Catholic Info
Traditional Catholic Faith => Crisis in the Church => Topic started by: Geremia on December 24, 2016, 04:34:39 PM
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The recent Rorate Cæli post[/url] confirms that Cdl. Burke concurred with the council's dismissal of Albrecht von Boesinger:
It is no secret that Pope Francis’s removal of Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke from the tribunal of the Apostolic Signature and his installation as “Patron” of the Knights of Malta was intended to consign the trad-friendly Ur-canonist to an ecclesiastical backwater. No “promoveatur,” just “amoveatur,” and don’t let the door slam on your cappa magna on your way out.
How much trouble, Bergoglio and his entourage probably figured, could Burke possibly cause heading a charitable organization that now specializes in disaster relief?
Well plenty, it seems. Rorate readers are well aware of the cardinal’s strenuous efforts to defend the traditional Catholic teachings on marriage and the reception of the sacraments, especially in the affair of the “dubia,” which has yet to play out completely.
Apart from this, though, readers should be ready to watch how Francis’ plan to neutralize the cardinal is about to blow up in his face.
On Tuesday, December 22, the Knights of Malta’s council, with the concurrence of Cardinal Burke, dismissed the Order’s Grand Chancellor (and as Health superior, responsible for the Malteser charity activities), Albrecht von Boesinger, in connection with the distribution of condoms under the aegis of the Order in Burma.
One can see why this would cause agitation in the buffet line at the Casa S. Marta. If every case of divorce, remarriage and reception of the sacraments is somehow “unique” and requires “accompaniment,” if morality is not “black and white,” and if nothing is now “malum in se,” why fire a religious who adopts a “merciful” approach towards condoms?
Pope Bergoglio immediately established a five-man Vatican commission to investigate whether the Order’s council had acted correctly with regard to Boesinger’s dismissal – the hidden goal of the inquiry being, of course, to discredit or remove Burke.
The method is a variant on the one Francis employed in order to destroy the traditionally-oriented Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate.
But the Sovereign Order of Malta cannot be so easily picked off. It is an ancient religious order whose members profess solemn vows, its government is regulated by a thicket of previous papal legislation and it is, to boot, a sovereign entity.
The Order’s response (https://www.orderofmalta.int/2016/12/23/statement-of-the-grand-magistry/)[/url] to Pope Bergoglio’s appointment of the five-man commission was curt and to the point:
“The Grand Magistry of the Sovereign Order of Malta has learnt of the decision made by the Holy See to appoint a group of five persons to shed light on the replacement of the former Grand Chancellor.
“The replacement of the former Grand Chancellor is an act of internal governmental administration of the Sovereign Order of Malta and consequently falls solely within its competence.”
"Drop dead," in other words. None of your business.
You can be sure that before the council of the Order issued this response, His Eminence Cardinal Burke did his canonical homework.
So if Francis decides to pursue his vendetta, he will have a real battle on his hands with a formidable, intelligent and articulate opponent.
And we can savor the irony of how Francis, as a result of his attempt to neutralize Burke, will have brought all this mischief down upon himself: Convertetur dolor ejus in caput ejus, et in verticem ipsius iniquitas ejus descendet!
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Another (https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2016/12/de-mattei-pope-and-malta-bogus.html):
Has the Pope appointed an external commissioner to the Order of Malta? Pope Francis undeniably likes the strategy of appointing external commissioners as he has already adopted this draconian measure against two religious communities considered too “traditional”: the Franciscans of the Immaculate and the religious of the Incarnate Word. Further, it is not by chance that the announcement of a commission to “gather suitable elements to inform the Holy See thoroughly and swiftly with regard to the matter which has recently involved the Grand Chancellor of the Order of Malta, Mr. Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager”, was given by the Vatican Press Office on December 22nd, precisely while Pope Bergoglio was transforming his traditional Christmas greetings to the Curia into a bitter chiding against those who are resistant to his project of radical change in the Church, with implicit reference to Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, Patron of the Order of Malta. However, in this case, the appointing of an external commissioner is not at all possible.
As Don Fabrizio Turriziani Colonna explains in a docuмented study dedicated to the Sovereignty and independence of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2006), the Order of Malta and the Holy See are placed one in front of the other as subjects of International Law and thus are in a position of reciprocal independence. The Order of Malta, has in fact a twofold juridical character; at the level of Canon Law, it is subordinate to the Holy See, but at the level of International Law it is guaranteed independence from it. The fact that the Order of Malta maintains diplomatic relations with 94 states and has an ambassador to the Holy See, confirms that, in a certain sphere, their relations are as equals. The Sovereign Military Order of Malta, is, in short, a sovereign State, even if it has no territory, jealous of its autonomy and privileges. Throughout nine centuries of history, the Knights of Malta have been covered in glory, shedding their blood for the Church, but there have been no want of conflicts between them and the Holy See.
The last one, narrated by Roger Peyrefitte (Chevaliers de Malte, Flammarion, Paris 1957), was after the Second World War, when the Order was able to thwart an attempt to fuse them with the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre. This struggle came to a halt in 1953 with the sentence by a Tribunal of cardinals which recognized the sovereignty of the Order of Malta, but nonetheless affirming its dependence on the Holy See as far as concerned the religious life of the knights. The Order of Malta accepted the sentence, conditioning it on some points: 1) the recognition of the rights due to it as subject of international law; 2) the limitation of religious independence of the Order only to professed knights and Chaplains; 3) the exclusion of subjection to the Vatican Secretary of State.
The Holy See’s competence does not involve then the internal and international governing of the Order, but limits itself to the strictly religious sphere. At this point one could imagine that the Pope, having identified deviations of a moral and doctrinal order among the knights, had thought of intervening to straighten out the situation. What happened instead? It was brought to light that Albrecht von Boeselager, during his time as Grand Hospitaller of the Order, had abused his power. promoting the distribution of tens of thousands of condoms and contraceptives, also abortifacients, (so the reports related to the United Nations’ programme against HIV/AIDS in Myanmar docuмent), [so] the Grand Master Matthew Festing intervened to bring an end to the scandal and asked Boeselager to resign, appealing to the vow of obedience made to him.
The Grand Chancellor, strong in his friendship with the Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin and of his brother George’s recent appointment to the board of the IOR (Institute for the Works of Religion -the Vatican Bank) rejected the request arrogantly, laying claim to his "liberal" Catholic stance. The creation on the part of the Secretary of State of an investigative group of five members, all of them more or less connected to Boeselager, constitutes a serious case of interference in the governing of the Order. The Holy See should limit itself to watching over the religious life through its Cardinal Patron, Cardinal Burke, appointed by Pope Francis himself. The Pope has every right to be informed with regard to the Order’s internal affairs, but it is irregular for this to take place through a commission which bypasses the pontifical representative, unless there is the desire to accuse the latter.
