By Matt Hadro
(CNA/EWTN News) Regarding the recent presidential election, Archbishop Kurtz said earlier on Monday that he had written to President-elect Donald Trump expressing a “willingness to work together” for the “protection of life” and the “promotion of human dignity.”
The bishops “have been very clear for the right to life of the child in the womb,” Archbishop Kurtz insisted, adding that the Church is defending human dignity by opposing the legalization of assisted suicide, which was recently approved by voters in Colorado and by the city government of Washington, D.C.
Trump’s victory has been met with protests in cities across the country, capping what was already a polarizing election cycle.
Bishops responded to the protests by stating their respect for freedom of speech while insisting that a “peaceful transition of power” take place. “I think that these can be reconciled,” said Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami, chair of the bishops’ domestic justice and human development committee, of the protests and peace.
There is nothing “more American than a peaceful transition of power,” he stated...
Link:
Tuesday, November 15, 2016
Monday, November 14, 2016
Theresa May BEGS Donald Trump for a meeting after Nigel Farage humiliation
By Jack Blanchard
(The Daily Mirror) Humilated Theresa May is now begging for a meeting with Donald Trump before
Christmas after being shown up by Nigel Farage.
The UKIP leader was the first foreign politician to meet the President-elect after his shock victory at the polls.
But Mrs May insisted relations with the Trump camp were “working well” and said they would meet “at the earliest opportunity”.
Mr Farage is furious after his bid to become a special envoy to liaise with Mr Trump was rejected.
The PM’s spokeswoman said: “The President-elect has talked about enjoying the same relationship that Reagan and Thatcher did.
"I don’t remember there being any third person in that relationship.”
Mr Farage said: “It shows they don’t care about the country.”
Mrs May’s spokeswoman claimed No10 had “an established route” to Mr Trump’s team.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin called Mr Trump and the pair agreed to tackle ISIS.
Mr Putin said he was ready to talk to the US “on the basis of mutual respect and non-intervention into each other’s internal affairs”.
In Brussels, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Mr Trump’s election could be “a moment of opportunity”.
And Mrs May suggested Mr Trump was right to say globalisation had “downsides” for many people, in her Mansion House speech last night.
She said “globalisation in its current form has left too many people behind”.
Link:
(The Daily Mirror) Humilated Theresa May is now begging for a meeting with Donald Trump before
Christmas after being shown up by Nigel Farage.
The UKIP leader was the first foreign politician to meet the President-elect after his shock victory at the polls.
But Mrs May insisted relations with the Trump camp were “working well” and said they would meet “at the earliest opportunity”.
Mr Farage is furious after his bid to become a special envoy to liaise with Mr Trump was rejected.
The PM’s spokeswoman said: “The President-elect has talked about enjoying the same relationship that Reagan and Thatcher did.
"I don’t remember there being any third person in that relationship.”
Mr Farage said: “It shows they don’t care about the country.”
Mrs May’s spokeswoman claimed No10 had “an established route” to Mr Trump’s team.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin called Mr Trump and the pair agreed to tackle ISIS.
Mr Putin said he was ready to talk to the US “on the basis of mutual respect and non-intervention into each other’s internal affairs”.
In Brussels, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said Mr Trump’s election could be “a moment of opportunity”.
And Mrs May suggested Mr Trump was right to say globalisation had “downsides” for many people, in her Mansion House speech last night.
She said “globalisation in its current form has left too many people behind”.
Link:
Sunday, November 13, 2016
U.K., French foreign ministers snub emergency EU meeting about President-elect Donald Trump
By Yvette C. Hammett
BRUSSELS, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- French and United Kingdom foreign ministers opted out of a European Union emergency meeting being held in response to the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president.
U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault do not plan to attend but instead will send representatives to Brussels for the meeting called by EU Council President Donald Tusk, at the suggestion of Germany.
EU members plan to discuss how far they believe Trump will go to live up to his pledges to turn U.S. foreign policy upside down on issues including Syria, Iran, Russia and NATO, The Guardian reported.
"We do not see the need for an additional meeting on Sunday because the U.S. election timetable is long established," a spokesman for Johnson said. "An act of democracy has taken place, there is a transition and we will work with the current and future administrations to ensure the best outcomes for Britain..." (continued)
Link:
BRUSSELS, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- French and United Kingdom foreign ministers opted out of a European Union emergency meeting being held in response to the election of Donald Trump as U.S. president.
U.K. Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault do not plan to attend but instead will send representatives to Brussels for the meeting called by EU Council President Donald Tusk, at the suggestion of Germany.
EU members plan to discuss how far they believe Trump will go to live up to his pledges to turn U.S. foreign policy upside down on issues including Syria, Iran, Russia and NATO, The Guardian reported.
"We do not see the need for an additional meeting on Sunday because the U.S. election timetable is long established," a spokesman for Johnson said. "An act of democracy has taken place, there is a transition and we will work with the current and future administrations to ensure the best outcomes for Britain..." (continued)
Link:
Priest abducted in Mexico Gulf region found alive, tortured
MEXICO CITY (AP) — A priest who was abducted in Mexico has been found
alive after three days, but "with notable signs of torture," the Roman
Catholic Church said Sunday.
The Rev. Jose Luis Sanchez Ruiz was the third priest abducted in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz since September. The other two were found shot to death a few days after they were kidnapped.
Although Sanchez Ruiz was spared that fate, his abduction brought new attention to attacks on priests in Mexico, which also saw another priest killed in the western state of Michoacan in September.
Prosecutors have suggested that robbery may have been the motive in
all three killings this year. But fellow priests suggested something
else may have been involved in Sanchez Ruiz's kidnapping.
Bishop Fidencio Lopez said Sunday that Sanchez Ruiz "had been dumped, with notable signs of torture" at an undisclosed location.
His disappearance sparked two days of unrest in the town of Catemaco, which is known for its faith healers and exuberant jungle. Angry residents burned part of the town hall and a police patrol truck while demanding the release of the priest.
The Rev. Aaron Reyes, spokesman for the diocese, told the Milenio television news channel that Sanchez Ruiz had been threatened in recent days because of his activism.
The priest "had received threats in recent days because he is a defender of human rights and social causes. He has criticized the system of corruption and the crime problem in Catemaco," Reyes said.
Sanchez Ruiz took part in a recent protest of high electricity bills, an important issue in the town because of its extreme heat.
