Showing posts with label Cardinal Marx. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cardinal Marx. Show all posts

Monday, March 30, 2015

Bishops' Synod: Is Kasper's Star Sinking?

Is the Star of Cardinals Kasper and Marx Sinking?
(Rome) Cardinal Walter Kasper OR Cardinal Carlo Caffarra? "Even Pope Francis is distancing himself from the first and moving closer to the second.  And holding on to Cardinal Müller. And promoting the African, Sarah. All are resolute defenders of the Catholic teaching on marriage." With these words, the Vatican expert Sandro Magister introduces his latest analysis of the upcoming Synod of Bishops on marriage and family.
Magister is one of the most attentive observers of Rome.  Is there a reversal taking place in Rome? Is a door being flung open, which will now be closed again? In time? Or too late? Magister does not identify the reasons for an apparent shift in the attitude of Pope Francis.
The fact is that the statements of the President of the German Bishops' Conference (DBK), Reinhard Cardinal Marx, at a press conference on 26 February to the end of the DBK Spring Assembly were not only criticized by CDF Prefect Gerhard Cardinal Müller, but by completely "unsuspected" high and highest Church representatives, including those in the circle of  Pope Francis. Whether it is something personally felt by the Pope, is not known.
Cardinal Marx established a blatant schism threat as leverage to force the forthcoming Synod of Bishops of him and Cardinal Kasper formulated "opening" to the admission of remarried divorcees to Communion and the recognition of homosexuality. Since not the Synod, but the Pope makes decisions following the Synod, the threat was ultimately the Pope. It is therefore in early March, Santa Marta have come to a vociferous displeasure outbreak of a Latin American Pope's confidant in the presence of Francis.
Here's the official translation from Magister's site. 
,

Synod Exchange: Kasper falling, rising Caffarra

by Sandro Magister
ROME, March 20, 2015 – “This does not resolve anything,” Pope Francis has said with regard to the idea of giving communion to the divorced and remarried. Much less if they “want” it, demand it. Because communion “is not a badge, a decoration. No.”

In his latest big interview Jorge Mario Bergoglio threw cold water on the expectations for substantial change in the doctrine and practice of Catholic marriage, which he himself had indirectly fostered:

Los primeros dos años de la “Era Francisco” en entrevista a Televisa

 “Overblown expectations,” he called them. With no more references to the innovative theses of Cardinal Walter Kasper, which he had repeatedly extolled in the past but now seems to be keeping at a distance. On the other hand, for some time now Pope Francis has looked with growing attention and esteem at another cardinal theologian, who upholds ideas on the “Gospel of marriage” that are perfectly in line with tradition: the Italian Carlo Caffarra, archbishop of Bologna.

As a professor of moral theology, Caffarra was a specialist in marriage, family, procreation. And this is why John Paul II wanted him at the head of the pontifical institute for studies on marriage and the family that he created in 1981 at the Lateran university, following the 1980 synod dedicated precisely to these themes. So a stir was created last October by the exclusion of any representative of that institute - which since its foundation has spread all over the world - from the first session of the synod on the family. But now this gap has been filled, because last March 14 Pope Francis appointed among the advisers of the general secretariat of the second and last session of the synod, scheduled for October of this year, none other than the vice-president of the pontifical John Paul II institute for studies on marriage and the family, Professor José Granados."In order to solve anything," said Pope Francis in relation to the idea of ​​giving communion to divorced and remarried.  Especially not when they "want," they say.  For the Communion is not "a cockade, an award. No." 

[Continued at link below]
Introduction / Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Settimo Cielo / MiL / Caffarra.it / portals Famiglia

Link to Sandro Magister...

Link to Katholisches for German translation...

AMDG

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Cardinal Müller: "Diocese Are Not Branches of the Bishops' Conference"

Prefect of the CDF after recent statements of DBK-President Marx: "The President of the Episcopal Conference is no more than a technical presenter, this title is not linked to any specific teaching authority."

Vatican (kath.net) The claim that a Bishop's Conference was "not a branch of Rome", "gives me the cue to remind you that the dioceses are not branches of the Secretariat of the Episcopal Conference or [branches of] the diocese, whose bishop President of the Bishops' Conference is." This was Gerhard Müller Cardinal (photo), Prefect of the Congregation for Doctrine and the Faith, for the Catholic French magazine, Famille Chrétienne. He had been previously asked what he thought of a statement "where a German bishop had stated that the Bishops' Conference, which he was presiding, was no "branch of Rome," he was referring to remarks by Reinhard Cardinal Marx, President of the German Bishops' Conference . Müller explained further: "A Bishops' Conference is not a Particular Council, [it is] a lot less than an Ecumenical Council. The President of the Episcopal Conference is no more than a technical presenter, there is no special teaching authority linked with this title. "The attitude that a Bishops' Conference is not a branch of Rome," brings with it the danger to revive a certain polarization between the local Churches and the Universal Church which had come rest in the First and the Second Vatican Councils. The Church is not the sum of national churches whose presidents would choose a boss on a universal level."

On the question of whether some teaching or disciplinary decisions about marriage and the family could be delegated to the Bishops' Conferences, the Prefect of the CDF replied: "This is an absolutely anti-Catholic idea that does not respect the catholicity of the Church. Bishops' Conferences have authority in certain topics, but they possess no magisterium against  the magisterium without a pope and without communion with all the bishops."