A Cardinal, however, can be judged only by his peers and not by Vatican bureaucrats. Equally improper is entrusting a Vatican Commission with the judgement of matters regarding not the religious life, but the governing of the Order, accusing, in this case, the Grand Master. The latter has done well to reject the bogus actions by the commission. Unfortunately not only is the procedure bogus, but the judgment in particular coming from the Vatican Authorities regarding it. Whoever favours contraception and abortion, disdaining the Church’s Magisterium, and violates their own vows, merits rehabilitation nowadays. Whoever defends the Church’s teachings and the moral integrity of the institutions he belongs to, is, on the other hand, accused of “malevolent resistance” to the Holy Father and ends up in the dock. Let us hope that the Knights react. The sovereignty of the Order of Malta is at stake as well as its uninterrupted tradition in defense of the faith and Catholic morality.
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Bump... this story is incredible!
Bergy is taking-on the governance of the "Knights of Malta" to try and undo Cardinal Burke.
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Bump... this story is incredible!
I thought the part about "The Sovereign Military Order of Malta" being "a sovereign State, even if it has no territory" and that "the Order of Malta and the Holy See are placed one in front of the other as subjects of International Law and thus are in a position of reciprocal independence" is interesting. It shows that if there is a formal schism, the material property of the orthodox Catholics might go with the Sovereign Military Order (really: State) of Malta and that of the Modernists with the Vatican City State. All schisms (from domestic divorces to the Protestant revolt) involve an reappropriation (or expropriation, stealing) of property. Cdl. Burke is probably thinking about the practical details of this schism of Modernist Rome.
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Bergoglio did this because he knows Burke is about to begin open war by beginning the official reprimand process after the Epiphany.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/dubia-cardinal-anyone-who-opens-communion-to-adulterers-is-a-heretic-and-pr
In a new interview with the German newspaper Der Spiegel, one of the four Cardinals of the dubia has said, “Whoever thinks that persistent adultery and the reception of Holy Communion are compatible is a heretic and promotes schism.”
Cardinal Walter Brandmuller made the remark while speaking with Der Spiegel reporter Walter Mayr about the dubia...
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/exclusive-cardinal-burke-suggests-timeline-for-formal-correction-of-pope-fr
December 19, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – In an exclusive interview with LifeSiteNews, Cardinal Raymond Burke has given an indication of the possible timeline of a “formal correction” of Pope Francis should the Pope not respond to the five dubia seeking clarity on Amoris Laetitia, presented to the Pope by four Cardinals, including Cardinal Burke.
When the Pope did not issue a response after two months, the cardinals released the dubia publicly. It was after this that Cardinal Burke disclosed that a formal act of correction would be necessary, if the Pope refused to clarify the meaning of his exhortation.
While such an act of formal correction is something rare in the life of the Church, it is not without precedent.
Pope John XXII in the 14th century was publicly challenged by cardinals, bishops, and lay theologians after denying the doctrine that the souls of the just are admitted to the beatific vision after death, teaching instead that heaven is delayed until the general resurrection at the end of time. Pope John eventually recanted his position, due in part to a joint letter from theologians from the University of Paris that professed total obedience to the pope while making it clear to him that his teaching contradicted the Catholic faith.
Burke called the procedure of correcting the error of a pontiff a “way of safeguarding that office and its exercise.”
“It’s carried out with the absolute respect for the office of the Successor of Saint Peter,” he said.
“Now of course we are in the last days, days of strong grace, before the Solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord, and then we have the Octave of the Solemnity and the celebrations at the beginning of the New Year - the whole mystery of Our Lord’s Birth and His Epiphany - so it would probably take place sometime after that.”
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Knights say investigation is aimed at limiting order's sovereignty (http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2017/01/11/knights-of-malta-refuse-to-assist-irrelevant-papal-probe/)
The Knights of Malta, the ancient Catholic lay order, is refusing to cooperate with a Vatican investigation into the sacking of a top official over a condom scandal — and is warning its members to toe the line if they choose to speak with investigators.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the Knights called the investigation legally “irrelevant” and aimed at limiting its sovereignty. It insisted that the ousting of its grand chancellor, Albrecht von Boeselager, was an act of internal governance that in no way involves religious superiors.
The order told its members that if they speak with Vatican-appointed investigators, they cannot contradict the decision of the order’s leadership to replace Boeselager.
Boeselager was suspended on December 8 after he refused a demand by the top Knight, Fra’ Matthew Festing, to resign over revelations that the order’s charity branch distributed tens of thousands of condoms in Burma under his watch.
Church teaching forbids the use of artificial contraception; Boeselager has said he didn’t know about the condom distribution programme and eventually stopped it when he learned of it.
Boeselager has said Fra’ Matthew — in the presence of Cardinal Raymond Burke — indicated that the Holy See wanted him to quit. But the Vatican’s secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, has since said the Pope wanted no such thing.
As a second-class knight, Boeselager promised obedience to his superior. But Boeselager has said Church law doesn’t require him to obey an act that violates the Knights’ own constitution. He maintains that Fra’ Matthew committed a series of legal and procedural errors in demanding his resignation that violated the order’s constitution.
Fra’ Matthew and Cardinal Burke’s allies have justified the ousting by arguing that Boeselager’s refusal to obey Fra’ Matthew was “disgraceful” and that the condom scandal represented an irredeemable breach.
The pro-life Lepanto Institute, for example, compiled a detailed dossier of United Nation’s reports that showed the order’s Malteser International group distributed thousands of condoms through anti-HIV and family planning programmes.
Members sympathetic to Boeselager, meanwhile, have denounced what they consider a coup and reminded Fra’ Matthew that he, too, took a vow of obedience: to the Pope. They welcome the Vatican’s investigation, but canon lawyers have cautioned that the sovereign nature of the Knights of Malta makes Vatican intervention problematic.
The Order of Malta has many trappings of a sovereign state. It issues its own stamps, passports and license plates and holds diplomatic relations with 106 states, the Holy See included.
But in its December 22 announcement of its investigation, the Vatican cited its status as a “lay religious order” that is at the service to “the faith and the Holy Father.”
The knights trace their history to the 11th century with the establishment of an infirmary in Jerusalem that cared for pilgrims of all faiths. It now counts 13,500 members and 100,000 staff and volunteers who provide health care in hospitals and clinics around the world.
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Knights of Malta head resigns after dispute with Vatican (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-pope-knights-idUSKBN159001)
The head of the Knights of Malta, who has been locked in a bitter dispute with the Vatican, has resigned, a spokesperson for the Rome-based Catholic chivalric and charity institution said on Wednesday.
The spokesperson said Grand Master Matthew Festing, 67, had resigned after Pope Francis asked him to step down at a meeting on Tuesday. Grand masters of the institution, which was founded in the 11th century, usually keep their positions for life.
"The pope asked him to resign and he agreed," the spokesperson said, adding that the next step was a formality in which the group's Sovereign Council would have to sign off on the highly unusual resignation. The order would be run by its number two, or grand commander, until a new head is elected.
