fridge alongside other products.

The group also suggests that alcohol should not be served at corporate events in case it upsets members of certain faiths.

Andy Dinham, professor of faith and public policy at Goldsmiths, University of London, is writing up the guidelines that will be put forward to employers this week.

Defending the controversial report, he told The Sunday Times: “It would be good etiquette to avoid heating up foods that might be prohibited for people of other faiths.

"The microwaves example is a good one.

“We also say, ‘Don’t put kosher or halal and other… special foods next to another [food] or, God forbid, on the same plate.”

He also said that religious people should be entitled to wear religious clothing and symbols as required.

He added: "We have lost the ability to talk about religious belief because of a century of secular assumptions, and most religious belief is either highly visible and we don’t recognise it, or it’s invisible and we miss it entirely.”

Link:

• Ham Sandwiches And Sausage Rolls May Be Banned From Office Kitchens For Being ‘Offensive’

Tennessee Lt. Gov. to Christians: Buy Guns

Photo: The Associated Press

By William Bigelow

(Breitbart) On Friday, in response to the shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon in which Christians were targeted and murdered, Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey minced no words in his concise message to Christians and those who believe in the values of Western Civilization: buy guns.

Ramsey issued his statement on Facebook, linking it to a New York Post article headlined, “Oregon gunman singled out Christians during rampage.” Ramsey pointed out other recent mass shootings as he posited that the targets were the same: Christians and defenders of the West. His post read:

As I scroll through the news this morning I am saddened to read the details of the horrible tragedy in Oregon. My heart goes out to the citizens of Roseburg — especially the families and loved ones of those murdered.

The recent spike in mass shootings across the nation is truly troubling. Whether the perpetrators are motivated by aggressive secularism, jihadist extremism or racial supremacy, their targets remain the same: Christians and defenders of the West.

While this is not the time for widespread panic, it is a time to prepare. I would encourage my fellow Christians who are serious about their faith to think about getting a handgun carry permit. I have always believed that it is better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it. Our enemies are armed. We must do likewise...

Read More Here

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• Tennessee Lt. Gov. to Christians: Buy Guns

Someone is Lying About the Pope’s Meeting with Kim Davis

By Austin Ruse

Papal spokesman Father Thomas Rosica flatly denies Kim Davis met privately with Pope Francis when he visited Washington, D.C. which stands in flat contradiction to Davis’s claims.

(Breitbart) In Roscia’s telling Davis was part of a large number of people as part of “the farewell greeting as the Pope was leaving the Nunciature in Washington” prior to his departure for New York City.

Rosica said the Vatican ambassador to the United States, “…invited a number of guests, his own choice, to greet the Pope, very brief greetings, and in the Pope’s characteristic kindness and hospitality he shook people’s hands and gave them Rosaries. In terms of why this person was invited, you’d have to ask the Nuncio.”

This stands diametrically opposed to the claims of Kim Davis that she met privately with the Pope and that no one else, besides a handful of Vatican personnel, was present. As proof of her version of events, Davis’s lawyer Mathew Staver points to the fact that the Vatican sent a security detail to pick her up at her hotel and deliver her to the Vatican Embassy.

Anyone remotely familiar with what Rosica describes as no more than a Papal meet and greet knows the Vatican does not send a car and driver, let alone a security detail.

Staver was with Davis when Vatican security picked them up. He said the detail were not Americans, that “they spoke Italian and when they spoke English it was heavily accented.”

Staver also told Breitbart News that he did not see a large group of people at the Nunciature that day, though the building is large and the larger group could have been somewhere else.

With such a stark contrast between Father Rosica’s telling and Kim Davis’s, it is clear someone is lying about her meeting with the Pope.

Follow Austin Ruse on Twitter @austinruse

Link:

• Someone is Lying About the Pope’s Meeting with Kim Davis

h/t to ChurchMilitant.com

While Doctors Kill Babies Inside the Abortion Clinic, These Pro-Life Doctors Help Women Outside

By Shawn Carney 

(LifeNews.com) Planned Parenthood is in the news again this week … as the federal investigation into harvesting and trafficking aborted baby body parts heats up.

A recent poll showed that 50% of Americans do not know that Planned Parenthood does abortions. That’s a frustrating statistic, since they are the largest abortion business in the United States. They do more than 325,000 every year!

However, you can do something about that!

Here’s how three 40 Days for Life teams that hold their peaceful vigils outside Planned Parenthood facilities are drawing their communities into the campaign.

