The Seifert Case: Who is separating themselves from the Church?

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

September 6, 2017

The news was reported by Maike Hickson.

On August 31^st, Monsignor Javier Martínez Fernández, Archbishop of Granada, after having suspended the Austrian philosopher Josef Seifert from teaching, he expelled him from the International Academy of Philosophy of which he is one of the founders, but today comes under the authority of the Archdiocese.

It should be borne in mind that Professor Josef Seifert is considered one of the most important Catholic philosophers of our time. His curriculum and his bibliography fills numerous pages. However, he is noted most of all for his fidelity to the Papal Magisterium, which earned him the nomination as a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life. Any Catholic university would be honoured to have him among their teaching staff. What is the reason for the drastic measures taken against him? According to a communiqué from the Archdiocese the motive for his latest dismissal is an article in which Professor Seifert made a plea with regard to Pope Francis’ Post-Synod Exhortation Amoris laetitia. *

Note: more on Josef Seifert's "retirement" for Amoris Laetitia critiques.

A few days ago, as reported by various Catholic websites such as Infovaticana, One Peter Five and LifeSite News, a notification was posted on the website of the Archdiocese of Granada denouncing Dr. Josef Seifert for his recent article "Does pure logic threaten to destroy the entire moral doctrine of the Catholic Church?". (Rorate was one of the websites that published it.) Dr. Seifert's positions are listed at the bottom of Rorate's repost:

Josef Seifert is the founding Rector of the The International Academy of Philosophy in the Principality of Liechtenstein, holder of the Dietrich von Hildebrand Chair for Realist Phenomenology at the IAP-IFES, Granada, Spain, and elected by Saint Pope John Paul II as ordinary (life-long) member of the Pontifical Academy for Life (a charge that ended with the dismissal of all PAV members by Pope Francis in 2016, and the failure to be re-elected as member of, a profoundly changed, PAV in 2017)

IAP-IFES stands for "International Academy of Philosophy -  Instituto de Filosofia Edith Stein". IFES, founded in 2005 and owned by the Archdiocese of Granada, notes on its website that it has acted as the Granada campus of IAP since 2009. In listing the IAP's faculty, the IFES website still starts, with evident pride, with Seifert: "The IAP has a permanent faculty of high quality professors, guest professors and friends who frequently teach at their campuses. Notable among them is the renowned phenomenologist Professor Josef Seifert, as well as figures such as ..."

However, the Granada Archdiocesan notification reveals that Seifert had already stopped (or, as is more likely, been stopped from) teaching in IFES since September last year, shortly after his much-longer critique of AL (Amoris Laetitia: Joy, Sadness and Hopes) was published. The same notification also speaks of Seifert's impending "retirement" from the International Academy of Philosophy because of his criticisms of AL. (It is not sufficiently clear from the actual notification if he is being retired only from IAP-IFES, or from IAP itself.)