Saint John Fisher, pray for us - "I die for the Faith of the Holy Catholic Church"

After the lieutenant of the Tower had received the writ for his execution, because it was then very late, and the prisoner asleep, he was loath to dis-ease him from his rest. But in the morning, before five of the clock, he came to him in his chamber, in the Bell-tower, finding him yet asleep in his bed, and waking him, told him, he was come to him on a message from the king, to signify unto him, that his pleasure was he should suffer death that forenoon. "Well," quoth the bishop, "if this be your errand, you bring me no great news; for I have looked a long time for this message, and I must humbly thank his Majesty, that it pleaseth him to rid me from all this worldly business. Yet let me by your patience sleep an hour or two; for I have slept very ill this night, not for any fear of death, I thank God, but by reason of my great infirmity and weakness."

URGENT - Bergoglian Persecution Begins: Priest is Suspended a divinis in Colombia for criticizing the new papal doctrine on Marriage and the Eucharist

The document is provided by Rorate's Spanish-language partners "Adelante la Fe" -- and the news is explosive. A priest in the Diocese of Pereira, Colombia, was admonished and suspended by his Bishop because he criticized in public the new doctrine invented by Pope Francis on Marriage and the reception of the Blessed Sacrament.*

Father Luis Alberto Uribe Medina is the victim of this startling act by his bishop, Rigoberto Corredor.

Full document in our own translation below:

DECREE no.1977

Of January 16, 2017

By which a priest is suspended

THE BISHOP OF PEREIRA

Considering

Malta sinks

Cathedral of the Assumption, Gozo, Malta

In World War II, Malta was described as the 'unsinkable aircraft carrier'. Well, it has sunk now. The Bishops of Malta (both of them) have stated that anyone in an irregular union who feels 'at peace with God' should not be excluded from Holy Communion or from Sacramental Absolution: at least, that's what they seem to say. Readers can judge for themselves.

If, as a result of the process of discernment, undertaken with “humility, discretion and love for the Church and her teaching, in a sincere search for God’s will and a desire to make a more perfect response to it” (AL 300), a separated or divorced person who is living in a new relationship manages, with an informed and enlightened conscience, to acknowledge and believe that he or she are at peace with God, he or she cannot be precluded from participating in the sacraments of Reconciliation and the Eucharist (see AL, notes 336 and 351).

Again:

there are complex situations where the choice of living “as brothers and sisters” becomes humanly impossible and give rise to greater harm (see AL, note 329).

I wonder what would happen of a priest decided that an adulterer had not undertaken a process of discernment with the requisite humility? If he'd had humility, but not 'love for the Church'? Or maybe that his 'search for God's will' was not, as required, 'sincere'? Would Archbishop Scicluna congratulate such a priest for his pastoral sensitivity?

Pope Francis' catastrophic remarks of June 16, 2016 - Part I of Commentary.1. Pope Francis says that "great majority of sacramental marriages are null", but some cohabitations are real marriages.2. How Amoris Laetitia and Mitis Iudex paved the way for Francis' statement.3. Bergoglio welcomed his niece's defiance of Church teaching on marriage

In a short but already overheated papacy littered as no pontificate before with an avalanche of papal words, Francis' remarks during his Q & A on June 16, 2016 are surely among the worst that he has spoken. Our commentary is divided into two parts. This one is on his statements regarding sacramental marriages and cohabitation, and the antecedents for his statements in his previous teachings and actions. The second part will be about Francis' denunciation of the desire for precise doctrine and "rigidity" on divorce, remarriage and baptism.

[NC: One important editorial note. This morning, the Vatican released a transcript of the papal talk, scandalously tampering with what was really said by the Pope. What the Pope said, and was recorded, and is available on video here (starts at 1:14:20), was, "una grande maggioranza dei nostri matrimoni sacramentali sono nulli" ("a great majority of our Sacramental matrimonies are null"). The transcript released by the Vatican says, "una parte", "a part/portion", instead of "a great majority".]

