Cardinal De Paolis: “Today there is a lot of talk about compassion, love and mercy. But without truth, we are way off course.”

Faced with the crisis in marriage and the family, answers can only come from the certitudes of the faith.

This was affirmed by Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, President emeritus of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See, when he intervened at the Meeting Marriage and the Family. Between Praxis and Dogma in the Church, organized by the Lepanto Foundation and the Association “Famiglia Domani” which took place on the 10th of October in Rome at the ‘Sala S. Pio X, Via dell’Ospedale’. Among those participating were Monsignor Antonio Livi, Professor Roberto de Mattei and Professor Giovanni Turco. There were several hundred people in attendance including many priests and religious.

“We need truth”, said the Cardinal forcefully, “Today there is a lot of talk about compassion, love and mercy. But without truth, we are way off course”. According to Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, the impression is that “these days words mean nothing anymore ”, whereas “we need content in order to rediscover the true reality”. Referring to the question of the divorced and remarried, the Cardinal was very clear. The adoption “of pastoral practice that goes against doctrine is of a frightening incoherence. It is not Christian. In essence, “if I have a medicine that doesn’t work it means that I haven’t understood very well what disease the person has. If I just change the medicine instead of understanding the causes of the disease, I might even kill the sick person. There is only one solution said the prelate: “sinners must not be rejected, but the right path needs to be found [for them]. The path of love in the Truth.”

Cardinal Velasio De Paolis, of the Congregation of Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo (‘Scalabriniani’), was the Secretary of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, President of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs of the Holy See and Pontifical Delegate for the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ. A distinguished moral theologian, the Cardinal delivered written speeches on the subject of Christian marriage and the family.

Summorum Pontificum Conference in Rome - June 13-14 - Signs of Hope for the future

Sunday, June 14, at the Chapel of the Most Blessed Sacrament, in the Vatican Basilica, Cardinal Velasio de Paolis, one of the Cardinals who authored the book Remaining in the Truth of Christ, celebrated Pontifical Mass for the pariticipants of the Summorum Pontificum conference, which we advertised here in Rorate a few months ago. The Pontifical Mass was the closing act of the conference organized at the Angelicum (the 4th Summorum Pontificum Conference), organized by Father Vincenzo Nuara, OP, of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, with the assistance of Father Marino Neri.

300 people were present at the various panels, given by Cardinal Burke (on Tradition as a foundation of Catholic liturgy), Prof. Giovanni Turco, of the Universiy of Udine (the Virtue of Religion and True Worship in Saint Thomas), Bp. Athanasius Schneider (pictured below, on Communion and Sacrifice), Msgr. Marco Agostini, Pontifical Ceremoniere (on the Altar in the History of Worship), among others. The conference of Dom Cassian Folsom was particularly helpful in explaining the history of how Benedict XVI had to untie the knot that led to the recognition of both forms, a brilliant tour de force of liturgical law.

Also remarkable was the short intervention of Cardinal Müller on "Tradition as the proper principle of Catholic theology". It contained allusions to the current pre-synodal situation ("it is not the number of bishops favorable to an opinion that matters, but their doctrinal quality.")

(Based on the report of the correspondent of our fellow bloggers at Riposte Catholique, present at the event.)