...At the launch of the book in Brussels this week, the cardinal said he was part of a secret club of cardinals opposed to Pope Benedict XVI. He called it a "mafia" club that bore the name of St. Gallen.The group wanted a drastic reform of the Church, to make it "much more modern", and for Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio to head it. The group, which also comprised Cardinal Walter Kasper and the late Jesuit Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, has been documented in Austen Ivereigh's biography of Pope Francis, 'The Great Reformer'.
I'm not shocked by the news, we've heard it before, but I'm surprised he has admitted it. After all Pope Francis has railed more than once against the Mafia so you wouldn't think Cardinals invited to the Synod would confess to their involvement in one. Still,at least that's another piece of documentary evidence for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to file under 'Bergoglio, Jorge'.
I'm sure that file will be needed one day. How many witnesses are necessary nowadays? Of course, it would be foolish for anyone to pre-judge the outcome of such a tribunal. It would be equally foolish to campaign to get 'our man elected' if 'our man' was unaware of the plan and had some knowledge of why he was being touted as the new leader and moderniser. Such is illegal, invalidates an election and incurs the penalty of excommunication. But hey, don't let 'little laws' drag you down....
The Cardinal electors shall further abstain from any form of pact, agreement, promise or other commitment of any kind which could oblige them to give or deny their vote to a person or persons. If this were in fact done, even under oath, I decree that such a commitment shall be null and void and that no one shall be bound to observe it; and I hereby impose the penalty of excommunication latae sententiae upon those who violate this prohibition.
I likewise forbid the Cardinals before the election to enter into any stipulations, committing themselves of common accord to a certain course of action should one of them be elevated to the Pontificate. These promises too, should any in fact be made, even under oath, I also declare null and void.
We should presume validity, always, until the Church says otherwise.
15 comments:
I really don't get the omerta on this issue. It seems to be of overwhelming importance that someone determine the truth of this matter.
This isn't like some local council election where Bob's brother-in-law is rumoured to have stuffed a few ballot boxes on his behalf, but no-one much cares because the stakes are too low and nobody has the time and money to investigate. This is as serious as it gets: according to a plain reading of Canon Law, if these men canvassed to elect Cardinal Bergoglio, they were objectively excommunicate and unable to participate in the Conclave. And if the election swung on the votes of excommunicated electors, then Pope Francis really, objectively isn't the pope. It's not the kind of thing you can just brush aside.
The only valid reason I can think of to shrug this away is if you don't really believe the Church is who she says she is. Because if she is the Bride of Christ, there are real implications to little matters like, say, eligibility to vote in a papal election. Excommunication is an ontological fact, not just an administrative detail like a missing signature on a nomination paper.
This is a most wicked man. He was responsible for putting depraved literature and pictures into schools to corrupt innocent children.
"A bishop dressed in white. We had the 'impression' it was the Holy Father." - (Fatima) Servant of God Sister Lucia of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary -
John Paul II’s Apostolic Constitution of 1996 makes that a high-crime, punishable by automatic excommunication to canvass before or during a papal elections.
"The Cardinal electors shall further abstain from any form of pact, agreement, promise or other commitment of any kind which could oblige them to give or deny their vote to a person or persons. If this were in fact done, even under oath, I decree that such a commitment shall be null and void and that no one shall be bound to observe it; and I hereby impose the penalty of excommunication latae sententiae upon those who violate this prohibition. It is not my intention however to forbid, during the period in which the See is vacant, the exchange of views concerning the election.
I likewise forbid the Cardinals before the election to enter into any stipulations, committing themselves of common accord to a certain course of action should one of them be elevated to the Pontificate. These promises too, should any in fact be made, even under oath, I also declare null and void.
With the same insistence shown by my Predecessors, I earnestly exhort the Cardinal electors not to allow themselves to be guided, in choosing the Pope, by friendship or aversion, or to be influenced by favour or personal relationships towards anyone, or to be constrained by the interference of persons in authority or by pressure groups, by the suggestions of the mass media, or by force, fear or the pursuit of popularity. Rather, having before their eyes solely the glory of God and the good of the Church, and having prayed for divine assistance, they shall give their vote to the person, even outside the College of Cardinals, who in their judgment is most suited to govern the universal Church in a fruitful and beneficial way."