"The Church is not a philanthropic organization. It is not enough if we say that we respect the views of all and wish good for all," Müller explained further. Indeed it is not too difficult, only present the gospel as a therapeutic agent, but this does not correspond to the requirements of Jesus. "Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and receive all manner of slander because of me, said Jesus. The first Apostles, the Church Fathers, the great bishops of the Church had so often to sail against the wind. Why should this be any different for us? Link to kath.net... Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com AMDG

Friday, March 6, 2015

"Renaissance" Not "Reconquista" -- Cardinal Marx: "The Church's Doctrine Must Develop Further"

(Munich) Archbishop Reinhard Marx of Cardinal of Munich and Freising was interviewed for the March issue of the French Jesuit journal Etudes. In it he says that the Church needs "Renaissance" and not "Reconquista." At the Synod of Bishops of the cardinal spoke of an "open Synod" on the family, because "the teaching office may continue to develop."
"We do not need religious entrepreneurs, but witnesses of both genders," says the President of the German Bishops' Conference (DBK) and a member of the C9 Cardinal Council to advise Pope Francis. The Italian translator of the interview for Vatican insider who knew what to do with the German gender-speech, translated the site with "Zeugen und Zeugnisses."[Inclusive language for the word witness has no English equivalent.]
"An important step toward reaching people is the step towards self-evangelization," said the most powerful German prelate dialectically. The Chairman of the President of the European Bishops' Conferences COMECE also said: "We ourselves as a church must read the Gospel again and again and learn to live with it."

"The term 'New Evangelization' gives me problems"

March issue of "Etudes" with Marx Interview
The term "new evangelization" is a concept, said the Cardinal, which causes him "problems". "I admit that I 'have my problems with the concept of the new evangelization. It could be confused with the model of a spiritual, Reconquista,' as it is a question of reconquering lost ground. But it's not about restoration or repetition of what once was, but a new beginning, a new approach, in a new situation. And it is not simply a communication problem. This would mean that if we had more people and more money and more media coverage, we could achieve the goal. I can accept very well the concept but if it is to emphasize that we do have, not only in Europe, but as a whole, in a new situation for the faith and we must respond with renewed thinking. Actually, this is really a process that the whole Church goes through throughout history. The Gospel is always new, Ecclesia semper iuvenescens, the Church is always young, so the Church Fathers have said.
Because with "many concepts and discussions about new evangelization, I have the impression that many think: The great history of Christianity lies behind us and ahead of us is an insecure and rather frightening future. So you can not evangelize in any case,"  said the cardinal.
The Church can bring the Gospel " forth in all fields of human activity, thought,  adding value to commerce, continuity, and questions to think about. The cultural workers, politicians, philosophers and artists are open to conversations and meetings. I experience this again and again. But in our words, actions, in our liturgy, public appearance,  and in the specific pastoral care on site it must be visible through the quality of our work. I think in this context often of the term "Renaissance". Yes, I believe in a renaissance of the Christian faith, but it is a long way of deep religious and spiritual renewal," said Archbishop Marx of Munich.

Synod: "Will Decide the Future Prospects of the Church in the Field of Marriage, and Family"

At the Synod of Bishops on the family  the cardinal said, "Clearly  on one side, great expectations were awakened while fears were aroused on the other side. All this has been shown during the discussion in the Synod Hall and in the working groups. The Holy Father has made it clear once again in his closing speech, just how much he has also  appreciated and desired  open debate. This is an important step forward. For particularly in the field of marriage and family the future prospects of the Church will be decided. It is too early for an appraisal. After one Synod, there is another Synod! "
The Pope, according to Marx, "guarantees unity with  tradition and the Church's unity internally. But that is why it is necessary to openly argue with each other in a spiritual way about the future path of the Church in these existential questions that clearly touch  almost all people and all the faithful." "Of course you have to make sure that it will not be a political-tactical process. I do not know if we have always avoided this. It requires a fundamental openness and a real confidence to find common ground. There may indeed be no winners and losers at the end of a synodal path, but all need each other to try and think of others and our new common steps going into the future," said Cardinal Marx.

"Doctrine of the Church must Develop"

Basically the DBK- President described  the family Synod like this: "In teaching, the Church must indeed develop without giving up its  position, but throughout the entire history of the Church, its dogma is still developing and has been deepened. This is also true with regard to marriage and family. So there is no end point for the search for truth."
The "open society" is at this moment of time "yet, is also progress in  the gospel. So the question is not whether the majority share in our opinion, but whether we are also a pluralistic society that still has something to say to our way of life and our thoughts and many can win the way for many to follow  the Gospel in the fellowship of the visible Church"  said Cardinal Reinhard Marx for Etudes .
The complete German translation of the interview was published by the German Jesuit journal Stimmen der Zeit.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: MiL
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Monday, March 2, 2015

Quo Vadis: President of German Bishops' Council Wants to Give the Church to Prince of this World



Attempt to take stock after the Spring Plenary Meeting of the German Bishops' Conference. A kath.net commentary by Dr. Michael Schaefer to statements by Cardinal Marx and Bishop Bode

Hildesheim (kath.net) The German bishops and with them German Catholicism have stood against each other for many years in a growing tension. On one side is the felt the compulsion to defend Catholic doctrine within the meaning of the two previous Popes, and on the other hand, the desire to find a place for social development of the nation. This feeling of tension was reinforced by two other factors: one is the persistent depression in the face of accelerating and organizational measures barely glossing over the decline of Church life; on the other hand, the pressure of a predominantly 'reform-oriented' ecclesiastical system.

Ever since the introduction of the so-called dialogue process ("so-called" because it was played out with handpicked representatives of the ecclesiastical establishment largely behind closed doors) it became apparent that the willingness continue to bear the tension described, was on the wane. It suddenly become known by the two family synods in the world Church, that the question of divorced and remarried presented itself in the eyes of many bishops as the opportunity of a pastoral accommodation for one of the "hot potatoes" without making a too substantial shift from the teaching of the Church. It must have become all the harder after the Synod of last autumn in the insight tha a clear "yes" required for the proposed new features, as the promised majority (90% + x) of the world Church, was not possible.

With the Spring Plenary Assembly ended, the bishops have decided, and probably also irreversibly, started to take the bull by the horns. It is now clear that the German episcopate will take in the question of the divorced and remarried quite independently of the Synodal discussions in October in its own way. The battle cry of "We are not branches of Rome" can in make no room for interpretation in this matter.

The bishops should be clear that the "pastoral solution" to the question of the divorced and remarried can only be a beginning of the end for much of Catholic sexual morality. Because this is so in consideration of an oversized ball and chain for all those who want to be on equal footing with the surrounding society. Bishop Bode has with his notification on the necessary evaluation of cohabitation before marriage, a clear indication given that it - and certainly not just him - there there is a mandatory need for a program of increasing acceptance.

