And the good Cardinal ..... "knew nothing"!! More exposure....this time of he who ordered Sr. Lucia's silence so everything Fatima would be relegated to the past! Vatican charges two ex-officials over funding for Cardinal Bertone’s apartment Vatican prosecutors are pressing charges against two former leaders of the Vatican-run Bambino Gesu hospital for allegedly redirecting funds from the hospital’s foundation to pay for renovations of former Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone’s apartment. ....The announcement alleges the two ex-officials “used money belonging to the Bambino Gesu Foundation in an illicit way.” It specifies that they allegedly paid more than 422,000 Euro “to restore a building ... meant as the residence of the emeritus Secretary of State.” .... While Bertone has not admitted any guilt in the matter, he made a large donation of 150,000 Euro to the Bambino Gesu in December 2015 after the publishing of a book in Italy detailed the spending on his apartment. ...... Bertone does not currently hold any significant office at the Vatican. ............ The cardinal, who essentially served as the Vatican’s number two official after the pope from 2006 through October 2013, has been criticized for combining two previous apartments inside the Vatican into one reportedly 6,500 square foot residence. http://www.lastampa.it/2017/07/13/v...-apartment-HuzoN8vAO8JuWbh4WRZqLP/pagina.html
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/c...cis-vatican-is-backing-a-fake-church-in-china Cardinal Zen: Pope Francis’ Vatican is backing a ‘fake’ church in China Cardinal Zen , Catholic , China , Pope Francis July 14, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — Cardinal Joseph Zen, the first Cardinal from China and a key adviser to Pope Benedict XVI regarding China-Vatican relations, has denounced a new Vatican agreement with the Chinese atheistic Communist government in an interview with the Polish outlet Polonia Christiana. The former Archbishop of Hong Kong compared the current situation of the Church in China with the times of brutal physical repression during the 1950s and 1960s, saying the situation is “worse” today. “Why? Because the church has been weakened,” he said. “I'm very sorry to say the government has not changed, but the Holy See is adopting a wrong strategy. They are too eager to dialogue, dialogue so they tell everybody not to make noise, to accommodate, to compromise, to obey the government. Now things are going down, down.” Explaining how the intolerable situation has come to pass, he suggests that Pope Francis is naïve having only experienced communism in Latin America, not a totalitarian form as in China or Poland. Thus, he says, both Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI understood the situation while Pope Francis is confused. “On the surface,” he said of the new agreement it seems that “the authority of the Pope is safe because they say the Pope has the last word.” “But the whole thing is fake. They are giving decisive power to the government … how can the initiative of choosing bishops be given to an atheistic government? Incredible. Incredible.” The 85-year-old Cardinal, born in Shanghai, explains that while Pope Francis might believe everything is fine with the agreement because “on paper” the government approves the election at the bishops’ conference and then the Pope has the last word. “But both election and the Bishops Conference are fake,” and the Pope cannot say no to suggested bishops forever. Zen says there are no real elections in China. “Everything is fixed before.” “I really cannot believe that the Holy See doesn’t know that there is no bishops' conference! There is only a name. They never really have a discussion, meetings. They meet when they are called by the government. The government gives instructions. They obey. It’s fake.” Cardinal Zen recalled that Pope Benedict stated there is no legitimate bishops’ conference in China. There are illegitimate bishops in that conference and legitimate underground bishops who are not in it, the Cardinal explained. Responding to the objection that some may suggest that historically some kings or emperors were able to make bishops, Cardinal Zen said: “But at least those were Christian kings or Christian emperors. But these are atheist communists. They want to destroy the church or at least if they cannot destroy it they want to weaken the church.”