At least 31 priests have been killed in Mexico since 2006. Most of the attacks occurred in areas of Mexico plagued by drug cartel violence.
Mexico's Catholic Media Center says Veracruz, Guerrero and Mexico states are the most dangerous for priests. Along with Michoacan, they are among the states with the worst drug-cartel problems.
Link:
The Rev. Jose Luis Sanchez Ruiz was the third priest abducted in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz since September. The other two were found shot to death a few days after they were kidnapped.
Although Sanchez Ruiz was spared that fate, his abduction brought new attention to attacks on priests in Mexico, which also saw another priest killed in the western state of Michoacan in September.
Bishop Fidencio Lopez said Sunday that Sanchez Ruiz "had been dumped, with notable signs of torture" at an undisclosed location.
His disappearance sparked two days of unrest in the town of Catemaco, which is known for its faith healers and exuberant jungle. Angry residents burned part of the town hall and a police patrol truck while demanding the release of the priest.
The Rev. Aaron Reyes, spokesman for the diocese, told the Milenio television news channel that Sanchez Ruiz had been threatened in recent days because of his activism.
The priest "had received threats in recent days because he is a defender of human rights and social causes. He has criticized the system of corruption and the crime problem in Catemaco," Reyes said.
Sanchez Ruiz took part in a recent protest of high electricity bills, an important issue in the town because of its extreme heat.
At least 31 priests have been killed in Mexico since 2006. Most of the attacks occurred in areas of Mexico plagued by drug cartel violence.
Mexico's Catholic Media Center says Veracruz, Guerrero and Mexico states are the most dangerous for priests. Along with Michoacan, they are among the states with the worst drug-cartel problems.
Link:
President-Elect Donald J. Trump Announces Senior White House Leadership Team
(New York, NY) - President-elect Donald J. Trump today
announced that Trump for President CEO Stephen K. Bannon will serve as
Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor to the President, and Republican
National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus will serve as White House
Chief of Staff.
Bannon and Priebus will continue the effective leadership team they formed during the campaign, working as equal partners to transform the federal government, making it much more efficient, effective and productive. Bannon and Priebus will also work together with Vice President-elect Mike Pence to help lead the transition process in the run-up to Inauguration Day.
“I am thrilled to have my very successful team continue with me in leading our country,” said President-elect Trump. “Steve and Reince are highly qualified leaders who worked well together on our campaign and led us to a historic victory. Now I will have them both with me in the White House as we work to make America great again.”
“I want to thank President-elect Trump for the opportunity to work with Reince in driving the agenda of the Trump Administration,” noted Bannon. “We had a very successful partnership on the campaign, one that led to victory. We will have that same partnership in working to help President-elect Trump achieve his agenda.”
“It is truly an honor to join President-elect Trump in the White House as his Chief of Staff,” added Priebus. “I am very grateful to the President-elect for this opportunity to serve him and this nation as we work to create an economy that works for everyone, secure our borders, repeal and replace Obamacare and destroy radical Islamic terrorism. He will be a great President for all Americans.”
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Bannon and Priebus will continue the effective leadership team they formed during the campaign, working as equal partners to transform the federal government, making it much more efficient, effective and productive. Bannon and Priebus will also work together with Vice President-elect Mike Pence to help lead the transition process in the run-up to Inauguration Day.
“I am thrilled to have my very successful team continue with me in leading our country,” said President-elect Trump. “Steve and Reince are highly qualified leaders who worked well together on our campaign and led us to a historic victory. Now I will have them both with me in the White House as we work to make America great again.”
“I want to thank President-elect Trump for the opportunity to work with Reince in driving the agenda of the Trump Administration,” noted Bannon. “We had a very successful partnership on the campaign, one that led to victory. We will have that same partnership in working to help President-elect Trump achieve his agenda.”
“It is truly an honor to join President-elect Trump in the White House as his Chief of Staff,” added Priebus. “I am very grateful to the President-elect for this opportunity to serve him and this nation as we work to create an economy that works for everyone, secure our borders, repeal and replace Obamacare and destroy radical Islamic terrorism. He will be a great President for all Americans.”
Link:
BREAKING: Trump says he will 'immediately' deport two to three million illegal immigrants with criminal records - and insists he WILL build a wall
By Khaleda Rahman For Dailymail.com
(The Daily Mail) President-elect Donald Trump has said that he plans to deport two to three million undocumented immigrants immediately - and that he will be building his wall along the US-Mexico border.
In an interview with CBS's 60 Minutes that airs on Sunday - his first since winning the election - Trump insisted that he will build the wall that was a vital part of his presidential campaign.
'What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate,' Trump said.
'But we're getting them out of our country, they're here illegally.'
Link:
(The Daily Mail) President-elect Donald Trump has said that he plans to deport two to three million undocumented immigrants immediately - and that he will be building his wall along the US-Mexico border.
In an interview with CBS's 60 Minutes that airs on Sunday - his first since winning the election - Trump insisted that he will build the wall that was a vital part of his presidential campaign.
'What we are going to do is get the people that are criminal and have criminal records, gang members, drug dealers, where a lot of these people, probably two million, it could be even three million, we are getting them out of our country or we are going to incarcerate,' Trump said.
'But we're getting them out of our country, they're here illegally.'
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Saturday, November 12, 2016
Cardinal Burke “very happy” with Donald Trump’s election victory
By Christopher Lamb
(La Stampa) Donald Trump was “undoubtedly” preferable to Hillary Clinton due to her stance on abortion while the new president will be well-placed to tackle government corruption, according to Cardinal Raymond Burke.
The cardinal, a leading conservative figure in the United States, said that care for refugees and the poor were important but do not carry the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia: Trump has said he is pro-life while Clinton supports legal terminations.
Pope Francis, however, has made care for outcasts a central part of his papacy and questioned the president-elect’s Christian faith after he proposed building a wall between the United States and Mexico to prevent migrants crossing the border.
During the 2004 presidential campaign Cardinal Burke, a former Archbishop of St Louis, Missouri, said he would deny communion to John Kerry and other pro-abortion Catholic politicians.
In an interview originally reported in The Tablet the cardinal, now Patron of the Order of Malta and based in Rome, talks about the United States’ election results.
What is Your Eminence’s reaction to Donald Trump’s election?