One would severely miss the importance of the meeting at Hildesheim, if they confined their views on the question of the divorced and remarried. Cardinal Marx (including obviously preeminent among the potential "dissident" bishops of Regensburg, Passau and Eichstätt) not only brought this issue forth with his brothers, but staged a coup in a major way. "The great history of Christianity is not behind us but before us" - this is not just a pithy statement, but an expression of a quite specific vision.

According to this vision it is from now on that Christianity will not come from the past, to read the tradition, but to design the future "experimentally". Faith cannot "be kept as a treasure", for the Church had rather take in view its upcoming world-historical mission: to be "useful for the unity of the human family." In the globalized world, it needs a religion that would bring together people from different backgrounds and to understand and moderate social tensions associated with the process of globalization. And no religion is better suited for this task than Christianity. "A globalized, universal church in a globalized world."

One can not deny the brilliance of this vision and the optimism with which it is presented.

The church that doesn't take itself too seriously, but is completely absorbed in the service of humanity - doesn't that sound wonderful? What role can it play faced by such tasks, yesterday the mood still hard pressing with facts about church attendance, lack of priests, etc?

The Church as an entirely positive, respectful, understanding, life-companion of individuals in small and humanity at large - does not cut through the Gordian knot of an ailing institution at a stroke? Can not the Church apparatus happily gather again behind its chiefs under this program? An inveterate Philistine who does not follow that and rejects the new epoch! And yet it is probably inevitable that the pathway outlined here is critically examined.

Will the morality of the Catholic Church really be disposed of so easily in questions of human sexuality? How much responsibility will be needed (according to Bishop Bode is now next to Scripture and Tradition as a further theological knowledge source!) Not to interfere with the "real life world of men"? And even if the program falls to the dregs (Fifty Shades of Grey salutations): who in this society is concerned that his sexual practice is calculated and approved by the Catholic Church?

Even more fundamentally, is the now constantly touted contrast between the dented and dirty Church, "out on the street" for the people and the Church, from "within" is thrilled with the pure, but ultimately useless truth would not be an arrant bugbear? Does not just their knowledge of the self stand based on this truth, the Church always enables them to be with us and fills them with a burning desire to bring these people from "outside" to "inside"? Is faith not yet a treasure and should it not be protected very well in a world, whose church assisted unity according to all experience violently opposes it? Can the Church still claim of itself to be the foundation established by the Lord Jesus Christ, if it does not quite specifically give the graces to the people who are entrusted to her alone, to whom the Lord entrusted them alone and whose charge wasn't just the membership of the human family, but is implied by the inclusion in the "Una Sancta"? Can they "live usefully" sub specie aetemitatis without recalling to the people every day, the hard evangelical truths of sin, justice, and to do penance?

And since when has the Church been at all interested in being part of "great historical moments?"

German Catholics will have to ask themselves whether they want to go with the upstream in the last days and the chosen path. Whether for the pottage of lentils, they will accept a "great future as a tool of the unity of the global human family" giving up the principle of the Apostle Paul, "tradidi quod et accepi - I have handed down to you what I have received."

Perhaps there are not so few who will come to the conclusion that: non possumus!

Dr. phil. Michael Schäfer was assistant of the Romano Guardini Chair of the LMU Munich and works in the management of a Stuttgart-based, international management consultancy. He leads the blog summa-summarum.blogspot.de

Link to Kath.net... Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com AMDG

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Record Building Costs in the Archdiocese of Munich and No "Swank Cardinal" - Campagne -- The Background

Expenditure Politics of the German Bishops' Conferene
(Munich) "Are punitive measures soon to be weighed against the power hungry Archbishop Reinhard Marx of Cardinal of Munich and Freising?" Asks Corrispondenza Romana . Will the German press launch a campaign against the "Swank-Cardinal"? Will Rome exile Cardinal Marx   for a break in a monastery and then  cashier him coldly? If you read the numbers on the cost of construction for the Archdiocesan campus in Munich, one would have to expect a repeat of the outrage, as occurred in the case of Limburg, only harder.
The Archdiocese is currently building a chancery  in the city on the Isar. Now, the costs have been published. 51 million euros for the beautification of the Archdiocese, says Vicar General Peter Beer. At seven and a half million more than recently estimated, because the roof was to blame. Whether you have reached the end of the story, it seems not yet to be clear.
The diocesan employees were outsourced for the construction and distributed to six locations with additional costs. There they have to stay longer than planned. Probably until the end of the 2015.

Limburg Bishop Subjected to Public Lynching

However, it is surprisingly quiet in the media forest. The calm before the storm? Not at all. Really amazing when you think back to the smear campaign against the Limburg Bishop Franz-Peter van Elst Tebartz who went through all the tabloids last year. From the "bishop of bling" was the kind of talk  which was circulated by the media or better by the cocoa poured to the amusement of the "people".  There was talk about a gilded bathtub  and particularly brave, intelligent contemporaries   actually made a determined search, but they could find nothing.
The bishop was summoned to Rome and is supposed, according to his own claims, to have had an encouraging conversation with Pope Francis. And so it happened: the "hopeful" bishop had been banned by the Pope to a convent and after being allowed to mull  over the matter with some Montegras, so that the pious people of God might not yet even think of an uprising, he was deposed.

If in Doubt It's Against the "Conservatives"

The reason was suddenly no longer the money. The bishop had divided the diocese. In fact, it was because the bishop was, according to the progressives, a  "conservative",  "pious" and "normative", they have broken away from him. But in the German Conference of Bishops in Rome and saw it differently. They wanted to see it differently anyway. The maxim is too long: in  a case of doubt for the faithful shepherd. Since we in our time should but always consider the positive things, can also be applied to the devise: translated "When in doubt, for the Progressive". Ideal are bishops who find themselves  easily "in the middle of society," so when in doubt they rub elbows with "progressive" secular elites too much.
Cardinal Meisner defended his brother Limburger and praised his "theological depth and decidedly Catholic orientation". A description of the Tebartz van Elst that already stood out from the majority of the German bishops. But nobody wanted to hear, media, liberal laity and priests and Brothers in the Episcopate had tasted blood. The hypocrites indeed railed mightily  about the money, but in reality it was about a factional dispute within the Church. The mob, which calls for the crucifixion, is there  always.