Festing and the Vatican have been locked in a bitter dispute since one of the order's top knights, Grand Chancellor Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager, was sacked in December in the chivalric equivalent of a boardroom showdown - ostensibly because he allowed the use of condoms in a medical project for the poor.
Von Boeselager appealed to the pope, who appointed a five-member commission to look into the unusual circuмstances of the sacking, but Festing refused to cooperate and called the commission illegitimate.
Festing's resignation was the latest twist in a battle of wills between the heads of two of the world's oldest institutions.
Festing, a Briton, had denounced the papal commission as intervention in the order's sovereign affairs, accused members having a conflict of interest and defiantly set up his own internal commission.
The Vatican, in turn, rejected what it said was an attempt to discredit members of the commission and ordered the leaders of the institution to cooperate with the inquiry. The papal commission was due to deliver its findings to the pope at the end of the month.
The all-male top leaders of the Knights of Malta are not clerics, but they take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to the pope. The institution has 13,500 members, 25,000 employees and 80,000 volunteers worldwide.
The order, formed in the 11th century to provide protection and medical care for pilgrims to the Holy Land, has the status of a sovereign entity. It maintains diplomatic relations with over 100 states and the European Union and permanent observer status at the United Nations.
When Festing fired von Boeselager, he accused the German of hiding the fact that he allowed the use of condoms when he ran Malteser International, the order's humanitarian aid agency.
Von Boeselager and his supporters say the condom issue was an excuse by Festing and Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, an arch-conservative who has accused the pope of being too liberal, to increase their power.
The church does not allow the use of condoms as a means of birth control and says abstinence and monogamy in heterosɛҳuąƖ marriage is the best way to stop the spread of AIDS.
Von Boeselager said he closed two projects in the developing world when he discovered condoms were being distributed but kept a third running for a while because closing it would have abruptly ended all basic medical services to poor people.
Francis has said he wants the 1.2 billion-member church to avoid so-called "culture wars" over moral teachings and show mercy to those who cannot live by all its rules, especially the poor.
(Reporting by Philip Pullella, editing by G Crosse and Cynthia Oserman)
Too bad Festing was servilely obedient to a heretic. Oremus pro eum.
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Francis is showing himself to be an enemy of Tradition.
He is buddy-buddy with every heretic, schismatic and apostate, as well as atheists. They're all his friends.
But Traditional Catholics are his foes. So he's at war with us.
He hates Tradition so he does not practice it. And we are his enemy.
He bares his teeth at us alone. Everyone else gets a free pass.
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On the afternoon of Jan. 24, a black BMW pulled out of a 16th century palace in Rome, crossed the Tiber River and headed for the Vatican, a short trip to end a brazen challenge to the authority of Pope Francis.
Inside the car was 67-year-old Englishman Matthew Festing, the head of an ancient Catholic order of knights which is now a worldwide charity with a unique diplomatic status.
Festing was about to resign, the first leader in several centuries of the Order of Malta, which was founded in 1048 to provide medical aid for pilgrims in the Holy Land, to step down instead of ruling for life.
The move was aimed at ending a highly-public spat between Festing and the reformist pope over the running of the chivalric institution. The weeks-long conflict had become one of the biggest internal challenges yet to Francis' efforts to modernize the 1.2 billion member Roman Catholic Church.
At issue was the Order's reaction to the discovery that condoms had been distributed by one of its aid projects in Myanmar. The Order had fired its Grand Chancellor, Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager, whom it held responsible for the condom distribution. Von Boeselager declined to comment for this article.
Though condom use goes against Catholic teaching, the Vatican had ordered an investigation into the firing of von Boeselager. It subsequently publicly castigated Festing, who had refused to cooperate with the investigation.
Backing down, Festing -- a former Sotheby's art auctioneer -- gave a hand-written resignation letter to Francis in the pope's private residence, according to a senior Vatican source. Festing, who has the title of prince, declined an interview request.
Instead of quelling the conflict, however, Festing's resignation was followed by yet another challenge to Francis' authority -- led by vocal pope critic American Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, according to Vatican and Knights sources.
In particular: Burke tried to convince Festing to withdraw his resignation and keep fighting the pope, these sources say. On Saturday, the Knight's Sovereign Council accepted Festing's resignation and re-instated von Boselager, a clear defeat for Burke.
Burke declined to comment for this article.
The tussle suggested Francis is still battling to consolidate his power over the Church almost four years into his tenure, Vatican insiders say.
Beyond a fight over condoms, the clash pointed to lingering divisions between the Church's conservatives and more progressive factions who support the pope's reformist agenda, they add.
Francis is trying to make the Church less dogmatic and more welcoming to whose who have felt excluded, such as ɧoɱosɛҳųαƖs and the divorced.
"While this whole saga was an internal matter that probably should have stayed that way, it metamorphosed into a clash that showed the divide between conservatives and progressives," said Andrea Tornielli, author of several books on Pope Francis.
The Vatican declined to comment on the clash and on Pope Francis' efforts to consolidate his power.
It directed Reuters to two public statements. One, on Dec. 22, relates to the Vatican order to investigate the firing of von Boeselager. The second, on Jan. 17, followed a pledge by Festing on the Knights' web page not to cooperate with the Vatican. It decried his resistance and ordered members of the order to cooperate.
GERMAN ARISTOCRAT
The all-male top leaders of the Knights of Malta are not clerics, but they take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to the pope. [L5N1FH58O]
A German aristocrat whose father participated in a failed plot to kill Hitler in World War Two, von Boeselager was fired by Festing in December, and accused of having allowed the use of condoms while he was head of the Knights' global humanitarian projects.
Festing fired him in Burke's presence, arguing that the German had hidden the condom use from the order's leaders when he was named Grand Chancellor, according to Knights and Vatican sources.
Immediately, the firing set off the conflict between the Knights' hierarchy and the Vatican.
Von Boeselager , a devout Catholic, said in a statement on Dec. 23 that he was fully behind Church teachings. He closed two projects in the developing world when he discovered condoms were being distributed but kept a third running in Myanmar for a while because closing it would have abruptly ended all basic medical services to poor people.
The Church does not allow condoms as a means of birth control and says abstinence and monogamy in heterosɛҳuąƖ marriage is the best way to stop the spread of AIDS.
In the same statement, von Boeselager said Festing and Burke told him the Vatican wanted him to resign and that there would be "severe consequences" for the Order if he did not.
The Vatican denied, in a letter from its secretary of state to the Order and seen by Reuters, that it had mandated the resignation, saying it had told the Knights the pope wanted a solution through dialogue.
The German said his sacking was against the Knights' constitution and appealed to the pope, who ordered the investigation.
Festing refused to cooperate, issuing a series of increasingly strident public statements. In one, he called the papal commission that was investigating the firing "legally irrelevant".