I am very happy that my fellow Americans have chosen a new President, and given him a strong mandate to address resolutely the corruption that has beset the federal government in recent years. I pray that Our Blessed Lord bestows on President-elect Trump all the graces necessary for him to fulfil this mandate for the true promotion of the Common Good. It is my hope that my homeland will soon be united again, so that we can work for the good of all.
Was President-elect Trump a preferable candidate to Secretary Clinton given her support for late term abortion?
Undoubtedly, yes.
President-elect Trump holds positions that would be harmful to migrants and other vulnerable groups and has been accused of committing indecent acts against women. But he said he was pro-life on the abortion question. Is a political candidate who is anti-abortion preferable even if he holds policies contrary to other elements of Catholic teaching and has been accused of indecent behaviour?
Firstly, to be accused of something is not the same thing as to be guilty of it. Secondly, abortion is the systematic murder of human beings at their most vulnerable stage of development — we need to remember that. Thirdly, we do need to draw a distinction between a migrant and a refugee. How many economical migrants a country accepts is a prudential matter, about which people in good faith are free to disagree. One’s heart must always be open to the genuine refugee, fleeing death, terror and persecution however.
In your given example, I do not see any moral equivalence between abortion, and the welfare of migrants. I hope it is obvious that I think migrants, made in the image and likeness of God like you and me, should be treated with every care and respect. But to put the two issues on the same plane is simply wrong (as the Church clearly teaches)... (continued)
Link:
(La Stampa) Donald Trump was “undoubtedly” preferable to Hillary Clinton due to her stance on abortion while the new president will be well-placed to tackle government corruption, according to Cardinal Raymond Burke.
The cardinal, a leading conservative figure in the United States, said that care for refugees and the poor were important but do not carry the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia: Trump has said he is pro-life while Clinton supports legal terminations.
Pope Francis, however, has made care for outcasts a central part of his papacy and questioned the president-elect’s Christian faith after he proposed building a wall between the United States and Mexico to prevent migrants crossing the border.
During the 2004 presidential campaign Cardinal Burke, a former Archbishop of St Louis, Missouri, said he would deny communion to John Kerry and other pro-abortion Catholic politicians.
In an interview originally reported in The Tablet the cardinal, now Patron of the Order of Malta and based in Rome, talks about the United States’ election results.
What is Your Eminence’s reaction to Donald Trump’s election?
I am very happy that my fellow Americans have chosen a new President, and given him a strong mandate to address resolutely the corruption that has beset the federal government in recent years. I pray that Our Blessed Lord bestows on President-elect Trump all the graces necessary for him to fulfil this mandate for the true promotion of the Common Good. It is my hope that my homeland will soon be united again, so that we can work for the good of all.
Was President-elect Trump a preferable candidate to Secretary Clinton given her support for late term abortion?
Undoubtedly, yes.
President-elect Trump holds positions that would be harmful to migrants and other vulnerable groups and has been accused of committing indecent acts against women. But he said he was pro-life on the abortion question. Is a political candidate who is anti-abortion preferable even if he holds policies contrary to other elements of Catholic teaching and has been accused of indecent behaviour?
Firstly, to be accused of something is not the same thing as to be guilty of it. Secondly, abortion is the systematic murder of human beings at their most vulnerable stage of development — we need to remember that. Thirdly, we do need to draw a distinction between a migrant and a refugee. How many economical migrants a country accepts is a prudential matter, about which people in good faith are free to disagree. One’s heart must always be open to the genuine refugee, fleeing death, terror and persecution however.
In your given example, I do not see any moral equivalence between abortion, and the welfare of migrants. I hope it is obvious that I think migrants, made in the image and likeness of God like you and me, should be treated with every care and respect. But to put the two issues on the same plane is simply wrong (as the Church clearly teaches)... (continued)
Link:
Did Jersey photographer's video of Clinton stumble change course of history?
By Sam Carchidi
(The Philadelphia Inquirer) In the days after Donald Trump's stunning presidential win over Hillary Clinton, Zdenek Gazda has been bombarded by phone calls and texts, telling him he changed the election.
He doesn't disagree with them.
Gazda is a freelance photographer from New Jersey who filmed the video of Clinton after she became ill and stumbled at a campaign event two months ago.
"People say to me that it showed she's not strong," Gazda said on Friday. "If I wasn't there, nobody would have known what happened....People need to know the truth..."
Gazda, who lives in Verona, said people have told him he "changed history" because after the video went viral, Clinton's officials announced she was suffering from a bout of pneumonia that was diagnosed two days earlier.
Clinton's campaign initially said Clinton left the 15th annual observance at Ground Zero because she felt "overheated."
Gazda, who had made more than $100,000 for his famous 20-second clip, said after he turned off his video, said he saw Clinton shaking inside the van.
He admitted he wasn't sure what his video had captured until he looked at it. "I was shocked at what I saw," Gazda said...
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Pope Francis Breaks Silence on Trump Triumph
By Josephine McKenna
Pope Francis has urged Donald Trump not to forget the poor and marginalized in his first comments on the president-elect to be published after the Republican’s stunning election win...
“I do not judge people or politicians,” the pope told Eugenio Scalfari of La Repubblica when asked what he thought of Trump. “I only want to understand what suffering their behavior causes to the poor and the excluded...”
According to the Pew Research Center, Catholics and evangelical Christians played a critical role in Trump’s election — 52 percent of Catholics voted for the real estate mogul and neophyte candidate...
He also dismissed suggestions he was a communist. “My response has always been, if anything, is that there are communists who think like Christians.... (continued)
This article originally appeared in Religious News Service.
Link:
Pope Francis has urged Donald Trump not to forget the poor and marginalized in his first comments on the president-elect to be published after the Republican’s stunning election win...
“I do not judge people or politicians,” the pope told Eugenio Scalfari of La Repubblica when asked what he thought of Trump. “I only want to understand what suffering their behavior causes to the poor and the excluded...”
According to the Pew Research Center, Catholics and evangelical Christians played a critical role in Trump’s election — 52 percent of Catholics voted for the real estate mogul and neophyte candidate...
He also dismissed suggestions he was a communist. “My response has always been, if anything, is that there are communists who think like Christians.... (continued)
This article originally appeared in Religious News Service.
Link:
Friday, November 11, 2016
Iranian general: Trump’s threat to attack Iranian ships ‘a joke’
By AP and Times of Israel staff
(The Times of Israel) TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency is reporting that the armed forces chief of staff has criticized Donald Trump for his past harsh words about confronting Iranian boats in the Persian Gulf.
