“We must love the Church more than ever”: Interview with Dr. Alice von Hildebrand (Rorate Exclusive)

Rorate is grateful to Annemarie and Thomas Thimons for providing this transcript of an interview they conducted with Dr. Alice von Hildebrand on September 3, 2018, shortly after the Viganò revelations about former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, about whom the long-delayed and long-awaited Vatican dossier is supposed to appear imminently — though it remains to be seen whether it will, in fact, expose the many actual and suspected connections, which ought to bring down many powerful members of the hierarchy. This interview with Dr. von Hildebrand has not been published until now.

The interviewers begin by sharing that McCarrick had been stripped of his red hat by Pope Francis a month prior to our meeting and required to live a life of penance.

Alice von Hildebrand [AVH]. That was a good decision.

 

Vigano mentions TLM, gets presidential tweet

To be candid, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano was not known to many traditional Catholics a few years ago, as he never publicly took an interest in the traditional Latin Mass or the problems with the Second Vatican Council.  Then Jorge Bergoglio, after a couple years of blind obedience from the Catholic center-right beginning in 2013, finally had the effect of separating the Wuerls from the men.  A strong coalition was formed, uniting conservative and traditional Catholics to defend the Church's teachings against someone who clearly opposes them.  The Francis Effect -- it keeps on giving.

Archbishop Vigano's latest letter -- responding to a recent piece by Bishop Athanasius Schneider -- is perhaps his most traditional to date, ranging from criticism of Vatican II to the many traditions discarded in recent years.  Notable, however, is his strong entry into liturgy, which has not been a focus from the archbishop until now:

If we have a liturgy that is Protestantized and at times even paganized, we owe it to the revolutionary action of Msgr. Annibale Bugnini and to the post-conciliar reforms.

***

The greatest affront of that Pontificate [Benedict XVI] was liberally permitting the celebration of the venerated Tridentine Liturgy, the legitimacy of which was finally recognized, disproving fifty years of its illegitimate ostracization. It is no accident that Bergoglio’s supporters are the same people who saw the Council as the first event of a new church, prior to which there was an old religion with an old liturgy.

Toward the end of the piece Archbishop Vigano even implies liturgical reforms in place by 1962 were too liberal (a growing sentiment among traditional Catholics, with which we strongly agree).  Whomever the archbishop has been working with lately, we hope it continues.

Archbishop Viganò Writes Public Letter to McCarrick: REPENT!

Dear Archbishop McCarrick,

As has been reported as a news by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the accusations against you for crimes against minors and abuses against seminarians are going to be examined and judged very soon with an administrative procedure.

Jesuit Fordham University Student Op-Ed: In Support of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò

Olivia Ingrassia

Fordham University student

This past August, former papal nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò released a revelatory letter that detailed how Pope Francis was well aware of ex-Cardinal McCarrick’s heinous clerical abuse. This scathing letter divulged that Pope Francis not only lifted sanctions placed on the sexual predator by Pope Benedict XVI, but also covered for him, even making McCarrick his “trusted counsellor.” While many have discredited the 11-page epistle merely as a far-right tactic to oppose the Jesuit Pope, this report is undoubtedly concerning, especially since the Vatican has remained silent and neither denied nor addressed these claims. This has left many demanding further responses from the pontiff, who has instead deferred to “silence and prayer” during these most tumultuous times.

However, despite the potential danger, many prelates have courageously defended Viganò’s claims. For example, Cardinal Raymond Burke said that, “the declarations made by a prelate of the authority of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò must be totally taken to heart by those responsible in the Church.” Burke continued in speaking to the validity of calls for the Pope’s resignation if these allegations are proven true. Similarly, Monsignor Jean-Francois Lantheaume and also spoke to the veracity of these claims and questioned Francis’ taciturnity in the wake of these searing allegations, equating his silence to cover-up. In addition, Viganò recently broke his silence and doubled down on his original letter, stating that his testimony was published “during a crescendo of continual news of terrible events, with thousands of innocent victims destroyed and the vocations and lives of young priests and religious disturbed," and asserts before God that it is true. Viganò, who has reportedly activated the death switch, pointed to the fact that neither the Pope nor any Cardinal in Rome denied his testimony, and accused Pope Francis of slander and hypocrisy.

