Bizarre move: Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople writes article for L'Osservatore Romano endorsing Amoris Laetitia.Revisiting the contrasting positions of Moscow and Constantinople at the Synod of 2015

In what is surely one of the most bizarre twists in the debate on Amoris Laetitia, Pariarch Bartholomew, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, has penned an article unabashedly endorsing that exhortation. While it is no secret that the Kasperite and liberal wing have partly taken inspiration from Eastern Orthodox praxis, that L'Osservatore Romano would go to the extent of publishing an article from Bartholomew in support of AL will only exacerbate the concerns of those who do see this document as intending a departure from perennial Catholic teaching. 

The full text of the editorial, in English, can be found here: "God is Love (1 John 4:8)".

For the record - In latest interview, Pope attacks "rigidity" in seminaries and in priestly formation. Are seminaries soon to be targeted for "reform" by Francis?

 St. Francis Seraphic Seminary, Andover, MA. Closed as a seminary in the 1970's, finally demolished in October 2016.

It is extremely difficult to keep up with the unending barrage of words from Pope Francis. One interview after another, press conferences, speeches, letters, phone calls, off-the-cuff remarks, daily homilies... the endless flow of words results in people knowing not so much what the Pope has exactly said on this or that topic, but rather the general run of this Pope's thinking and the main themes of his stated policies. Rather than being a sign of Francis' sloppiness, a case can be made that this is an excellent strategy. Liberal would-be reformers, who tend not to bother with exactitude, make use of the very strong impressions left by Francis without being tied down by his exact words. Meanwhile some "conservatives" still remain hesitant to call out Francis precisely because they are obsessed with nailing down exactly what Francis said on each particular occasion, and in trying to find excuses for these while dismissing as "misinterpretations" nearly anything that would force them to face the facts.

For the record: Video plea to the Pope for doctrinal clarity

ROME, July 13, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) -- In a spirit of love, humility, and faithfulness, 16 international life and family advocates are asking Pope Francis in a powerful new video to unambiguously speak the truth of the Catholic faith, to end doctrinal confusion, to restore clarity, and to be the Holy Father that Catholics need.  

The apprehension of Catholics on the eve of the Post-Synod Exhortation - Roberto de Mattei

The apprehension of Catholics on the eve of the Post-Synod Exhortation

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

March 23, 2016

In this Holy Week of 2016, the sentiments and pain of Christ’s Passion being renewed is mingled with deep apprehension about the distressing situation the Church is in. The greatest worries regard the impending Apostolic Post-Synod Exhortation Pope Francis signed on March 19th and which will be published just after Easter. According to the Vatican journalist Luigi Accattoli “rumors foresee a text of no striking doctrinal or juridical affirmations, but rather will include many innovative practical choices regarding marriage preparation and couples in irregular situations: not only for the divorced and remarried but also for cohabiters, marriages with a believer and non-believer and for those only civilly-married.” (Corriere della Sera, March 20th 2016)

"The Pope Himself Says: Your Criticism is Good for Me" - And What will the Post-Synod Document Say?

Socci: The criticism that is good for the Pope

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

March 9, 2016

The letter Pope Francis sent to Antonio Socci on February 7th warrants the same attention as the book Socci dedicated to “The Last Prophecy. An Open Letter to Pope Francis in Times of War (Rizzoli, 2016).

Socci’s book is divided into two parts: the first contains a set of prophecies, both recent and old, which point to grave catastrophes for the world should it refuse to convert and do penance. The material destructions predicted in many prophecies seem to be a result of the present spiritual devastation which the Church finds itself immersed in today. Among the many heavenly messages, there are those of the Virgin of La Salette and Don Bosco’s dream about the future of Rome which outline a scenario of tragedy and hope similar to the one Our Lady announced at Fatima in 1917. Other private revelations cited by Socci, could be considered questionable, but even so, the writer’s merit is nonetheless that of reminding us of the existence of the prophetic, apocalyptic dimension which is inseparable from historical Catholic theology.

EXCLUSIVE: BISHOP ATHANASIUS SCHNEIDER INTERVIEW WITH RORATE CAELISSPX; Women and foot washing; consecrating Russia; anti-pastoral bishops and much more

Last week, Rorate Caeli interviewed His Excellency Bishop Athanasius Schneider, one of the most visible prelates working on the restoration of the traditional Latin Mass and faith, on numerous topics. 

In this wide-ranging interview, His Excellency thoughtfully expounded on issues critical to the Church in this great time of crisis. Read the entire interview so you don't miss His Excellency's thoughts on the current status of the SSPX, women's participation in the Mass and the washing of women's feet, whether Russia was ever truly consecrated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Summorum Pontificum and anti-pastoral bishops and much, much more. 