The Thursday report quotes General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri as saying, “The person who has recently achieved power, has talked off the top of his head! Threatening Iran in the Persian Gulf is just a joke.”
He said American presidential candidates during their campaigns “eat too much sugar,” a reference to a Farsi proverb about those who talk nonsense.
In September, Trump said Iranian ships trying to provoke the US “will be shot out of the water” if he were president.
In January, Iran took 10 American sailors prisoner after their ship veered off course into Iranian waters; they were released a day later.
Trump has strongly criticized the nuclear deal, formerly called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, reached with Iran to halt its development of nuclear weapons technology, calling it “one of the worst deals in history...” (continued)
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(The Times of Israel) TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency is reporting that the armed forces chief of staff has criticized Donald Trump for his past harsh words about confronting Iranian boats in the Persian Gulf.
The Thursday report quotes General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri as saying, “The person who has recently achieved power, has talked off the top of his head! Threatening Iran in the Persian Gulf is just a joke.”
He said American presidential candidates during their campaigns “eat too much sugar,” a reference to a Farsi proverb about those who talk nonsense.
In September, Trump said Iranian ships trying to provoke the US “will be shot out of the water” if he were president.
In January, Iran took 10 American sailors prisoner after their ship veered off course into Iranian waters; they were released a day later.
Trump has strongly criticized the nuclear deal, formerly called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, reached with Iran to halt its development of nuclear weapons technology, calling it “one of the worst deals in history...” (continued)
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Thursday, November 10, 2016
Trump Picks Top Climate Skeptic to Lead EPA Transition
By Robin Bravender
(Scientific American) Donald Trump has selected one of the best-known climate skeptics to lead his U.S. EPA transition team, according to two sources close to the campaign.
Myron Ebell, director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute, is spearheading Trump’s transition plans for EPA, the sources said...
Ebell appears to relish criticism from the left.
In a biography submitted when he testified before Congress, he listed among his recognitions that he had been featured in a Greenpeace “Field Guide to Climate Criminals,” dubbed a “misleader” on global warming by Rolling Stone and was the subject of a motion to censure in the British House of Commons after Ebell criticized the United Kingdom’s chief scientific adviser for his views on global warming.
More recently, Ebell has called the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan for greenhouse gases illegal and said that Obama joining the Paris climate treaty “is clearly an unconstitutional usurpation of the Senate’s authority.”
He told Vanity Fair in 2007, “There has been a little bit of warming ... but it’s been very modest and well within the range for natural variability, and whether it’s caused by human beings or not, it’s nothing to worry about...” (continued)
Link:
(Scientific American) Donald Trump has selected one of the best-known climate skeptics to lead his U.S. EPA transition team, according to two sources close to the campaign.
Myron Ebell, director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute, is spearheading Trump’s transition plans for EPA, the sources said...
Ebell appears to relish criticism from the left.
In a biography submitted when he testified before Congress, he listed among his recognitions that he had been featured in a Greenpeace “Field Guide to Climate Criminals,” dubbed a “misleader” on global warming by Rolling Stone and was the subject of a motion to censure in the British House of Commons after Ebell criticized the United Kingdom’s chief scientific adviser for his views on global warming.
More recently, Ebell has called the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan for greenhouse gases illegal and said that Obama joining the Paris climate treaty “is clearly an unconstitutional usurpation of the Senate’s authority.”
He told Vanity Fair in 2007, “There has been a little bit of warming ... but it’s been very modest and well within the range for natural variability, and whether it’s caused by human beings or not, it’s nothing to worry about...” (continued)
Link:
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Bishop displeased with pope's leadership
By Matt C. Abbott
(RenewAmerica) I very recently asked Bishop Rene Henry Gracida, bishop emeritus of Corpus Christi, Texas, the following question:
Would you say that this pontificate [of Pope Francis] has thus far been more heterodox and confusing than orthodox and edifying?
Bishop Gracida's answer:
Yes!
He added:
Most Catholics are unaware that there have been instances in Church history when a pope either taught heresy, or failed in his duty to suppress heresy. And if it happened before, it can happen again.
For example: Pope Nicholas I said that baptism was valid whether administered in the name of the Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity or in the name of Christ only. In this Pope Nicholas was mistaken. Baptism in the name of Christ only is not valid.
Pope Honorius, in order to justify a compromise with heretics, said in 634: 'We must be careful not to rekindle ancient quarrels.' On this argument, the pope allowed error to spread freely, with the result that truth and orthodoxy were effectively banished.
St. Sophronius of Jerusalem, almost alone, stood up to Pope Honorius and accused him of heresy. Eventually the pope repented, but died without repairing the immeasurable harm he did to the Church due to his compromising principle. Thus, the Third Council of Constantinople cast its anathema upon him, and this was confirmed by Pope St. Leo II... (continued)
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(RenewAmerica) I very recently asked Bishop Rene Henry Gracida, bishop emeritus of Corpus Christi, Texas, the following question:
Would you say that this pontificate [of Pope Francis] has thus far been more heterodox and confusing than orthodox and edifying?
Bishop Gracida's answer:
Yes!
He added:
Most Catholics are unaware that there have been instances in Church history when a pope either taught heresy, or failed in his duty to suppress heresy. And if it happened before, it can happen again.
For example: Pope Nicholas I said that baptism was valid whether administered in the name of the Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity or in the name of Christ only. In this Pope Nicholas was mistaken. Baptism in the name of Christ only is not valid.
Pope Honorius, in order to justify a compromise with heretics, said in 634: 'We must be careful not to rekindle ancient quarrels.' On this argument, the pope allowed error to spread freely, with the result that truth and orthodoxy were effectively banished.
St. Sophronius of Jerusalem, almost alone, stood up to Pope Honorius and accused him of heresy. Eventually the pope repented, but died without repairing the immeasurable harm he did to the Church due to his compromising principle. Thus, the Third Council of Constantinople cast its anathema upon him, and this was confirmed by Pope St. Leo II... (continued)
Link:
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Friday, September 30, 2016
Curt Smith of Tears for Fears and Ted Yoder
"In August 2016 we wrote about Ted Yoder, a truly talented hammer dulcimer player, who performed a seemingly flawless version of the Tears for Fears song “Everybody Wants to Rule the World“. As a result of the incredible popularity of this performance, singer Curt Smith and drummer Jamie Wollam traveled to Yoder’s Arkansas home where all three musicians performed the song together. Rickie the raccoon made an impromptu appearance as well."