Viganò's accusations really got under the Pope's skin - new Chapter: Pope asks for prayers against "Great Accuser"

A couple of days ago, Archbishop Viganò released a new statement making clear that there are people in the Vatican who know and have the documents to show he is telling the truth about the Pope's knowledge of the evilness of McCarrick and his promotion of the latter to the position of kingmaker.

He particularly called upon Cardinal Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, to make the truth known.

As is well known in commonsensical daily life, a person who is accused of evil deeds but continually merely accuses the accuser as evil is usually hiding something. The innocent may use all measures to make the truth known and show that they are innocent, or they may indeed keep silent, but they usually don't get rattled accusing the accuser with snide and indirect remarks.

***

No, this Pope has much to hide, which is why Viganò has gotten under his skin so much. So, today, in another sign of his pent-up anger, the Bishop of Rome joined great traditions (the daily Rosary in October, ended with Sub Tuum Praesidium and the short prayer to St. Michael the Archangel) in an indirect attempt to once again accuse Viganò of being the "the Great Accuser" (that is the devil), or an agent of the devil: he asked today all Catholics to pray the daily Rosary in October, followed by both prayers.

The stonewalling continues: we know you covered up for McCarrick, Danneels, and others, Francis! 

Regardless of his motives, of course we will pray: more prayer is always good! We will pray the Rosary every day in October, as we do every day of the year, we will pray the Sub Tuum Praesidium, we will pray the prayer that only Traditionalist Catholics kept alive during the decades following the Council, Sancte Michaël Archangele: let Truth ring through every land!

New Online Database Tracks Episcopal Fidelity, Including in Liturgy

LifeSiteNews, for which I am a daily columnist, has just launched an initiative called Faithful Shepherds. It is an idea that I have heard people speculate about for years and wish would come true, without having the organizational resources to make it happen. Needless to say, it is welcome at this critical moment in the life of the Church. From the official announcement:

Faithful Shepherds helps hold American bishops accountable by providing years, sometimes decades, of past tweets, public speeches, sermons, actions, pastoral letters, and diocesan guidelines. Faithful Shepherds currently gives evidence of where U.S. bishops stand on ten issues: Archbishop Vigano's testimony, Amoris Laetitia, pro-life leadership, homosexuality, abortion politics, contraception, “LGBT” ideology, liturgy, marriage and family life, and education. More will be added as new evidence is gathered.

The Viganò crisis: 'The conservatives are winning'

Cross posted from lmschairman.org

This must count as one of the most absurd comments on the clerical abuse crisis centred, for now, in the United States. The attempt to carry on as if nothing at all was happening, always the first recourse of the bureaucrat to a crisis, has at this moment not only failed, even according to a supporter, but become utterly ludicrous. Of course people are more interested in Archbishop Viganò's statement than in the latest missive from the Bishops' Conference about the dignity of work. Are we supposed to think that this interest is misplaced?

By that time 'team Francis' had already moved on to a kind of damage-limitation which, instead of trying to distract attention from Archbishop Viganò, focused it on what they hoped would prove to be his weaknesses. This, too, has proved a failure, however. Few people had heard of Viganò before his statement, and no-one has anything invested in his personal reputation or political associations. They just want to know if what he says is true.

De Mattei: Archbishop Viganò - punished for telling the truth?

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

September 5, 2018

Will Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who brought to light the existence of corruption in the Vatican, singling out those guilty, beginning with the highest ecclesiastical authorities, be punished for telling the truth? Pope Francis is examining this possibility - if it is true, as several sources confirm -  that he has consulted Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmiero, and some other canon-lawyer, to study the possibility of canonical sanctions to inflict on the Archbishop, commencing with sospensione a divinis. If this news is confirmed it would be of extreme gravity, and somewhat surreal, seeing as the “expert” summoned to sanction Monsignor Viganò would be precisely Cardinal Coccopalmiero, who is being accused by the former-Nuncio of the United States, of being part of the “homosexual lobby” lording over the Vatican. It cannot be forgotten in any case, that the Cardinal’s Secretary, Monsignor Luigi Capozzi, is involved in a case of  homosexual orgy, in which the position of his superior has still to be clarified.  