In a Jan. 14 confidential letter to the top echelons of the order and seen by Reuters, Festing wrote: "In refusing to acknowledge this group of people's jurisdiction, I am trying to protect the order's sovereignty".
The institution has the status of a sovereign entity, maintaining diplomatic relations with over 100 states and the European Union and permanent observer status at the United Nations.
The pope was irritated by Festing's defiant stand, a senior Vatican source said, and the Vatican shot back with a public statement ordering the Knights to obey.
After that public order, Festing changed his tune and resigned in the pope's residence a week later.
Festing's resignation came as a shock for many inside the Knights: some of them told Reuters it was akin to the resignation of Pope Benedict in 2013.
Four sources said that for many others in the order, it came as a relief. They feared the clash was damaging the image of the institution whose 13,000 members, 80,000 volunteers and 20,000 paid medical staff help the neediest around the world.
The day after Festing handed his resignation to the pope, Cardinal Burke drove to the order's headquarters from his apartment near the Vatican and sought to persuade Festing to withdraw his resignation, a source from the Vatican and one from the Knights said.
Burke declined to comment on his meeting with Festing.
Burke has long been leading challenges against the pope. Pope Francis demoted him from a top Vatican job in 2014 with no official explanation and assigned him to be the "patron" of the Order of Malta.
Such "patron" positions are usually given to older cardinals after they retire at 75. Burke was only 66 then and the demotion was widely seen as a sign of the pope's irritation with the cardinal's constant sniping over Francis’ reforms.
In particular, Burke has contested moves by the pope that would allow Catholics who have divorced and re-married outside the Church without an annulment to return to the sacrament of communion. Burke declined to comment on his demotion.
Since the demotion, Burke has become even more of a rallying point for conservatives, flying around the world to give lectures to conservative groups and often giving interviews criticizing the pope's decisions.
In November, he led a rare public challenge to the pope with three other cardinals who accused the pontiff of sowing confusion on important moral issues such as that of communion for the divorced.
Burke later said in an interview that if the pope did not respond to their letter, the cardinals might need to "correct" the pope themselves for the good of the Church.
The Vatican did not comment on the uprising at the time but many of the pope's supporters publicly criticized the four cardinals.
The pope will now appoint a "pontifical delegate" to help run the order, at least until elections can be held for a new Grand Master.
In a personal letter to the Sovereign Council on Jan. 27 and seen by Reuters, Francis made clear that the Vatican did not want to interfere with the Order's sovereignty but said his delegate would seek to "renew the spirituality of the Order, specifically of those members who take vows."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/knights-malta-vatican-feud-tale-chivalry-sovereignty-193635200.html
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The all-male top leaders of the Knights of Malta are not clerics, but they take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to the pope.
If one of their vows is obedience to the Pope then they should not have been resisting the Vatican inquiries.
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Von Boeselager , a devout Catholic, said in a statement on Dec. 23 that he was fully behind Church teachings. He closed two projects in the developing world when he discovered condoms were being distributed but kept a third running in Myanmar for a while because closing it would have abruptly ended all basic medical services to poor people.
I think this was a question of prudence. I can see that if closing the only medical facility would end the only medical care in a developing country then I think he may have had a point, at least for a delay while figuring out a way to disrupt the condom distribution.
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The all-male top leaders of the Knights of Malta are not clerics, but they take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to the pope.
If one of their vows is obedience to the Pope then they should not have been resisting the Vatican inquiries.
What if the "inquiries" involved pressuring them to continue condom distribution? Then certainly they could obey God over men.
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kept a third running in Myanmar for a while because closing it would have abruptly ended all basic medical services to poor people.
Wouldn't've been more prudent for him to end that program, too? Contraception is more serious than bodily disease; contraception is the death of the soul.
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kept a third running in Myanmar for a while because closing it would have abruptly ended all basic medical services to poor people.
Wouldn't've been more prudent for him to end that program, too? Contraception is more serious than bodily disease; contraception is the death of the soul.
Modifying it to exclude the giving out of contraceptives would have been better.
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The all-male top leaders of the Knights of Malta are not clerics, but they take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience to the pope.
If one of their vows is obedience to the Pope then they should not have been resisting the Vatican inquiries.
What if the "inquiries" involved pressuring them to continue condom distribution? Then certainly they could obey God over men.
I agree we should obey the law of God when it conflicts with the law of men. However if they take a promise of obedience to the Holy Father then when the Vatican at a minimum starts to ask questions about what is going on the attitude of defiance is innapropriate.
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I agree we should obey the law of God when it conflicts with the law of men. However if they take a promise of obedience to the Holy Father then when the Vatican at a minimum starts to ask questions about what is going on the attitude of defiance is innapropriate.
Yes, they should've complied, unless they were being forced to go against their consciences. Perhaps there was also financial mismanagement involved, too, or other issues than the condom issue.
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Pope told Knights of Malta chief to accuse Cardinal Burke in his resignation letter: report (https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pope-told-knights-of-malta-chief-to-accuse-cardinal-burke-in-his-resignatio)
ROME, January 31, 2017 (LifeSiteNews (https://www.lifesitenews.com/)) -- A vehement backlash following attempts to fight condom distribution has shaken the foundations of the formerly sovereign entity of the Order of Malta. The controversy has resulted in one key casualty: Fra’ Matthew Festing, Grand Master of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), has surrendered. The optics are not good. By requesting his submission, Pope Francis has “publicly humiliated a Catholic knight for upholding moral orthodoxy,” as the Wall Street Journal (http://www.wsj.com/articles/pope-francis-routs-the-knights-of-malta-1485478113) put it.
LifeSiteNews has also learned that the man at the center of the controversy, previously ousted for being responsible for the scandalous contraceptive distribution, has been reinstated by the Pope with even more authority than he previously had.
On January 25 SMOM communicated that Fra Matthew Festing, 67, met with Pope Francis and decided to resign upon the Pontiff’s request. The Vatican has since announced the sending of a delegate to govern the Order together with the ad interim chief, Fra’ Ludwig Hoffmann von Rumerstein. Von Rumerstein will be in place until an extraordinary meeting elects a new Grand Master, as a press release (https://www.orderofmalta.int/2017/01/28/grand-master-fra-matthew-festing-resigns-office/) dated January 28 stated.
Festing handed in his resignation after the General Council voted in favor – save one vote – of his decision and thereby ended his eight year governance of the world’s largest chivalric order. With his resignation he effectively surrendered in the struggle between the two oldest diplomatic entities in the Western world - a struggle sparked by the dismissal of Albrecht v. Boeselager (https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/order-of-malta-at-odds-with-vatican-over-grand-chancellors-dismissal), Grand Chancellor, before Christmas. The resignation of Fra’ Matthew promises to pave the way for an investigation of the order and further purging of unwanted elements; presumably those who are not in line with the re-instituted Boeselager. As veteran Vatican reporter Edward Pentin (https://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/order-of-malta-votes-to-accept-festings-resignation) reports, the Vatican applied “very strong and direct pressure” on the Council while being unsure if the resignation would actually receive a majority.