I. What the Pope said on sacramental marriages and cohabitation.

For the record:

Pope Francis said Thursday that the great majority of sacramental marriages today are not valid, because couples do not enter into them with a proper understanding of permanence and commitment.

“We live in a culture of the provisional,” the Pope said in impromptu remarks June 16. After addressing the Diocese of Rome’s pastoral congress, he held a question-and-answer session.

A layman asked about the “crisis of marriage” and how Catholics can help educate youth in love, help them learn about sacramental marriage, and help them overcome “their resistance, delusions and fears.”

The Pope answered from his own experience.

“I heard a bishop say some months ago that he met a boy that had finished his university studies, and said ‘I want to become a priest, but only for 10 years.’ It’s the culture of the provisional. And this happens everywhere, also in priestly life, in religious life,” he said.

“It’s provisional, and because of this the great majority of our sacramental marriages are null. Because they say “yes, for the rest of my life!” but they don’t know what they are saying. Because they have a different culture. They say it, they have good will, but they don’t know.”

And also this:

He added that a majority of couples attending marriage prep courses in Argentina typically cohabitated.

 “They prefer to cohabitate, and this is a challenge, a task. Not to ask ‘why don’t you marry?’ No, to accompany, to wait, and to help them to mature, help fidelity to mature.”

He said that in Argentina’s northeast countryside, couples have a child and live together. They have a civil wedding when the child goes to school, and when they become grandparents they “get married religiously.”

“It’s a superstition, because marriage frightens the husband. It’s a superstition we have to overcome,” the Pope said. “I’ve seen a lot of fidelity in these cohabitations, and I am sure that this is a real marriage, they have the grace of a real marriage because of their fidelity, but there are local superstitions, etc.”

Catholic Teaching on Marriage and Divorce - the Bible, Our Lord, and the Constant Teaching, simple and to the point

Catholic teaching on marriage – theological background

a guest-post by John Lamont

The subject of Catholic marriage is now being hotly debated at the current session of the Synod on the Family. It is thus helpful to have available an account of the essentials of Scriptural teaching on this subject, which this article will attempt to provide.

The starting point for this account is the text of Deuteronomy 24;1-4:

Bishop Fellay's Anxious Petition to Holy Father before the Synod - Annulment Reforms "will open the door to 'Catholic divorce'."

Most Holy Father,

It is with great anxiety that we observe all around us a persistent degradation of marriage and the family, the origin and foundation of all human society. This decay is rapidly accelerating, particularly because of the legalization of the most immoral and depraved sorts of behavior. Today the law of God, even the simply natural law, is being publicly trampled underfoot; the gravest sins are multiplying in a troubling way and cry out to Heaven for vengeance.

Most Holy Father,

We cannot conceal from you the fact that the first part of the Synod dedicated to “Pastoral Challenges of the Family in the Context of Evangelization” greatly alarmed us. From ecclesiastical dignitaries we heard and read statements so contrary to the clear and constant doctrine of the Church concerning the sanctity of marriage, that our souls were deeply disturbed. These men claimed to have your support, and their claims met with no public denial. What worries us even more is that certain of your words give the impression that it might be possible for doctrine to evolve in response to new needs of the Christian people. Our disquiet comes from the fact that in his encyclical Pascendi, Saint Pius X condemned an alteration of dogma that would make it conform to so-called requirements of the present time. Both Pius X and you, Most Holy Father, received the fullness of the authority to teach, sanctify, and govern in obedience to Christ, Who is the head and pastor of the flock at all times and in all places, and whose faithful vicar the Pope must be on this earth. That which has been subject to a solemn condemnation cannot, over time, become an approved pastoral practice.

