The German Crisis, the World Church, and Pope Francis
German Catholicism is often said to be in a de facto schism. That is an inadequate description of the German crisis. The German Catholicism manifest in the documents of the Synodal Path is in apostasy.
A LGBTQ flag hangs on St. Paul's Church in Munich 13, 2022. (CNS photo/Lukas Barth, Reuters)
The Year of Our Lord 2023 will likely witness Catholic dramas we cannot predict now; that is the way of Providence. What we can know with certainty about next year is that the German crisis in the world Church will come to a head, because what’s happening in Germany will collide with the first session of the Synod on Synodality for a Synodal Church in October 2023. And the resolution of the German crisis will be, if not wholly determinative, then hugely consequential, in defining the legacy of Pope Francis.
So what is happening in Germany, along its national “Synodal Path”?
Many things are happening: a weaponization of the crime and sin of sexual abuse in order to reinvent Catholicism; the rejection of settled Catholic understandings of human love and its expression; an unconditional surrender to gender ideology and its deconstruction of the biblical concept of the human person; a revolution in ecclesiology that, in the name of lay empowerment, empties the offices of bishop and priest of their full sacramental character; the gradual reduction of the Church to a wealthy NGO, doing good works defined by the politically correct consensus of the moment.
Beneath all this — and here we come to the bottom of the bottom line — is a rejection of the Second Vatican Council’s solemn teaching on divine revelation. And as Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, known by its Latin title Dei Verbum (The Word of God), was the Council’s fundamental achievement, to reject the teaching of Dei Verbum is to reject Vatican II. The German “Synodal Path” is not a development of the Council. It is a rejection of the Council.
Dei Verbum robustly affirmed the reality of divine revelation and its binding authority over time. Drawing on more than a century of biblical and theological reflection on salvation history, Vatican II insisted, against the grain of modern high culture, that Christianity is not a pious myth or a collection of inspiring legends. Christianity is an encounter with the incarnate Son of God, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, who brings to fulfillment the self-revelation of who God is, and what God intends for humanity, which began when God spoke to the Jewish people through Abraham, Moses and the Prophets.
Dei Verbum also taught that God’s revelation to humanity was completed in Jesus Christ. Catholics continually plumb the depths of that revelation and its meaning over time, and so our Christian understanding grows. But revelation judges every historical moment; revelation is not judged by the “signs of the times.”
Or to put the matter as simply as possible: God knows better than we do about what makes for human happiness, flourishing, and, eventually, beatitude. The “signs of the times” may help us better grasp what God has said in Scripture and Tradition. But if the “signs of the times” (for example, gender ideology) contradict what God has revealed about our nature and destiny, the “signs of the times” are awry, not the word of God.
The documents of the German Synodal Path, often couched in a mind-numbing sociologese overlaid with a thin veneer of religious language, essentially deny all of this.
In these texts, the “signs of the times” are the driver of the Church’s self-understanding, such that there are no stable reference points for knowing whether an alleged development of doctrine is a genuine development or a fraud. Nor does divine revelation give us any firm grasp of who we are and of what makes for righteous living: “self-determination” trumps the truths inscribed by God in human nature and relationships, “gender is…to be seen multidimensionally,” and to suggest otherwise “leads to human rights violations.”
German Catholicism is often said to be in a de facto schism. That is an inadequate description of the German crisis. The German Catholicism manifest in the documents of the Synodal Path is in apostasy. The German Synodal Path does not accept the “faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3). Rather, one of its “foundational” texts affirmed earlier this year that “in the Church, too, legitimate views and ways of life can compete with one another, even in terms of core beliefs.”
Thus does Catholic Lite lead inexorably to Catholic Zero.
Pope Francis bears a heavy burden in seeking a resolution of the German crisis that is true to the reality and binding authority of divine revelation. If such a resolution is not achieved, however, it will raise the gravest doubts about the entire project of “synodality” central to his pontificate.
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A defining theme of Pope Francis’ papacy has been his urging of humanity to better care for the natural environment, which he has done most prominently in his landmark 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’ and numerous subsequent writings and speeches.
The pope’s emphasis on this topic — especially his foray into climate science via his recent encyclical Laudate Deum — has variously drawn both praise and consternation from Catholics in the United States, about half of whom do not share Pope Francis’ views on climate change, according to surveys.
In Laudate Deum, which was released in October as a continuation to Laudato Si’, Francis wrote that the effects of climate change “are here and increasingly evident,” warning of “immensely grave consequences for everyone” if drastic efforts are not made to reduce emissions. In the face of this, the Holy Father criticized those who “have chosen to deride [the] facts” about climate science, stating bluntly that it is “no longer possible to doubt the human — ‘anthropic’ — origin of climate change.”