All may reprint/repost this interview -- but you must credit Rorate Caeli. 

Click here to follow @RorateCaeli on Twitter

*NB: words in bold by Rorate for emphasis:

POST-SYNOD CHURCH & UNBELIEVERS IN THE HIERARCHY

Rorate Caeli: In the recent Synod, we will not know the legal impact it will have on the Church for some time, as it’s up to Pope Francis to move next. Regardless of the eventual outcome, for all intent and purposes, is there already a schism in the Church? And, if so, what does it mean practically speaking? How will it manifest itself for typical Catholics in the pews?

H.E. Schneider: Schism means according to the definition of the Code of Canon Law, can. 751: The refusal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or of communion with those members of the Church who are submitted to the Supreme Pontiff. One has to distinguish the defect in belief or heresy from schism. The defect in belief or heresy is indeed a greater sin than schism, as Saint Thomas Aquinas said: “Unbelief is a sin committed against God Himself, according as He is Himself the First Truth, on which faith is founded; whereas schism is opposed to ecclesiastical unity, which is a lesser good than God Himself. Wherefore the sin of unbelief is generically more grievous than the sin of schism” (II-II, q. 39, a. 2 c). 

The very crisis of the Church in our days consists in the ever growing phenomenon that those who don’t fully believe and profess the integrity of the Catholic faith frequently occupy strategic positions in the life of the Church, such as professors of theology, educators in seminaries, religious superiors, parish priests and even bishops and cardinals. And these people with their defective faith profess themselves as being submitted to the Pope. 

The height of confusion and absurdity manifests itself when such semi-heretical clerics accuse those who defend the purity and integrity of the Catholic faith as being against the Pope – as being according to their opinion in some way schismatics. For simple Catholics in the pews, such a situation of confusion is a real challenge of their faith, in the indestructibility of the Church. They have to keep strong the integrity of their faith according to the immutable Catholic truths, which were handed over by our fore-fathers, and which we find in in the Traditional catechisms and in the works of the Fathers and of the Doctors of the Church.   

Terrifying: Post-Synod document written by Pope's friend, Ultra-Liberal Tucho Fernandez - will call into question natural moral law

Tucho Fernandez in a striking pose

The president of the Pontifical Council for the Family [Abp. Paglia] has confirmed that Pope Francis’ post-synodal apostolic exhortation devoted to the family will be published by the end of March.

Final Report of the Synod of Bishops now Fully Available in English

Rorate was the first to provide the translation of the most important and ambiguous paragraphs on the very day of the conclusion of the assembly -- now, almost 2 months later, the full English version of the document has at last been made available at the Vatican website here.

The agenda of the next Synod: Priestly Celibacy.

In mid-February Pope Francis will go to Chiapas, where hundreds of deacons with their wives are pushing to be ordained as priests. And in the Amazon as well the turning point seems to be near. It was all written down in the agenda of Cardinal Martini.

Sandro Magister, interviewed by Goffredo Pistelli

Forgotten warrior for the faith

Today would have been the 80th birthday of one of the great conservative cardinals of the era of John Paul II, Alfonso Cardinal López Trujillo (Nov. 8, 1935 -- April 19, 2008). He was appointed President of the Pontifical Council for the Family (PCF) exactly 25 years ago (November 8, 1990, his 55th birthday); he remained at this post until his death from cancer in 2008, at the age of 72. It can be argued that it was López Trujillo, even more than Ratzinger, who provided much of the steel behind John Paul II's war on the "culture of death" -- no surprise given the unusual militancy he showed against the Catholic Left and Liberation Theology when he was Secretary General of CELAM from 1972 to 1979 and Archbishop of Medellin from 1979 to 1990. (He was made Cardinal in 1983 at the age of 47.) The international media (particularly the BBC) and EU famously vilified him in 2004 over his remarks against condoms. 

His two successors as head of the PCF, Cardinal Ennio Antonelli (2008 - 2012) and Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia (since 2012), have been virtually mute in comparison. In addition, Paglia has expressed or openly condoned positions on homosexuality and the divorced-and-remarried that would have absolutely horrified López Trujillo. 

RORATE EXCLUSIVE: Bishop Athanasius Schneider reaction to SynodDoor to communion for divorced & remarried officially kicked open

His Excellency Bishop Athanasius Schneider, one of the most visible prelates working on the restoration of the traditional Latin Mass and faith, has penned a nearly 5,000-word response to the Synod exclusively for our readers. Anyone may reproduce or link to this article, but all must reference Rorate Caeli as the source. 