God, the author of nature, established the stable union of a man and a woman for the purpose of perpetuating the human species. Old Testament revelation teaches us, in the most obvious way, that indissoluble marriage between one man and one woman was established directly by God, and that its essential characteristics were not left by Him to the free choice of men, such that marriage remains under a very special divine protection: “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.” (Exodus 20:17)

Catholic Divorce - Canonical critiques of annulment reform are piling up: Will the Vatican, the bishops, and the Francis "Amen corner" listen?

See also our previous pieces:

Can zealous Bishops and Cardinals question the Annulment Reform and ask for its abrogation? 

For the record: Cardinal Burke's latest address on the Synod and "Annulment" Reform. Rorate reminder: 2015 Synod poised to assault Humanae Vitae too.

Head of Vatican Commission Admits in Official Paper: Surge in Number of "Annulments" Intended

The Excommunication of Robert II "the Pious" - painting by Jean-Paul Laurens. 

Something is definitely in the air: Prominent canonists initially lauding the marriage nullity reforms, then backtracking, then public coming out strongly against these, and very real talk of discontent among a significant number of canon lawyers and prelates. And we're not talking about traditionalists here! The Pope's arbitrary and highly problematic reforms of the process for declaring marriage nullity, worked out with no widespread consultations and in relative secrecy and published on September 8 through the motu proprio Mitis Iudex, is fast turning into an unprecedented crisis of authority for his rule. The crisis of authority is real and no amount of denial and snubbing by the Catholic media establishment and by "respectable" Catholic bloggers can hide it.

In the first days after the promulgation of Mitis Iudex the critical assessments of it by canon lawyer Kurt Martens and the professor of systematic theology Chad Pecknold, both professors at Catholic University of America, reached a wide audience through Washington Post's report on the reform (Pope Francis announces biggest changes to annulment process in centuries). To our knowledge it was Martens who first publicly referred to the reforms as the "Catholic version of no-fault divorce". Please keep this in mind next time you see a bishop or professional apologist blaming a secularist conspiracy for allegedly fabricating the idea that the Pope has just instituted "Catholic divorce". But we digress...

Despite the Washington Post article, the initial at-length analyses of the reforms in the "conservative" Catholic press tended to be either neutral or positive about it. Aside from Jimmy Akin's neutral "things to know and share" take on the motu proprio, three essays initially lauding or downplaying the seriousness the reforms and written by canon lawyers made the rounds in social media:

"The Pope is not an absolute monarch whose thoughts and desires are law"

Everything about the annulment reforms that led to what is now being overwhelmingly called "Catholic Divorce" was done by Pope Francis in an untraditional and authoritarian manner. Rather - it was untraditional precisely because it was so authoritarian. A Church in which such a foundational Sacrament as Matrimony is affected by a mere pen-stroke by such "changes in usage" as those proposed by the new motu proprio is a Church "torn to pieces".

It was precisely the opposite of the exercise of papal authority as defined by his immediate predecessor in his memorable homily of May 7, 2005:

[S]cience alone cannot provide us with a definitive and binding interpretation; it is unable to offer us, in its interpretation, that certainty with which we can live and for which we can even die. A greater mandate is necessary for this, which cannot derive from human abilities alone. The voice of the living Church is essential for this, of the Church entrusted until the end of time to Peter and to the College of the Apostles.

This power of teaching frightens many people in and outside the Church. They wonder whether freedom of conscience is threatened or whether it is a presumption opposed to freedom of thought. It is not like this. The power that Christ conferred upon Peter and his Successors is, in an absolute sense, a mandate to serve. The power of teaching in the Church involves a commitment to the service of obedience to the faith. The Pope is not an absolute monarch whose thoughts and desires are law. On the contrary: the Pope's ministry is a guarantee of obedience to Christ and to his Word. He must not proclaim his own ideas, but rather constantly bind himself and the Church to obedience to God's Word, in the face of every attempt to adapt it or water it down, and every form of opportunism.

Catholic Divorce: Can zealous Bishops and Cardinals question the Annulment Reform and ask for its abrogation?