Is there such a thing as 'null and void' in the New Order? If there isn't, pretty indicative of why there is no fullness and truth.
Godfried Danneels seems to have a finger in every scandal in the church today, and seems quite pleased with himself about it. When someone is so brazen, so blatant, so outspoken and unrepentant, and no one seems to bat an eye...Indeed the Pope himself, personally invites him to be present at a synod on the family, well, all I can do is hang my head in despair frankly.
I wouldn't worry about the claims in question. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI made it clear as to why he resigned. He also declared that he resigned freely.
Let us believe Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. Why would he have lied in regard to his resignation?
Therefore, I will believe Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI rather than sensational reports that contradict his account of the situation.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
in his visit to the U.S., Francis is asking everybody under the sun to pray for him. What's up with that? Do you think he is worried about his salvation? He seems extremely sincere in asking people on the street and the high and mighty to pray for him. I will pray for him, but I just keep wondering if his conscience is catching up to him. Don't hoot and holler about this post, I honestly wonder if he is worried for his soul.
For the sake of justice this needs to be investigated.
The Voice of the Bride of Christ
“For, to the Catholic Church alone belong all those many and marvelous things which have been divinely arranged for the evident credibility of the Christian faith. But, even the Church by itself, because of its marvelous propagation, its exceptional holiness, and inexhaustible fruitfulness in all good works; because of its catholic unity and invincible stability, is a very great and perpetual motive of credibility, and an incontestable witness of its own divine mission.” First Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution Dei Filius
“Christ our Lord instituted His Church as a perfect society, external of its nature and perceptible to the senses, which should carry on in the future the work of the salvation of the human race, under the leadership of one head, with an authority teaching by word of mouth, and by the ministry of the sacraments, the founts of heavenly grace…This Church, after being so wonderfully instituted, could not, on the removal by death of its Founder and of the Apostles who were the pioneers in propagating it, be entirely extinguished and cease to be, for to it was given the commandment to lead all men, without distinction of time or place, to eternal salvation: “Going therefore, teach ye all nations.”[Mt 28:19] In the continual carrying out of this task, will any element of strength and efficiency be wanting to the Church, when Christ Himself is perpetually present to it, according to His solemn promise: “Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world?”[Mt 28:20] It follows then that the Church of Christ not only exists to-day and always, but is also exactly the same as it was in the time of the Apostles, unless we were to say, which God forbid, either that Christ our Lord could not effect His purpose, or that He erred when He asserted that the gates of hell should never prevail against it.[Mt 16:18]” Pope Pius XI, Encyclical Mortalium Animos
“The Church’s infallibility extends to the general discipline of the Church.…But if the Church could make a mistake in the manner alleged when it legislated for the general discipline, it would no longer be either a loyal guardian of revealed doctrine or a trustworthy teacher of the Christian way of life” Van Noort: Dogmatic Theology 2:114-115
PS
Pope Leo XIII Satis Cognitum: "There can be nothing more dangerous than those heretics who admit nearly the whole cycle of doctrine, and yet by one word, as with a drop of poison, infect the real and simple faith taught by our Lord and handed down by Apostolic tradition."
"But it is vain for them to adopt the name of catholic, as they do not oppose these blasphemies: they must believe them, if they can listen so patiently to such words. (Pope Saint Leo the Great, Epistle XIV, To Anastasius, Bishop of Thessalonica, St. Leo the Great | Letters 1-59 )"
"Saint Peter's Successors will at no time deviate from the Faith...Still less can the Roman Pontiff boast, for he can be judged by men — or rather, he can be shown to be judged, if he manifestly ‘loses his savor’ in heresy. For he who does not believe is already judged." Pope Innocent III, In Consecratione
"In the Catholic Church Christianity is Incarnate...it is the continuation of the mission of the Savior, the daughter and the heiress of His Redemption. It has preached the Gospel, and has defended it at the price of its blood...strong in the Divine assistance and of that immortality which has been promised it, IT MAKES NO TERMS WITH ERROR." Pope Leo XIII (A Review of His Pontificate).
