Cardinal Camillo Ruini answers questions at the Vatican press office on June 17, 2014. (Daniel Ibáñez/CNA)
Rome Newsroom, May 4, 2021 / 12:00 pm (CNA).
Italian Cardinal Camillo Ruini has said that he is praying there will be no schism in Germany, as priests and bishops in the country announce their disagreement with a document from the Vatican saying the Church cannot bless same-sex unions.
In a May 4 interview with the newspaper Il Foglio, Ruini said: “I hope with all my heart that there will not be any schism, and I pray for this.”
The 90-year-old cardinal referenced Pope Francis’ 2019 letter in which he asked German Catholics to keep a “connection with the universal Church.”
“These words of the pope offer a standard and a valuable direction,” Ruini said. “I do not deny, therefore, that there is a risk of schism, but I trust that, with God’s help, it can be overcome.”
Ruini’s comments come after a number of priests and bishops in the German-speaking world have expressed support for blessings for same-sex partnerships, despite a recent document from the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) which said the Church cannot bless such unions.
In Germany, Catholic pastoral workers have planned a nationwide event on May 10 in defiance of the Vatican ruling. Organizers hope that same-sex couples across Germany will take part in the initiative, known as “Segnungsgottesdiensten für Liebende,” or “blessing services for lovers.”
The CDF published a “Responsum ad dubium” March 15, with the approval of Pope Francis, replying to the question, “does the Church have the power to give the blessing to unions of persons of the same sex?” The CDF answered, “Negative,” outlining its reasoning in an explanatory note and accompanying commentary.
Ruini, who was Rome’s vicar general from 1991 to 2008, and president of the Italian bishops’ conference for 16 years, said that “people certainly can be blessed, but because they are converted, not because they are confirmed in their sin.”
“God himself blesses the sinful man so that he allows himself to be changed by Him, but He cannot bless sin,” he added.
“I would like to emphasize the strength of this position: it is not just a question of something that the Church has decided not to do, but of something that the Church cannot do. Consequently, no one in the Church has this power,” Ruini said.
Ruini has a reputation for speaking out on social and political issues related to the Catholic Church, and, especially during his years in leadership positions, made frequent media appearances.
He joins other Catholic cardinals and bishops who have recently expressed concern about the situation of the Church in Germany.
In an interview with Colm Flynn that aired on EWTN last month, Australian Cardinal George Pell said he thought that “there is a percentage of the German Church that seems to be resolutely heading in the wrong direction.”
English Bishop Philip Egan of Portsmouth has said that he is worried the German Church’s “Synodal Way” could lead to a “de facto schism.”
Ruini emphasized May 4 that “the Church today is against every unjust discrimination of homosexual persons and wishes that they would be welcomed in the Christian community with respect and consideration.”
The object of dispute, he continued, “lies in the moral evaluation of homosexual relationships and the unions that involve them.”
“According to the constant teaching of Sacred Scripture, the Old and New Testament, and ecclesial tradition, homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered,” he said, “because they are not suitable for transmitting life and are not based on a true affective and sexual complementarity. Therefore, in no case can they be approved.”
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Archbishop Zbigņevs Stankevičs of Riga, Latvia (left), speaking during a Catholic conference in Warsaw in May 2022 on the natural law legacy of John Paul II (right.) / Photos by Lisa Johnston and L’Osservatore Romano
Warsaw, Poland, Jun 9, 2022 / 09:17 am (CNA).
Constant cooperation and dialogue among Catholic, Lutherans, Orthodox, and other Christian denominations have been crucial to protect life and family in the Baltic nation of Latvia, Archbishop Zbigņevs Stankevičs of Riga, Latvia, said during a recent Catholic conference in Warsaw.
In his speech, Stankevičs shared his personal ecumenical experience in Latvia as an example of how the concept of natural law proposed by St. John Paul II can serve as the basis for ecumenical cooperation in defending human values.
The metropolitan archbishop, based in Latvia’s capital, is no stranger to ecumenical work and thought. In 2001, he became the first bishop consecrated in a Lutheran church since the split from Protestantism in the 1500s. The unusual move, which occurred in the church of Evangelical Lutheran Cathedral in Riga, formerly the Catholic Cathedral of St. Mary, signaled the beginning of Stankevičs’ cooperation with the Lutheran church in Latvia, a cooperation that would ultimately become a partnership in the cause of life and the family. Since 2012, the archbishop has served on the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
“I would like to present this ecumenical cooperation in three experiences in my country: the abortion debate, the civil unions discussion, and the so-called Istanbul convention,” Stankevičs began.