Guest Op-Ed - "The Innocence of Serpents": Francis' Silence is not Jesus' Silence (John Zmirak)

by John Zmirak

What’s the worst part of Pope Francis’ response to the exposure of clerical sex abuse and cover-ups? 

You might say, “Where to begin?” and point to a dozen different facets of the corruption of the priesthood by our bishops.

The list of scandals against supernatural faith and natural justice could fill up thousands of words. Others such as Paul Rahe and Benjamin Wiker have done yeoman’s work unpacking it all. I don’t need to add very much. Let me just mention one point which offends me to the core.

Not just as a Catholic. Or even as a Christian. If I were a mere agnostic, it still would turn my stomach.

Op-Ed: "The City of Light under the Regime of Darkness: Historical Meditation on Current Events" (by John C. Rao)

The City of Light and the Regime of Darkness:

Historical Meditation on Current Events

by Dr. John C. Rao

Monday, August 28th, the Feast of St. Augustine, followed hard upon the Sunday statement of Archbishop Viganò regarding papal delinquency in the chastisement of episcopal evildoers. Mulling over the possibility of some providential connection of the annual commemoration of the Doctor of the Church and the ex-nuncio’s document brought to mind the Bishop of Hippo’s City of God. It did so because this work, published in the early fifth century, one of the many tragic eras in the history of Western Christendom, is of continuing significance to all of us living through what is without a doubt the worst of such periods of trial to date. Its significance comes both from the circumstances surrounding its publication as well as the substance of the arguments to be found therein.

Vigano: Attacking the whistleblower: the abuse-enabling culture is alive and well in the Vatican

In the current phase of the Church's crisis, we are focusing as much or more on the enablers of abuse, than on the abusers themselves. It is time we thought about them, because it removes the comforting impression that a 'few bad apples' could be ejected from the priesthood and all would be well. As is sometimes pointed out, perhaps 4% of priests were sex abusers. The problem is the general ethos and culture which enabled them to carry on their abuse, and the superiors systematically protected the abusers. Never mind the 4% of priests: it is the 60% or 80% or more of bishops and religious superiors who harboured sexual predators and provided them with fresh opportunities for abuse. It may be that most of the priest-abusers have died or been laicised by now, but their hierarchical enablers, few of whom had to face up to their crimes when the clerical abuse became a big story in 2002, have continued to flourish. This is an indication that, even if stricter reporting procedures have had a restraining effect on sexual predation by priests since 2002, the ethos and culture which made the abuse possible is still largely intact.

What is this culture? I have in previous texts tried to go beyond a superficial understanding of it with the help of two perspectives: first, the classic account of how conformism can distort an individual's behaviour, and how it can take over an organisation; and second, the way that the rejection of the Church's teaching on sexuality has destroyed the hierarchy's ability to respond appropriately to cases of abuse. In this post I want to consider things from a third perspective, which is connected with conformism: the pattern of abuse-enabling.

Interview: The Vatican Number Two Speaks on the Viganò Memo: "Great pain, the Pope is serene"

This is the entire interview granted by the number 2 man in the Vatican, the Secretary of State, Cardinal Parolin, excerpted from the article published by La Stampa:

How is the Holy Father after these difficult last days?

"I saw a declaration of the Vatican press office that states that the Pope is serene. From what I have seen (in these days, I have been with him during his trip to Ireland and afterwards), he seems serene. The Pope is a great grace, even faced with these things that obviously create so much bitterness ans also restlessness. But he has the capacity of having a very serene approach."

Separating the Wuerls from the Men

As bishops continue to issue statements responding to the Vigano letter, Rorate has begun to compile the supporters of the letter from within Church hierarchy in a post.

One new statement deserves highlighting, from Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois.  Summarizing what so many Catholics are thinking right now, of Pope Francis' rare no-comment, and charge to let secular media discredit the Vigano letter, Paprocki today wrote:

"When asked about this aboard the papal plane on his return flight from Ireland on August 26, Pope Francis said, 'Read the statement carefully and make your own judgment. I will not say a single word on this.'  Frankly, but with all due respect, that response is not adequate."