“We are off to a great start!” said Monica in Bloomington, Indiana. “We have no reports of babies saved … because we’re not even sure if they did abortions last week!” The business was closed several days.

The Bloomington team did stage a major event outside Planned Parenthood – a Doctors for Life rally. About 200 people attended, Monica said, including “28 local physicians who put their names out there as being pro-life and committed to the protection of the unborn child. What an inspiration these doctors were to all of us!”

Some of the doctors were photographed near a mobile help center that offers free pregnancy tests and ultrasounds.

“As fruit from our 40 Days for Life campaigns, we announced that we are getting our own unit, paid for by a generous donor,” Monica said. “We can’t wait to have it there regularly to help the women going in!”

LifeNews.com Note: Shawn Carney is the campaign director for the 40 Days for Life pro-life prayer campaign against abortion.

Link:

• While Doctors Kill Babies Inside the Abortion Clinic, These Pro-Life Doctors Help Women Outside

Zuhlio Sings: 50 Ways to Rig a Synod

Click here to listen

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• ZUHLIO RETURNS! “Fifty Ways To Rig A Synod”

A moment with St. Maria Goretti in Philadelphia

By Michelle Bauman

(Catholic News Agency) Pilgrims roaming the streets of downtown Philadelphia in the days before Pope Francis’ arrival had the opportunity to venerate one of the Church’s youngest canonized saints.

The relics of St. Maria Goretti – on tour throughout the U.S. – spent a few days at St. John the Evangelist Church.

Gathered from across the globe for the World Meeting of Families, pilgrims stood patiently in lines that stretched back several city blocks, waiting for a few moments to pray in front of the young saint’s body.

The story of St. Maria Goretti is a beautiful witness of forgiveness. At age 11, she was approached by neighboring farmhand Alessandro Serenelli, who attempted to seduce her. She rejected his advances, and he tried to rape her. When she continued to fight back, he stabbed her 14 times, killing her. As she died, she told him that she forgave him and hoped that he would one day be in heaven with her.
Eventually, Serenelli underwent a powerful conversion and became a lay brother. There have been calls of his canonization cause to be opened.

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• A moment with St. Maria Goretti in Philadelphia

Cardinal Danneels Admits Being in Mafia Dedicated to Unseat Pope Benedict XVI

By Tantumblogo

Pride goeth before the fall.  The modernists are apparently feeling very powerful and secure, because they are starting to open their mouths and crow about both their opposition to Pope Benedict XVI, dropping hints they played a role in his abdication, as well as quite possibly illicitly organizing to elect Pope Francis.

Further serious concerns are being raised about Cardinal Godfried Danneels, one of the papal delegates chosen to attend the upcoming Ordinary Synod on the Family, after the archbishop emeritus of Brussels confessed this week to being part of a radical “mafia” reformist group opposed to Benedict XVI.

It was also revealed this week that he once wrote a letter to the Belgium government favoring same-sex “marriage” legislation because it ended discrimination against LGBT groups.

The cardinal is already known for having once advised the king of Belgium to sign an abortion law in 1990, for telling a victim of clerical sex abuse to keep quiet, and for refusing to forbid pornographic, “educational” materials being used in Belgian Catholic schools.

He also once said same-sex “marriage” was a “positive development,” although he has sought to distinguish such a union from the Church’s understanding of marriage.

……..At the launch of the book in Brussels this week, the cardinal said he was part of a secret club of cardinals opposed to Pope Benedict XVI.

He called it a “mafia” club that bore the name of St. Gallen. The group wanted a drastic reform of the Church, to make it “much more modern”, and for Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio to head it. The group, which also comprised Cardinal Walter Kasper and the late Jesuit Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, has been documented in Austen Ivereigh’s biography of Pope Francis, The Great Reformer.

The plain implication is that these men were probably driving forces behind the Vatileaks and other difficulties that plagued PBXVI’s pontificate, helping convince the beleaguered Pope Emeritus that abdication was his best alternative.  Of course, there have also been dark hints of a turncoat “disciple” of Ratzinger that played a key role in convincing him to abdicate, promising him that someone of a like mind would be elected and bring the constant stream of scandals afflicting the Vatican to an end.  Who that turncoat is has not been revealed to date.