The pope in the encyclical laid out his belief that there must be a “necessary transition towards clean energy sources, such as wind and solar energy, and the abandonment of fossil fuels.” This follows a call from Pope Francis in 2021 to the global community calling for the world to “achieve net zero carbon emissions as soon as possible.”
He further lamented what he called “certain dismissive and scarcely reasonable opinions [on climate change] that I encounter, even within the Catholic Church.”
In light of the new encyclical — which extensively cites the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) — Pope Francis was invited to speak at this week’s United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP28. Though the 86-year-old pope was forced to cancel his trip due to health issues, the Vatican has indicated that he aims to participate in COP28 this weekend in some fashion. It announced today that Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin will represent the pope at the conference.
While various Catholic groups have welcomed the pope’s latest encyclical, some Catholics have reacted with persistent doubts, questioning whether the pope’s policy prescriptions would actually produce the desired effects.
How do Americans feel about climate change?
According to a major survey conducted by Yale University, 72% of Americans believed in 2021 — the latest available data year — that “global warming is happening,” and 57% believe that global warming is caused by human activity.
More recent polling from the Pew Research Center, conducted in June, similarly suggests that two-thirds of U.S. adults overall say the country should prioritize developing renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, over the expansion of the production of oil, coal, and natural gas. That same survey found that just 3 in 10 adults (31%) say the U.S. should completely phase out oil, coal, and natural gas. The Yale study found that 77% of U.S. adults support at least the funding of research into renewable energy sources.
Broken down by party affiliation, Pew found that a large majority of Democratic and Democratic-leaning independents — 90% — favor alternative energy sources, while just under half, 42%, of Republicans and Republican-leaning adults think the same. Within the Republican cohort, however, 67% of Republicans under age 30 prioritize the development of alternative energy sources, compared with the 75% of Republicans ages 65 and older who prioritize the expansion of oil, coal, and natural gas.
In terms of the expansion of alternative energy sources, two-thirds of Americans think the federal government should encourage domestic production of wind and solar power, Pew reported. Just 7% say the government should discourage this, while 26% think it should neither encourage nor discourage it.
How do America’s Catholics feel about climate change?
Surveys suggest that Catholics in the United States are slightly more likely than the U.S. population as a whole to be skeptical of climate change, despite the pope’s emphatic words in 2015 and since.
A separate Pew study suggests that 44% of U.S. Catholics say the Earth is warming mostly due to human activity, a view in line with Pope Francis’ stance. About 3 in 10 (29%) said the Earth is warming mostly due to natural patterns, while 13% said they believe there is no solid evidence the planet is getting warmer.
According to the same study, 71% of Hispanic Catholics see climate change as an extremely or very serious problem, compared with 49% of white, non-Hispanic Catholics. (There were not enough Black or Asian Catholics in the 2022 survey to analyze separately, Pew said.)
One 2015 study from Yale did suggest that soon after Laudato Si’ was released, U.S. Catholics were overall more likely to believe in climate change than before. That same study found no change, however, in the number of Americans overall who believe human activity is causing global warming.
Pope Francis’ climate priorities
Beyond his groundbreaking writings, Pope Francis has taken many actions during his pontificate to make his own — admittedly small — country, Vatican City, more sustainable, including the recent announcement of a large order of electric vehicles, construction of its own network of charging stations, a reforestation program, and the continued importation of energy coming exclusively from renewable sources.
Francis has often lamented what he sees as a tepid response from developed countries in implementing measures to curb climate change. In Laudate Deum, he urged that new multinational agreements on climate change — speaking in this case specifically about the COP28 conference — be “drastic, intense, and count on the commitment of all,” stating that “a broad change in the irresponsible lifestyle connected with the Western model would have a significant long-term impact.”
The pope lamented what he sees as the fact that when new projects related to green energy are proposed, the potential for economic growth, employment, and human promotion are thought of first rather than moral considerations such as the effects on the world’s poorest.
“It is often heard also that efforts to mitigate climate change by reducing the use of fossil fuels and developing cleaner energy sources will lead to a reduction in the number of jobs,” the pope noted.
“What is happening is that millions of people are losing their jobs due to different effects of climate change: rising sea levels, droughts, and other phenomena affecting the planet have left many people adrift. Conversely, the transition to renewable forms of energy, properly managed, as well as efforts to adapt to the damage caused by climate change, are capable of generating countless jobs in different sectors.”
‘Leave God’s creation better than we found it’
Dr. Kevin Roberts, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Heritage Foundation think tank, told CNA that he has noticed a theme of frustration and confusion among many Catholics regarding the Holy Father’s emphasis on climate change.
A self-described outdoorsman and former president of Wyoming Catholic College, Roberts spoke highly to CNA of certain aspects of Laudato Si’, particularly the pope’s insights into what he called “human ecology,” which refers to the acceptance of each person’s human body as a vital part of “accepting the entire world as a gift from the Father and our common home.”
Dr. Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation. Courtesy of Heritage Foundation.
“I like to think [Pope Francis] personally wrote that, because I could see him saying that,” Roberts said of the passage, which appears in paragraph 155 of the encyclical. Roberts said he even makes a point to meditate on that “beautiful and moving” passage during a retreat that he does annually.
That portion of Laudato Si’ notwithstanding, Roberts said he strongly believes that it detracts from other important issues, such as direct ministry to the poor, when Pope Francis elevates care for God’s natural creation as “seemingly more important than other issues to us as Catholics.” He also said he disagrees with Pope Francis’ policy prescriptions, such as a complete phasing out of fossil fuels, contained in Laudate Deum.
“We of course want to pray for him. We’re open to the teaching that he is providing. But we also have to remember as Catholics that sometimes popes are wrong. And on this issue, it is a prudential matter. It is not a matter of morality, particularly when he’s getting into the scientific policy recommendations,” Roberts said.
Roberts said the Heritage Foundation’s research and advocacy has focused not on high-level, multinational agreements and conferences to tackle the issues posed by climate change but rather on smaller-scale, more community-based efforts. He said this policy position is, in part, due to the historical deference such multinational conglomerates of nations have given to China, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases overall.
He said agreements within the U.S. itself, with businesses and all levels of government working together, have produced the best results so far when it comes to improving the environment. He also pointed to examples of constructive action that don’t involve billions of dollars, such as families making the choice to spend more time outdoors or engaging in local activities that contribute to environmental conservation and community life, such as anti-litter campaigns and community gardening. The overarching goal, he said, should be to “leave God’s creation better than we found it.”
Roberts — who said he personally believes humans likely have “very little effect” on the climate — said he was discouraged to read other portions of Laudato Si’, as well as Laudate Deum, that to him read as though they had come “straight out of the U.N.” Despite his criticisms, Roberts urged his fellow Catholics to continue to pray for the Holy Father and to listen to the pope’s moral insights.
“I just think that the proposed solutions are actually more anti-human and worse than the purported effects of climate change,” he added.
‘A far more complex issue’
Greg Sindelar, a Catholic who serves as CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), a conservative think tank that studies the energy industry, similarly expressed concerns to CNA about the potential impact of certain climate change mitigation policies on human flourishing.
Like Roberts, Sindelar spoke highly of certain aspects of the pope’s message while expressing reservations about some of the U.N.-esque solutions proposed in Laudate Deum.
“I think the pope is right about our duty as Catholics to be stewards and to care for the environment. But I think what we have to understand — what we have to balance this with — is that it cannot come at the expense of depriving people of affordable and reliable energy,” Sindelar said in an interview with CNA.
“There’s ways to be environmentally friendly without sacrificing the access that we all need to reliable and affordable energy.”
Greg Sindelar is CEO of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a think tank in America’s leading energy-producing state. Courtesy of Texas Public Policy Foundation
Sindelar said TPPF primarily promotes cheap, reliable access to energy as a means of promoting human flourishing. The free-market-focused group is skeptical of top-down governmental intervention, both in the form of regulation and incentives or disincentives in certain areas of the energy sector.
When asked what he thinks his fellow Catholics largely think about the issue, Sindelar said many of the Catholics he hears from express the view that government policies and interventions rarely produce effective solutions and could potentially hinder access to energy for those in need.
“I think it’s a far more complex issue than just saying we need to cut emissions, and we need to transfer away from fossil fuels, and all these other things. What we need to do is figure out and ensure ways that we are providing affordable and reliable electricity to all citizens of the world,” he reiterated.
“When the pope speaks, when the Vatican speaks, it carries a lot of weight with Catholics around the world, [and] not just with Catholics … and I totally agree with him that we need to be thinking about the most marginalized and the poorest amongst us,” Sindelar continued.
“[But] by going down these policy prescription paths that he’s recommending, we’re actually going to reduce their ability to have access to that,” he asserted.
Sindelar, while disagreeing with Pope Francis’ call for an “abandonment of fossil fuels,” said he appreciates the fact that Pope Francis has spoken out about the issue of care for creation and has initiated so much public discussion.
“I think there is room for differing views and opinions on the right ways to do that,” he said.
Effective mitigation efforts
Susan Varlamoff, a retired biologist and parishioner at St. John Neumann Catholic Church in the Atlanta area, is among those Catholics who are committed to Pope Francis’ call to care for creation and to mitigate the effects of climate change. To that end, Varlamoff in 2016 created a peer-reviewed action plan for the Archdiocese of Atlanta to help Catholics put the principles contained in Laudato Si’ into action, mainly through smaller, more personal actions that people can take to reduce their energy usage.