Can the governing acts of the Pope be questioned?

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

September 18, 2015

Sandro Magister has documented the vulnus inflicted on Christian matrimony by Pope Francis’ two Motu Proprio with an in-depth article, which adds to Antonio Socci’s comments in “Libero”, Paolo Pasqualucci’s on “Chiesa e Post Concilio” and to my article in Corrispondenza Romana. Confirmation that there is an atmosphere of deep unease in the Vatican has come from the other side  from the news service “Die Zeit” of September 10th, concerning the dossier that is apparently circulating in the Vatican against the marriage annulment procedures of Pope Francis.

At this point a delicate problem is now placed before many consciences. Whatever judgment we have about the Motu Proprio, it is [nonetheless] presented as an act of personal and direct government by the Supreme Pontiff. Yet, can a Pope be mistaken in the promulgation of ecclesiastical laws? Further, if there is dissent, is it not however respectful to have an attitude of silence in his regard? 

The answer comes to us from the doctrine and history of the Church.  Many times actually, it has happened that Popes have been mistaken in their political, pastoral and even magisterial acts, without in any way undermining the dogma of the Roman Primate’s  infallibility.  The resistance of the faithful to these erroneous acts, and in some instances illegitimate by some Supreme Pontiffs, has always been of benefit to the life of the Church.

Socci: With Papally-Mandated "Catholic Divorce" destroying a Sacrament, Schism Looms Large on the Catholic Horizon

After 2000 years, Divorce is Enforced in the Church -- 

and a Schism Looms Larger than Ever

Antonio Socci

Libero

September 12, 2015

"Newsweek" recently had a photo of Pope Francis on their front-cover with the headline: “Is the Pope Catholic?”. Subtitle: “Of course he is. You just wouldn’t know it from his press clips.”

Indeed, it is a legitimate question, seeing that the Argentine Pope has prayed in a Mosque and said in an interview to Scalfari: “There is no Catholic God.” The anxiety in the Church is now becoming enormous after the 8th of September. In fact with two Motu Proprios on the nullity of marriage, we have an official act by Bergoglio where we are going off the rails – according to authoritative opinions - by the institution of a sort of “Catholic divorce”.

This would mean the negation of Christ’s commandment on the indissolubility of marriage and the cancellation of two thousand years of Church teaching. So as to understand the gravity of the issue it is enough to remember that the Church suffered the very grave Anglican Schism in the XVI century and lost England completely, simply because the Pope did not recognize King Henry VIII’s divorce, based on a flimsy reason for the nullity of the first marriage.

Could Bergoglio’s Motu Proprio create a new schism? It may.

Yet, if Cardinal Muller himself, Head of the former Holy Office, spoke recently of a possible schism referring to the Synod, there is fear of it even more so after the 8th of September. There have already been signs of some very strident quarrels with some important cardinals at Santa Marta over the past few days. And the Synod promises to be explosive.

Bergoglio, in spite of “collegiality”, which he proclaims in words, decided everything before the Synod he convoked specifically on this issue; not to accomplish what the bishops asked for in October 2014, since the Commission which drew up the Motu Proprio was instituted by him with that mandate, two months earlier on 27th August 2014.

In practical terms, why will the Motu Proprio be contested from the Catholic point of view?

MILLIONS OF ANULLMENTS

For the record: Cardinal Burke's latest address on the Synod and "Annulment" Reform. Rorate reminder: 2015 Synod poised to assault Humanae Vitae too.

His Eminence, Raymond Cardinal Burke gave a talk on Sunday, September 13, 2015 to Credo St. Louis, Missouri. The title of this talk was "The Truth of Christ in Marriage". An audio recording is now available on Youtube (h/t Vox Cantoris.)