But Festing’s head may not be the only one to roll. According to Edward Pentin (http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/pope-francis-declares-all-of-fra-festings-recent-acts-null-and-void), Pope Francis received Fra’ Matthew Festing in a private audience on January 24. In this audience, the Pope asked the Grand Master to write up a letter of resignation on the spot in which Festing included - by request - that the Grand Master had asked for Boeselager’s dismissal as ‘pushed for’ by Cardinal Raymond Burke, the patronus of the Order. As patronus Burke has no direct authority to govern but serves as the Pope’s ambassador to the sovereign council of the SMOM. Will the “removal” of Boeselager be “traced” back to Burke and will the Cardinal suffer punishment for his counsel?
It is curious to observe that Boeselager has been given unprecedented powers which are neither in the statutes of the Order nor that he had before his dismissal. In a letter (http://www.farodiroma.it/2017/01/28/ordine-malta-la-lettera-del-papa/) Pope Francis announced that he will “nominate a special delegate” and he reiterated that all “acts of Fra’ Matthew Festing” are “null and void” – as a letter by Cardinal Parolin, Secretary of State of the Vatican, already stated. Francis added that “Baron von Boeselager is considered a member of the Sovereign Council and from that moment on must be invited to all reunions of the Council, in a contrary case the reunion would be null.” Boeselager thus becomes a “guarantor” of the validity of the Council, in effect putting the very person who originally defied the Grand Master’s wishes in charge.
Another element is the Pope’s involvement. It was by the Pope’s recent exhortation to “rid the Order of Fɾҽҽmαsσɳɾყ” in combination with the long-standing condom scandal (https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/watchdog-group-releases-docuмents-showing-fired-knights-of-malta-official-o), which Boeselager was involved in as Grand Hospitaller, that had led the Grand Master to ask Boeselager to resign before Christmas. Boeselager – obstinate in his refusal – had to be asked under obedience to leave, and this set the stage for an onslaught extraordinaire on the government of the Order. All of this culminated in that moment wherein the Sovereign Council voted to accept Fra’ Festing’s resignation. As leader of the sovereign Vatican, the Pope has gotten himself mixed up into international diplomatic affairs, that can “under international law” be understood as “effectively the annexation of one country by another,” canon lawyer Ed Condon (http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/commentandblogs/2017/01/25/the-vatican-has-destroyed-the-order-of-maltas-sovereignty-what-if-italy-does-the-same-to-the-vatican/) wrote. The interference of Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin with his letter dated January 27 has been deemed unconstitutional (http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2017/01/last-chance-will-malta-knights-fold-or.html).
Another distressing observation is this: If by his request for Fra Matthew’s resignation the Pope treated Festing as a religious rather than a statesman, Francis as supreme leader of the Church and vicar of Christ urged Festing under religious obedience to do precisely that which Festing had asked from v. Boeselager. With one difference: Boeselager never stepped down by his own accord despite grounds for morally questionable evidence; Fra’ Matthew Festing on the other hand did indeed have the integrity to follow his “superior,” the Pope. With the reinstitution of Boeselager, noncompliance wins the day.
What remains unresolved and concealed is the mysterious donation of 120 million Swiss Francs held in a trust accessible to Boeselager’s faction from a benefactor resident in France, as Edward Pentin (http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/disorder-in-the-order-of-malta) reported, as well as German Cardinal Reinhard Marx’s involvement in the whole ordeal. According to information gathered by LifeSiteNews, Marx was visiting Cardinal Pietro Parolin along with Boeselager during his stay in Rome for the C9 meeting before Christmas to engage in the discussion with Cardinal Pietro Parolin.
What is plain to see is that Boeselager’s reinstitution means triumph for the small group of the German chapter of the Order who hold the money whip over the law and statutes of the Order. As so often in the recent Church history of the German-speaking world, it remains true that involvement in scandals – even as grave as condom-distribution – can be swept under the carpet if money is at stake. Boeselager’s term as Grand Chancellor will come to its natural end in 2019. Until then he has been given the time, stature and means to steer the Order his way.
Long gone are the days in which the Pope in respectful distance re-affirmed (http://w2.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/speeches/2013/february/docuмents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20130209_ordine-malta.html) the sovereignty of the Order, as did Benedict XVI only days before his resignation: “The occasion that brings us together is the ninth centenary of the solemn privilege Pie Postulatio Voluntatis of 15 February 1113, by which Pope Paschal II placed the newly created ‘hospitaller fraternity’ of Jerusalem, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, under the protection of the Church, and gave it sovereign status, constituting it as an Order in church law, with the faculty freely to elect its superiors without interference from other lay or religious authorities.”
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The Sovereign Council of the Knights of Malta voted on January 28 to accept the resignation of Fra’ Matthew Festing as grand master of the group: a resignation that had been demanded by Pope Francis.
The council also accepted the Pope’s decision that all recent actions and decisions by the outgoing grand master were null and void. Thus Albrecht von Boeselager, who had been expelled from his post as chancellor, was restored to that post.
In bowing to the Pope’s authority, the Sovereign Council thanked the Pontiff for respecting the group’s legal sovereignty. A statement following the vote stressed that a papal delegate, who will be appointed to supervise the group, would be responsible for a spiritual renewal.
https://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=30620
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The new acting head of the Knights of Malta has said that it was Cardinal Burke, not the order’s ousted grand master, who asked for the resignation of the chancellor, Albrecht von Boeselager.
Ludwig Hoffman von Rumerstein, who will lead the Knights of Malta until a new grand master is elected, said that he was present at a December 6 meeting when Cardinal Burke asked for Boeselager’s resignation. Previous accounts have indicated that Fra’ Matthew Festing, who was then the head of the order, asked for the chancellor’s resignation and then ordered him to resign. As patron of the Knights of Malta, Cardinal Burke would have held the authority to suggest a resignation, but not to require it.
Hoffman von Rumerstein said that reforms in the Knights of Malta, to be carried out at the behest of Pope Francis, would include changes in the way the grand master is selected, and an age limit at which the leader of the order would be expected to resign. The Vatican had announced that a special papal legate would be responsible solely for the spiritual renewal of the order.
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=30781
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Cardinal Raymond Burke has flatly denied a claim that he asked for the resignation of Albert von Boeselager as chancellor of the Knights of Malta.
The cardinal told the National Catholic Register that he was “stunned” by the claim, made last week by the acting head of the Order of Malta, Fra’ Ludwign Hoffman von Rumerstein. “I consider it a calumny,” he said.
Hoffman von Rumerstein had said that it was Cardinal Burke, not the former grand master of the Order, Fra’ Matthew Festing, who asked for Boeselager’s resignation. That account conflicts with other reports, which had consistently said that Festing sought the chancellor’s resignation, at a meeting at which Cardinal Burke was present in his capacity as patron of the Order.