Nevertheless, this second admission, coupled with admissions made in the book alluded to in Pentin’s post above (The Great Reformer), seems to point to at least a reasonable possibility that there was illegal collusion between various cardinals at the conclave of 2013... (continued)

Read More at A Blog for Dallas Area Catholics

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• Cardinal Danneels Admits Being in Mafia Dedicated to Unseat Pope Benedict XVI

Speaker John Boehner Will Resign From Congress

(New York Times) WASHINGTON — Speaker John A. Boehner, under intense pressure from conservatives in his party, will resign one of the most powerful positions in government and give up his House seat at the end of October, throwing Congress into chaos as it tries to avert a government shutdown.

Mr. Boehner made the announcement in an emotional meeting with his fellow Republicans on Friday morning...

Most recently, Mr. Boehner, 65, was trying to craft a solution to keep the government open through the rest of the year, but was under pressure from a growing base of conservatives who told him that they would not vote for a bill that did not defund Planned Parenthood. Several of those members were on a path to remove Mr. Boehner as speaker, though their ability to do so was far from certain... (continued)

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• Speaker John Boehner Will Resign From Congress

Pope Francis and President Obama

 

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• Caption Contest: Pope "Outs" Obama?

Pope Francis Reverses Position On Capitalism After Seeing Wide Variety Of American Oreos

(The Onion) WASHINGTON—Admitting the startling discovery had compelled him to reexamine his long-held beliefs, His Holiness Pope Francis announced Tuesday that he had reversed his critical stance toward capitalism after seeing the immense variety of Oreos available in the United States. “Oh, my goodness, look at all these! Golden Oreos, Cookie Dough Oreos, Mega Stuf Oreos, Birthday Cake Oreos—perhaps the system of free enterprise is not as terrible as I once feared,” said the visibly awed bishop of Rome while visiting a Washington, D.C. supermarket, adding that the sheer diversity of flavors, various colors and quantities of creme filling, and presence or absence of an outer fudge layer had led to a profound philosophical shift in his feelings toward the global economy and opened his eyes to the remarkable capabilities of the free market. “Only a truly exceptional and powerful economic system would be capable of producing so many limited-edition and holiday-themed flavors of a single cookie brand, such as these extraordinary Key Lime Pie Oreos and Candy Corn Oreos. This is not a force of global impoverishment at all, but one of endless enrichment.” At press time, the pontiff had reportedly withdrawn his acceptance of capitalism, calling any system that would unleash a Roadhouse Chili Monster Slim Jim on the public “an unholy abomination.”

Link:

• Pope Francis Reverses Position On Capitalism After Seeing Wide Variety Of American Oreos

GEORGE WILL: BIGOT WITH A BRAIN

(Catholic League) Bill Donohue comments on an article in yesterday’s Washington Post by columnist George Will; it is syndicated in other papers today:

“He [the pope] stands against modernity, rationality, science and, ultimately…open societies.” This is the kind of anti-Catholic trope that uneducated bigots have been trotting out for about a century. Now it is being advanced by George Will, an atheist whose latest cause is assisted suicide. He is an educated man, but his grasp of Catholicism is on a par with that of Bill Maher’s.

In my latest book, The Catholic Advantage: How Health, Happiness, and Heaven Await the Faithful, I took Will to task for showcasing his ignorance of my religion when, in the 1980s, he misinterpreted what Cardinal John O’Connor meant when he said Catholicism is a “theology of suffering.” New York City Mayor Ed Koch got it, but it was over Will’s head.

Not surprisingly, Will doesn’t like Pope Francis. The Holy Father, he opines, is known for emitting “clouds of sanctimony.” He speaks with authority: pomposity, which is a close cousin to sanctimony, is his signature style. More important is his twisting of the pope’s position on materialism to mean that he is anti-electricity.

Will is a wordsmith, so he ought to know the difference between consumerism and “compulsive consumerism.” The latter is indeed a sin (a concept that is admittedly hard for atheists to understand). Why? Because it suggests extravagance, the kind of materialistic indulgence that no Christian can condone.

If it weren’t for Catholicism, there would be no Age of Science, so it is mind-boggling that Will would suggest otherwise. More recently, as Pope Benedict XVI has said, when faith and reason are severed, serious problems emerge. Will gets the latter but not the former. Neither did the 20th century’s totalitarians.

Contact: georgewill@washpost.com

Link:

• GEORGE WILL: BIGOT WITH A BRAIN

Mecca crane collapse `act of God`: Engineer

(Z News) Mecca: The collapse of a construction crane that killed 107 people at Mecca`s Grand Mosque was "an act of God" and not due to a technical fault, an engineer for the developer said Saturday.