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Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Scorsese’s Jesuit epic gets December US release
Silence, starring Liam Neeson, is based on Shusaku Endo's novel about Portuguese missionaries travelling to 17th-century Japan
by Associated Press
Martin Scorsese’s Silence, a historical drama about faith in feudal Japan, will open in time to qualify for the Academy Awards.
Paramount Pictures said on Monday that Silence will open with a limited release on December 23 with a nationwide expansion to follow sometime in January.
Whether the film, a decades-long passion project for Scorsese, would be ready in time for release this year had been a major question mark in Hollywood’s awards season. Scorsese’s last two feature films, The Wolf of Wall Street and Hugo, collected a total of 16 Oscar nominations.
Silence, which stars Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver and Liam Neeson, is based on Shusaku Endo’s 1966 novel. It’s about two Portuguese Jesuit missionaries travelling to 17th-century Japan to spread Christianity and find their missing mentor.
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Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Vatican Radio confirms Pope’s leaked letter on Amoris Laetitia as authentic
By John-Henry Westen
September 12, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – On Friday LifeSiteNews published leaked documents showing for the first time the Pope’s own opinion on the matter of Holy Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics who do not qualify for annulment. The letter set off an explosion of comments since many held that the Pope did not agree with the thesis of Cardinal Walter Kasper which was that in certain cases Holy Communion could be administered for such couples. Many comments suggested that the letter could not be authentic.
Now, however, Vatican Radio has itself reported the letter as authentic, including specifically in its most controversial aspects – that of allowing communion to divorced and remarried Catholics in some cases and that there is “no other interpretation” other than that.
Says the Vatican Radio report: “Pope Francis has written a letter to the bishops of the Buenos Aires region of Argentina, praising them for their document which spells out ways in which priests should apply the teachings of his apostolic exhortation ‘Amoris Laetitia’.”
The Vatican Radio report relates, as LifeSite reported Friday, that in the letter Pope Francis responded “to a document by the bishops entitled ‘Basic criteria for the application of chapter 8 of ‘Amoris Laetitia.’”
“That chapter focuses on the need to support and integrate divorcees into the life of the Church, specifying that ‘in certain cases, this can include the help of the sacraments,’” says the Vatican Radio report. “Expressing his appreciation for the ‘pastoral charity’ contained in the bishops’ document, Pope Francis insists 'there are no other interpretations' of the apostolic exhortation which he wrote at the conclusion of the two synods on the family in 2014 and 2015.”
Link:
September 12, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – On Friday LifeSiteNews published leaked documents showing for the first time the Pope’s own opinion on the matter of Holy Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics who do not qualify for annulment. The letter set off an explosion of comments since many held that the Pope did not agree with the thesis of Cardinal Walter Kasper which was that in certain cases Holy Communion could be administered for such couples. Many comments suggested that the letter could not be authentic.
Now, however, Vatican Radio has itself reported the letter as authentic, including specifically in its most controversial aspects – that of allowing communion to divorced and remarried Catholics in some cases and that there is “no other interpretation” other than that.
Says the Vatican Radio report: “Pope Francis has written a letter to the bishops of the Buenos Aires region of Argentina, praising them for their document which spells out ways in which priests should apply the teachings of his apostolic exhortation ‘Amoris Laetitia’.”
The Vatican Radio report relates, as LifeSite reported Friday, that in the letter Pope Francis responded “to a document by the bishops entitled ‘Basic criteria for the application of chapter 8 of ‘Amoris Laetitia.’”
“That chapter focuses on the need to support and integrate divorcees into the life of the Church, specifying that ‘in certain cases, this can include the help of the sacraments,’” says the Vatican Radio report. “Expressing his appreciation for the ‘pastoral charity’ contained in the bishops’ document, Pope Francis insists 'there are no other interpretations' of the apostolic exhortation which he wrote at the conclusion of the two synods on the family in 2014 and 2015.”
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Monday, September 12, 2016
Clinton team avoided ER to conceal details of her medical treatment
By Yoav Gonen, Shawn Cohen, Tina Moore and Bruce Golding
(New York Post) Hillary Clinton was headed to an emergency room following her sudden collapse during the Sept. 11 memorial ceremony — but ditched her NYPD escort and detoured to daughter Chelsea Clinton’s apartment to keep details of her medical treatment under wraps, The Post has learned.
Secret Service protocol called for the Democratic presidential nominee be taken to a state-designated Level I Trauma Center in the wake of her Sunday morning health crisis at Ground Zero, sources said.
But a campaign operative decided to change course to avoid treatment by doctors, nurses or other medical workers who could leak details to reporters, a source said.
Clinton’s van was supposed to be escorted by an NYPD protective detail, but the Secret Service whisked her away from Ground Zero before cops could accompany her, another source said.
Clinton had told police officials that she didn’t want the escort at all, but the NYPD overruled that request, the source added.
Clinton emerged from her daughter’s Manhattan apartment about two hours after her health crisis, proclaiming, “I’m feeling great. Thanks,” before bizarrely adding: “It’s a beautiful day in New York” — even though thousands of people were still honoring the victims of the terror attack that destroyed the World Trade Center.
Clinton’s campaign said she was later examined at her home in Chappaqua by her personal physician, who pronounced that she was “recovering nicely” after becoming “overheated and dehydrated” due to a bout of previously undisclosed pneumonia.
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Sunday, August 28, 2016
Church of England parishes consider first step to break away over sexuality
By John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor
(The Telegraph) A group of parishes is preparing what could be the first step towards a formal split in the Church of England over issues such as homosexuality, with the creation of a new “shadow synod” vowing to uphold traditional teaching.
Representatives of almost a dozen congregations in the Home Counties are due to gather in a church hall in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, later this week for the first session of what they say could eventually develop into an alternative Anglican church in England.
Organisers, drawn from the conservative evangelical wing of Anglicanism, say they have no immediate plans to break away - but are setting up the “embryonic” structures that could be used to do so if the established church moves further in what they see as a liberal direction.