"Not least among the blessings which have resulted from the public and legitimate honor paid to the Blessed Virgin and the saints is the perfect and perpetual immunity of the Church from error and heresy” Pope Pius XI Quas Primas
St. Alphonsus Liguori: “If ever a pope, as a private person, should fall into heresy, he would at once fall from the pontificate.”
"If public material heretics remained members of the Church, the visibility and unity of Christ's Church would perish. If these purely material heretics were considered members of the Catholic Church in the strict sense of the term, how would one ever locate the 'Catholic Church?' How would the Church be one body? How would it profess one faith? Where would be its visibility? Where its unity?" Dogmatic Theology II: Christ's Church, 153.
"the fifth true opinion, is that a Pope who is a manifest heretic, ceases in himself to be Pope and head, just as he ceases in himself to be a Christian and member of the body of the Church: whereby, he can be judged and punished by the Church. This is the opinion of all the ancient Fathers, who teach that manifest heretics lose all jurisdiction…The foundation of this opinion is that a manifest heretic, is in no way a member of the Church; that is, neither in spirit nor in body, or by internal union nor external…(St. Robert Bellarmine, On the Roman Pontiff)"
"In the Catholic Church Christianity is Incarnate...it is the continuation of the mission of the Savior, the daughter and the heiress of His Redemption. It has preached the Gospel, and has defended it at the price of its blood, and, strong in the Divine assistance and of that immortality which has been promised it, it makes no terms with error. Pope Leo XIII (A Review of His Pontificate)."
Having read the reports of this plotting to achieve the desired effect, it all seemed familiar to me, something I had seen when I was quite young. It then occurred to me! It was the man behind the curtain who created an illusion for the naive public!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZR64EF3OpA
@ Mark Thomas,
You said: "I wouldn't worry about the claims in question. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI made it clear as to why he resigned. He also declared that he resigned freely."
May I suggest that Benedict XVI may have freely resigned his office (in part only) so that the wolves might, in their overweening pride, come to expose themselves publicly and thus allow faithful Catholics to fully apprehend the choices set before them at this very late hour? Light vs Darkness, Salvation vs Damnation.
Liam Ronan said..."May I suggest that Benedict XVI may have freely resigned his office (in part only) so that the wolves might, in their overweening pride, come to expose themselves publicly and thus allow faithful Catholics to fully apprehend the choices set before them at this very late hour?"
Please understand that I don't mean the following in contentious fashion: I have to reject your suggestion as it is at odds with Pope Benedict XVI's very clear words as to why he resigned.
He made it clear that he did not resign to expose any wolves...there wasn't any intrigue in his decision to resign the Papacy.
Pope Benedict XVI declared the following in clear fashion:
"After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.
"...in order to govern the barque of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter..."
1. Again, Pope Benedict made it clear that his reason for having resigned the Papacy was simple: He simply lacked the mental and physical strength to continue as Pope.
2. Pope Benedict XVI declared clearly that he resigned the Papacy "with full freedom"...absolutely nobody forced him out, according to Pope Benedict XVI.
3. Pope Benedict XVI made it clear that he did not resign to expose wolves who operate within the Church.
Liam, let's accept Pope Benedict XVI's own words as to why he resigned the Papacy freely.
Pax.
Mark Thomas
The edict of St. John Paul II that people are quoting forbids Cardinals from making " any form of pact, agreement, promise or other commitment of any kind which could oblige them to give or deny their vote to a person or persons". That is not the same thing as 'canvassing', which could come under the heading of "the exchange of views concerning the election". Clearly the edict goes on to decry "pressure groups" and pleads with the electors not to be influenced by such, but the only thing that incurs instant excommunication is entering into a binding accord to elect someone. Daneels and his bragging about plotting against Pope Benedict (and in fact John Paul II, because the inclusion of Cardinal Hume in the reported membership clearly makes it predate the accession of Benedict XVI), is odious, but does not, prima facie, come under the ban. If they took some secret oath to vote for Bergoglio, then it would. The second provision that predetermined programs of policy from any quater should not be constructed and are not binding on any new Pope, is arguable much more clearly what is actually happening. We can only hope that the open bragging and swagger of these ageing revolutionaries is a sign of their swelling pride as they think they scent victory, which will in fact lead to their downfall.
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