The massive red and white crane, which crashed into the court of the mosque during a rainstorm and high winds Friday, also injured around 200 people.

The engineer for Saudi Binladin Group, which is carrying out a massive expansion of the mosque, told AFP the crane, like many others on the project, had been there for three or four years without any problem.

"It was not a technical issue at all," said the engineer, who asked not to be identified.
"I can only say that what happened was beyond the power of humans. It was an act of God and, to my knowledge, there was no human fault in it at all..."

Saudi Binladin Group belongs to the family of the late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Link:

• Mecca crane collapse `act of God`: Engineer

Pope Francis Reforms Roman Catholic Marriage Annulment Procedures

(Reuters) VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has reformed the Roman Catholic Church's cumbersome procedures for marriage annulments, a decision keenly awaited by many couples around the world who have divorced and remarried outside the church.

The Vatican said Monday that the pope had written a document known as a Motu Proprio, Latin for "by his own initiative," which changes the way Catholics get annulments.

The details of the document, which is expected to streamline and simplify the procedure, will be released Tuesday at a Vatican news conference.

An annulment, formally known as a "decree of nullity," is a ruling that a marriage was not valid according to church law because certain prerequisites, such as free will, psychological maturity and openness to having children, were lacking.

The 1.2 billion-member church does not recognize divorce. Catholics who divorce and remarry outside the church in civil services are considered to be still married to their first spouses and living in a state of sin. This bars them from receiving sacraments such as communion.

The new procedures follow the pope's appointment a year ago of an 11-member commission of lawyers and theologians to propose reform of the process. The Vatican said at the time that he wanted to "simplify and streamline" the procedure while "safeguarding the principle of the indissolubility of marriage."

The situation of divorced and remarried Catholics who want to fully participate in the church is a topic of great debate, particularly in countries such as the U.S. and Germany, and it will be a main topic at a synod of bishops from around the world at the Vatican next month.

Making it easier for divorced couples to receive annulments would allow them to return to the sacraments.

Progressive bishops want the church to be more merciful toward Catholics whose first marriages have failed.

One Vatican expert on marriage annulments said that the new rules would not change the criteria for getting annulments but that they would make the procedures easier.

Link:

• Pope Francis Reforms Roman Catholic Marriage Annulment Procedures

A conservative revolt is brewing inside the Vatican

U.S. Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, left, stands by Pope Francis saluting bishops, at the end of weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sept. 2, 2015. (Alessandra Tarantino/AP)

By Anthony Faiola September 7 at 7:33 PM

 

VATICAN CITY — On a sunny morning earlier this year, a camera crew entered a well-appointed apartment just outside the 9th-century gates of Vatican City. Pristinely dressed in the black robes and scarlet sash of the princes of the Roman Catholic Church, the Wisconsin-born Cardinal Raymond Burke sat in his elaborately upholstered armchair and appeared to issue a warning to Pope Francis.
A staunch conservative and Vatican bureaucrat, Burke had been demoted by the pope a few months earlier, but it did not take the fight out of him. Francis had been backing a more inclusive era, giving space to progressive voices on divorced Catholics as well as gays and lesbians. In front of the camera, Burke said he would “resist” liberal changes — and seemed to caution Francis about the limits of his authority. “One must be very attentive regarding the power of the pope,” Burke told the French news crew.

Papal power, Burke warned, “is not absolute.” He added, “The pope does not have the power to change teaching [or] doctrine.”

Burke’s words belied a growing sense of alarm among strict conservatives, exposing what is fast emerging as a culture war over Francis’s papacy and the powerful hierarchy that governs the Roman Catholic Church.

This month, Francis makes his first trip to the United States at a time when his progressive allies are heralding him as a revolutionary, a man who only last week broadened the power of priests to forgive women who commit what Catholic teachings call the “mortal sin” of abortion during his newly declared “year of mercy” starting in December. On Sunday, he called for “every” Catholic parish in Europe to offer shelter to one refugee family from the thousands of asylum-seekers risking all to escape war-torn Syria and other pockets of conflict and poverty.

Yet as he upends church convention, Francis also is grappling with a conservative backlash to the liberal momentum building inside the church. In more than a dozen interviews, including with seven senior church officials, insiders say the change has left the hierarchy more polarized over the direction of the church than at any point since the great papal reformers of the 1960s.