The new alliance will be viewed as a “church within a church” but founders have not ruled out full separation if, for example, the Church of England offers blessing-style services for same-sex unions - a move expected to be considered by bishops in the next few months... (continued)
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(The Telegraph) A group of parishes is preparing what could be the first step towards a formal split in the Church of England over issues such as homosexuality, with the creation of a new “shadow synod” vowing to uphold traditional teaching.
Representatives of almost a dozen congregations in the Home Counties are due to gather in a church hall in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, later this week for the first session of what they say could eventually develop into an alternative Anglican church in England.
Organisers, drawn from the conservative evangelical wing of Anglicanism, say they have no immediate plans to break away - but are setting up the “embryonic” structures that could be used to do so if the established church moves further in what they see as a liberal direction.
The new alliance will be viewed as a “church within a church” but founders have not ruled out full separation if, for example, the Church of England offers blessing-style services for same-sex unions - a move expected to be considered by bishops in the next few months... (continued)
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Young priest whom Pope encouraged in battle against cancer dies
By Carolina Requena
Santiago, Chile, Aug 17, 2016 / 12:36 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A man of God. Someone who endured illness with faith and fortitude until the end. This is how those who knew Father Francisco Rencoret remembered him.
The 35-year-old Chilean priest died of cancer early August 13.
Ordained in 2013, Fr. Rencoret had been studying Canon Law at the Gregorian University in Rome. He was forced to return home to Chile in order to receive cancer treatments after his diagnosis.
In recent weeks, expectations of recovery had increased, as tests showed a noticeable improvement of the sarcoma with metastasis in the lungs which had been detected. But it was two unexpected brain tumors that finally took his life.
In June, Fr. Rencoret received an unexpected phone call from Pope Francis. Father told CNA that the Holy Father had heard about his illness and called him to “find out about my health and to tell me that he was praying for me, to give me a lot of support, encouragement and the love of the Church.”
Before finishing the conversation, the priest told the Holy Father that “I am offering some of my sufferings for your vocation, difficulties and sorrows” and that they were “very much in communion because in fact God is merciful...” (continued)
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Monday, August 22, 2016
Cardinal Burke insists he is serving Francis, not opposing him
By David Gibson
(RNS) Ever since Pope Francis was elected in March 2013, he has faced strong opposition from traditionalists unhappy with his push for church reforms — and the face of that opposition has often been Cardinal Raymond Burke, an American prelate who has worked in senior positions in Rome for most of the past decade.
Francis eventually moved Burke out of key Vatican jobs and into a more ceremonial post as patron to the Knights of Malta, an apparent downgrade that both Burke and the pope insist wasn’t tied to the cardinal’s criticisms.
But Burke, a former archbishop of St. Louis who has a devoted following among conservatives, has continued to use his Roman platform to speak his mind.
He did that again most recently in a book-length interview in which he hits many of the themes that have drawn attention in the past: critiquing “radical feminism” and homosexuality (“a wounding of nature,” he calls it) as well as the “secularization” and moral relativism that he says have infected society and the Catholic Church.
The reforms that followed the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s are also a recurrent target, as he again champions a return to the old Latin Mass and voices nostalgia for the Catholicism of his boyhood (Burke says that he first felt a tug to the priesthood at the age of 8). The cardinal also has a provocative new take on Islam, which he said “wants to govern the world.”
Notably absent from the book, however, and from direct criticism, is Francis himself. Throughout the extended interview with French journalist Guillaume d’Alançon, which was published under the title, “Hope for the World: To Unite All Things in Christ,” Burke approvingly and frequently cites Saint John Paul II, the pope who named him a bishop back in 1995, and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who brought him to Rome in 2008 and made him a cardinal two years later.
He even praises Saint Pius X, the pope who a century ago was famous for his campaign to expunge the heresy of “Modernism” from the church — errors that the cardinal says “are still current.”
But Francis is mentioned only in passing, which seems just fine by Burke.
“I know about all these depictions. People call me ‘the enemy of the pope’ and so forth. I have never been and I am not presently the enemy of the pope,” Burke told RNS by telephone recently from his home state of Wisconsin, where he was spending time this summer.
“I have never, in anything I’ve said, shown disrespect to the papal office, because the Catholic Church doesn’t exist without the office of Peter,” he said, referring to the apostle who Catholic tradition views as the first bishop of Rome and therefore the first pope in an unbroken succession up to the present day.
“I’ve said to the pope himself, in conversations with him — and these by the way are friendly conversations — I told him, ‘Holy Father, the only way I can serve you is by speaking the truth in the best and clearest way possible.’ His response to me is: ‘That’s what I want.’”
The cardinal said that his own critics — his outspokenness has left no shortage of those — “would like to construe my relationship with the Holy Father as some kind of ongoing hostility or war between this reform of the church, this revolutionary reform (that Francis is promoting), and these old die-hards who resist it. That simply is not the case.”
During the course of a half-hour conversation, Burke did continually return to his commitment “to simply speak up to defend what the church has always taught and practiced.”
That commitment means that Burke will continue to push hard against the heart of Francis’ reformist approach, and that he will continue to be seen as, if not an enemy of the pope, at least his counterweight, and a favorite of those who would love to see the 68-year-old Burke one day succeed Francis, who turns 80 in December.
One of the chief targets for Burke of late has been the pope’s controversial document, “Amoris Laetitia,” or “The Joy of Love,” in which Francis synthesized the intense debates about church teachings and the modern family that took place across two major meetings of bishops from around the world that Francis convened in Rome in 2014 and 2015.
The pontiff’s lengthy exhortation, as it is known, was viewed as enshrining a new, more welcoming approach to Catholics who do not fit the textbook ideal of the catechism — single parents and gays, for example, and divorced and remarried Catholics.
“The Joy of Love” seems to leave open the possibility that divorced and remarried Catholics could receive Communion, for example. It has opened the door to the kind of discernment and appeals to conscience that critics say are misguided and in fact undermine long-standing Catholic doctrines and practices, and that’s why it has become a focal point for conservative dissent.
Burke is one of those critics. One of his main arguments of late is that the papal exhortation is not an expression of the “magisterium,” that is, authoritative church teaching, but that parts of it may be correct but others are not. “A mixture of opinion and doctrine,” as Burke put it in his interview with RNS.
“We can’t understand this document to be magisterium in the way other documents have been because Pope Francis simply has a different approach to the papacy,” the cardinal said. “In his documents he mixes his own thoughts and approaches, which are personal, with questions of doctrine.”
