Codestin Search App

Showing posts with label Church and State. Show all posts

A theologian analyzes the morality of the cancellation of public Masses and the closure of churches by the State — superb Thomistic treatment

The author of this letter, a priest and an experienced teacher of moral theology, shared the following text with Rorate Caeli. It was originally prepared as a letter to the priest’s local ordinary. I find it the best treatment I have read so far of these questions.

Letter Reflecting on the Cancellation of Masses and Closure of Churches

+Pax+

8 May 2020

Our Lady, Mediatrix of All Graces and Queen of All Saints

Your Excellency,

For nearly two months now the Catholic faithful have been deprived of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, of Holy Communion, and for many, even of Confession, many priests refusing this ministry. This time has been one of great suffering for all. The unexpectedness of the situation found us all wondering what to do, and those in positions of leadership had to make some very tough and very quick decisions.

The Vatican against Italian Interior Minister, Matteo Salvini

The present Vatican which never makes its voice heard when policies and laws against the traditional family and the protection of the unborn are passed, is violently against Matteo Salvini (who has anyway all the usual national, international and European 'big' powers against him, even more so after last Saturday's rally in Milan).

The President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, Cardinal Bassetti, has also openly condemned Salvini and the Lega Party, telling Catholics not to vote for them. (see here: https://ilmanifesto.it/partecipare-al-voto-pericolo-sovranisti/).

Here is one strong voice in defence of Salvini, who, it would seem, despite the constant, vicious attacks, has a great part of the Italian people with him.

How sad to see the Church taking a stance against Salvini

by Dr. Alessandro Meluzzi

SCRIPT OF VIDEO

What a sad and disconcerting stance the Vatican has taken, in the person of the Secretary of State Cardinal Parolin, who accuses Salvini and the sovereignists in general, of a blasphemous use of the Rosary, Marian devotion and religion.

Was it perhaps blasphemous when Pius V, before the Battle of Lepanto, invoked the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Queen of the Rosary [...] against the Turks, who, if they had won at Lepanto, would have eliminated Europe and Rome today would be a Muslim city? But perhaps this is what “Bergoglioism” and “Soroism” want.

De Mattei interview in “La Verità”: Dear Church, quit being “gay friendly” and go back to being sovereign

On Monday March 4, the daily newspaper “La Verità” published an interview Professor Roberto de Mattei gave to Ignazio Mangrano. It carried as its headline “Dear Church, quit being ‘gay-friendly’ and become sovereign.” Below we report the full text of the interview.

Dear Church, quit being ‘gay-friendly’ and become sovereign.

Professor Roberto de Mattei, President of the Fondazione Lepanto and director of the journal Radici Cristiane, is one of the promoters of the Acies ordinate demonstration that lined up a hundred Catholics from all over the world in Piazza San Silvestro on February 19^th, for a silent protest against the Vatican summit on sexual abuse.

Professor, was the Vatican summit a success or a failure?

I believe it was a failure. The major media outlets exposed it as such, by reporting that the message was weak and by underlining the dissatisfaction of the victims. I, however, believe the failure was due to something else.

What?

It focused on the symptoms, not the causes of the evil.

Please explain.

The central point, which was already revealed in the Viganò testimony was neglected: the diffusion of homosexuality in the Church as an organized phenomenon.

Is there a “gay lobby” in the Church?

Yes, there is. It seems to me quite evident.

Evident?

Most of the abuses by the clergy concerned adolescent males, not children. So, if homosexuality wasn’t mentioned at the summit, the only explanation is that there is extremely strong pressure to ensure that the subject be avoided.

De Mattei: The Condemnation of Cardinal Pell, the Church and the World

Roberto de Mattei

Corrispondenza Romana

February 27, 2019

The condemnation of Cardinal Pell, arriving like a bolt of lightning in the wake of the Vatican summit, draws attention to a truth that there has been a desire to forget for the last fifty years: there is no possible compromise between the Church and the world, because the world hates the Church and wants its destruction. This sentence, furthermore, demonstrates the failure of the strategy of this papacy, which has renounced exercising the sovereignty of the Church, confiding instead in the comprehension of the world.

The sovereignty of the Church is expressed primarily in Her Canon Law. The Catholic Church, inasmuch as it is a visible society, is endowed by a law, also penal, the law She possesses to sanction the faithful who have committed violations of Her law. A crime is a violation outside the judicial order of the Church, distinct from sin, which is, instead, a violation of the moral order. Thus the Church, “by sole and exclusive right”, has the right to judge the violation of Church laws and the right to sanction the crimes with penalties according to Canon Law (can. 1402 §2). Among the many canonical crimes specified by the Code, are apostasy, heresy and schism (Can.1364), communicatio in sacris, the profanation of sacred things (can.1376), and also a series of grave violations against the sixth commandment (can. 1395). The distinction between sins and crimes does not appear clear to Pope Francis, who declares “zero tolerance” against civil crimes, such as pedophilia, but calls for “forgiveness” and mercy for the “sins of youth”, such as homosexuality, unmindful of the presence of this crime in the laws of the Church.