Entering the abortion debate
Ordained as a priest in 1996, Stankevičs struggled to find proper consultation for Catholic couples on natural family planning. It was then that he decided to create a small center that provided natural family planning under the motto “let us protect the miracle [of fertility].”
This involvement in the world of natural family planning would lead him into the heart of the abortion debate in Latvian society, and, ultimately, to the conclusion that moral discussions in the public square benefit from a basis in natural law, something emphasized in the teachings of John Paul II.
“I knew that theological arguments would not work for a secular audience, so I wanted to show that Catholic arguments are not opposed to legal, scientific, and universal arguments, but rather are in harmony with them,” Stankevičs said.
“[A] few years later our parliament introduced the discussion to legalize abortion. No one was doing anything so I decided to do something. I consulted some experts and presented a proposal that was published in the most important secular newspaper in Latvia,” the archbishop said.
Stankevičs’ article, “Why I was Lucky,” used both biological and theological arguments to defend human life. He noted that his own mother, when pregnant with him, was under pressure to get an abortion; “but she was a believer, a Catholic, so she refused the pressure.”
After the Latvian parliament legalized abortion in 2002, the different Christian confessions decided to start working together to protect the right to life and the family.
In Latvia, Catholics comprise 25% of the population, Lutherans 34.2%, and Russian Orthodox 17%, with other smaller, mostly Christian denominations making up the remainder.
“We started to work together by the initiative of a businessman in Riga, a non-believer who wanted to promote awareness about the humanity of the unborn,” the archbishop recalled.
“Bringing all Christians together in a truly ecumenical effort ended up bearing good fruits because we worked together in promoting a culture of life: From more than 7,000 abortions per year in 2002, we were able to bring it down to 2,000 by 2020,” he said.
Map of Riga, the capital of Latvia. Shutterstock
Ecumenical defense of marriage, family
Regarding the legislation on civil unions, another area where Stankevičs has rallied ecumenical groups around natural law defense of marriage, the archbishop said that he has seen the tension surrounding LGBT issues mount in Latvian society as increased pressure is brought to bear to legalize same-sex unions.
Invited to a debate on a popular Latvian television show called “One vs. One” after Pope Francis’ remark “who am I to judge?” was widely interpreted in Latvian society as approving homosexual unions, Stankevičs “had the opportunity to explain the teachings of the Catholic Church and what was the real meaning of the Holy Father’s words.”
After that episode, in dialogue with other Christian leaders, Stankevičs proposed a law aimed at reducing political tensions in the country without jeopardizing the traditional concept of the family.
The legislation proposed by the ecumenical group of Christians would have created binding regulations aimed at protecting any kind of common household; “for example, two old persons living together to help one another, or one old and one young person who decide to live together.”
“The law would benefit any household, including homosexual couples, but would not affect the concept of [the] natural family,” Stankevičs explained. “Unfortunately the media manipulated my proposal, and the Agency France Presse presented me internationally as if I was in favor of gay marriage.”
In 2020, the Constitutional Court in Latvia decided a case in favor of legalizing homosexual couples and ordered the parliament to pass legislation according to this decision.
In response, the Latvian Men’s Association started a campaign to introduce an amendment to the Latvian constitution, to clarify the concept of family. The Latvian constitution in 2005 proclaimed that marriage is only between a man and a woman, but left a legal void regarding the definition of family, which the court wanted to interpret to include homosexual unions.
The Latvian bishops’ conference supported the amendment presented by the Men’s Association, “but most importantly,” Stankevičs explained, “we put together an ecumenical statement signed by the leaders of 10 different Christian denominations supporting the idea that the family should be based on the marriage between a man and a woman. The president of the Latvian Jewish community, a good friend, also joined the statement.”
The Freedom Monument in Riga, Latvia, honors soldiers who died during the Latvian War of Independence (1918-1920). Shutterstock
According to Stankevičs, something strange happened next. “The Minister of Justice created a committee to discuss the demand of the constitutional court, and it included several Christian representatives, including three from the Catholic Church, which worked for a year.” But ignoring all the discussions and proposals, the Minister of Justice ended up sending a proposal to parliament that was a full recognition of homosexual couples as marriage.
The response was also ecumenical: Christian leaders sent a letter encouraging the parliament to ignore the government’s proposal.