The conservative rebellion is taking on many guises, in public comments, yes, but also in the rising popularity of conservative Catholic Web sites promoting Francis dissenters; books and promotional materials backed by conservative clerics seeking to counter the liberal trend; and leaks to the news media, aimed at Vatican reformers.

In his recent comments, Burke was also merely stating fact. Despite the vast powers of the pope, church doctrine serves as a kind of constitution. And for liberal reformers, the bruising theological pushback by conservatives is complicating efforts to translate the pope’s transformative style into tangible changes... (continued)

Read More Here

Link:

• A conservative revolt is brewing inside the Vatican

CDF: Medjugorje Parish Priest and "Seers" Not Allowed to Spread Messages Within the Parish of Medjugorje

By Gianluca Barile

Via Google Translation:

"The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, with a warning, signed by Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, has forbidden the parish priest, Fr. Marinko Sakota, and six alleged seers who claim to see the "Lady" for 34 years, to take evidence or spread "messages" within the parish of Medjugorje. It is a blow dealt to the "Ministry of Propaganda" of Medjugorje, the machine of the communication of the alleged seers, so dubbed because it is able to convey, in near real time, the lyrics of "messages", already translated into several languages in every corner of the world, thanks to social networks and the countless devotional sites. This is, in yet another confirmation, after the ban imposed on some of the alleged visionaries to hold public meetings in Italian Dioceses, which we proceed towards a "black smoke" regarding the recognition of the supposed apparitions..." (continued)

Links:

• Official Medjugorje Report Released: Serious Doubts About Authenticity
• Diario di un Vaticanista
• Vatican bans "seers" from spreading "messages" inside Parish of Medjugorje

Father John Corapi Update

By Matt C. Abbott

(Renew America)  A bit of good news to share: A reliable source has informed me that Father John Corapi, a popular priest among orthodox Catholics who departed public life after a tumultuous period a few years ago, remains in the priesthood and is re-establishing his spiritual life.

There's no indication he'll be returning to public life anytime soon, if ever. However, it's nice to know that Father Corapi can at least be a quiet prayer warrior during this extremely difficult time in the Church and world.

I won't go into the particulars about what transpired in the past – it's water under the bridge – and I'm sure there's information on the Internet (some of it more reliable than other information, obviously) for those who may not be familiar with the situation. Plus, those who really didn't pay attention to him in the first place likely don't care one way or the other about his current status.

The bottom line is that we all are wounded and spiritually/morally fall often (I know I do!). We just have to try our best to keep moving forward in faith in this "valley of tears." A very difficult task, I must say. That doesn't mean condoning moral corruption or remaining silent about it, but we all need God's mercy.

Our Lady of Perpetual Help, pray for us.

Link:

• Brief update on Father John Corapi

POPE FRANCIS FOR YEAR OF MERCY GRANTS THAT SSPX PRIESTS CAN VALIDLY ABSOLVE!

From Father Z:

Huge news. This was under embargo till noon, Rome time, which must be honored. [UPDATE: The Bollettino is now available HERE]
 
The Year of Mercy begins 8 December 2015 until 20 November 2016.

It is about to be announced that the Holy Father has sent a letter to Archbishop Rino Fisichella, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization about the upcoming Extraordinary Year of Mercy...  (continued)

Read More Here

Link:

• POPE FRANCIS FOR YEAR OF MERCY GRANTS THAT SSPX PRIESTS CAN VALIDLY ABSOLVE!

Church Inquiry May Pit Pope Against a Popular Bosnian Shrine

Roman Catholic pilgrims on the hill above the small Bosnian town of Medjugorje, where in 1981 a group of six youths said the Virgin Mary appeared to them. Three say they still see her daily. Credit Ziyah Gafic for The New York Times

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDO

(The New York Times) MEDJUGORJE, Bosnia and Herzegovina — At exactly 6:40 p.m. one sultry day this month, the peal of church bells rang though the main square of this town, bringing countless pilgrims instantly to their knees.

The ringing marked the moment, 34 years ago, when a group of six youths say the Virgin Mary appeared to them. Three of them say she has continued to do so, usually at the same time, every day since.

Over that period, the scheduled apparitions have drawn millions of believers to this small town, and a good dose of suspicion from skeptics, including, perhaps, Pope Francis. In what was interpreted as a thinly veiled jab at the claims, he recently joked during a morning homily about “visionaries who can tell us exactly what message Our Lady will be sending at 4 o’clock this afternoon...”