There's more: https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/vatican-archbishop-we-dontneed-to-defend-christian-values Vatican archbishop: I ‘don’t…need to defend’ Christian values, ‘they defend themselves’ Catholic , John Paul Ii Institute , Pontifical Academy For Life , Pope Francis , Vincenzo Paglia ROME, July 14, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) -- A high ranking Vatican archbishop who heads a pro-life Academy as well as a theological institute for marriage and family said that Christian values do not need to be defended because “they defend themselves.” Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia dismissed concerns that Pope Francis’ controversial reforms of the Pontifical Academy for Life and the Pope John Paul II Institute for Marriage and the Family, which the Archbishop heads, signify any reluctance to fight for Christian values. “My view is the exact opposite: I am so certain of the power of Christian values that I don’t feel a need to defend them, they defend themselves,” he said in an interview with Alfa y Omega published in English today. Maria Madise of Voice of the Family called it “outrageous” to hear a high-ranking Vatican prelate with weighty responsibilities downplaying the need to defend Christian values. “Archbishop Paglia’s view that Christian values do not need defending in today’s society, that they defend themselves, would be a shocking statement from any Catholic. But coming from the head of the Pontifical Academy for Life in the face of an unprecedented degradation of human life, it is outrageous,” she told LifeSiteNews. Paglia said those who question his commitment to defending life are “losing [their] minds,” and suggested that they themselves do not defend life becasue they are not "opposed to the death penatly" or speak of "gun-related homicides in the United States." The Archbishop said that the challenge of preaching in the world of today’s complexities is exasperated by those who “compete with each other to see who is the most faithful to [Catholic] tradition.” Paglia suggested in the interview that the Church’s teaching on life, marriage, and family prior to Pope Francis was inadequate in dealing with “human life in all its complexity.” He said that the Academy for Life has to “broaden its horizon” and undergo a “reform,” what he called a “widening of perspectives.” “The Academy, which was focused on bioethical issues, has to broaden its horizons. It has to understand both life itself and the stages of life. The reform means taking the measure of human life in all its complexity, in all its aspects and conditions, in the context of the relationship between man and creation….All this requires a redesign, an [sic] widening of perspectives, more areas of study, a renewal,” he said. Paglia is the archbishop who was featured in a homoerotic painting he commissioned in his Cathedral and who oversaw the release of a controversial sex-ed program last year during World Youth Day in Poland. He called the reform currently being implemented by the order of Pope Francis in the institutions he oversees a “new strategy” and an “ambitious project.” When asked if the “new strategy” involves the Church retreating from the fight for the right to life of the preborn, Paglia responded in the negative. But, he then immediately criticized those who hold “strongly held positions on this question,” saying that they wage what he called “ideological battles.” Judie Brown, President of American Life League, called Paglia’s “new strategy” an “insult to Christ and His bride, the Church.” “Today's culture is only lacking one thing: and that is acceptance of the truth that God and His laws are the beacon of light that saves souls,” she told LifeSiteNews. “Catholic teaching is not now, nor has it ever been, nor will it ever be, deficient,” she added. Brown said that by the Archbishop’s suggestion that the Church’s teaching on life, marriage, and family are somehow now deficient in answering the complexities of today amounts to a betrayal of the Church and the God he claims to serve. “What Paglia is saying betrays not only Church teaching but is exemplary of the mental picture I have of him spitting in the face of Christ himself. His words are an insult to truth,” she said. Michael Hichborn, president of the U.S.-based Lepanto Institute criticized Paglia’s “new strategy.” “The saints throughout history never plotted, planned, or strategized their way to making converts, but simply preached the truth in all places,” he told LifeSiteNews. “If Archbishop Paglia wants to try something novel, perhaps he should suggest that priests preach from all pulpits throughout the world in no uncertain terms that abortion, contraception, and sodomy are all condemned, and those engaged in these practices are in danger of Hell,” he added. Hichborn said that the “fastest way to distort a simple Truth is to write all over it.” “The Church has been consistently clear in Her teachings on human life, sexuality and the family, and anyone saying otherwise either hasn't paid attention or has an agenda to the contrary,” he said. For his part however, Archbishop Paglia says, “Life in its fullest sense needs an approach that is more articulated than simply repeating a principle that is described as non-negotiable,” he said. But the Catholic Church has always taught that there are certain non-negotiables that faithful Catholics may never compromise. In a 2011 address on how Catholics should vote, Pope Benedict called the issues of life, family, and parental rights in education “not negotiable.” “As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, the principal focus of her interventions in the public arena is the protection and promotion of the dignity of the person, and she is thereby consciously drawing particular attention to principles which are not negotiable,” he said. Benedict specifically mentioned that “protection of life in all its stages, from the first moment of conception until natural death” is the first non-negotiable on the list. Paglia says however that the Church needs a “greater depth in our defense of life, greater effectiveness, and as many allies as possible.” “That means a new strategy, one that is much more complex and broad,” he said. Voice of the Family’s Maria Madise said that Paglia’s responses in the interview give the impression that the Archbishop has no grasp of the Church’s teaching and does not understand the purposes of the institutions he heads. “Shifting the focus to the development of broad and complex strategies rather than defending ‘non-negotiable principles,’ gives an impression that Paglia does not understand the Catholic Faith nor the purpose of the Academy he heads,” she said. “At the time when the shepherds refuse to “preach the word: be instant (prepared) in season, out of season: reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine,” inevitably more responsibility falls on lay people. We have the means of prayer and sacrifice, in particular, the Holy Rosary. We should work and pray ceaselessly for the authentic restoration of leadership in the Church that will defend unborn children and their families,” she said.