“I had no authority to ask the grand chancellor to resign,” Cardinal Burke said. He told Edward Pentin of the Register:
I simply stated that the person who knowingly permitted the distribution of contraceptives in the Order’s works should take responsibility, and then the Grand Master once again asked the Grand Chancellor to resign which he refused to do. Then the Grand Master proceeded to his dismissal without my involvement at all.
Cardinal Burke also said that his trip to Guam, to take testimony in the canonical trial of Archbishop Anthony Apuron, should not be seen as an exile from Rome. He disclosed that he had been named to head a tribunal hearing the case last October, long before the controversy over the Knights of Malta erupted. He said that he traveled to Guam at the request of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which is responsible for handling the case, and that Pope Francis has “never spoken to me about this task.”
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=30803
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All while the neo conservatives in USA are setting Cardinal Dolan as the next Pope.
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Albert von Boeselager, whose dismissal from his post as chancellor of the Knights of Malta sparked a crisis within the fraternal order, has confirmed that it was the group’s former grand master, Fra’ Matthew Festing—and not Cardinal Raymond Burke—who demanded his resignation.
Von Boeselager was restored to his post when Pope Francis intervened in the Order’s affairs; Festing resigned at the Pope’s request. The chancellor said that the demand for his resignation came after a controversy that had begun in 2015, over the distribution of condoms in a program sponsored by the Knights of Malta’s charitable arm. He said that Cardinal Burke approved the move for his resignation, but Festing made the demand.
Last week the acting head of the Order, Fra’ Ludwig Hoffman von Rumerstein, said that Cardinal Burke was the one who asked for von Boeselager’s resignation. Cardinal Burke replied that he was “stunned” by that claim. “I consider it a calumny,” he said.
Von Boeselager said that reforms were needed in the Order of Malta. He said that the process leading up to his dismissal was arbitrary, and the move was carried out in violation of the Order’s own rules.
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=30870
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Albert von Boeselager, who was forced to resign as chancellor of the Knights of Malta but reinstated by Pope Francis, has blamed American conservatives for the turmoil in the order.
Von Boeselager said that conservatives, unhappy with the Pope’s public statements on economic affairs, have provoked conflicts at the Vatican. “There is, for instance, a very powerful, ultra-conservative movement in the US which has links to the Evangelical Churches and to conservative economists, behind which there is a great deal of money,” he said.
Von Boeselager linked Cardinal Raymond Burke to the alleged enemies of the Pope, charged that the American cardinal, by rebuking him for his involvement in a condom-distribution scheme, “is not only slandering me but is also indirectly attacking the Holy Father for protecting someone who distributes condoms.” He observed that Cardinal Burke has recently reiterated that any Catholic official who is involved in distributing condoms should resign.
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=30956
That's right, blame it on the Americans.
:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:
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There is more going on at the Knights of Malta than Cardinal Burke;
http://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/the-city-gates.cfm?id=1433
I suggest if you really want to know what is going on then follow the bread crumb like trail of money.
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Bergoglio did this because he knows Burke is about to begin open war by beginning the official reprimand process after the Epiphany.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/dubia-cardinal-anyone-who-opens-communion-to-adulterers-is-a-heretic-and-pr
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/exclusive-cardinal-burke-suggests-timeline-for-formal-correction-of-pope-fr
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So........... whatever happened to the official reprimand process after the Epiphany??
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Bergoglio did this because he knows Burke is about to begin open war by beginning the official reprimand process after the Epiphany.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/dubia-cardinal-anyone-who-opens-communion-to-adulterers-is-a-heretic-and-pr
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/exclusive-cardinal-burke-suggests-timeline-for-formal-correction-of-pope-fr
Wow! Thank you for posting this. We have to pray for our good Cardinals.
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The former grand master of the Knights of Malta has been directed by the Vatican not to travel to Rome for the election of the Order’s new leader on April 29.
Fra’ Matthew Festing, who resigned in January at the request of Pope Francis, has received a letter from Archbishop Angelo Becciu, the Pope’s special delegate to the Order of Malta, asking him to stay away from the April 29 election “as an act of obedience.” The former grand master—who is eligible to be re-elected by the council of the Knights of Malta—should not be present for the vote, the archbishop wrote. “Your presence would reopen wounds, only recently healed,” Archbishop Becciu said.
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=31329
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Leaders of the Knights of Malta have recommended that members select an interim leader, as the date for the election of a new grand master approaches.
Archbishop Angelo Becciu, named by Pope Francis as a special delegate to supervise changes in the Knights of Malta, has summoned 15 top leaders of the Order to the Vatican a meeting on April 27. Underlining the importance of the session, Pope Francis is also expected to attend the meeting, which will take place on the eve of his trip to Egypt. The vote for a new grand master will be held on April 29.
Meanwhile Fra Matthew Festing, who resigned as grand master in January at the Pope’s request, has reportedly announced that he will travel to Rome to participate in the vote, this time rejecting a request from the Pontiff. Archbishop Becciu had written to Festing, telling him that the Pope did not want him to attend the election. The former grand master would be eligible as a candidate for re-election.
Earlier this week, the members of the Knights of Malta who are eligible to vote in the Saturday election received an email message from the group’s current leaders, suggesting that an interim leader should be elected, with a final election of a new grand master to follow only after changes have been made in the constitution of the Order.
In yet another indication of turmoil within the Order, the Catholic Herald of London published a leaked internal report finding that Malteser International, a charitable group affiliated with the Knights of Malta, had indeed been involved in the distribution of contraceptives. The report—which was widely circulated among members of the Order—found that the group’s chancellor, Albrecht von Boeselager, became aware of the distribution of contraceptives in 2013, but did not inform the leaders of the Order. The report also said that Malteser International had established its own principles on bioethical questions, which were “inconsistent with the Church’s teaching.”
In part because of the involvement with contraceptives, Boeselager was ousted from his post as chancellor by Festing. Pope Francis intervened to demand Festing’s resignation and restore Boeselager to his former position.
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=31407
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The soap opera at the ancient Knights of Malta religious order took on new drama Wednesday as its ousted leader returned to Rome on the eve of the election for his successor in defiance of the pope’s wishes.
Fra’ Matthew Festing, whom Pope Francis effectively ousted as grand master in January, is technically eligible to be re-elected during Saturday’s vote. But he told fellow knights he merely wants to cast his ballot.
In an April 15 letter, Francis’ delegate running the order, Archbishop Angelo Becciu, had specifically told Festing to stay away from Rome, saying his presence at the election “would reopen wounds and prevent the event from taking place in an atmosphere of peace and harmony.”
But Festing told the order he planned to vote, and two knights told The Associated Press he was back in Rome on Wednesday.