Behind Money Debate There Was Factional Dispute in the Bishops' Conference

It was just Cardinal Marx, who vehemently and also in Rome campaigned for the removal of Tebartz van Elst. So loudly that Cardinal Joachim Meisner, Archbishop of Cologne at that time  pointed to the lack of "episcopal fraternity" being exhibited at the time for the Limburger Pastor, who was actively exposed by  some clergy and lay church officials to a public lynching. Meisner called out Cardinal Marx explicitly by name. And what the attitude of the German bishops was really  concerned with: Only a handful of bishops in the Bishops' Conference had resisted the Marx-Woelki-Langendörfer-Synod which attempted to enforce the sexual revolution in the Church.
The Archdiocese of Munich is to rebuild its chancery for 51 million euros. Maybe even more. Nevertheless, there will be neither a front page on the Bild newspaper with a portrait of Cardinal Marx and the accusatory headline "Swank-Cardinal". There is neither a cost-campaign, nor accusations of being in a race to spend  against the President of the German Bishops Conference. The indifferent silence to Munich's case reveals the "Bling" campaign directed against Limburg as a hypocritical intrigue.
Limburg's deposed Bishop Tebartz van Elst belonged to the disruptive minority in the Episcopal Conference, which defends the priest celibacy, which is against a "democratization" of the Church with free elections of bishops and priests, who is against women priests, against the genuflection before the zeitgeist,  against the sale of the marriage sacrament in favor of remarried divorcees, and against  "gay marriage," wild marriages and all other "gradual" forms of cohabitation.
Cardinal Marx, however, is DBK President, he represents the majority. He may, as a members of the Synod in Rome continue unabashedly to represent a "new openness" and "new charity",  demanding a change in pastoral practice and even the Church's teaching on the sacrament of marriage. Any questions?
What happens to bishops, who disturb too much that "episcopal unity", seem to have become a very valuable commodity among Zeitgeist sailors, at least where Progressives set the tone, that's well known, especially since the dismissal of Bishop Rogelio Livieres of Ciudad del Este .
Text: Andreas Becker
Image: Corrispondenza Romana
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMGD







Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Marx: "German Bishops Stand Behind Kasper" -- Schönborn Also

Cardinal Marx and behind, Archbishop Zollitsch
(Rome) "The majority of the German bishops are in agreement with Kasper's proposal," Cardinal Reinhard Marx said on Monday, and so made outright admission of remarried divorcees from Communion. He took in the Synod Hall     immediately after the Relatio of the Rapporteur Cardinal Erdo.  Austria's Cardinal Schönborn agreed with Kasper. The German-speaking bishops in the Synod of Bishops immediately went on the offensive and sought to assume leadership. The new edition of the Rhenish alliance has already taken place in the German language area. The "Liberal" party is well organized.
Cardinal Marx, Archbishop of Munich-Freising, Chairman of the German Bishops' Conference , soon also Chairman of the Conference of European Bishops' Conferences, representative of Europe in the C9-Cardinals' Advisory to advise Pope Francis for reform of the Curia and management of the universal Church and chairman of the new Economic Council of the Holy See. A man with influence and in full awareness of his power .

German Offensive

"The Synod has a very open atmosphere," said the German cardinal. Even his Austrian counterpart, Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Cardinal Schönborn immediately signaled a readiness to be open  regarding the "positive elements" of civil marriage.
"We have discussed and deepened this topic and I've written the Secretariat of the Synod to inform him" about the German position, Cardinal Marx, whom Benedict XVI. named in 2008 as Archbishop of Munich-Freising, with which he has enabled his rise to his the current positions. Marx, born in 1953, has been Bishop of Trier since 2002  and before that  in 1996, he was Auxiliary Bishop of Paderborn.  
"In Germany we have decided that the debate should be public. Pius XII. had spoken of the public opinion in the Church and we need to see the family as it is today and talk about all issues and all challenges with pastoral sensitivity. For Christians, the truth is not a system of ideas, but a living person with whom we are in  dialog," said  Marx at the press conference of Vatican Radio .
In the Synod Hall there is  no climate of conflict, just to listen and be respectful. One must look at the complexity of reality and also to the life stories of people who are or were not always all positive or all negative.

No to Faster Approval of the Nullity of Marriage Instead of Communion for Remarried Divorcees

Marx also added that the German bishops were not interested in an acceleration of the marriage annulment process.  Benedict XVI. had already called for an acceleration of  methods while dealing with the same content, as a possible answer to the drama of failed marriages, because it is lawful to examine the validity of the marriage.

Cardinal Schönborn stands behind Kasper: the new Rhenish Alliance
But the German bishops  do not want to keep putting it off. They demand as the only acceptable response to  current "real life", the approval of remarried divorcees to Communion. At least, this is the suggestion  of Cardinal Marx.  Because if the marriage foundered after many years, it is difficult to decide whether the marriage validly occured or not. Finally, want to "we do not want to think about   a kind of 'Catholic divorce'', said the Cardinal dialectically.

Cardinal Burke Spokesman of the "Conservatives"

On the afternoon of the first day   Synod,  after Cardinal Walter Kasper , Cardinal Raymond Burke also took the floor. He belongs with four other cardinals, as  the author of a book against Kasper's proposal. Cardinal Kasper is,  with papal benevolence, the spokesman of the "liberal" party, Cardinal Burke is regarded as the spokesperson of the "Conservative" party. In psychological guerrilla warfare that was tried before the Synod, to set the traditional to beset the Cardinal with rumors and threats of pressure. It is noticeable also that in the external perception of the Synod, what penetrates widely to the outside was represented as the opinion of the "Liberals", while those of the "conservatives" on the other hand,  should have been largely suppressed. The progressive Dehoniana journal Il Regno, which is close to the school of Bologna, set up a special website to continually report on the Synod's activity. A filtered reporting.