But some say by denouncing a dramatic situation like that you are "judging people" and acting contrary to the teachings of Christ. Go figure...
"Papal Advisers Bash American Christians in Bigoted Screed" http://www.breitbart.com/big-govern...bashes-american-christians-in-bigoted-screed/ Yup!! That SHTF Moment can't be far off ;-( You Guys in Catholic Majority Areas may not have a problem ... Yet!?? But .... since Pope Francis and Pals have taken "control" it has become near impossible for this Catholic to defend The Catholic Church in Bible Belt/Red State America!! This is tantamount to Obama calling us hinterland types "God-n-Gun Clingers" as Obama did in 08 and Billary with her "Basket of Deplorables" quip last year. The very same Saul Alinsky "Rules for Radicals" Tactics used by The godless Left Democrats are being used by "BIGS" in MY CHURCH. The tactics of personal destruction, spin-n-smear and intimidation (accept my views or be labeled an ignorant bigot or worse)! Is there any doubt that THE CHURCH is in Schism .. NOW!!?? or that the USA/EU is approaching irreconcilable Civil War status!!?? Time to pull your heads outta your ***, Fish or Cut Bait, Lead, Follow or Get the Hell Outta the Way and Surrender or Fight. Time for napping, being moderate and fence sitting be over!! I'm not sure, exactly, what The Lord meant when He said in Revelation 3: "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold, nor hot. I would thou wert cold, or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth" but it sure is beginning to sound like "These Days". The "Bigs" of The Church are sounding, acting and "fellowshipping " way too much like USA Democrats/RINOs and EU equivalents. Their mantra is "The poor, The Poor" but in the case of Democrats "The Poor" are worse off than ever thanks to their idiotic policies and in the case of The Church, "The Poor" are neglected because of the $$$ Billions spent to Pay-Off the victims/lawyers of all the Gay clergy sexual predators ... not to mention ... the tens of thousands of Faithful who have voted with their feet and ain't manning the Altar, Schools and Missions .... or droppin' filthy lucre in de Offering Plate .... and using "The Poor" as a "cover" for their Abortion, Gay "Rights" and Mother Earth Agendas which The Church seems to be answering with, ever more, feeble objections NOW!!! Would somebody here give me a sound-n-reasonable contrary view of "All of the Above" so I won't have to take a third blood pressure pill!!! GOD SAVE ALL HERE!! PS: Anybody want to bet that, in the next three days, that we will NOT be seeing the usual ... Taken outta context, misquoted, mistranslation or misunderstanding BS that seems to occur all too frequently!
It's a regular pain in the ass alright. But the Church has been going for 2,000 years , I guess it will be going another 2,000 and folks will look back on all this as a hiccup when we're dead and gone. I find I turn my eyes more and more to Jesus and His Mother and this gives me great peace. Turning my eyes to the Vatican does not give me peace. So to stay peaceful I keep on thinking of Jesus on the Cross.
Anti- Americanism is not Christian, the same as being anti Irish or whatever. It is fashionable in certain circles, even it seems in the Church but , it is still not Christian. It is sad but American Catholics are paying the salaries of many of the clergy who are doing this. May God forgive them.
Oh how so easily led. Seems they would prefer the status quo of continuing world atheistic materialism led by the few elitists holding the power and $$$. Top allies of Pope Francis criticize religious Trump supporters An article in a Vatican-reviewed journal released this week blasted evangelical and Catholic allies of President Trump for attempting to impose a "theocratic" worldview and practicing "apocalyptic geopolitics." CNN reported Saturday that an article in La Civilt Cattolica blasted "value voters" who support the Trump administration for becoming a "community of combatants" in America. The article's two authors, who are close confidants of Pope Francis, accused Catholic and evangelical voters of coming together over a "xenophobic and Islamophobic vision that wants walls and purifying deportations." ......... Mentioned specifically in the article was Trump's top White House strategist Steve Bannon, who the authors said wants a country where citizens submit to the Bible, which they called an idea "that is no different from the one that inspires Islamic fundamentalism." They contrasted Trump supporters' visions with that of Pope Francis, who they praised for spreading a peaceful worldview. "Francis is carrying forward a systematic counter-narration with respect to the narrative of fear," the two wrote. "Francis is courageous here and gives no theological-political legitimacy to terrorists, avoiding any reduction of Islam to Islamic terrorism," they continued. "Nor does he give it to those who postulate and want a 'holy war' or to build barrier-fences crowned with barbed wire." The "barrier-fence" reference seems a clear swipe at a Trump proposal to build a wall on the border with Mexico. http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...igious-trump-supporters/ar-BBErZlp?li=BBnb7Kz
Raymond Arroyo (ewtn) just posted excerpt of pope Benedict's message at Meisner's funeral mass, 'loaded with meaning': "We know that this passionate shepherd and pastor found it difficult to leave his post, specially at a time in which the Church stands in a particularly pressing need of convincing shepherds who can resist the dictatorship of the age and who live and think the faith with determination. However, what moved me all the more was that, in this last period of his life, he learned to let go and to live out of a deep conviction that the Lord does not abandon his Church, even when the boat has taken on so much water as to be on the verge of capsizing." https://twitter.com/raymondarroyo/status/886237272147980288
Mark 4:35 On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go across to the other side." 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great storm of wind arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care if we perish?" 39 And he awoke and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 He said to them, "Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?" 41 And they were filled with awe, and said to one another, "Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?" Jesus and Mary shall come to the rescue! Even if we don't see that they're on the way! Pray!Pray!Pray! Safe in the Father's Arms!