Socci: The Church is collapsing, but the Vatican has launched a crusade against Salvini

Antonio Socci

Libero

January 6, 2019

What is going on in the Catholic Church? The situation is not only catastrophic - it’s absurd. We hear of churches emptying dramatically in the West and Christians being cruelly persecuted in the East. We hear of the disappearance of traditional Catholic movements, of internal clashes in the Curia, of continuous scandals, of immense confusion among the faithful as a result of Pope Francis’ revolutionary feats ( recently he even “forgot” about the dogma of the Immaculate Conception).

Yet the churchmen are not addressing any of this. They are not worried at all. The shepherds are not interested in the sheep going astray and being scattered.

The hierarchical class is completely taken up by politics. It’s a real fever. That in itself is already surreal, but not sufficiently. The fact is, they don’t want to bring the “social doctrine” of the Church into politics nor the “non-negotiable principals”, as one might like to believe they would. Following the “Bergoglian teaching” they have only one theological-political theme to insist upon and in fundamentalist tones: migrants.

Our prediction realized: Trump protects the Catholic Church

This is not a pat ourselves on the back moment: It's simply a realization of the carnage that could have ensued if Hillary Clinton had been sworn into office back in January and not Donald Trump. That realization should be accompanied with a Te Deum especially today.

Back in July of last year, while not endorsing the soon-to-be-president, we explained what the "Johnson Amendment" was, and how a President Trump could fix it -- and with that fix, protect the Catholic Church.

Today, not only did President Trump sign an executive order addressing the Johnson Amendment by easing restrictions on political speech from the pulpit, he also brought long-sought relief to the Litter Sisters of the Poor, telling them "Your long ordeal is over."

Thank you, President Trump, and may God continue to bless your presidency.

See below for our original post on this matter:

[July 17, 2016]

This blog has purposely stayed out of the 2016 political fray, especially during the Republican primary season (even on Twitter, where you really should be following us if you're not).

Also throughout this year, on Twitter, we have been warning bishops and priests that, after the Supreme Court ruling on fake "marriages," prudence would demand they begin to plan for the loss of their tax-exempt status once the state dictates they perform the fake "marriages" or pay taxes.

Now, enter Donald J. Trump. To be clear, we are not, have not and will not support any candidacy, but it is important to explain where the freedom of the Catholic Church will be better protected.

DENIAL: The state of the Church in Germany

As it has been recalled on Twitter, almost twice as many defections from the Church in Germany under Francis than under Benedict XVI... Well, well...

***

German Bishops' Conference: Numbers of Catholics Leaving the Church Are at Its Highest On Record

Daniel Deckers
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
July 17, 2015

218.000 persons left the Church in the year 2014, 22 percent more than in the year before – and, besides that, more than ever before. The reason for it, according to the Archbishop of Freiburg, is very profane and secular.

In the year 2015, more Catholics than ever have left the Church. As the Catholic Bishops' Conference reported on Friday, the number of people having left the Church has risen 22 percent within the last year to now 218,000. The number of baptisms has remained nearly the same, however, when compared to the previous year: 165,000. The number of new members whom the Church has received either by entrance or by a re-entrance, has further sunken. Taken together, this number – for the first time – is less than 10,000.
The Bishops' Conference did not say anything about the deeper causes for such developments. Its president, Archbishop Marx of Munich, was quoted as saying that these new statistics show “that Church is multi-faceted and has still had a missionary force, even though the high number of exits from the Church makes us painfully aware that we do not reach people with our message.” Archbishop Burger, of Freiburg, spoke of the “irritations caused by the new way of gathering the Church taxes by referring to the capital incomes – which was erroneously then interpreted by many as an 'increase of taxes.'” Originally, the Church tax [Kirchensteuer] was only gathered together with the other taxes, when the tax payer formally requested it. Now, since 1 January 2015, it happens automatically. When, at the end of 2014, the banks started to inform their members about this new procedure, the number of exits considerably increased in the Catholic Church as well as in the Protestant churches.
[…]
[Concerning the numbers of the regular participants at the Sunday Mass: it is now 10.8 percent.] In 1990, the year of the re-unification, the number of the regular participants at Sunday Masses was 21.9 percent.

Also with regard to the priests and religious, the signs of implosion in the Church become visible only in a longer-term view. For example, the number of active priests [not yet retired] went down within the last fifteen years from nearly 13,000 to around 9,000. At the same time, fewer and fewer young men now prepare themselves for the priesthood in the seminaries. The number of female religious has been nearly cut into half since 1999 and is now down to approximately 17,500. Concerning the male religious, there is to be found a reduction of nearly 30 percent.

***

Press Release of the German Bishops' Conference, 17 July 2015

Church Statistics

Exactly 125 years ago, on January 10, 1890, Pope Leo XIII issued one of his greatest political encyclicals, Sapientiae Christianae—a document that, like nearly everything Leo XIII wrote, deserves to be much better known today than it is. As one can always expect with Pope Leo, the prose is crisp and vigorous, the doctrine lucid and coherent, the logic irresistible, the conclusions noble and demanding. It is the kind of encyclical that the Church in every age needs in order to find its way in a turbulent ocean of massive waves and contrary winds. The whole encyclical may be obtained from the Vatican website (see here), where all the encyclicals of Leo XIII are available—remarkably enough, considering that most of them contain doctrine to which later Magisterial pronouncements can be reconciled only with great difficulty.