The Franciscans of the Immaculate: A courageous voice speaks out

Father Paolo M. Siano

Corrispondenza Romana

January 24, 2018

A few days ago, on January 20th there was an important anniversary in the history of the Franciscans of the Immaculate (FI). On that date six years ago (2012), in our Roman convent on Via Boccea, a meeting took place between the then General Council of the FI and five friars (two Americans and three Italians) opponents of Father Stefano Manelli, founder and Minster General [of the Order].

Along with other professors of the then FI Seminary and those in charge of formation, I was invited by Father Manelli to take part in the event. The meeting, which lasted the entire day in two sessions, was shocking for the amount of vehemence and malicious attacks made against Father Manelli.

For the Record: Franciscan Friars & Sisters of the Immaculate status update -- Bergoglio's destruction nearly complete

For so many years now we have both broke and chronicled the news of Pope Bergoglio's destruction of the Franciscans of the Immaculate -- both the Friars (FFI) and the Sisters (FSI). So much has happened, often in the shadows, and has gone unreported. 

Below are simple bullet points of what we've been told recently. They come from multiple sources both inside and outside the order. But all must be recorded for history, so we post it today. We do this, as we have for years, while facing both harassment and threats for doing so. It is worth noting that about half of the FFIs who called for the original visitation are no longer in the order. Like the Imperial Prosecutor accusing St. Bernadette, they now know they were wrong, and are hopefully repenting. Please see our notes below, as well as an educated prediction of what comes next for the order.

The original commissioner, the late Fr. Fidenzio Volpi, meeting Pope Francis the day the FFI seminary was shuttered.

• The FSI (Sisters) were assigned a commissioner (Noris Adriana Calzavara of the Suore Rosarie di Udine) and two co-commissioners by a decree of the Congregation for Religious. Since the Congregation did not have its decree approved in forma specifica by the Pope, it was open to be challenged in the Signatura. The challenge resulted first in a reduction of the powers of the commissioners. It looked as though a further challenge would lead to the decree being be overturned altogether early this year. 
• 
  

• However, before it was overturned, the Congregation went to Pope Francis and got his personal approval for a fresh assignment of the same commissioner. This was obviously very demoralizing for the sisters, who thought they were about to regain their autonomy.

Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate can't take postulants for 3 years (Discalced Carmelites benefit)

The tragic story of Francis' all-but-suppression of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate is well known to our readers. The Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate, we have now learned, have been banned from accepting postulants for three years, on order of their commissioner. 

One young lady who now cannot join those Sisters has found her new home as a Discalced Carmelite. Her story, published in the Huffington Post, of all places, is below. Kudos to the publication for giving this wonderful young woman a voice: 

Young Woman Jade Banks on Becoming a Nun...

My first memory of meeting an actual nun (as opposed to watching The Flying Nun, played by Sally Field, on TV) was when I was nine years old.

My mom and I were in the New York City Port Authority Bus Terminal and she bought me this awesome doll, which I named Janine. (Mind you, this is before “V” came out, otherwise the doll for sure would have been named Julie.)

So my mom had her wallet out and sitting by the entrance to the building were two nuns. They were handing out pamphlets. My mom said to me, “Let’s make a donation” and she let me put some money into the box.

Fast forward to today.

Jade Banks, 23-1/2 years old, will be entering the Discalced Carmelites on November 30th of this year (2017). I finally had a chance to find out what goes on inside the mind of a young woman who wants to become a nun.

Did you always want to be a nun?

Charges dropped against Founder of the Franciscan of the Immaculate

Translation exclusive to Rorate Caeli.

By Marco Tosatti

The charges against Father Stefano Manelli, founder of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate have been dropped. After about a year of investigations, the Deputy State Prosecutor at the Court of Avellino, Doctor A. Del Bene, has asked for the closing of the proceedings against the religious, whose Order is still under commissioning without a valid reason having ever been given by the Congregation for Religious. 