Yes! That is where I have arrived. " take it to the Lord in prayer". God has permitted this. And I just send it the Blessed Mother and tell her to put it where it needs to go. This all way above my pay grade.
Interesting how St. Pope John Paul wrote and spoke on the right to countries sovereignty, but Pope Francis and his advocates in the Vatican seem to think countries should not have sovereignty. Should anyone be surprised at this?
Thanks be to God that Our Lord and Our Lady know how small and weak we all truly are. They are keenly aware of our smallness and weakness. They are full of love, pity and mercy for us little ones. We are so confused, bewildered, disoriented, frightened or ignored and/or ignorant. In short we are like children. Like children who do not understand and are scared and distraught when their parents fight or when a beloved pet or loved one dies or something really bad happens. Children do not understand. All they know is how they feel and they don't like it and don't understand it but want it to stop but are incapable of bringing this about. This is us. We are the poor little ones. There are powerful malevolent spiritual and human agents at work which the average person is powerless to stop beyond prayer in our personal lives. Jesus and Mary understand this and I am confident that they are actively working to protect and aid us. I am also confident that when the time comes, Our Lord and Our Lady WILL put a stop to all that ails their children. And it won't be a minute too soon. Nor a minute too late. Till then keep the faith and persevere.
Somehow this man is becoming the last man standing, the last orthodox stronghold in the Vatican, besides the pope emeritus. His silence is mysterious, it resounds throughout the Church like a cry from on High. I think he is an instrument of God for this very times to protect us: Why Cardinal Sarah terrifies his critics by Matthew Schmitz posted Thursday, 22 Jun 2017 Cardinal Sarah's opponents have attacked his views and called for his sacking. His response has been a gracious silence A growing crowd wants Cardinal Robert Sarah’s head on a platter. Open a liberal Catholic periodical and you are likely to find a call for the dismissal of the Guinean cardinal who heads the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship: “It’s past time for [Pope Francis] to replace Cardinal Sarah” (Maureen Fiedler, National Catholic Reporter); “New wine might be needed at the Congregation for Divine Worship” (Christopher Lamb, the Tablet); “Curia officials who refuse to get with Francis’s programme should leave. Or the Pope should send them somewhere else” (Robert Mickens, Commonweal); “Francis must put his foot down. Cardinals like Robert Sarah … may feel that with a papacy heading in the wrong direction, foot-dragging is a duty. But that does not mean Francis has to put up with them” (The Editors, the Tablet). Sarah was not always treated as the most dangerous man in Christendom. When he was appointed to his post by Pope Francis in 2014, he enjoyed the goodwill even of those who criticise him today. Mickens described him as “unambitious, a good listener and, despite showing a clear conservative side since coming to Rome … a ‘Vatican II man’ ”. Lamb was told by his sources that Sarah was someone liberals could like, the kind of bishop who was sympathetic to “inculturation”. John Allen summed up the consensus around the Vatican: Sarah was a low-profile bishop, “warm, funny and modest”. All that changed on October 6, 2015, the third day of the contentious synod on the family. The synod fathers were riven by the seemingly competing demands of reaching out to people who felt stigmatised by the Church’s sexual teaching and boldly proclaiming truth to a hostile world. In what has come to be known as the “apocalyptic beasts” speech, Sarah insisted that both were possible. “We are not contending against creatures of flesh and blood,” he told his brother bishops. “We need to be inclusive and welcoming to all that is human.” But the Church must still proclaim the truth in the face of two great challenges. “On the one hand, the idolatry of Western freedom; on the other, Islamic fundamentalism: atheistic secularism versus religious fanaticism.” As a young priest, Sarah studied at the Ecole Biblique in Jerusalem and planned a dissertation on “Isaiah, Chapters 9-11, in Light of Northwestern Semitic Linguistics: Ugaritic, Phoenician and Punic”. So it is no surprise that he employed biblical language to make his point. Western freedom and Islamic fundamentalism, he told the assembly, were like two “apocalyptic beasts”. The image comes from the Book of Revelation, which describes how two beasts will attack the Church. The first comes out of the sea with seven heads, 10 horns, and blasphemy on its lips. The second rises out of the land performing great wonders, and persuades the world to worship the first. This strange dynamic – one monstrous threat leading men to embrace the other – is what Sarah sees at work in our own time. Fear of religious repression induces some to worship an idolatrous freedom. (I recall the time I found myself the only man left sitting when Ayaan Hirsi Ali ended a speech by asking her audience to give an ovation “To blasphemy!”) On the other hand, attacks on human nature tempt some to embrace the false reassurance of religious fundamentalism, which has its most horrible expression under the black flag of ISIS. Each evil tempts those who fear it to succumb to its opposite. As with communism and Nazism in the 20th century, both must be resisted. Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, head of the Polish bishops’ conference, wrote that Sarah’s intervention was made at a “very high theological and intellectual level”, but others seemed to miss its meaning altogether. Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane decried the use of “apocalyptic language”. (One wonders what he makes of the rest of John’s Revelation.) “The boys don’t like to be reminded of judgment,” quipped one cardinal after Sarah spoke. A prominent Vatican watcher wrote to me from Rome: “He stepped in it today by talking about the two beasts of the Apocalypse. His popable stock took a hit.” Fr James Martin SJ claimed that Sarah had violated the Catechism, “which asks us to treat LGBT people with ‘respect, compassion and sensitivity’ ”. One sometimes wants to ask whether, for Catholics like Fr Martin, there are any words in which the Church’s sexual teaching can be defended – since they seem never to employ them. Still, the reaction to Sarah’s speech probably had more to do with simple illiteracy than any difference in principle. Cardinal Wilfred Napier of Durban said in the run-up to the synod that Europeans suffer from a “widespread ignorance and rejection not only of Church teaching but also Scripture”. He was right. Those who do not live in Scripture and know its figures first-hand are more likely to view biblical language as irrelevant or inflammatory. On October 14, a week after Sarah’s speech, Cardinal Walter Kasper complained about African interventions at the synod. “I can only speak of Germany where the great majority wants an opening about divorce and remarriage. It’s the same in Great Britain, it’s everywhere.” Well, not quite everywhere: “With Africa it’s impossible. But they should not tell us too much what to do.” Kasper’s dismissal of Sarah and the other Africans prompted an immediate outcry. Obianuju Ekeocha, a Nigerian Catholic who campaigns against abortion, wrote: “Imagine my shock today as I read the words of one of the most prominent synod fathers … As an African woman now living in Europe, I am used to having my moral views and values ignored or put down as an ‘African issue’.” Cardinal Napier agreed: “It’s a real worry to read an expression like ‘the Pope’s Theologian’ applied to Cardinal Kasper … Kasper isn’t very respectful towards the African Church and its leaders.” Kasper’s statement was like the breaking of a dam. Since then, a great wave of abuse has poured over Sarah. His critics have described him as uppity, uneducated and possibly criminal – or at least in need of a good beating. Michael Sean Winters of the National Catholic Reporter reminded Sarah of his role (“Curial cardinals are, after all, staff, exalted staff, but staff”). La Croix’s Fr William Grim called his work “asinine … patently stupid … red-capped idiocy”. Andrea Grillo, a liberal Italian liturgist, wrote: “Sarah has shown, for years, a significant inadequacy and incompetence in the field of liturgy.” In the Tablet, Fr Anthony Ruff corrected Sarah. “It would be good if he could study the reforms more deeply and understand, for example, what ‘mystery’ means in Catholic theology.” Massimo Faggioli, a vaticanist who haunts Rome’s gelaterias, innocently observed that Sarah’s apocalyptic beasts speech “would be subject to criminal charges in some countries”. (Having ministered for years under the brutal Marxist dictatorship of Sékou Touré, Sarah hardly needs reminding that open profession of Christian belief can be a crime.)