Cardinal Schönborn's (expected) Shoulder to Shoulder with Kasper

In the afternoon, Archbishop Christoph Cardinal Schönborn of Vienna and President of the Austrian Bishops' Conference and Ratzinger disciple, spoke up. He shared a number of Kasper's statements about the existence of elements of Christian marriage in the civil marriage: the public obligation, the duty to the spouse, the stability and more. As the Second Vatican Council has recognized that the true Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church, but it is possible to recognize elements of  Church also in the other churches and Christian communities, so it would be possible, given these positive elements of Christian marriage to recognize civil marriages. Therefore, with Kasper's  consideration, one could, for a time of penance, consider the situation of remarried divorcees on a case by case basis, and admit them to the sacraments.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Il Foglio / eponymousflower.blogspot
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches....
AMDG

Sunday, September 28, 2014

German Bishops Want a "Pastoral Aggiornamento" at the Bishops' Synod

Cardinal Marx at Discussion Forum in Magdeburg
(Rome) In a few days in Rome, the Synod of Bishops on the Family will begin. The unofficial theme is, according to the specifications of Cardinal Walter Kasper: "Communion for remarried divorcees". On which side the great majority of the German bishops are,  is already clear. The Rhenish alliance stands behind Cardinal Kasper and whose  bishops it wants to take things in their own hands at the Synod of Bishops.  The President of the German Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Reinhard Marx of Cardinal of Munich and Freising said that quite frankly at the "Discussion Forum" in Magdeburg two weeks ago.
Cardinal Marx  has experienced a boost in his career under Pope Francis. He has been DBK President for a few months, and starting in 2015  he will be Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community  (COMECE) and belongs, since April 2013, as  the representative of Europe to the C-9 Cardinal Advisory, which advises the pope on the management of the universal Church and the reform of the Curia. Also, the Pope also made him the coordinator of the new Economic Council of the Vatican.

German Bishops Want "Pastoral Aggiornamento"

Cardinal Marx belongs with the German church, as a weighty spokesmen for a "pastoral aggiornamento"  in order to bring justice within the family which have been in "situations unknown until a few years ago". The allusion refers to the Synod of Bishops on the Family, held under Pope John Paul II. in 1980 and was reflected in the Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio. It will  say that the majority of the German episcopate is of the opinion that Familiaris Consortio  is no longer on  "timely" because of how quickly and radically people  change  behavior.
This  Marx was told also by his German brothers of Cardinal rank, Gerhard Müller, Cardinal, Prefect of the Congregation, very directly and candidly. The meeting was "cordial" held in a  "benign" atmosphere. Head of the delegation, said Marx modestly,   was not he, but Bishop Franz-Josef Bode of Osnabrück.
Cardinal Müller  is considered, due to his position, as well as his German origin, as the main opponent of Cardinal Kasper's theses. Müller points out that the "mercy is  the completion of justice" and that therefore it could never be used to to remove the Ten Commandments or weaken the meaning and scope of the sacraments or even to override them. Otherwise there  would be a "serious manipulation of true charity." A hard accusation by the CDF Prefect of Kasper and Marx in the meeting without Müller calling them by name.

The Attempt, to Put Reigns Action on the Synod Itself

Marx announced in Magdeburg, however, that he personally, as soon as the Synod will have begun, as President of the German Bishops' Conference  has an already revised document he will present that will explain the position of the German bishops at the Synod. In any case the majority. The minority will probably have no voice at the Synod. Those German bishops who support the position of Kasper, Marx and his predecessor, Zollitsch, all are notable signatories of the document, so says the DBK-chairman. The ranks of the German bishops will be pretty close.
Marx left no doubt in Magdeburg that the document that was presented the front line of   the cardinal consistory by Cardinal Kasper in February. The announced document seems to be another part of a deliberate and planned strategy to  take control, one that harks back to the year 2013. In calculations perhaps up to the conclave. The detailed document prepared by Kasper and Marx seems to want to steer the discussion of the Synod of Bishops in a certain direction.
Excited about the prospects, are progressive organizations like "We Are Church". The President Martha Heizer who was excommunicated with her husband for arbitrary imitation of  Holy Mass, said: "Just a quick, compelling and anthropocentric reform" could help in its resultant sexual morality, could contribute to the  shortening of the distance between the traditional teaching of the Church and the reality of the lives of the Catholic faithful.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Diocese of Magdeburg (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Sunday, September 7, 2014

Cardinal Marx "Affirms" the Indissolubility of Marriage

Edit: I see what you did there.  

DBK-Chairman: Church is bound up in this question to the word of Jesus. Sacramental recognition of the second relationship after failure of the first is "excluded".  But there are "Other forms of recognition"  to be considered.


Frankfurt (kath.net/KNA) The chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Cardinal Reinhard Marx (photo), has reaffirmed the Catholic understanding of the indissolubility of marriage. The Church is bound up in this question to the word of Jesus, said the Archbishop of Munich and Freising, "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" (Friday). At the same time,malif Marx admitted that the church had to face the fact that marriages fail and break up families.

"We need to overcome silence in the face of failure," Marx said. So the question arises, what does the Church have to say about a second relationship, which also could have its "own moral quality". A sacramental recognition is, however, in the words of the Cardinal "excluded". But probably there are "other forms of recognition" which have not yet been considered sufficient, says Marx. Further details were not mentioned by the Cardinal.

He did not anticipate the Synod of Bishops being convened by Pope Francis on matters of marriage and family.

In the fall, the bishops will meet in the Vatican, to discuss these issues. A second meeting is planned in the coming year.

Individual theologians refer to overlooking the handling remarried divorcees considering the practice of the Eastern Churches, in which, although no second marriage is consummated, the second relationship can blessed as a community of responsibility. Another question in this context is the admission to the sacraments. Under current understanding, the divorced and remarried are excluded from receiving communion.