 

A summary of the talk is on the LifeSite News article What do we do if the Synod takes a ‘strange turn’? The simple answer just got Cardinal Burke big applause, authored by the eminent theologian Fr. Brian Harrison, which also summarizes the Cardinal's reservations about the radical reform of the canonical process for the declaration of nullity (our emphasis):

... His Eminence also noted that certain problems could arise in connection with Pope Francis' new marriage nullity legislation, promulgated on September 8th.

Catholic Divorce - Head of Vatican Commission Admits in Official Paper: Surge in Number of "Annulments" Intended

Since Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus and its companion document Mitis et misericors Iesus were published on September 8, there has been little reference to the article published by L'Osservatore Romano on that same day to explain the thinking behind the reforms of Canon law. This is a pity, as this article was written by no other than the head of the Commission for the reform of the canonical matrimonial process, the Dean of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota, Msgr. Pio Vito Pinto: 

La riforma del processo matrimoniale per la dichiarazione di nullità - Voluta e decisa da Papa Francesco.

As such this article is of even greater importance than Vatican Radio's summary and introduction of the reforms as a guide to understanding the intentions behind the reforms. The second part of the title forthrightly states that the reforms were "desired and decided by Pope Francis", which should help preempt any future attempts to explain away these reforms as an abuse or a misunderstanding of the Pope's will (the typical excuse of certain quarters once a measure or reform ordered by a Pope goes terribly wrong). This article is not an expression of the Magisterium but without doubt offers irrefutable insight into the mentality behind the current Pontiff's approach to the very important topic of divorce and "remarriage".

It is clear from this article -- from which we present significant passages here, in a translation made expressly for Rorate -- that we are facing not a mere procedural reform but a true revolution regarding the "divorced and remarried" and the Church's very understanding of justice and mercy. The reforms are bluntly described as coming from 'Our Lord' and from the 'Holy Spirit', acting through Francis. The "divorced and remarried" are now redefined as forming part of "the poor" for which the Church should have a special solicitude; anyone aware of the heightened place held by "the poor" (e.g . the "preferential option for the poor") in the post-Conciliar Magisterium should be aware of the magnitude of the shift involved here.

The reforms are frankly described as part of the Pope's call to the bishops to undergo "metànoia" (conversion, specifically the conversion of one's mind, attitudes and way of life -- a very strong word) regarding "divorce and remarriage"; they are clearly invited to facilitate an enormous increase in declarations of nullity. Judgment is passed on the pre-Francis Church as a Church that merely spoke or thought about mercy and collegiality but did not actually practice these. Furthermore the Holy See's intention to help the bishops expedite declarations of nullity will be given concrete form by the multiplication of short formation courses to be held by the Roman Rota for priests and laypeople designated by their bishops to assist them in their judicial ministry. (The formation course described below was held in Mexico City from August 31 to September 4, 2015.)

Perhaps this is one reason why this commentary has been ignored by most of the English-language Catholic press and commentariat: it stands in the way of any and all attempts to pretend that it is still business as usual in the Church.

The reform of the matrimonial process for the declaration of nullity -- desired and decided by Pope Francis. (Excerpts)

Msgr. Pio Vito Pinto

 Dean of  the Roman Rota

September 8, 2015 - L'Osservatore Romano.

... But there exists an essential novelty that is defining Pope Francis’ actual mission. It is no longer time simply for analyses, it is time for action in order to begin that work of justice and mercy so long awaited -  by re-ordering the pastoral practice and canon law, to a large extent in effect for almost three centuries. Francis  had already announced this at that the beginning of his pontificate on July 28th 2013, at the conclusion of World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro.

***

UPDATED with links to texts IMPORTANT: Two Apostolic Letters Motu Proprio reforming the annulment process to be presented tomorrow

UPDATE: Text of the two Apostolic Letters are now up on the Vatican website:

Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus - Italian - Latin
Mitis et Misericors Iesus - Italian - Latin

English summary of the main changes by Vatican Radio. From the introduction of the motu proprio for the Latin Church (Mitis Iudex):

... Some fundamental criteria that guided  the work of reform are noted: 

That there be only one sentence in favor of executive nullity – It appeared opportune, in the first place, that there no longer be required a twofold decision in favor of marital nullity, in order that the parties be admitted to new canonically valid marriages: the moral certainty reached by the first judge according to law should be sufficient.

