Time to hold prelates accountable
at the Vatican, too
By Phil Lawler
August 13, 2018
John Allen of Crux remarks that if the universal Church seeks to make prelates accountable, it’s unfortunate that Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who has a deserved reputation for trying to protect abusers and conceal evidence remains the Dean of the College of Cardinals.
To be fair, Allen was asking the same question back in 2011 — as was Edward Pentin, in Catholic World Report. And I myself have asked the question again and again and again and again and again and again.
Since Cardinal Sodano is now more than 90 years old, it would seem a natural thing to announce his resignation. In June, Pope Francis announced that four more cardinals would all be given the privileges of cardinal-bishops — from whose ranks the dean is chosen. That might have been an opportune time to name a new dean. Still Cardinal Sodano, the former Secretary of State, retains his title.
And while we’re on the subject… Pope Francis created the Council of Cardinals in April 2013, and named the original eight members of the group to 5-year terms. A quick mathematical calculation shows that those terms expired in April of this year. Again, it would have been a convenient time to replace any cardinals who had been tainted by scandal.
Four of those eight cardinals have now been accused, rightly or wrongly, of either engaging in sexual abuse or covering up the evidence of abuse. Three of those four have passed the age of 75, the normative retirement age for active bishops, so in their cases there were two handy reasons for replacing them. But all four remain in place.
If Pope Francis wants to send a clear message, the opportunities are still open. On the other hand, if all these cardinals remain in place —when it would have been so easy to replace them — that sends a message, too.
And what about 'all the pope's men' and the horrendous messages they send by their brazenly shameless and faith-betraying sycophancy???
Bergoglio has ushered in
a new ultramontane gnosticism
and Rosica is its prophet!
by Mark Lambert
August 14, 2018
Twitter is buzzing this morning with the latest heretical out-pouring from professional papal tailgater, Fr. Thomas Rosica. You may remember this is the the Vatican spokesman & CEO of Canadian Salt & Light TV, who seems unable to avoid embroiling himself in what can best be described as embarrassing polemics.
He infamously made a legal threat against a small part-time blogger who wants to defend Church teaching. He has a long record of dodgy pronouncements and quasi-theology (for another example see here) but these are the men Pope Francis chooses to speak for him. This is something which has puzzled me since the inception of this Pontificate.
Who is Rosica?
Get it now?
This morning's fuss is about a typically sycophantic article written about Pope Francis by Fr. Rosica, entitled
The Ignatian Qualities of the Petrine Ministry of Pope Francis and posted on his smoke & litigation Salt & Light blog, and re-posted by Zenit (although the particularly heretical quote below now appears to have been removed by Zenit who have replaced the two relevant sentences with “[…]” however it IS still there in the smoke & litigation Salt & Light blog (for the minute, anyway). There's a lot of verbiage, but amongst it is this bit:
Now explain to me, given this man's position of influence in the Church, how we are NOT living through a major doctrinal crisis? This is the exact opposite of what is taught by the Second Vatican Council which states:
It is clear, therefore, that sacred tradition, Sacred Scripture and the teaching authority of the Church, in accord with God's most wise design, are so linked and joined together that one cannot stand without the others, and that all together and each in its own way under the action of the one Holy Spirit contribute effectively to the salvation of souls.~ Dei Verbum n.10
It also has to be said about this article that you would be forgiven for asking whose founder? Which Ignatius? If you read the letters of St. Ignatius, or a classic portrait of the (400 year) traditional interpretation of his charism (as in Joseph de Guibert), you would conclude that Fr. Rosica is talking about a completely different figure and spirit. But that won't be any surprise to anyone following what is going on at present.
This verbiage (it's not Catholic by any measure I recognise) is both sycophantic & unhinged. We should also remember that it takes place amidst the renewed, growing anger at Church leaders over the abuse crises, too! One wonders just why Zenit published it? Rosica relates everything back to Francis though, and if anyone raises problems, he just sees it like this:
I mean this is so brazen -
this man is publicly claiming the Church has become a personality cult and that Scripture, Tradition & the Magisterium no longer count for anything. As Nick Donnelly pointed out:
Rorate caeli also remind us:"Let us go back to what the Church actually teaches about the Roman Pontiff in her quite authoritative words in Vatican I (
Pastor aeternus):
The Holy Spirit was promised to the successors of Peter not so that they might, by his revelation, make known some new doctrine, but that, by his assistance, they might religiously guard and faithfully expound the revelation or deposit of faith transmitted by the apostles. Indeed, their apostolic teaching was embraced by all the venerable fathers and reverenced and followed by all the holy orthodox doctors, for they knew very well that this See of St. Peter always remains unblemished by any error, in accordance with the divine promise of our Lord and Savior to the prince of his disciples: "I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail; and when you have turned again, strengthen your brethren."
Pope Saint Pius X also appropriately warned the Church:
But for Catholics the second Council of Nicea will always have the force of law, where it condemns those who dare, after the impious fashion of heretics, to deride the ecclesiastical traditions, to invent novelties of some kind . . . or endeavour by malice or craft to overthrow any one of the legitimate traditions of the Catholic Church; and Catholics will hold for law, also, the profession of the fourth Council of Constantinople: We therefore profess to conserve and guard the rules bequeathed to the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church by the Holy and most illustrious Apostles, by the orthodox Councils, both general and local, and by every one of those divine interpreters the Fathers and Doctors of the Church. Wherefore the Roman Pontiffs, Pius IV. and Pius IX., ordered the insertion in the profession of faith of the following declaration: I most firmly admit and embrace the apostolic and ecclesiastical traditions and other observances and constitutions of the Church.
Saint Pius X
Pascendi Dominici Gregis, 42
About that Zenit edit of its Rosica story:
The real problem here is the credibility that men like Rosica have by virtue of the Vatican, and the respect we are bound to hold them in by virtue of their ordination. However they are only able to get away with such outlandish and contrary behaviour because so many Catholics do not know their faith at all.
For anyone with a passing acquaintance with
Dei verbum, those two sentences by Rosica are like a red light;
a Satanic parody of the actual document which seeks to elevate one man, Pope Francis to the position of Christ. Indeed, Rosica has said something similar to that in the past:
What really gets me is that these men were ordained into a Church that they hate and seek to undermine and actually corrupt. Then there is the fact that they are promoted to prominent positions despite constantly repeating positions that are at odds with the Church - AND NO ONE CAN DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT! If you believe what the Church teaches, you are considered to be a bit of a nutter. If you voice dissent, you are considered to be right on.
This has to stop because it is what is killing vocations and leading to the clear hypocrisy of ignorant Catholics which leads to apathy and their abandoning of the faith.
I suppose the only silver lining for Rosica is that because he has blocked nearly everyone on the internet, he's likely completely oblivious to the furore he has caused with this article #RosicaBlockParty.
Almighty & Everlasting God, have mercy on Thy servant Francis, our Supreme Pontiff, & direct him [JORGE BERGOGLIO] according to Thy loving kindness, in the way of eternal salvation, that with Thy help he may ever desire that which is pleasing to Thee & accomplish it with all his strength. Through Christ our Lord.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 16/08/2018 06:34]