Already, since the pope announced in June that a decision was imminent, the numbers of Italians — once the bulk of the pilgrims here — have fallen by half.

“Whatever the verdict turns out to be, this wait is creating a state of uncertainty for the pilgrims, and that affects the season,” said Sante Frigo, an Italian married to a pilgrim guide in Medjugorje.

“From the point of view of the pilgrimage supply chain,” he added, “it’s been a catastrophe.”

Faith aside, for the residents of a town that once barely survived on tobacco plantations and vineyards, the claims of apparitions have been an irrefutable blessing...

Doubters accuse the visionaries of blurring the line between the spiritual and the material by capitalizing on the apparitions through global speaking tours and investments in the local tourism industry.

“You have to bear in mind that the visionaries have built economic interests here,” said one skeptic, Marco Corvaglia, a high school teacher who chronicled what he claims are the visionaries’ conflicts of interest on his blog.

He started his blog, he said, out of concern that millions were being duped by the collective power of suggestion. The Medjugorje apparitions, he and other skeptics believe, are nothing other than an “instrument of mass manipulation...”

On a recent afternoon, one of the three who still claims to see the Virgin daily, Ivan Dragicevic, 50, took to a stage built behind the parish church — with outdoor seating for about 9,000 — to share his experiences with pilgrims braving the heat.

Mr. Dragicevic, who lives in Boston and in Medjugorje, spoke of his conversations with the Virgin, as pilgrims from around the world listened to a simultaneous translation broadcast on various radio frequencies. A group of Frenchwomen took copious notes.

Once he had finished, he quickly left, brusquely declining requests for an interview.

At Magnificat, a guesthouse built three years ago by one of the daily seers, Marija Pavlovic, also 50, graciously greeted pilgrims, offering words of comfort and blessings.

The hotel itself has been a source of controversy. While Ms. Pavlovic describes it as a “center of spirituality,” it is actually a “luxury hotel,” Mr. Corvaglia and other critics say.

Ms. Pavlovic, who divides her time between Italy and here, also declined to be interviewed. “We don’t want to throw fuel on the fire,” she said. “We want to wait until the waters calm down...” (continued)

Read More at the New York Times

Link:

• Church Inquiry May Pit Pope Against a Popular Bosnian Shrine

UPDATE!  Official Medjugorje Report Released: Serious Doubts About Authenticity

Mark Zuckerberg - why are you picking on priests while apologizing to "others"?

By Sarah Palin

Hey Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook - why are you picking on priests while apologizing to "others"?
Friends, have you heard about this? Facebook is forcing members of religious orders to remove their titles – their spiritual and vocational identities like "Monsignor" and "Father" – when using the social media monopoly, while permitting everyone else to use titles like "Father". In fact, Facebook just publicly apologized "to drag queens, drag kings... ," etc. for any confusion regarding THEIR allowance to use whatever names and titles they choose on Facebook, like "Father"! Surely this is just a management oversight, eh? Granted, they're a monopoly, but if enough of us speak up about their intolerance, then let's hope they get the message and allow freedom of religion. If not, there's not much point in any of us hanging in there with Facebook, right? Here's my coverage of the issue in One America News Network: https://youtu.be/TiWdu--ZU6Y



Link:

• Sarah Palin's Facebook Page

The Medjugorje Deception

UPDATE: Official Medjugorje Report Released: Serious Doubts About Authenticity

This Guy Reacting to Chris Christie’s ‘I’ve Used Birth Control’ Comment Is All of Us

by Andrew Husband

(Mediaite) Listening to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie talk about his sex life isn’t exactly anything anyone wants to hear right now. Unfortunately, potential voters in a New Hampshire restaurant had to hear all about it on Tuesday morning.

Christie is just one of the many GOP candidates who have made stops in the New England conservative state. While discussing his Catholicism and whether or not religion had a place in politics, the governor addressed the often touchy subject of contraception:

“I’m a Catholic, but I’ve used birth control, and not just the rhythm method, okay?”

That’s when a man seated in front of Christie, wearing a white shirt and a red tie, dropped his head in his hands in the hopes of disguising his smirk. We don’t know his name or who he is, but he just became our nation’s everyman:


The New Jersey governor continued, arguing his “church has a teaching against birth control,” but his use of contraceptives doesn’t make him “an awful Catholic.”

Link:

• This Guy Reacting to Chris Christie’s ‘I’ve Used Birth Control’ Comment Is All of Us