Please consider helping a Franciscan Friar of the Immaculate -- and sanctify your family

The following note is from a priest of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate (FFI). We here at Rorate chronicled the brutal treatment of these priests under the current pontificate for the last few years. So those of you who have read this blog for a while know what they've gone through. This good priest's request is a win-win for him, his new mission and you. By helping him you are helping sanctify your family and/or other families you enroll. What a great Christmas present this would make for your family or a family you care about! Please see Father's note below: 

Photo of Fr. Maximilian Mary offering Low Mass on 1st Saturday, November 5th, on the high altar of the Carmel of Jesus, Mary and Joseph in Elysburg, PA.  

Dear Rorate Caeli:

Papal Commissioner over Franciscans of the Immaculate Fr. Volpi dies

Corrispondenza Romana: One way or the other, Volpi no longer in charge

Corrispondenza Romana

Roberto de Mattei

May 17, 2015

After the article we published on May 15th 2015 as to the end “of the Volpi era”, a bulletin signed by “Father Fidenzio” appeared on the Franciscans of the Immaculate’s site, wherein the Commissioner acknowledges that he was taken ill on April 29th, of “having started” his convalescence, and of being “on the point of” resuming normal work activity: which doesn’t explain how he was able to re-engage, as he says “in the full exercise of his governing tasks.”  Respect for Father Volpi’s privacy stops us from giving further information about the actual conditions of his health. 

"The Franciscans of the Immaculate: 'the Volpi era' is over."

Corrispondenza Romana

Roberto de Mattei

May 13, 2015

Sic transit gloria mundi. For the Franciscans of the Immaculate, the Institute founded by Father Stefano Maria Manelli, ( externally commissioned on 11th July 2013) the “era of Volpi” , which will certainly be remembered as one of the saddest in the history of this religious order, is over. Father Fidenzio Volpi, assigned by the Congregation for Religious as Apostolic Commissioner to liquidate Father Manelli’s order, is in fact in a Roman clinic, after suffering a cerebral ischemia, followed by a hemiparesis, which has seriously compromised his health, forcing him to renounce, irrevocably, his appointment as Commissioner.

EXCLUSIVE: CARDINAL BURKE INTERVIEW WITH RORATE CAELIFollow @RorateCaeli on Twitter

Last week, Rorate Caeli interviewed Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke via telephone on numerous topics. Nothing was off the table for this interview and His Eminence was incredibly generous with his time. He showed himself to be brilliant and yet filled with humility. And his care and concern for traditional Catholics must be acknowledged and appreciated.

In this wide-ranging interview, His Eminence talked about issues ripped from the news such as: Vatican officials threatening to sue bloggers; more priests coming under his authority; the dismantling of the Franciscans of the Immaculate; how traditional Catholics can save their souls in this modern world -- and get their children the sacraments in the traditional rite in the face of dissenting bishops; priestly celibacy; daily confusion from Pope Francis; and much, much more. 

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

Click here to follow @RorateCaeli on Twitter

VATICAN OFFICIALS THREATENING TO SUE BLOGGERS

Rorate Caeli: Your Eminence, thank you very much for agreeing to this interview. As the most-read international blog for traditional Catholics, we believe this will give much hope to our readership, and to traditional-minded Catholics everywhere. For our first question: The traditional world, recently, has been stunned by the news that two officials of the Vatican have threatened to sue traditional-minded Catholic bloggers and reporters. Do you agree with this approach, and do you think we should expect to see more of this in the future?

Card. Burke: Unless the blogger has committed a calumny on someone's good name unjustly, I certainly don't think that that's the way we as Catholics should deal with these matters. I think contact should be made. I presume that the Catholic blogger is in good faith, and if there's someone in the hierarchy who is upset with him, the way to deal with it would be first to approach the person directly and try to resolve the matter in that way. Our Lord in the Gospel and St. Paul in his First Letter to the Corinthians instruct us not to take our disputes to the civil forum, that we should be able, as Catholics, to resolve these matters among ourselves. (cf. Mt. 18:15; 1 Cor. 6:1-6)

For the record: Letter of the Apostolic Commissioner of the Franciscan Friars

Fr. Volpi has issued his defense. We post it for the record, as everyone deserves the right to be heard:

Letter of the Apostolic Commissioner of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate to All the Religious of the Institute

 Object: Clarification concerning the civil lawsuit brought against the Apostolic Commissioner and some comments published on the subject

Dear Confreres

Pax et Bonum!