A single judge under the responsibility of the Bishop – The constitution of a single judge in the first instance, who shall always be a cleric, is placed under the responsibility of the Bishop, who, in the pastoral exercise of his own proper judicial power shall guarantee that no laxity be indulged in this matter.

The Bishop is judge – In order that the teaching of the II Vatican Council be finally translated into practice in an area of great importance, the decision was made to make evident the fact that the Bishop is, in his Church – of which he is constituted pastor and head – is by that same constitution judge among the faithful entrusted to him. It is desired that, in Dioceses both great and small, the Bishop himself should offer a sign of the conversion of ecclesiastical structures, and not leave the judicial function completely delegated to the offices of the diocesan curia, as far as matters pertaining to marriage are concerned.

Increased brevity in the legal process – In fact, beyond making the marriage annulment process more agile, a briefer form of trying nullity cases has been designed – in addition to the documentary process already approved and in use – which is to be applied in cases in which the accusation of marital nullity is supported by particularly evident arguments. In any case, the extent to which an abbreviated process of judgment might put the principle of the indissolubility of marriage at risk, did not escape me [writes Pope Francis – ed.]: thus, I have desired that, in such cases the Bishop himself shall be constituted judge, who, by force of his pastoral office is with Peter the greatest guarantor of Catholic unity in faith and in discipline.

Appeal to the Metropolitcan See – It is fitting that the appeal to the Metropolitan See be re-introduced, since that office of headship of an Ecclesiastical province, stably in place through the centuries, is a distinctive sign of the synodality of the Church.

The proper role of the Bishops’ Conferences – The Bishops’ Conferences, which must be driven above all by the anxious apostolic desire to reach the far-off faithful, should formally recognize the duty to share the aforesaid conversion, and respect absolutely the right of the Bishops to organize judicial power each within his own particular Church.

There-establishment of vicinity between the judge and the faithful, in fact, shall not be successful if the stimulus does not come from the Conferences to the single Bishops, along with the necessary assistance, to put into practice the reform of the marital nullity process.

Appeal to the Apostolic See – It is fitting that the appeal to the ordinary Tribunal of the Apostolic See, i.e. the Roman Rota, be maintained: this, in respect of a most ancient juridical principle, so that the bond between the See of Peter and the particular Churches be reinforced – having care, in any case, in the discipline of the use of said appeal, to contain any and all abuse of right, in order that the salvation of souls be given no cause for harm. ...

***

[Original post time: 09/07/15 10:44 AM]

After the Synod, the Kasper party opens a second front: "Catholic Divorce"

We are very honored to post this new article by a very wise, knowledgeable, and highly influential cleric, writing under the pen name of don Pio Pace.

After the Synod, the Kasper party opens a second front: 

"Catholic Divorce"

by Don Pio Pace

The extraordinary assembly of the Synod of Bishops had barely ended, and the partisans of the liberalization of the Church's discipline concerning the indissolubility of marriage open a second front, that of the "simplification" of the canonical procedures of the declaration of nullity.

The demotion of Cardinal Burke from his position as Prefect of Apostolic Signatura finds in this matter its true meaning. His role in the nominations of bishops for the United States under Benedict XVI was not enough to explain his demotion, because in order to neutralize his influence, it sufficed (as it was done) to remove him from the Congregation for Bishops, where he was replaced by Cardinal Wuerl. On the other hand, in his place as "Senior Judge" of the Roman church, he was always a serious obstacle to the accomplishment of a project now under study: to turn annulment procedures into a "Catholic divorce" in all but name.

The great lines of this project, undoubtedly already relatively settled in secret, can be summarized in four points: