Italian Media in Frenzy About "Plot Against Pope"

Edit: Rorate Caeli has reported a feeding frenzy in the Italian press over speculation that there is a plot against the Holy Father.  (from Corriere della Sera):

Milan - "Vatican, plots and intrigues. A plot against the Pope, he will die in the next 12 months" This is the title in the first page of Il Fatto Quotidiano in its February 10 edition. Written in German - The news would have been given in a letter handed by Cardinal Castrillon to Benedict XVI. Included in the note, a report of a conversation [in a trip to China in November 2011] of the Archbishop of Palermo, [Cardinal] Romeo, in which he affirms that the Holy Father is in great risk and that an attack is feared within 12 months. The document is dated from December 30 2011, but it was given to the pope in January 2012. ... Romeo would have also spoken of the probable successor and indicated [Cardinal] Scola, Archbishop of Milan. The author of the article is journalist Marco Lillo. The director of Il Fatto Quotidiano, Antonio Padellaro, has said that the document will be published in its entirety in the paper. ... Soon afterwards, the reply of the Vatican arrived through Father Federico Lombardi, spokesman of the Holy See: "These are clearly ravings, which are not at all taken seriously. This is madness."

http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2012/02/for-record-italian-media-in-frenzy.html

Vatican Talks with SSPX: Recylcing Tornielli's False Report of Last Week

(Vatikan/Econe)Some people can't help themselves. The supplement Christ und Welt(ex Rheinischer Merkur)the weekly paper of Die Zeit reported in today's edition, that "according to the estimate" of the Italian Vaticanista Andrea Tornielli, the negotiations between the Society of St. Pius X and the Holy See have been a "failure". The Catholic news agency KNA has distributed the information further. Even so it is being assumed by countless worldwide Catholic media.

In fact, it is just the (false) message that Alessandro Speciale spread last week on the 3rd of February which appeared on the same day as Tornielli's report. Speciale stated that the Superior General of the SSPX, Bishop Bernard Fellay had declared the talks a failure. Nothing of the kind was done.

Instead, it was the same day that Speciale had already spread his message in the morning that a meeting between Pope Benedict and Cardinal Levada took place instead, the Prefect o fthe Congregation who led the negotiations with the SSPX. The them of the meeting were the discussions with Econe. The Pope himself discussed the current status with Cardinal Levada and also what the next steps of the Holy See will be. It is in fact the Vatican's turn to answer the SSPX.

A failure of the talks is not excluded, however, any more than there being an agreement between Rome and Econe. What Speciale and others more widely published, was targeted at disruption and torpedoing the talks, an attempt to influence from the outside, which makes the father of this wish easy to surmise. The report from the Christiches Welt and Tornielli's analysis corresponded to the 3 February 2012 (this time only in German). Since then nothing more in Italy has been published on the subject, not even in his own blog. The question of whether or not there has been an agreement or a failure of the talks between Rome and Econe is still open.

Die Zeit's editorial appears to appeal to thoughts which appeal to the failure of the talks, which have newly warmed themselves with the report of last week. That parts of the Catholic Church are interested in the failure of the discussions was known then. The dissemination of these premature negative reports serve to sketch a map, of whom is attaching themselves to this kind of wishful thinking. This is thoroughly decisive for observers of the Catholic Church. It is at the present time, nothing more and nothing less.

Link to katholisches...

Demons Driven Out During Papal Audience

The Vatican quakes at the knees by the thought that the incident could become known. -kreuz.net

Father Amorth's new book cover in Italian

(kreuz.net) Pope Benedict XVI. had driven the devil from two men at a Papal audience in 2009 at St. Peter's Square.

This is what famous Roman exorcist, Father Gabriele Amorth said in his new book "The Last Exorcist".

The Italian boulevard magazine 'Panorama' published the excerpt yesterday.

Thrown back three meters


Father Amorth described them both by their first nnames Giovanni and Marco.

Two attendants brought the men to the Wednesday audience at St. Peter's Square. They were located in the section which is reserved for the handicapped.

While waiting for the arrival of the Holy Father, they were increasingly disturbed.

As Benedict XVI. neared them in the Popemobile, they men were thrown on the ground, struck their heads on the earth and began to wail.

As the Pope held his hand outside of the car to raise in blessing, the men were hurled back three meters.

Finally, they became calm.

Fear of the rage of the demoniac


The speaker for the Vatican, Father Federico Lombardi, indirectly described the incident.