I wish to address you paternally, aware of the concerns that the dissemination of news concerning me may have aroused in your minds. This information has been spread with the clear purpose of harming fraternal communion in the Institute—a communion that distinguishes our common, united effort to restore among the Franciscans of the Immaculate the original charism that has characterised the service the Institute has rendered to the Church.

UPDATE: Volpi must pay by March 3, and issue press release through Italian news agencyBREAKING: Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate Commissioner Volpi admits guilt of defamation and liesMust pay 20,000 Euros, make public apologyWill Pope Francis allow what's left of the FFI to survive?

UPDATE: Corrispondenza Romana has a copy of the court record and is reporting that Fr. Volpi has a deadline of March 3 for paying the damages to the Manelli family and making public apologies. In addition to the numerous ways he must publicly apologize, listed in our original report below, he must also now issue a press release distributed through AGI (the Italian news agency). 

Corrispondenza Romana also asked if Fr. Volpi will resign. We believe there is a more critical question: Why hasn't Pope Francis publicly fired him and ended this unjust and unwarranted commissioning that he himself started?

Rorate original post: 

The chickens have come home to roost for Pope Francis' Apostolic Commissioner of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate (FFI), Fr. Fidenzio Volpi, and possibly just in the nick of time. 

Volpi meets Pope Francis the day the FI seminary was closed.

Rorate Caeli contributor Francesca Romana has translated the first report from Chiesa e post concilio reporting that Fr. Volpi will pay the family of Franciscans of the Immaculate founder Fr. Manelli a large cash sum for his "defamation and lies" and make public apologies on all websites he runs and in a letter to all FI friars and nuns. 

For regular readers of this blog, you know that Fr. Volpi was brought in for just one reason: to crush one of the fastest-growing, traditional-minded religious orders in the world -- but not on his own: as he admitted in the past, at least in his words, he was "specifically ordered by the Vicar of Christ," Pope Francis to carry out his mission.

Our questions now are simple:

Will Pope Francis now finally rein this man in and force his boot off the throat of an order that only wants to serve God as the saints have all served Him for two millennia?

And will Pope Francis finally end this unjust commissioning and allow the poor friars who have had to flee the grip of this cruel man to return to their sworn vows and live out the remainder of their vocations in peace? We pray to hear in the affirmative soon. 

From Italian blog Chiesa e post concilio:

Is this a fruit of the Rosaries and fervent prayers at Santa Maria Maggiore?

RORATE EXCLUSIVE Video of Franciscans of the Immaculate Seminary the day it was shuttered by Commissioner VolpiWhen will the mainstream media demand answers?

On December 8, 2013, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the Theological Seminary of the Immaculate Mediatrix (STIM) of the Franciscans of the Immaculate (FI) was closed by their Apostolic Commissioner, Fr. Fidenzio Volpi. On the same day, one of the friars filmed the entire day, which presents, along with additional footage, the way of life in that same seminary. 

Volpi meets with Pope Francis the day the seminary was closed.

This footage was then kept in secret, witness of something no longer tolerable to those in power, unseen until now. 

In this Year of the Consecrated Life, on the Feast of the Purification, which is seen as the Feast of the Consecrated Life, Rorate has obtained this video exclusively, making public a contradiction that has been hidden up to now for the safety of those involved.

With all the problems and scandals in the religious life in our times, which seem to be deemed praiseworthy by the highest authorities, what you'll see in this video is what they find so unacceptable, so horrific, so dangerous that it had to be stomped out and crushed as "specifically ordered by the Vicar of Christ," Pope Francis.

Punishment and suppression -- and with no trial.

But perhaps our Lady, on her feastday, is offering a vision very different to that which seems to dominate presently in the Church -- a vision of the consecrated life which is, as Simeon says of Christ, a sign of contradiction.

A great number of the friars seen in this film have had to flee after the closing of the seminary, having found themselves in a new atmosphere of doctrinal corruption and moral relaxation, of the disintegration of the religious observance they had avowed themselves to maintain on pain of grave sin. 

We say "flee" because it's true. We hear from numerous FI saying how they are in danger, how another Friar they know will speak with us "once they're safe" meaning in a new diocese with a friendly bishop. You'd think they were fleeing 16th Century England and the Tower -- but this form of priest hunting is so much more dangerous as it comes from within.

Watch the video. Spread it far and wide. And pray to our Lady today to make good of this nightmare and grant these good men peace at last.

[You may post, link to, embed and report on this video: but you must credit Rorate Caeli.]

Note: the music in this film is sung by the former STIM seminarians.

The Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate: Serene and Ever-Faithful to Christ and His Church

THE FRANCISCAN SISTERS OF THE IMMACULATE

Official Notification From The Institute

20th December 2014

We prefer prayerful listening to The Word of God Incarnate, the only True and Eternal Word of the Father, to the voices that pass through the mass-media.

With regard to an article that concerns us, published in the magazine “Rogate ergo” (no. 11/2014) – an article which we take the liberty to place in doubt the complete trustworthiness – as well as other news circulated by the mass-media about our Institute

WE SPECIFY THAT:

The commissioning of our Institute has never been notified, inasmuch as the Apostolic Visit which began on the 19th of May 2014 has still to be concluded. An appeal is still open, which in part has revealed the reason for our request, so that the General Council at present can set in motion acts of government without prior approval of the Apostolic Visitor, as the Decree of the Visit provided.

Our compactness with regard to liturgical choices – documented in detail by an official survey and by Chapter votes in every single community of the Institute with an unanimous result of predilection for the Liturgy according to the Vetus Ordo – by some is considered a veil under which to hide a desire for seclusion equal to not “sentire cum Ecclesia” which would even reach heretical and schismatic positions of opposition to the Magisterium of the Church and disunity with the Holy Father.

Franciscan Minister General to Order: We're broke, due to questionable financial activities of the recent past

From the letter of the Franciscan Minister General, Brother Michael Perry, OFM:

In an effort to live as children of the light, the General Definitorium and I wish to bring to light a grave situation in which the General Curia of the Order now finds itself. The matter involves our financial stability and the patrimony of the Order. While our first concern has and remains verifying the nature, extent, and impact of what has occurred, we also recognize the significant role that external actors, people who are not members of the Order, have played in creating this grave situation.

Final report on American women religious issued

The "Final Report on the Apostolic Visitation of Institutes of Women Religious in the United States of America" has been issued by the Vatican's Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, and apparently American sisters and nuns are in perfect communion with the Catholic Church and her permanent Magisterium.  Nothing to see here, folks.

There was no mention of social issues, no mention of habits, no mention of open dissonance, and, in fact, the tone of the report seemed to apologize to dissident women religious who obstructed during the process and refused to participate in the apostolic visitation.  One would never know why the apostolic visitation was called for in the first place under Pope Benedict.

Contrast that to the Franciscans of the Immaculate under this papacy.

Prof. di Marco for Magister: - The Francis Effect and the new Catholic Climate: “Democratic Tyranny” against dissenters

Teniente-General Juan Domingo Perón

"Consecrated Life" - the Pope's Apostolic Letter, viewed by a French commentator

Rogation procession at the Pierre-qui-vire Abbey in the pre-conciliar years.

I ended up deciding to read up the "Apostolic Letter of Pope Francis to all consecrated people on the occasion of the Year of the Consecrated Life," that started on the first Sunday in Advent.