Burke says he knows some disagree with him, but he said that he and “many serious-minded people” in the church hierarchy are calling for Francis to issue a follow-up document.
“I trust that something will have to happen also because some very formal calls for clarification are in process and they simply will demand a response,” Burke said, “not in any kind of hostile or aggressive way, but simply for the sake of souls because people are getting confused.”
Indeed, “confusion” is the word that Burke said he would use to describe the mood in Rome these days over “what direction the church is going...” (continued)
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Sunday, August 21, 2016
Louisiana gov: Trump helped 'shine a spotlight' on flood recovery
By Rebecca Savransky
(The Hill) Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) said Sunday that Donald Trump has helped draw attention to recovery efforts after the recent devastating floods in his state.
In an interview on CNN's "State of the Union," the governor downplayed critical remarks he made before the Republican presidential nominee visited his state.
"I didn't dismiss his trip as a photo-op. Before he came down, I said we welcome him here, we want him to be helpful," Edwards said. "And we hope that it doesn't turn into a mere photo-op."
Edwards said Trump's visit to the state was positive for Louisiana.
"Because it helped to shine a spotlight on Louisiana and on the dire situation that we have here, that it was helpful," he said.
"I also appreciated the good phone call, the conversation that I had with Gov. [Mike] Pence [R-Ind.], who was sincere and genuine when he called, and we spoke for a long time on Friday morning about their desire to be helpful," he said about Trump's running mate... (continued)
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Friday, July 15, 2016
St. Maria Goretti and the Demise of the Catholic Blogosphere
By Austin Ruse
(Crisis Magazine) Did you know that St. Maria Goretti was even the least bit controversial?
The facts of her case are not disputed.
She was a peasant girl of 11 who came under sexual assault from a twenty-year-old male who shared the building where she lived with her family. She resisted, telling him it would be a sin and that he would go to Hell. He stabbed her 14 times, as she lay before him and as she tried to flee.
It is said to have taken hours to get her the few miles to the local hospital where she was operated on without anesthesia. So primitive was her everyday poverty-stricken existence, some say it was at the hospital where she first saw electric lights. Goretti died but not before forgiving her attacker whom she hoped to see one day in Heaven.
What is controversial is the response to Maria Goretti.
Goretti was beatified in 1947 by Pope Pius XII and canonized by him three years later as a “virgin-martyr.” At her canonization Pius called her “this sweet little martyr of purity.” He said this to a crowd of 200,000, a crowd so large, mostly of young people, that for the first time ever a canonization Mass was held outside in St. Peter’s Square rather than inside the basilica.
At her beatification, Pius said, “Maria Goretti resembled St. Agnes in her characteristic virtue of fortitude. This virtue of fortitude is at the same time the safeguard as well as the fruit of virginity. Our new beata was strong and wise and fully aware of her dignity. That is why she professed death before sin. She was not twelve years of age when she shed her blood as a martyr, nevertheless what foresight, what energy she showed when aware of danger! She was on the watch day and night to defend her chastity, making use of all the means at her disposal, persevering in prayer and entrusting the lily of her purity to the special protection of Mary, the Virgin of virgins. Let us admire the fortitude of the pure of heart. It is a mysterious strength far above the limits of human nature and even above ordinary Christian virtue.”
On the 100th anniversary of her death, Pope St. John Paul the Great underscored the importance of her virginity to her final struggle, “She did not flee from the voice of the Holy Spirit, from the voice of her conscience. She rather chose death. Through the gift of fortitude, the Holy Spirit helped her to ‘judge’—and to choose with her young spirit. She chose death when there was no other way to defend her virginal purity.”
She chose death when there was no other way to defend her virginal purity. And there is the controversy. There are certain voices in the blogosphere who are offended at this notion that Maria Goretti died defending her virginal purity.
Simcha Fisher is so incensed at the notion she wrote a whole column entitled “Maria Goretti Didn’t Die for Her Virginity.” Fisher is smart enough to know she couldn’t get away with that headline so she tries to cover herself with her first sentence, “Or she wasn’t canonized just because she managed to remain a virgin, anyway.”
However, Fisher argues that Goretti was canonized because she focused on her attacker’s soul rather than on her own virginity. Goretti tried to convince him that he was committing a mortal sin and would go to Hell for what he was threatening to do. Fisher says Goretti was not in love with a particular virtue but rather in love with the humanity of a particular person, her attacker.
Fisher says such notions as “holiness, chastity, humility, charity, diligence” are “bathwater” surrounding the “baby” which is “love in action.”
On Facebook, Fisher actually dismisses those who maintain the view held by both Pope Pius XII and St. John Paul the Great as the “Maria Goretti died out of love for her hymen” crowd.
Fisher was not the only one.
Where Pius XII and John Paul the Great called young people to emulate Maria Goretti, a blogger at the ever-diminishing Patheos says, not so fast! Blogger Kari Persson is concerned that Goretti’s response unto death may be considered “normative.” She says such a response to Goretti is “possibly deeply damaging” and could result in “frustration, hatred, and anger, mixed with envy and self-reproach” among those “affected by rape, whether victims or those close to victims.” She also says, “Not everyone can express forgiveness for their attackers as readily as St. Maria…” We should view all of this as miraculous and certainly not normative.
Persson seems fully subscribed to the commonality of our age where trophies are given just for showing up, where winning first prize somehow diminishes those who are second, or third, or last.
Of course, the Church has never taught that all are called to martyrdom. However, we are called to emulate or to draw inspiration from them.
Here is John Paul II on the centenary of her death, “I am especially holding up this saint as an example to young people who are the hope of the Church and of humanity.” He also said her “martyrdom” heralded the beginning of the great century of martyrs, a century where Catholics died for their faith, as she did.
Yet another blogger at Patheos joined the Goretti fray. Mary Pezzulo begins her blog-post with a big sigh: “It’s that time of year again. Today is Maria Goretti’s feast day.” Maria Goretti’s feast day is an annual trial for Pezzulo.
Pezzulo recalls a moment a few years ago when a Franciscan nun exhorted her that Maria Goretti “died rather than give up her purity.” Pezzulo left the bookshop where this horror happened “as quickly as possible” and then regretted not telling the Nun “how many people the sister might hurt by repeating the story in that way.”