We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to His Excellency for taking the time to analyze and express his views on one of the most critical events in Church history -- one that he too sees as a "back door" to Holy Communion for adulterers, a rejection of Christ's teaching and a Final Report full of "time bombs."

In the coming days, we will also publish an interview with His Excellency, on a wide range of topics. For now, we bring you this important work, exclusively for our readers. 

A back door to a Neo-Mosaic practice in the Final Report of the Synod

The XIV General Assembly of the Synod of the Bishops (October 4 – 25, 2015), which was dedicated to the theme of “The Vocation and Mission of the Family in the Church and Contemporary World”, issued a Final Report with some pastoral proposals submitted to the discernment of the Pope. The document itself is only of an advisory nature and does not possess a formal magisterial value.

Yet during the Synod, there appeared those real new disciples of Moses and the new Pharisees, who in the numbers 84-86 of the Final Report opened a back door or looming time bombs for the admittance of divorced and remarried to Holy Communion. At the same time those bishops who intrepidly defended “the Church’s own fidelity to Christ and to His truth” (Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation, Familiaris Consortio, 84) were in some media reports unjustly labeled as Pharisees.

"The Post-Synod Fan-Club" - A New Church has arrived!

Fabio Colagrande

VINO NUOVO

October 29th, 2015

“Mercy, Tenderness, Forgiveness and Openness are the signs of the New Church. However, let it be clear: we won…”

The Synod is over and if there is still anyone around that doesn’t realize it, mercy won the day. Actually it won hands down. Finally the Church will have a, super- sugary sweet, welcoming face, to console the many afflicted from failed marriages and the like, with the warm balm of cuddly tenderness. Amid fanfare & fireworks, what triumphed was “accompanying ” “integration”, “let’s just love each other” and “it could happen to anyone”.

Bombshell: Pope to His Favorite Journalist: "All the Divorced who ask will be admitted [to Communion]"

Yes, he said it over the phone to his favorite journalist, Italian editor Eugenio Scalfari of La Repubblica (the Pope's favorite newspaper), in a conversation on October 28, revealed by the latter in an editorial published this Sunday.

Must-read article on Post-Synod Mess and Holy Mother Church: "Global Warming? It's souls burning in Hell."

GLOBAL WARMING?

SOULS IN HELL BURNING

Ettore Gotti Tedeschi

La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana

October 30,2015

A letter to my granddaughter Olivia, born a month ago, for her to read in twenty years time so she may understand the world she finds.

It's time for war - time to be clear about everything, and every person involved in communion question, even the Pope

In what is arguably still the most influential mainstream publication in the world, The New York Times, Catholic columnist Ross Douthat -- who days ago had had his very ability to speak and to have his views merely published questioned by the ubiquitous Liberal Catholic establishment -- not only does not back down, but he doubles down this Sunday. He welcomes the war brought to him, he identifies the main players (and the main player above all, Pope Francis), and he welcomes all contenders to the battlefield.

For the Record: Society of St. Pius X's Superior-General's "Declaration Concerning the Final Report of the Synod on the Family"

The new Synod Council: split between "liberals" and "conservatives".Chaput has the biggest vote, Forte joins through a technicality

Lost amidst all the news from the just-concluded Synod was the election by the Synod fathers of the new "Synod Council" that will assist the Synod Secretariat until the next ordinary Synod (which is yet to be scheduled or announced, although it should take place in the next 3-4 years). 

The names of the 12 elected members of the Synod Council have not yet been officially revealed pending the appointment by Pope Francis of 3 more members, but Sandro Magister published the names yesterday:

De Mattei: "The failed Synod: everyone defeated; and Catholic morality in particular"

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

October 27, 2015

["SYNODALITY" IN ACTION]

The day after the XIV Synod on the Family, everyone seems to have won. Pope Francis has won, since he was able to find a compromising text among the opposing positions; the progressives have won since the approved text admits the divorced and remarried to the Eucharist; the conservatives have won, since the document doesn’t contain an explicit reference to Communion for the divorced [and remarried] and rejects “homosexual marriage” and the gender theory.

Repost: "Yes, I know Bergoglio. He’s a person who’s caused a lot of problems in the Society."

“Yes I know Bergoglio [, says a Jesuit superior from another Latin American country]. He’s a person who’s caused a lot of problems in the Society and is highly controversial in his own country.

Synod: In interview, Kasper says he won - in video, Pell is not so sure. We report, Francis decides.

Cardinal Kasper clearly considers the Final Relatio of the Synod favors his position in an exclusive interview to Il Giornale, translated only by Rorate. Cardinal Pell (see video below) does not. Whose view will Francis favor if the language is unclear?...

“Communion for the divorced if they repent; homosexual [unions] are not family”