The developments added new drama to the Knights of Malta saga, which erupted in December after Festing ordered his foreign minister, Albrecht von Boeselager, to resign. Boeselager’s stated crime was that condoms had been distributed by the Knights of Malta’s humanitarian branch in Myanmar under his watch. Church teaching forbids artificial contraception.
The Vatican got involved after Boeselager complained, launching what became a very public spat between Festing and Francis. While ostensibly about the internal affairs of the order, the battle laid bare the conservative criticism of Francis, given that Festing had been backed by Cardinal Raymond Burke, a leading conservative critic of the pope.
Festing, though, lost.
Francis asked him to resign, ordered Boeselager to be reinstated and appointed Becciu as his envoy to help run the order until a new grand master could be elected.
The Vatican takeover was a raw display of papal power and put into question the Knights’ fiercely guarded sovereign status. Francis added to the impression of heavy-handedness by inviting more than a dozen senior knights to a pre-vote huddle Wednesday evening at the Vatican hotel where he lives.
The order’s leadership has recommended that the 56 knights eligible to cast ballots Saturday elect a temporary “lieutenant” to run the order for one year, rather than the life term of a grand master. That will give the order time to reform its constitutions to broaden the pool of eligible future grand masters. Currently, the rules limit the pool to “professed knights” — who take religious vows of poverty, obedience and chastity — who hail from noble lineage.
Currently, 12 men fit the bill, but many of them are in their 80s.
The Knights of Malta is an ancient lay Catholic religious order that runs hospitals and clinics around the world. It counts 3,500 members and 100,000 staff and volunteers who lend first aid in war zones, natural disasters and conflict areas; members also make regular pilgrimages bringing the sick to Catholic shrines.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/ousted-maltese-knight-returns-in-defiance-of-popes-wishes/2017/04/26/c5e2e66c-2a91-11e7-9081-f5405f56d3e4_story.html?utm_term=.68433672489b
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I think that this is about more than Cardinal Burke.
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This is like discussing a fight within another religion. The Knights of Malta are part of the Vatican II religion.
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This is like discussing a fight within another religion. The Knights of Malta are part of the Vatican II religion.
They are part of the Catholic Church.
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As leaders of the Knights of Malta prepare to elect a new grand master, contending factions have put forward radically different explanations for the dispute that caused a crisis in the ancient fraternal order.
CWN has obtained internal docuмents, circulated widely among members of the Knights of Malta, showing that the chancellor of the Order, Albrecht von Boeselager, was aware that the Order’s charity, Malteser International, had been involved in the distribution of contraceptives, and that an inquiry concluded that the policies of Malteser International were “inconsistent with the teaching of the Catholic Church.” The docuмents also show that Pope Francis demanded action to end that involvement.
In January of this year, Fra Matthew Fessing, the grand master of the Order, responded to the Pope’s direction by demanding Boeselager’s resignation. When the chancellor refused to step down, Fessing acted on his initiative to oust him. Evidently some members of the Order’s leadership believed that Fessing had overstepped his authority, and the internal docuмents report that it was “apparent that two-thirds of the Sovereign Council will not agree” to remove Boeselager.
At this point Pope Francis intervened. He called Fessing to the Vatican. The grand master was told that he should come alone, and tell no one about the meeting. When he arrived, the Pope asked for his resignation, and Fessing obliged.
However, some members of the Order have evidently told Fessing that he should not have resigned, and suggest that he should be re-elected to his former post. Earlier this week it was revealed that Archbishop Angelo Becciu, named by Pope Francis as a special delegate to supervise changes in the Knights of Malta, had ordered Fessing not to attend the April 29 session at which the new grand master will be elected. Nevertheless Fessing has arrived in Rome, apparently intent on participating in the vote. Edward Pentin of the National Catholic Register reports that the Vatican may have rescinded the order for him to stay away, perhaps because Fessing’s attendance could be required for a valid vote.
Informed sources within the Order say that the April 29 vote will reflect a bitter struggle for control of the Knights of Malta, with the German branch—heavily supported by the Vatican—likely to win control. But some members remain concerned about the direction the German leaders of the Order might take. Those concerns reflect both the dispute about contraceptive distribution and the involvement of the German branch in the acceptance of a large bequest from a shadowy anonymous donor.
A report commissioned by the order concluded that Malteser International, under Boeselager’s administration, became involved in contraceptive distribution, and concealed evidence of that involvement from the international leadership. Even after acknowledging the problem, the inquiry found, Malteser International continued to base its policies on assumptions that contraceptive use is an acceptable means of spacing births, that condoms could be used to prevent the spread of sɛҳuąƖly transmitted diseases, that young people should be educated about contraceptives as an option, and in general that Catholic moral teachings may be disregarded if medical evidence weighs against them.
However, the dispute about contraceptives could eventually be seen as a secondary issue, in light of the questions arising from the acceptance of a $120 million donation to Malteser International. The donation comes from a trust that has been carefully set up to conceal the identity of the original donor, and the trust itself has been involved in litigation—with the Order’s charity once among its adversaries—over the handling of the funds. The most implacable critics of von Boeselager and the German branch of the Knights argue that accepting the questionable gift is evidence of corruption within the Order, and that revelations about the source could eventually bring disgrace to the Knights and to the Vatican.
Oddly, when Pope Francis set up a commission of five people to investigate the dispute between Fessing and von Boeselager, three of the members had some substantial involvement in the acceptance and/or administration of the anonymous gift. That fact that has reinforced concerns among some Knights that the Vatican had stacked the deck in favor of the German branch.
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=31415
There is obviously more to this than Cardinal Burke.
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I think all of this is adults acting like children.
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They are part of the Catholic Church.
The Vatican II church is not the Catholic Church. The Catholic Church is truth, not sometimes truth and sometimes error and heresy. Not the majority of the time error and sometimes truth.
Rat poison is 99% nutritious food.
Stay in a state of sanctifying grace by going to frequent confession and mass, do the rosary every day, wear the Brown Scapular and live as if you will die tomorrow, and do not waiver from that life no matter what any priest, bishop, pope teaches you by bad example.
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Pope St. Pius X (1835-1914)
“Who can fail to see that society is at the present time, more than in any past age, suffering from a terrible and deep-rooted malady which, developing every day and eating into its inmost being, is dragging it to destruction? You understand, Venerable Brethren, what this disease is—apostasy from God… When all this is considered there is good reason to fear lest this great perversity may be as it were a foretaste, and perhaps the beginning of those evils which are reserved for the last days; and that there may be already in the world the ‘Son of Perdition’ [Antichrist] of whom the Apostle speaks.”
"They want them [the Modernists] to be treated with oil, soap, and caresses. But they should be beaten with fists. In a duel, you don't count or measure the blows, you strike as you can. War is not made withcharity: it is a struggle, a duel. If Our Lord were not terrible, He would not have given an example in this too. See how he treated the Philistines, the sowers of error, the wolves in sheep's clothing, the traders: He scourged them with whips!"