E said that the Pope had not known that there were two demoniacs were present at St. Peter's Square on that day.

Then he proceeded quickly to downplay the incident:  If the fact was really true, one could not speak of a spiritual cleansing by the Pope.

Because he had "no intention" to conduct an exorcism.

Actually, that's not really true.  Because every blessing has an exorcising function.

The Vatican fears that the case being widely discussed could subsequently bring throngs of possessed  to the Vatican as pilgrims.

That would be a significant disturbance of the normal course of Wednesday audiences

Link to original...

Vatican Head Complains about Anonymous Blogs

Edit: Slandering Bishops and the Pope is ok if you're Radio Vatican

The Vatican Fears the Truth?

Vatican. [kreuz.net] The President of the Papal Social Communications, Claudio Maria Celli (70), criticized internet sites with "heavily biased origins", which confront the Bishops or the Pope.  This was reported by of all people, the anti-Catholic and anti-Papal 'Radio Vatican' under the title "Vatican reproves anonymous blogs, which attack Bishops".  Archbishop Celli promotes at the same time a passion for -- what is scorned by the typical Conciliarist -- truth.

From ...

Vatican: Russia is the Most Religious Country in Europe

marco tosatti
ROMe

A huge majority of Russians believe in God: 82% according to a report published by the Public Opinion foundation and Wednesday, a sociological institute associated with the synod of the orthodox Russian church for youth. The report has a database of responses gathered during the last few months from 1,500 people from the age of 18 years and older and residing in 44 regions in Russia.

The outcome is very surprising. In a country where atheism has been taught for several generations, which has established university faculties and at least one museum dedicated to the topic, and which has tried to spread it in many parts of the world, only 13 interviewees stated that they were definitely atheist, while 5% said they were not sure. Most of the atheists are men (68%), while only 32% are women. Atheism seems to be more popular in the lower social classes, namely workers or poor people who do not even have enough to eat. 27% of those who said that they believe in the existence of God do not belong to any organized religion. This was the response of 34% of young people between 18 and 24 years of age and 38% of students. 4% stated that they are Muslim; there were very few Buddhists, Catholics, Protestants, or Jews. 50% of the believers are Orthodox Christians and most belong to the Russian Orthodox Church.

Link to source, here...

H/t: AQ

Draft concordat between Byelorussia and Vatican prepared

Minsk, December 6, Interfax - The draft agreement between Byelorussia and Vatican is compiled.

"The document is prepared and we should pray so that it is signed quickly but it is a question of apostolic nunciature," head of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Byelorussia Bishop Alexander Kashkevich said.

Catholics is the second in number confession in Byelorussia. For the last 12 years number of Catholic parishes has increased fourfold, and now there are over 430 parishes in the republic.

According to official data, Catholics make 18 percent of believers in the republic.

Read further...

The Pope Plans to Allow Women to the Office of Lector

Editor: It's just a matter of time?


Assignments since 1972 already no longer required ordination.

Vatican City (kath.net/KAP) Benedict XVI is evidently planning to allow women to act as lectors at services. This was confirmed by the new prefect of the Vatican Bishops Congregation, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, this Thursday afternoon.  Ouellet outlined this in the context of the post-synodal document "Verbum Domini" by Pope Benedict XVI., which dealt with "The word of God in life and in the mission of the Church".

In the 220 page document on the structure of the recommendations of the Bishops Synod 2008 dealt with the necessity of a "rediscovery" of the Bible for the life of the Church, for the engagement in society and for inter-religious dialogue.

The Pope recalled among other things the liturgical rules of the Mass in the document: "As is well known, the Gospel is announced by the Priest or Deacon, the first and second reading in the Latin tradition, however, can be assigned to a man or a woman."

Lectoresses will now no longer be the exception.

Till now it has only been men who've been assigned to read the first and second reading, even though in many parishes in the German-speaking world it has turned out otherwise.  That either men or women could be assigned in the lector role was actually foreseen as an exception.

 From the outset on, lectors -- consistently men -- were authorized by the local bishop in the majority of cases.  Besides these lectors assigned as needed by the Bishop, baptised women and men were assigned the  role of reader in the Mass out of necessity.

Till 1972 the lector and acolyte (Altarservers) were assignments reserved for "lower ordinands".  Since 1972 both assignments are no longer tied to one who is ordained.

By the presentation on Thursday afternoon Cardinal Ouellet pointed out that the Pope  seized upon this indirectly from "Proposal 17" of the Bishops Synod on the Bible of  2008: "The Synod Fathers desired that the office of lector should be open also to women -- that therefore ought to take place. And the Holy Father studied this matter intently."

The German edition of Radio Vatican speculated that with the preparedness of the Pope to allow women as lectors, this could also open the way for discussing allowance of women in the office of the diaconate. The possible renewal, of which Cardinal Ouellet speaks, does not mean altogether a step toward the direction of lay preachers, says the broadcaster.

The French Catholic newspaper "La Croix" also took a look on Friday at the expressions of the new papal document with regard to Judaism.  As the paper recalled, it happened two years ago for the first time that there was a Jew who was invited -- a head rabbi from Haifa, Shear-Yashuv Cohen -- to be a lecturer at the Bishops Synod.  And Benedict XVI had explained in his writing, how valuable the dialog with Judaism is for the Church. "We are close together as we share the same spiritual roots.  We encounger one another as brothers -- brothers, who in certain moments of their history have had a tense relationship, but who've now decided to take pains, to build bridges of understanding and friendship", it was said among other things.


Link to original at kath.net...

Mr. Taylor's photo, from here .

Wymyn Priestess photos, here.

Related Articles:

Stealth Deaconess, already in play, here.

Lay Investiture, here.

Linz Bishop, "concelebrates", here.

Stephen Kiechle SJ,will applaud too, here.

Victims of Sex Abuse to March on the Vatican

By Philip Pullella

ROME (Reuters) - Victims of abuse by Roman Catholic priests will try to march on the Vatican on Sunday despite the lack of a police permit, to demand the Church do more to protect children and hold abusers accountable.

Bernie McDaid and Gary Bergeron, founders of www.survivorsvoice.org, told a news conference on Friday they would start a petition drive to ask the United Nations to declare systemic paedophilia a crime against humanity.

"We are not crippled. We are injured people who are willing to talk about it now. The guilt and the shame is in the cover-up," said McDaid, who become one of the first abuse victims to meet with Pope Benedict in Washington in 2008.

Read further....

Can You Sue the Vatican?

The obedience that American Bishops have given the Catholic Church has been fairly tenuous to downright rebellious historically speaking.

Catholic and Pro-life Judge Andrew Napolitano doesn't think it's a meritorious case, either.

[Fox News]The sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church has triggered an interesting legal question: can you put the Vatican on trial in the United States?

Lawyers for victims in Louisville, Kentucky are trying to do just that. But the Vatican is shooting right back, filing defense motions today arguing that bishops based in the U.S. – who have direct responsibility for their priests – are not “employees” of the Vatican.

I spoke Judge Andrew Napolitano, Senior Judicial Analyst for Fox News Channel, and he told me there’s no evidence that American bishops are agents of the Vatican with respect to personnel matters.

Archbishop Burke Criticizes Media Influence

How striking that he says that there must be "ecclesiastical punishments". These should be far more fearful to the Catholic than the tender mercies even of Sha'ria law and the dreaded wall of hooks or some other unthinkable device of pre-modern justice.

The Prefect of the highest Vatican Court of Appeals, Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke, has complained about the negative influence of the public in the revelation of abuse cases.

In earlier cases in the USA, a strong interaction between the media and attorneys intensified and an "objective judgement became difficult to discern between the situation and the individual cases themselves.", said the US Church Justice in Rome for Journalists on Thursday afternoon.

The sexual abuse by clerics have caused a deep wound to the "smallest and most defensive members" of the Catholic Church. An exact and comprehensive recondition of the abuse cases must include ecclesiastical punishments, so said the Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura.

Link to original...

(C) 2010 KNA Katholische Nachrichten-Agentur GmbH. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Bishop Fellay says, aggrement not possible "humanly" speaking

There is much talk about standing up to the modernist juggernaut, let's pray that these talks produce divine results. Rorate Caeli, here, reports on the recent statement of Bishop Fellay regarding the talks, They are sobering, also comments on ars orandi.

There is more at DICI (English), here.

For us, we must really see this opportunity for the discussions with Rome as truly a disposition of Divine Providence, as truly an amazing grace to be able to present to the highest authorities in the Church what that Church has always said and which, thanks be to God, we have kept; thus, to make it resound at the very top of the Church. To bear witness to the Faith is a great grace. And even at Rome, a certain number [of prelates] are expecting from these discussions—and it’s a direct quote— “very much good for the Church"...

...We cannot say that the pope has only to do this or that. It is every member of the Church who must, once again, at his place, according to his powers, according to the grace of the good Lord, do everything he can for the Church’s restoration. Everybody must contribute his efforts—everybody. So let us make this effort precisely by our prayers, by our sacrifices, by all the means that truly give life to the Church. The means that the good Lord commonly uses to restore and uplift the Church is called holiness.

Vatican Removes Death Penalty from the books

Vatican Removes Death Penalty

A revamped Vatican constitution coming out next month officially takes the death penalty off the Holy See's books.
Pope Paul VI abolished the death penalty within the walls of the Vatican in the 1960s. However, capital punishment remained in the text of the constitution, which dates to the 1929 creation of the modern Vatican city-state, a Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, said on Friday.
Under the modern state, ``It was never put into effect,'' Benedettini said.
The revised constitution is the first since 1929, and removes anachronisms like the death penalty from the code, Benedettini said.
``After so many years, something must be reviewed,'' he said. ``Being such a small state, we don't need to do it very often.''
The revised constitution takes effect on 22 February.
While the Vatican under Pope John Paul II is strongly anti-death penalty, Vatican use of the death penalty persisted into the 19th century, with hangings under Pope Pius IX.

AP

29-Jan-01


Link to original...

Vietnam and Vatican discuss Diplomatic Ties

(February 20, 2009) The Holy See and Vietnam have laid a “good basis” for establishing diplomatic relations during annual meetings this week, although no target has been set, a Vatican envoy said on Thursday. The meeting was held in a “very frank and open atmosphere,” Monsignor Pietro Parolin, the Vatican under-secretary for Relation with States told reporters after meeting with Nguyen The Doanh, head of Vietnam's religious affairs commission. Tensions have existed between the Vietnamese government and religious organizations for years. Communist authorities closely monitor religious groups and insist on approving most church appointments. But recently, relations between Hanoi and the Holy See have begun to thaw. Talks between the government and Vatican have been held since 1990, but the latest round marked the first meeting of a working group studying the renewal of diplomatic ties. “We have already set up good basis for further progress,” Msgr. Parolin said, adding that it was impossible to say how long the process would take. “The outcome will be diplomatic relations,” he added. He also told reporters he hoped the Pope might come to Vietnam this year, although no plans had been made for a visit. The working group held its first sessions on Monday and Tuesday, when Msgr. Parolin met Vice Foreign Minister Nguyen Quoc Cuong. Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dung said this week's meeting was an “important step” in the development of relations between Vietnam and the Vatican. Msgr. Parolin's delegation is scheduled to visit two dioceses in northern Vietnam later this week before returning to Rome on Sunday. Vietnam has one of Asia's largest Catholic populations, with more than 6 million followers.


Link to original...


Link to related story about Vietnamese government oppressing Catholics, as usual.

The Holy See's Diplomatic Net. Latest Acquisition: Russia

Over half a century, the pope's ambassadors in the world have doubled. Bilateral diplomatic relations have tripled. Failing to answer the summons are China, Saudi Arabia, and a few other states. The double game of Vietnam: while it is negotiating with the Vatican, it is assailing Catholics

by Sandro Magister



Read article...

Vatican denounces European ruling against crucifixes in schools

By Cindy Wooden

Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican said it experienced “surprise and sorrow” when a European court ruled that the crucifixes hanging in Italian public schools violate religious freedom.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled Nov. 3 that the crucifixes hanging in every public classroom in Italy were “a violation of the freedom of parents to educate their children according to their own convictions and of the religious freedom of the students.”

Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, reacted to the decision saying, “The crucifix has always been a sign of God's offer of love and a sign of union and welcome for all humanity. It is sad that it is being considered a sign of division, exclusion or limitation of freedom. That is not what it is and that is not the common feeling of our people.”

In his statement Nov. 3, Father Lombardi said, “It also is surprising that a European court is intervening so heavily in a matter that is deeply tied to the historic, cultural and spiritual identity of the Italian people.”

Read more...

The case in question bears all the hallmarks of ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) style legal activism which is pointed to by the plaintif's suspicious Finnish heritage and the tactics employed. Finnland has a long tradition of Communism and thanks to just government persecution of Communists there, many Finns have spread to other parts of the world bringing their poisonous political beliefs with them.

More here...