The first year of the Bergoglio pontificate

Contrast the statements of Bishop Paprocki, Cardinal Burke, Bishop Morlino, Bishop Strickland, Bishop Konderla, Bishop Olmsted and even Cardinal DiNardo to that of Pope Francis and his closest allies.

Downfall: A Not-So-Hypothetical Legal Exercise - What if Jorge Mario Bergoglio were to be sued in his individual capacity?

by E., Attorney-at-law

One can just imagine the panicked phone calls going out on Sunday morning, summoning annoyed associates and partners back to their cushy downtown law offices in New York, Boston, Chicago, and Washington. So many questions, such huge stakes, and now it’s not just money..... there are now criminal law issues hanging over what used to be strictly civil law files.

(UPDATED) More US Bishops speak up in support of Abp. Viganò: "I ask that Archbishop Viganò’s testimony be taken seriously by all"

First, Tyler, Texas.spoke up on the veracity and credibility of Abp. Viganò's damning statement on Pope Francis. Now, a bishop of a major and one of the fastest-growing large dioceses in the nation, Bp. Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix, Arizona. Bp. Olmsted actually worked for long years with Abp. Viganò in the Holy See and knows how serious he is.

Statement from Bishop Thomas Olmsted Regarding Archbishop Viganò’s Recent Testimony

PHOENIX (Aug. 27, 2018) — The Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix has released the following statement today from the Most Rev. Thomas J. Olmsted, Bishop of Phoenix:

“I have known Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò for 39 years. We became colleagues in the Secretariat of State of the Holy See in August 1979, where he had been serving prior to my entrance into this work in service to the ministry of Pope John Paul II.

OP-ED - "The McCarrick Affair: The Pope knew. Here is why he must resign."

by Aldo Maria Valli

August 26, 2018

[Rorate note: journalist Aldo Maria Valli is probably the best-known Vaticanist in Italy, since for many years he commented on the papacy in the main Italian television network RAI1, and also for RAI 3.]

“Bishops and priests, abusing their authority, have committed horrendous crimes to the detriment of their faithful, minors, innocent victims, and young men eager to offer their lives to the Church, or by their silence have not prevented that such crimes continue to be perpetrated.”

Writing these words is an Archbishop, former Apostolic Nuncio of the United States from 2011 to 2016.   Now retired, he has decided to open his heart and tell all he came to know about the sequence of events regarding  sexual abuses in the Church. A testimony which concludes with a hard and peremptory ‘invitation’: Pope Francis should step down.  Because also he knew, but covered up. 

Texas Bishop: "I find the Viganò allegations to be credible."

From the Bishop of Tyler, in Texas, Bp. Joseph Strickland. We publish it here for the record of historic events, considering it was the first of its kind.

Dear Priests, Deacons, Religious and all Holy Faithful of the Diocese of Tyler,

A letter (see below) by Archbishop Vigano, former Nuncio to the United States, raises grave allegations and calls for the resignation of numerous high ranking prelates including Pope Francis.

Let us be clear that they are still allegations but as your shepherd I find them to be credible. Using this standard the response must be a thorough investigation similar to those conducted any time allegations are deemed to be credible. I do not have the authority to launch such an investigation but I will lend my voice in whatever way necessary to call for this investigation and urge that it’s findings demand accountability of all found to be culpable even at the highest levels of the Church.

As this unfolds I urge all in the Diocese of Tyler to pray fervently for Holy Mother Church and beg the Intercession of Our Blessed Mother. We are the flock of Jesus Christ. He is Lord of His Church and His Holy Spirit will guide us through this darkness.

Almighty God Father, Son and Spirit have mercy on your Church and cleanse her in the fires of your Love.

Blessed Virgin Mary, Pray for us

All Sainted Popes & Bishops in Heaven, Pray for us

All Holy Men and Women, Pray for us

I direct all priests to include this notice in the masses on August 26, and post it on their websites and other social media immediately.

Most Reverend Joseph E. Strickland

Bishop of Tyler