"The true friends of the people are neither the revolutionaries nor the innovators. They are the traditionalists." Letter on the Sillon, August 25, 1910
"Let us not set foot in the opposing camp, because we would thus be giving the enemy a proof of our weakness, which the enemy would try to interpret as a sign of weakness and complicity."
"The greatest obstacle in the apostolate of the Church is the timidity, or rather the cowardice, of the faithful."
"Attempting to reconcile our Faith with the modern mentality leads not only to weakening of that Faith, but to its total destruction."
"In our time more than ever before, the greatest asset of the liars is the cowardice and weakness of good men, and all the vigor of Satan's reign is due to the easy-going weakness of Catholics.... And this reproach can be leveled at the weak and timid Catholics of all countries." Beatification of Joan of Arc, December 13, 1898
"Henceforth the enemy of the Church is no longer outside the Church; he is now within." Encyclical Esupremi apostolatus, October 4, 1903
"One of the primary obligations assigned by Christ to the office committed to Us of feeding the Lord's flock is that of guarding with the greatest vigilance the Deposit of Faith delivered to the Saints, rejecting the profane novelties of words, and the gainsaying of knowledge falsely so-called.... We may no longer keep silent [against the Modernists], lest we should seem to fail in our essential duty." Encyclical Letter Pascendi Dominici Gregis, September 8, 1907, Sec. 1
"The partisans of errors are to be sought not only among the Church's open enemies; but, what is to be most dreaded and deplored, in her very bosom, and are the more mischievous the less they keep in the open. We allude, Venerable Brethren, to many who belong to the Catholic laity, and what is much more sad, to the ranks of the priesthood itself, thoroughly imbued with the poisonous doctrines taught by the enemies of the Church." Encyclical Letter Pascendi Dominici Gregis, September 8, 1907
"Modernists vent all their bitterness and hatred on Catholics who zealously fight the battles of the church. There is no species of insult which they do not heap upon them, but their usual course is to charge them with ignorance or obstinacy. When an adversary rises up against them with an erudition and force that renders them redoubtable, they seek to make a conspiracy of silence around him to nullify the effects of his attack." Encyclical Letter Pascendi Dominici Gregis, September 8, 1907
"For Catholics, nothing will remove the authority of the Second Council of Nicaea, where it condemns those who dare, after the impious fashion of heretics to deride ecclesiastical traditions, to invent novelties of some kind or to endeavor by malice or craft to overthrow any one of the legitimate traditions of the Catholic Church." Encyclical Letter Pascendi Dominici Gregis, September 8, 1907
"In their [the Modernists'] books, one finds some things that might well be approved by a Catholic, but on turning over the page, one is confronted by other things that might well have been dictated by a Rationalist." Encyclical Letter Pascendi Dominici Gregis, September 8, 1907
"They lay the ax not to the branches and shoots, but to the very root, that is, to the faith and its deepest fibers. And once having struck at this root of immortality, they proceed to diffuse poison through the whole tree so that there is no part of the Catholic truth which they leave untouched, none that they do not strive to corrupt. Further, none is more skillful, none more astute than they, in the employment of a thousand noxious devices, for they play the double part of rationalist and Catholic, and this so craftily that they easily lead the unwary into error; and as audacity is their chief characteristic, there is no conclusion of any kind from which they shrink or which they do not thrust forward with pertinacity and assurance." Encyclical Letter Pascendi Dominici Gregis, September 8, 1907
"The present wickedness of the world is only the beginning of the sorrows which must take place before the end of the world."
Pope St. Pius X said: "All the strength of Satan's reign is due to the easygoing weakness of Catholics."
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I note that Fra Festing is no longer excluded from the election. Apparently it was advised that if Fra Festing were not there, the new election would not be valid. It is not a moderation, just a slight procedural adjustment in order to complete the annexation of the Knights of Malta. This thing is why Bishop Fellay needs to be so careful.
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The ancient Knights of Malta religious order on Saturday elected a temporary leader during a period of reform after the last grand master was effectively ousted by Pope Francis.
The secret ballot by 56 knights eligible to vote means the order will continue a period of Vatican-mandated reform before electing a grand master to replace Fra' Matthew Festing, who resigned in January in a dispute with the pope over the order's sovereignty.
The new temporary leader is Fra' Giacomo Dalla Torre with the title of lieutenant of the grand master. He most recently has been the grand prior in charge of the order's Rome chapter.
Knights garbed in black robes gathered for a Mass inside the order's Villa Magistrale on Rome's Aventine Hill ahead of the secret balloting. Knights eligible to cast ballots must choose a leader from a pool of people who, according to the order's rules, must have taken religious vows of poverty, obedience and chastity and hail from noble lineage.
The planned reforms are expected to broaden eligibility in the next election.
The Vatican took over the sovereign lay Catholic order after a dispute over condoms led to the resignation of Festing, who traveled to Rome for the election in defiance of the pontiff.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/knights-malta-vote-leader-papal-dispute-092440801.html (https://www.yahoo.com/news/knights-malta-vote-leader-papal-dispute-092440801.html)
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It's interesting that all the fur is flying over marriage, procrative practices and sex identity, when the principal heresy afoot today, as has been the case since the 1940's, is EENS (extra ecclesiam nulla salus).
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So long as the Vatican continues to pursue this heretical lie (that there is salvation outside the Church) we will continue to have a CRISIS.
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This year is the 100th anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima, who gave us grave warning regarding "the dogma of the Faith," in the first sentence of the Third Secret of Fatima, "'In Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,' etc." (The "etc." was added by Sister Lucia of Fatima, which represents the core of the Third Secret which is still being kept from public view. But politicians and heretics cannot silence Our Lady. Her words will be made known, eventually.
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All that remains to be seen is how many nations will be annihilated before the Third Secret is revealed.
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My priest gave a very interesting sermon today, in which he said:
The Catholic Church does not subsist in ANYTHING.
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The Church IS. It is not part of any larger thing. The Church is its own entity, outside of which there is no salvation. Period.
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It's interesting that all the fur is flying over marriage, procrative practices and sex identity, when the principal heresy afoot today, as has been the case since the 1940's, is EENS (extra ecclesiam nulla salus).
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So long as the Vatican continues to pursue this heretical lie (that there is salvation outside the Church) we will continue to have a CRISIS.
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This year is the 100th anniversary of Our Lady of Fatima, who gave us grave warning regarding "the dogma of the Faith," in the first sentence of the Third Secret of Fatima, "'In Portugal the dogma of the Faith will always be preserved,' etc." (The "etc." was added by Sister Lucia of Fatima, which represents the core of the Third Secret which is still being kept from public view. But politicians and heretics cannot silence Our Lady. Her words will be made known, eventually.
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All that remains to be seen is how many nations will be annihilated before the Third Secret is revealed.
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My priest gave a very interesting sermon today, in which he said:
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Apparently there is more to this than just a question of artificial contraception. Follow the money trail and you will see what the real issues are.