(C) 2014 CBA Catholic News Agency. All rights reserved. Marx Cardinal Photo (c) Archdiocese of Munich and Freising

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Friday, March 21, 2014

Chosen and Not Chosen in Rome -- Pope Taps Cardinal Marx -- Cardinal Scola Gets Cold Shoulder

(Rome) The decisions  were made by Pope Francis alone.  So Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin learned  just like everyone else, from the media that the Pope had built a new super-ministry for all economic, financial and administrative matters. And above all, so that  the Secretary of State had its responsibilities   withdrawn from these areas. The pope confirmed some cardinals, while other prominent cardinals were not considered, including his opponent in the conclave, Cardinal Angelo Scola, Archbishop of Milan.
With the establishment of a new Congregation for economic matters, called the   Economic Secretary, and a new controlling body for all economic and administrative activities of the Vatican, Economic Council ,  for which  Pope Francis summoned the traditional [sic] Cardinal George Pell from Australia to Rome  and Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich, the most influential European Church leader, to be very closely connected to him. Other Cardinals came less off lightly.

Economic Area Removed from The Secretary of State

By reorganizing the Cardinals Angelo Scola (Milan), Odilo Scherer (Sao Paulo) and Antonio Maria Rouco Varela (Madrid) were recalled from their previous positions in Economic Affairs of Rome. Among the seven lay memebers of the new Economic Council there isn't a woman. The enterprising Francesca Chaouqui was not accepted.
Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin had not been informed of the establishment of a new Economic Congregation. Pope Francis continues to  make his decisions alone.
On 8 March, shortly before departure on the retreat of the Roman Curia, Pope Francis named  the eight cardinals and seven layity for the new Economic Council. The appointment was made ​​ad quinquennium. The basis of the appointments is the Motu proprio, Fidelis dispensator of 24 Februar 2014.

Cardinal Secretary of State Parolin Learned From the Media About the New Office 

Although it has been explicitly enshrined in the Motu proprio, that even bishops can belong to the new body, Pope Francis appointed only cardinals. At its head is the German Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising. He was transferred to the post of "Coordinator", ie President. A few days after this Roman announcement, Cardinal Marx was elected in Münster also as the new chairman of the German Bishops' Conference.

The Appointees

The other Cardinals are:
  • the Peruvian Juan Luis Cardinal Cipriani Thorne, Archbishop of Lima and former opponent of Bergoglio's among Latin American cardinals;
  • the American Daniel Cardinal Di Nardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston;
  • South African Cardinal Wilfried Fox Napier, Archbishop of Durban;
  • Frenchman Jean-Pierre Ricard, Archbishop of Bordeaux;
  • the Mexican Norberto Cardinal Rivera Carrera, Archbishop of Mexico;
  • the Chinese Cardinal John Tong Hon, Bishop of Hong Kong;
  • the Italian Cardinal Agostino Vallini, Cardinal Vicar of Rome.
The seven laymen are:
  • Joseph FX Zahra of the Maltese, as vice-coordinator;
  • Frenchman Jean-Baptiste de Franssu;
  • the Canadian John Kyle;
  • the Spaniard Enrique Cueto Llano;
  • the German Jochen Messemer;
  • Italian Francesco Vermiglio;
  • the Singaporean George Yeo, former foreign minister of his country.
In a note from the Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi announced that the Cardinals Cipriani Thorne, Napier, Ricard, Rivera, and Tong Hon Vallini and Cardinal Pell, the new Prefect of the Economic Secretariat,  previously belonged to a study group on the topic. The Cardinals Pell (new Prefect) and Marx (new Coordinator) both belong to the C8- Cardinals Advisory, which was institutionalized by  the Apostolic Constitution Pastor bonus. 

The non-Chosen: Cardinal Scola, The Opponent in the Conclave

Father Lombardi did not mention that other cardinals who also previously belonged to the study group, were not  adopted into the new body. After all, they were   Cardinals, who had previously possessed influence, like  the German Cardinal Joachim Meisner (emeritus Archbishop of Cologne), Cardinal Rouco Varela (Madrid) and the American George Francis. It was only a year ago when   Cardinal Tong Hon of Hong Kong and the Cardinal Polycarp Pengo of Africa  and the Indian Telesphore Toppo had been appointed, who were not taken. The disregard of Cardinal Scola, Archbishop of Milan and opponent Bergoglios particularly stands out in the conclave. Similarly, the Archbishops of Caracas, Cardinal Urosa Savino and Sao Paulo, Cardinal Scherer. Scherer and Toppo were also recently removed by Pope Francis from the Cardinal Commission for the Vatican Bank.

Enterprising Francesca Charouqui not Confirmed

The appointments were announced on the Day of the Woman, what journalists brought equal attention to the fact that no woman is among the appointees. Zahra, Franssu, Llano, Messemer and Yeo belonged to the Commission established by Pope Francis last summer  for the reorganization of economic and administrative affairs of the Vatican. The controversial Francesca Chaouqui also belonged to this Commission which will not, however,  employ her.
The Vatican expert Sandro Magister sees this as a sign that the star of her mentor, the Spanish Opus Dei prelate Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda is on the decline again. Vallejo Balda was supposed to be representative of Cardinal Pell in the new Economic Office. At the end   Pope Francis simply preferred his secretary, the Maltese Alfred Xuereb.

Auditor-General with a Strong Position

About the new institutions in the field of economy, finance and administration enthroned at the Vatican, the new figure is the General Auditor. He has not yet been appointed. As the vice-coordinator of the Economic Council , Zahra, the Boston Globe   said, is Auditor-General to carry out the year review and be equipped with the skills, to carry out checks at any time, inspections and special surveys. Zahra also stressed that the new Economic Secretariat was equated to the State Secretariat.
Thus the new Pontifical Council like the State Secretariat reports directly to the Pope, withdrawing the   responsibility of the latter. Cardinal Secretary of State Parolin was only made aware, like all others,  of the construction of the new "Ministry" by the media.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Settimo Cielo
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Cardinal Marx Elected to Presidency of the German Bishops' Conference and Most Influential Religious Leader in Europe

(Bonn) At the meeting in Münster Spring Plenary Meeting of the German Bishops' Conference , Cardinal Reinhard Marx was chosen as the Archbishop of Munich-Freising, as expected, to be their new President Cardinal Marx, in the power of consciousness it is said, he has actually become presently the most influential religious leader in Europe. The term of office for the DBK President shall be six years.
The Archbishops of Munich and Freising and Cologne are traditionally contenders for the presidency of the DBK. Exceptions, such as the appointment of Cardinal Karl Lehmann (Mainz) and Robert Zollitsch (Freiburg) were expressions of complex internal conflicts between the bishops, but also with Rome. The archbishopric of Cologne is currently vacant, and therefore the largest German diocese could assert no influence in the election.
Cardinal Marx has been Chairman of the European Bishops' Conferences (COMECE) and as a member of the European representatives was appointed by Pope Francis to his C8 Cardinals' Advisory Committee. By choosing Cardinal Marx as DBK President, he has finally become the most influential religious leader in Europe.
In the conflict over the admission of remarried divorcees to Communion,  Cardinal Marx had intervened  last fall publicly against the Prefect of the CDF, Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller.   Müller had criticized the Freiburg Circular  for Family Ministry and recalled the Church's teaching on the Sacrament of marriage. Cardinal Marx evaluated Müller's opinion as an attempt to "end the discussion" and refused.
Archbishop Marx was elected on the fourth ballot, with "wafer-thin majority" (FAZ).
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Vatican Insider
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMGD







Monday, February 17, 2014

Cardinal C8 to Advise Pope Over Curia Reform


Edit: Cardinal Christoph von Schönborn reforming the Church, one balloon at a time.

Topics are twelve Vatican Councils - Subsequent Cardinal surveys to make Consistory "less European"

Vatican City (kath.net / KAP) The Vatican has begun a three-day meeting of the Cardinal Council for the reform of the Curia on Monday. The eight cardinals of the so-called C8 Council, among them the Archbishop of Munich Reinhard Marx [And +++Sean], are consulting together with Pope Francis about a realignment of ecclesiastical government headquarters. The focus this time are the twelve Pontifical Councils.


As the meeting  of the College of Cardinals closes its general meeting on Thursday, Pope Francis' most important advisors will address the course of the reform efforts. In the plenary session, attended by Cardinal Christoph Schonborn , the Pope wants to present his previous initiatives and reform ideas.

 On Saturday Francis will confer office   19 church leaders  from his first consistory to the College of Cardinals, including 16 bishops under 80 years, who may therefore be able to also participate in a papal election. Among the electorate is the prefect of the CDF, Gerhard Ludwig Müller.

 The effect of the future appointments mean that the  Church Senate is to become "less European" and it is geared more to Latin America.   Nearly one-third (6 of 19) of the New comes from the Americas south of the Rio Grande.

 
In the two previous conferences the C8  focused on the work of the Synod of Bishops and the nine congregations. The C8 Council had already been used by Pope Francis a month after his election, to advise him on Church authorities and to make recommendations for a reform of the Curia to him.

Copyright 2014 Catholic Press Agency, Vienna, Austria







Thursday, January 16, 2014

Catholic Moral Teaching? The German Collision Course Between Bishops and Professors

(Bonn) German moral and pastoral theologians spring to the side of Zollitsch and Marx in their struggle against Catholic moral teaching. In the course of the confrontation of the  German bishops with Rome, the bishops had been defeated. Despite the "wish" of a group of bishops expressed to Pope Francis, not to raise Gerhard Ludwig Müller  Prefect of the Congregation of Doctrine and the Faith to Cardinal, the German Prefect will obtain his biretta on 22  February.
"The church needs to change its stance on sexual morality. The year is 2014 AD.  It's been  years since we entered the third millennium. It's really impossible that Rome still thinks of celibacy and marriage as alternatives that give meaning to life. "In short, old habits are finally halted,  its necessary to turn to the new,  to the moderns, what people want and do anyway.  These and others like them voice  the black and white  opinion of leading representatives of the Association of German Moral Theologians and the Conference of the German-speaking Pastoral Theologians (Use of inclusive language to include women). 
In the first case it is according to its own definition a  congregation of those teaching at German universities and research-and emeritus professors of moral theology. In the second, it includes the same faculty members of the departments of Pastoral Theology from all over German-speaking countries, including the Netherlands.

"Collective Answer" German Moral and Pastoral Theologians Conform in Line with Zollitsch & Marx

"20 moral and pastoral theologians" replied jointly to the Roman questionnaire on the preparatory document of the Synod of Bishops on the topic of family. Involved are moral and pastoral theologians from various universities. emeritus professors of Münster, Mainz, Graz, Benediktbeuren, Tilburg, Dortmund, as well as the promoters of school sex education John Gründel (Munich) and Hans Kramer (Bochum). Among the resources is to be found the Viennese moral theologian Gunter Prüller-Jagenteufel , who is married to the director of the Pastoral Office of the Archdiocese of Vienna, Veronika Prüller-Jagenteufel,  as well as Eberhard Schockenhoff of Freiburg in Breisgau, the Jesuit Josef Schuster of St. Georgen. More surprising in this circle is the pastoral theologian and Cistercian Norbert Stigler of the University of Heiligenkreuz [They're supposed to be good...] near Vienna.

Monday, December 30, 2013

Ariel Levi di Gualdo About the "German" Problem and a Current Schism

(Munich), the militant Jewish convert and Catholic priest Ariel Levi Stefano di Gualdo has expressed his opinion on  the "German" problem in the Catholic Church and speaks of a current, complete schism. Specifically, he recalls his experiences some years ago in Munich with Archbishop Reinhard Cardinal Marx.
"The real problem of Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising, is that things are always the same, which plagues German representatives of the church: first they are German, then perhaps they are Catholics, but always on their  own terms with an ineradicable Teutonic arrogance. The reason for this is not  that they have remained the old pagan German people in their innermost being, but that they are  always hostile minded to Rome, or because they reject  Romanitas as a center and engine of Catholic universality. The reason for this is the thinking of Martin Luther with his, "I stand here and will not be moved,'" says Levi di Gualdo.
Of Cardinal Marx the Roman priest describes him presently: "by the result of an obvious error made in good faith, errors by two different popes: Benedict XVI, promoted the young and aspiring bishop to the Bavarian Archbishop's chair and created a cardinal, and Francis, who wanted him for his commission of the eight wise men."