According to Stankevičs, the proposal has already passed one round of votes “and it is very likely that it will be approved in a second round of votes, with the support of the New Conservative party. But we Christians continue to work together.”
Preventing gender ideology
The third field of ecumenical cooperation mentioned by Stankevičs concerned the Istanbul Convention, a European treaty which the Latvian government signed but ultimately did not ratify.
The treaty was introduced as an international legal instrument that recognizes violence against women as a violation of human rights and a form of discrimination against women.
The convention claims to cover various forms of gender-based violence against women, but Christian communities in Latvia have criticized the heavy use of gender ideology in both the framing and the language of the document.
The word “gender,” for instance, is defined as “the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for women and men,” a definition that allows gender to be defined independent of biological sex and therefore opens the document to the question of whether it really is aimed at the protection of women.
Christian communities also question the biased nature of the committee designated to enforce the convention.
The governments of Slovakia and Bulgaria refused to ratify the convention, while Poland, Lithuania, and Croatia expressed reservations about the convention though it was ultimately ratified in those countries, a move the government of Poland is attempting to reverse.
“When we found out that the Latvian parliament was going to ratify it, I went to the parliament and presented the common Christian position,” Stankevičs explained. As a consequence of that visit, the Latvian parliament decided not to ratify the convention, Stankevičs said, crediting the appeal to the unity provided by the common Christian position argued via natural law.
“In conclusion,” the archbishop said, “I can say that in Latvia we continue to defend the true nature of life and family. But if we Catholics would act alone, we would not have the impact that we have as one Christian majority. That unity is the reason why the government takes us seriously.”
null / Credit: P. Cristian Gutiérrez, LC / Cathopic
Washington D.C., Mar 17, 2023 / 09:45 am (CNA).
On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of his election to the See of Peter, Pope Francis sat down with Infobae — a news agency from Argent… […]
17 Comments
Germania’s “syodal path”: to illuminate the path, burn down the forest!
I’m sort of wondering what the Germans will call their new church. Maybe they’ll take a hint from a Flannery O’Conner novel and call it “the Catholic Church without Christ.”
In this case, why is a schism a bad. Let’s face reality, they essentially have left the Church anyways. All they are is an open sore trying to change Catholic Doctrine to their view of modernity. So why pretend they are part of the Church Christ founded, make it official and just leave, please!!
It’s heartbreaking for the actual faithful Catholics who are burdened with leaders like this and will be left bereft of their churches and the Sacraments.
Response of many parishes to the pandemic is helping the process along this road -churches locked Blessed Sacrament Chapel blocked etc. – all while the Mass is “spiced up” by parishioners being encouraged to wave to each other or flashing the sign of peace and clapping loudly for someone’s good homily. Royal events get more respect from subjects —-and to think Catholics participate in the HEAVENLY BANQUET. It just keeps getting worse! sigh— Still, the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom should I fear?
Mike,
I think it’s bad because a) it will likely be permanent and b) other bishops outside of Germany may join them. The best solution is to replace the bishops or name coadjutor bishops for the German dioceses.
The fading old guard speaks out with clarity and conviction, sadly as if a voice from the past in a woke Church. Cardinal Camillo Ruini defended John Paul II against his detractors, calls same sex relations exactly what it is, disordered and sinful. Leadership, described elsewhere as having abdicated [to whom is a fearful thought] will not likely join ranks and perhaps stem a schism in the making. What’s worthy of note too marking his moral integrity is his compassion for his wayward German brothers.
If Pope Francis wants to exercise the Petrine ministry with integrity, he needs to make it perfectly clear that the only real way to avert schism is repentance of sin and error on the part of the dissenters.
The German Cardinals, Bishops and Priests along with the laity who support this schismatic position is not about “blessing of lovers”. Rather, it is about their intention to make LGBQT+ behavior “normal and acceptable” to the Church. Wonder if they also would bless the murderer’s acts or those of the adulterer or of the robber? By “blessing the action” they do so without regard for sin at all, unless they do not believe these acts are sinful… that is the crux of their arguement, they do not believe the actions as sinful. Shame on them, on the Church and on those they so-call “bless”.
I have great respect for his Eminence Cardinal Ruini and appreciate his sentiments. But I personally think it would be better if the heterodox German Bishops just left. A significant portion of the German Church (not all of them), including many Bishops and even Cardinals, have been in de facto Schism for several decades, and their decision to formally admit that they no longer believe in the One, Holy Catholic Church’ss teachings and leave to start their own sect, would prevent them from spreading their errors throughout the world. This process has happened before in Germany, during the Reformation, and with the “Old Catholic” Sect (which rejected the doctrine of Papal infallibility)
The response from Cardinal Ruini begs the question: How and when are persons of same-sex attraction (SSA) be “welcomed with respect and consideration.” Certainly, the Church has explicitly taught this as a general principle for decades, but does it not convey a certain naiveté unnuanced? Do they (i.e. the curia and their policy scriptwriters at the Holy See) continue to repeat this general teaching because, perhaps, they believe that most of these folks are living or even attempting to live celibate lives? Are we to treat our SSA friends with “respect and consideration,” without question, when some (although only some) of these same people hold reprehensible and even perverse gay-pride parades? Actively promote and even glorify their “lifestyle” in print and digitally, especially when our kids will have access to the information? When some flaunt their mutual affection publicly, even in the house of God? When some of them come up as couples for Holy Communion? When they adopt children as couples? No, the issue as a whole is complex (until it isn’t) and these issues are on a spectrum of thought and behavior. I think at some point the Magisterium must only only address that such spectrum exists, but that there are lines on it that cross into intrinsic moral evils. The Germanophone church has a problem–but so do we.
–makes me think that way, way back in church history, public sinners had to stand outside and do the mea culpa until the pastor found them sincerely repentant. Maybe that was in fact a good measure for salvation and could be employed again. “Oh rigid horror of horrors shout the merciful? where’s the accompaniment?” Oh my!
Came across this that also seems related to the topic at hand , entanglement in evil brings on more evil , that same cannot be ‘blessed ‘ , ? instead becomes like witchcraft , by going for power in a manner that shows contempt for the holiness of God and His Truth –
The many issues and evils in our times can be seen as related – the media that does not spare even the children in promoting the evils in looks and thoughts .
Good to have come across the article below that gently sheds the light as to how the intent and the context of the P statue incident can be seen for what it is ; same thus to help to be in oneness with the call of the Holy Father for the Rosary devotion for this month , that it brings forth the fruit of holiness all through .
The Holy Father being not naive when it comes to statues – he has been a devotee of
Our Lady of lujan – represented by a 14 inch statue of bl.Mother honoring the purity and truth of The Immaculate Conception that would not budge by the pull of the oxen .
May the rich symbolism of same help those who feel powerless against the tide of evil to turn with trust as to where in is the true source of what they are seeking and asking for – in The Divine Will that reigned in The Mother , not in the nothingness of self will and its rebellions of misguided search for power .
Oh so what. Excommunicate them all and let them form their own German National Socialist Anti-Catholic Church if they want to. They can have their own protest cross and special allegiance salute to their supreme leader and everything.
They fear a Schism??? Look around yourselves, schism, Heresy, Apostasy is everywhere. And that includes just about everyone in the Vatican. Did not Vatican ll call for more “active participation”? Now that they got it they don’t know what to do with it.
Germania’s “syodal path”: to illuminate the path, burn down the forest!
I’m sort of wondering what the Germans will call their new church. Maybe they’ll take a hint from a Flannery O’Conner novel and call it “the Catholic Church without Christ.”
In this case, why is a schism a bad. Let’s face reality, they essentially have left the Church anyways. All they are is an open sore trying to change Catholic Doctrine to their view of modernity. So why pretend they are part of the Church Christ founded, make it official and just leave, please!!
It’s heartbreaking for the actual faithful Catholics who are burdened with leaders like this and will be left bereft of their churches and the Sacraments.
Response of many parishes to the pandemic is helping the process along this road -churches locked Blessed Sacrament Chapel blocked etc. – all while the Mass is “spiced up” by parishioners being encouraged to wave to each other or flashing the sign of peace and clapping loudly for someone’s good homily. Royal events get more respect from subjects —-and to think Catholics participate in the HEAVENLY BANQUET. It just keeps getting worse! sigh— Still, the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom should I fear?
Mike,
I think it’s bad because a) it will likely be permanent and b) other bishops outside of Germany may join them. The best solution is to replace the bishops or name coadjutor bishops for the German dioceses.
Lord have mercy.
The fading old guard speaks out with clarity and conviction, sadly as if a voice from the past in a woke Church. Cardinal Camillo Ruini defended John Paul II against his detractors, calls same sex relations exactly what it is, disordered and sinful. Leadership, described elsewhere as having abdicated [to whom is a fearful thought] will not likely join ranks and perhaps stem a schism in the making. What’s worthy of note too marking his moral integrity is his compassion for his wayward German brothers.
If Pope Francis wants to exercise the Petrine ministry with integrity, he needs to make it perfectly clear that the only real way to avert schism is repentance of sin and error on the part of the dissenters.
lgtb = money
The German Cardinals, Bishops and Priests along with the laity who support this schismatic position is not about “blessing of lovers”. Rather, it is about their intention to make LGBQT+ behavior “normal and acceptable” to the Church. Wonder if they also would bless the murderer’s acts or those of the adulterer or of the robber? By “blessing the action” they do so without regard for sin at all, unless they do not believe these acts are sinful… that is the crux of their arguement, they do not believe the actions as sinful. Shame on them, on the Church and on those they so-call “bless”.
I have great respect for his Eminence Cardinal Ruini and appreciate his sentiments. But I personally think it would be better if the heterodox German Bishops just left. A significant portion of the German Church (not all of them), including many Bishops and even Cardinals, have been in de facto Schism for several decades, and their decision to formally admit that they no longer believe in the One, Holy Catholic Church’ss teachings and leave to start their own sect, would prevent them from spreading their errors throughout the world. This process has happened before in Germany, during the Reformation, and with the “Old Catholic” Sect (which rejected the doctrine of Papal infallibility)
The response from Cardinal Ruini begs the question: How and when are persons of same-sex attraction (SSA) be “welcomed with respect and consideration.” Certainly, the Church has explicitly taught this as a general principle for decades, but does it not convey a certain naiveté unnuanced? Do they (i.e. the curia and their policy scriptwriters at the Holy See) continue to repeat this general teaching because, perhaps, they believe that most of these folks are living or even attempting to live celibate lives? Are we to treat our SSA friends with “respect and consideration,” without question, when some (although only some) of these same people hold reprehensible and even perverse gay-pride parades? Actively promote and even glorify their “lifestyle” in print and digitally, especially when our kids will have access to the information? When some flaunt their mutual affection publicly, even in the house of God? When some of them come up as couples for Holy Communion? When they adopt children as couples? No, the issue as a whole is complex (until it isn’t) and these issues are on a spectrum of thought and behavior. I think at some point the Magisterium must only only address that such spectrum exists, but that there are lines on it that cross into intrinsic moral evils. The Germanophone church has a problem–but so do we.
Charles Urban:
–makes me think that way, way back in church history, public sinners had to stand outside and do the mea culpa until the pastor found them sincerely repentant. Maybe that was in fact a good measure for salvation and could be employed again. “Oh rigid horror of horrors shout the merciful? where’s the accompaniment?” Oh my!
Came across this that also seems related to the topic at hand , entanglement in evil brings on more evil , that same cannot be ‘blessed ‘ , ? instead becomes like witchcraft , by going for power in a manner that shows contempt for the holiness of God and His Truth –
https://www.catholicexorcism.org/post/exorcist-diary-136-sex-with-a-witch
The many issues and evils in our times can be seen as related – the media that does not spare even the children in promoting the evils in looks and thoughts .
Good to have come across the article below that gently sheds the light as to how the intent and the context of the P statue incident can be seen for what it is ; same thus to help to be in oneness with the call of the Holy Father for the Rosary devotion for this month , that it brings forth the fruit of holiness all through .
https://wherepeteris.com/still-worried-about-pachamama-read-laudato-si/
The Holy Father being not naive when it comes to statues – he has been a devotee of
Our Lady of lujan – represented by a 14 inch statue of bl.Mother honoring the purity and truth of The Immaculate Conception that would not budge by the pull of the oxen .
May the rich symbolism of same help those who feel powerless against the tide of evil to turn with trust as to where in is the true source of what they are seeking and asking for – in The Divine Will that reigned in The Mother , not in the nothingness of self will and its rebellions of misguided search for power .
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/27175/pope-francis-marks-argentinas-our-lady-of-lujan-feast
Oh so what. Excommunicate them all and let them form their own German National Socialist Anti-Catholic Church if they want to. They can have their own protest cross and special allegiance salute to their supreme leader and everything.
They fear a Schism??? Look around yourselves, schism, Heresy, Apostasy is everywhere. And that includes just about everyone in the Vatican. Did not Vatican ll call for more “active participation”? Now that they got it they don’t know what to do with it.