Pezzulo writes, “Becoming the victim of someone else’s sin is never a sin. It wouldn’t have been for Maria Goretti, either.” Had she fought her attacker and been raped nonetheless, “she would have incurred no guilt. God would have still known her to be pure.” Pezzulo seems to accuse the nun, and others like her, of canonizing Goretti because Goretti refused to be a victim of rape.
One Patheos blogger named Max Lindeman suggested that Maria could not be considered a martyr since she did not die for hatred of the faith and that “martyr of charity” was not “coined until the beatification of Maximillian Kolbe.” For that, though, we can turn to the Angelic Doctor who wrote, “Not only is he a martyr one who refuses to deny a truth of the faith, but he who dies for the sake of some virtue, or to avoid sin against any commandment.” We also note the words of Pius XII and John Paul the Great.
To see how all this has become so unhinged, when Deacon Jim Russell went to the comment boxes to quote John Paul II on Maria Goretti and her virginity, another Patheos blogger named Cynthia Schrage asked him, “What is your f***ing problem?” and accused him of being a “spiritual stalker.”
It is hard to understand this odd fight over Maria Goretti and her canonization. The Church —as expressed in the words of the Pope who canonized her and his successors—regards Goretti as a martyr to her virginity. That is a fact not even Patheos and Aleteia bloggers can get around, try as they might.
It could be because of our hyper-sexualized world, also a world where there are demonstrations to defend those criticized for the way they dress or how they act-out sexually in ways inappropriate to their station in life. They call this “slut-shaming.” What greater slut-shaming could there be than a feast day for a girl who would rather die than lose her virginity? Pius XII, in his homily for Maria, exhorted parents to keep their children “away from the training places of wickedness and moral perversion.” Today we march to defend those who so indulge. These days, it is nearly impossible for anyone to get out of their teens, and even tweens, with their virginity intact. It is possible that Goretti’s purity is an offense to those with a “past” or who are sympathetic to those with such regrettable pasts. We also live in a world inordinately concerned with giving offense, even at the expense of celebrating goodness. You cannot celebrate the traditional family for fear of offending the children from broken homes. You can’t even say “broken home” anymore. You cannot celebrate the virginity of Maria Goretti for fear of offending those who are not virgins or those who have been raped... (continued)
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Sunday, July 10, 2016
World's oldest priest says strict routine basis of long life
Reuters
A strict daily routine is the recipe for a long life, according to the world's oldest priest, Belgian Jacques Clemens, who will celebrate his 107th birthday on Monday.
Clemens, who has also celebrated his 80th anniversary as a Catholic priest, gets up every morning at 5.30 a.m. and goes to bed at 9.00 p.m.
When Clemens was about to retire at 75, his bishop asked him to remain in service until they found a successor - he only stopped holding regular church services at his parish in the southern Belgian village of Nalinnes last year.
(Reporting by Francois Lenoir, writing by Robert-Jan Bartunek; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
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Friday, July 1, 2016
In memoirs, ex Pope Benedict says Vatican 'gay lobby' tried to wield power: report
By Philip Pullella
(Reuters) Former Pope Benedict says in his memoirs that no-one pressured him to resign but alleges that a "gay lobby" in the Vatican had tried to influence decisions, a leading Italian newspaper reported on Friday.
The book, called "The Last Conversations", is the first time in history that a former pope judges his own pontificate after it is over. It is due to be published on Sept. 9.
Citing health reasons, Benedict in 2013 became the first pope in six centuries to resign. He promised to remain "hidden to the world" and has been living in a former convent in the Vatican gardens.
Italy's Corriere della Sera daily, which has acquired the Italian newspaper rights for excerpts and has access to the book, ran a long article on Friday summarizing its key points.
In the book, Benedict says that he came to know of the presence of a "gay lobby" made up of four or five people who were seeking to influence Vatican decisions. The article says Benedict says he managed to "break up this power group".
Benedict resigned following a turbulent papacy that included the so-call "Vatileaks" case, in which his butler leaked some of his personal letters and other documents that alleged corruption and a power struggle in the Vatican.
Italian media at the time reported that a faction of prelates who wanted to discredit Benedict and pressure him to resign was behind the leaks. (continued..)
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Pope Benedict Dishes on Vatican’s ‘Powerful Gay Lobby’
By Barbie Latza Nadeau
(The Daily Beast) ROME—It’s a rare, and indeed, singularly unique opportunity to read what a pope really thinks of the job after it has finished. Pontificates generally end in funerals, not retirements. But in the case of Pope Benedict XVI, who spectacularly retired in 2013, we will soon get that rare glimpse of what it’s really like to be pope when his memoir, Benedict XVI: The Last Conversations, is published on September 9 in Italy and Germany...
(The Daily Beast) ROME—It’s a rare, and indeed, singularly unique opportunity to read what a pope really thinks of the job after it has finished. Pontificates generally end in funerals, not retirements. But in the case of Pope Benedict XVI, who spectacularly retired in 2013, we will soon get that rare glimpse of what it’s really like to be pope when his memoir, Benedict XVI: The Last Conversations, is published on September 9 in Italy and Germany...
Among
what will be the most anticipated nuggets in the memoir are Benedict’s
struggle with what he refers to as a “powerful gay lobby” of four or
five key people who did all they could to influence key decision makers
inside the Roman Curia, according to the paper. The existence of a gay
lobby is not surprising since Francis admitted as much
when he took the reigns of the Roman Catholic Church in March 2013. But
what’s extraordinary is the admission by a pope how much power they
truly had.
Benedict, who retired amid the Vatileaks scandal
during which his butler was convicted of stealing papers from his desk,
apparently writes in great detail how he struggled to “break up the
group” but stops short of blaming them for his landmark decision to
retire, which he says he did out of sheer exhaustion and his own
admission that he was not such a good manager, or, as he puts it, lacked
“resoluteness in governing.”
He denies long-held rumors that he was blackmailed and pressured to leave his post, and instead says he did it “freely.”
He also writes how surprised he was that he was elected pope in 2005 after John Paul II died. He describes the shock
of finding out that high-ranking cardinals were holding a secret shadow
conclave and had elected him before voting in the formal gathering in
the Sistine Chapel. He also says he didn’t sleep for days and was
incredibly anxious when he began his pontificate.
The
retired pope will also shed light on just how difficult it was for him
to combat the “filth that is in the church” and how many people tried to
stop his attempts at reforms. All of that should provide a window into
just how challenging it is for Pope Francis going forward... (continued)
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