Monday, December 23, 2013

Gänswein: "Many" Pope Enthusiasts "Will Have Their Joy Stuck in Their Throats" -- Who Interprets Francis Correctly?

(Cologne / Rome) The interview of Archbishop Curia Georg Gänswein only appears in the January edition of "Cicero". It has already   reported several previously  known statements. Also, the Vatican expert Matteo Matzuzzi of "Il Foglio"  has commented about the Gänswein response. With the Pope Francis enthusiasts, for whom "the jubilation has been stuck in their throat", says the German Curial Archbishop and personal secretary of Benedict XVI since 2005.,   the virulence of nascent Church rebels in German speaking countries is increasing. They will remain disappointed, said Gänswein, because these are false hopes. Neither Archbishop Gänswein nor the article, however, go into the question to what extent Pope Francis might have abetted the nature of the rebellion with his unorthodox "pastoral" nature. Finally, the Pope has summoned none other than  the  chairman of the German Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Robert Zollitsch. Who interprets Pope Francis correctly? Why is it at all possible that conflicting positions can rely on him? In a Tornielli interview, referring to Matzuzzi, Pope Francis actually slows the flood of interpretations on the German rebel front. However, it is only a half-hearted correction because the Pope made no definitive position on the question of divorced and remarried. So the question remains open and continues to leave room for interpretation by both sides. The attitude of the Pope remains, through ambiguous, theologically poor precision, an ambivalent and  contradictory  opposition between teaching and pastoral care,  and thus causes a wellspring of new outbreaks of rebelliousness, that under Benedict XVI were almost suffocated. 
Gänswein's opinion, together with statements by Cardinal Kurt Koch, at any rate,  is a signal that a resistance is being organized in the German speaking countries against the rebel faction.

.

The Prefect of Francis and Secretary of BXVI raises his Voice in Germany

"Many of those who were enthusiastic about  Francis,  will have their jubilation stuck in their throats". These are the harsh words which  Monsignor Georg Gänswein, the Prefect of the Papal Household and Secretary of Emeritus  Pope Benedict XVI. expressed  in the January issue of the renowned German cultural magazine Cicero. He can look at the situation of the Church in Germany, where a significant part imposes demands against Rome  for rapid reform and an increase in the speed thereof. A turning point in the pastoral care of families as regards the sacraments is a starting point. It doesn't have to do with female Cardinals: whoever  thinks so, "is suffering under a bit of clericalism", as Francis had said in published interview for the  Third Sunday of Advent in a Tornielli interview. The discussion, however, could start at the Deaconess.

Gänswein Brakes

Gänswein brakes, however: "I hardly think the Pope the Pope will be compelled in his pontificate by certain German initiatives", thus referring   to the possibility of allowing women to the diaconate, an idea that was also  recently made by high-ranking wearers of the purple like Cardinal Walter Kasper . "Case closed", is the personal secretary of the Pope Emeritus' response to them.
During the recent Spring Plenary Meeting of the German Bishops' Conference in Trier,  the former president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, said that it was his opinion, possibly to introduce the figure of the female deacon, who is capable of pastoral functions and fulfilling special liturgical services. There would be no dogmatic problems, as Cardinal Kasper adds: no consecration, it would suffice as a simple blessing.

False Hopes

Gänswein is very surprised and sees no changes on the horizon on this front, not even now that the Jesuit Pope, who has raised such high expectations in much of the world's episcopate, with whom he says he will  cooperate "in trust and harmony." The Prefect of the Papal Household is sharply critical of "some forces that want to monopolize the new Pope for their own interests."  Forces, which will remain disappointed, says Gänswein. It is sufficient to look at the handout of the Office of Family Pastoral Care of the Archdiocese of Freiburg, where the approval of remarried divorcees to the Sacraments is  being  suggested,  especially as regards  the re-admission to communion, in the name of Francis' so often mentioned mercy.

Papal Response to Cardinal Marx?

But it is the same pope who clarified in the Tornielli interview: "I spoke of baptism and the community, as spiritual food to go forward, as an aid and not as a bonus. Some have immediately thought of the sacraments for remarried divorcees, but I have not referred to specific cases., I only wanted to demonstrate a principle. " 
An indirect response for those too, who  with Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of Munich-Freising, who accused the Prefect of the Congregation of the Faith, Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller accused of putting the discussion on the pastoral care of marriage with a view to the next Synod of Bishops in October 2014 in   chains and wanting to strangle it.

Cardinal Koch: "the Will of Jesus Christ" is Critical

These were  described as absurd polemics  a few days ago by the Swiss Cardinal Kurt Koch in a long interview. "For Archbishop Müller has done nothing other than the teaching of the Church to remember, and he has reiterated on what Cardinal Ratzinger has said himself as Prefect of the CDF to this problem area. Any serious examination of this problem comes to these teachings, which corresponds to the clear will of Jesus Christ, not over. "In what has  now become a customary opposition between teaching and pastoral today" can not be the way of the Church, as such a contrast contradicts the very essence of being Church. New Pastoral was are only to be found in the light of the truth of the doctrine," Cardinal Koch  is among other things the successor of Cardinal Kasper as President of the Pontifical Council Unity. A few days ago he met together with Patriarch of Moscow Kirill, during a visit to Russia.
Introduction / Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Wikicommons
Trans: Tancred: vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to katholisches...

Edit: Just a note about what the Archbishop said, it's an expression I had some trouble with, "wird Jubel im Hals steckenbleiben."  It literally means to jam or have something jammed down, or die in your throat.  It has a certain harshness to it, as pointed out by Mr. Nardi.  I guess a way to describe it is to be the person jumping up, thinking he has won an academy award, only to find out that his exuberance was not only premature, but completely wrong.  
AMGD