Christ-Mass - A Christmas Novena of Latin MassesMore of what's been lost with the dismantling of the Franciscans of the Immaculate

The following account from a former Franciscans of the Immaculate (FI) seminarian shows just how purposely destructive the intervention of the FI has been -- at the hands of Commissioner Volpi and approved by Pope Francis:

It was a win, win, win situation:

     1) People could give the gift of Christ to family and friends by enrolling them in a Novena of Latin Masses celebrated according to the 1962 Missal;

     2) Those enrolled received spiritual graces from the Masses, plus a Christmas novena card and a gift-wrapped CD of sacred music; and

3) The proceeds went to assist the contemplative branch of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate in the Sibillini Mountains in Italy… that is until Christmas of last year when their Apostolic Commissioner, Fr. Fidenzio Volpi, expressly stopped the contemplative Friars both from offering the Masses for the Novena and from receiving the donations it brought in. This was a hard blow for the contemplative Friars who depended upon these donations to survive, isolated as they were from the populace [see the video below]. 

The Great Division - Papal Intervention on Franciscans of the Immaculate reaches insanity levels: Commissioner warns Italian bishops in person

Tosatti: "Not a very good atmosphere to breathe right now in the Church."

If one wants a reason why Synod special secretary Abp. Bruno Forte, a man currently very close to the Pope and one of his closest advisers, suffered a major defeat in this week's assembly of the Italian Bishops' Conference (CEI) in the election for Vice-President representing Central Italy (including the Latium...), one must only look at what was going on inside the assembly halls in Assisi, as Marco Tosatti reports below. Despite John Allen's spin to the contrary as not a big deal, the most ultra-liberal of Italian Vaticanists, Marco Politi, was right to identify it as a major message to the Vatican from Italian bishops who are honestly fed up. In an organization so marked by symbols as the Catholic Church, this symbolic message by those bishops in the Bishop of Rome's own country, and own region, was a huge deal. 

There is a general feeling not only of great unease with the direction a strong cabal around the Pope wants to take the Church on moral doctrine, undoing the hard work of Benedict XVI and in particular of John Paul II - a cabal in which Abp. Forte has a strong presence - but also with the heavy-handedness of it all. As Cardinal George is to say in an interview to be released tomorrow, it seems as if there is a desperate rush to implement irreversible change that is hard to understand - George identifies it perhaps with an apocalyptic view of history. (It is not that, though: it is not so hard to understand it when one realizes that ultra-liberal clerics are in a race against time to refashion the Church.)  Many bishops are feeling suffocated by the authoritarian fumes, a weight of unproclaimed persecution that is getting on the nerves not only of conservative prelates, but also of very many very moderate bishops, who form the immense majority of Italian bishops. By the way, a similar interpretation of the election of the United States Conference's four representatives in the 2015 Synod is not off the mark: most U.S. Bishops are also understandably alarmed. Not to mention the Bishops of Poland, in complete resistance to the very notion of the possibility of communion for "remarried" divorcees - the same position of the Bishops of Ghana at the end of their Conference's assembly this week.

Marco Tosatti shows just one example of what was going on in the CEI meeting in Assisi - in the middle of it all, the Papal Commissioner that has been destroying the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate for over a year warning Italian bishops not to welcome those priests desperate to get out of their ordeal:

FFI: "Watch out" for the fugitives

The Removal of a Great Cardinal - his head on a plate, by Roberto de Mattei

CARDINALS RAYMOND BURKE AND JÓZSEF MINDSZENTY

Corrispondenza Romana

November 12, 2014

The Pope inasmuch as he is supreme pastor of the universal Church, has full right to remove a bishop or cardinal from his office, even a distinguished one. A well-known case was the one of Cardinal Louis Billot (1846-1931). He was one of the greatest theologians of the 20th Century, who replaced his cardinal’s hat into the hands of Pius XI, with whom he had had differences regarding Action Francaise, and ended his days, as a simple Jesuit, at the house of his order in Galloro.

Another striking case is Cardinal Josef Mindszenty, who was removed by Paul VI from his office as Archbishop of Esztergom and Primate of Hungary, as a result of his opposition to the Vatican ostpolitk.