Retired biologist Susan Varlamoff. Photo courtesy of Susan Varlamoff
The Atlanta Archdiocese’s efforts have since garnered recognition and praise, Varlamoff said, with at least 35 archdioceses now involved in an inter-diocesan network formed to exchange sustainability ideas based on the latest version of the plan from Atlanta.
“It’s fascinating to see what everybody is doing, and it’s basically based on their talents and imaginations,” Varlamoff said, noting that a large number of young people have gotten involved with their efforts.
As a scientist, Varlamoff told CNA it is clear to her that Pope Francis knows what he’s talking about when he lays out the dangers posed by inaction in the face of climate change.
“He understands the science, and he’s deeply concerned … he’s got remarkable influence as a moral leader,” she said.
“Part of what our religion asks us to do is to care for one another. We have to care for creation if we’re going to care for one another, because the earth is our natural resource system, our life support, and we cannot care for one another if we don’t have that life support.”
Responding to criticisms about the financial costs associated with certain green initiatives, Varlamoff noted that small-scale sustainable actions can actually save money. She offered the example of parishes in the Atlanta area that have drastically reduced their electric bills by installing solar panels.
“[But,] it’s not just about saving money. It’s also about reducing fossil fuels and greenhouse gas emissions, and protecting the natural resources for future generations,” she said.
Moreover, Varlamoff said, the moral imperative to improve the natural environment for future generations is worth the investment. “When [Catholics] give money, for example, for a social justice issue like Walking with Moms in Need or special needs, the payback is improving lives. We’re improving the environment here,” she emphasized.
Debate has always been an invigorating and constructive way of defining and refining views, assuming that the debaters have minds of probity and reason. This is increasingly absent in our culture, where subjectivism rules, and […]
Yes, yes! Well reported and well said, but wait, is there still more? What if Germania is not only a “schism,” and more accurately an “apostasy,” but also a sweeping abdication from ALL created reality? Let’s have a look…
WHAT IF all the German novelties—theological (the wedge driven between moral theology and things “pastoral”), ecclesial (a synodal plebiscite?) and philosophical (the first law of non-contradiction lobotomized)—signify a rejection of the inseparable bond uniting the created spiritual and material realms themselves—as revealed by the Incarnation?
WHAT IF the very core to Germania’s “synodal path[s]” is the homosexual lifestyle (not inclination) itself, with all other penetrations serving, if necessary, as temporarily expendable decoys, going into the Synod on Synodality? What if this Synod of 2023/2024 is already wired with the homosexual core signaled to never to be rejected, nor formally affirmed, but harmonized as the DNA to being “Catholic in a different way”?
WHAT IF, then, a “different way” of (c)atholicity, is very much UN-different from the cosmopolitan ways of Islam?
Islam, a natural religion very much a polyglot catholicity incorporating, in its case, some of the Pentateuch (excluding the prohibitive commandments), some of Christianity (with a Nestorian slant), some of the warrior code (Arabian jihad, like Japan’s Bushido), some pagan practices (polygamy, the pilgrimage to the Ka-ba, and dismissal of the self-disclosed Trinity (as a pagan triad). Even three of the five pillars of Islam are drawn from the Judeo-Christian tradition: alms, fasting, and prayer. All-inclusive monotheism.
WHAT IF Dei Verbum is never really denied under Germania’s eliding and “different kind of catholicity?”
Is even this definitive and “binding authority over time” absorbed—as an Islamic-like and tolerated dhimmi? Very much as sexually binary/complementary humanity is still included as a residual option within random gender theory? Germania in suit and tie—a facsimile of Islam (in a turban) which replaces “the Word made flesh” with “the word made book [the Qur’an].” Germania, in our postmodern and techy age, similarly replaces Dei Verbum with a plebiscite—and the sigmoidoscope with the male sexual member!
THE BARQUE OF PETER? What if the Synod on Synodality “transitions” revealed Truth into an “endless journey” of flip-chart words about words?
With the outlier Germania useful as a decoy against real theological, ecclesial, and rational discourse…Perhaps no “collision” at all in 2023? Perhaps a post-Christian “paradigm shift” from top to bottom (so to speak), like Islamic “abrogation”? Perhaps no “gravest doubts” about the anti-reality of alloyed Synodality in the grooming hands of Grech and Hollerich? With Christ’s twelve apostles replaced by twenty-four “experts”?
“Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb 13:8), now to be encapsulated as an Islamo-synodal dhimmi? “Catholic but in a different way?”—Synodal “catholicity” with a small c as in eclectic and Islamic harmonization?
Or, like councils, are real synods still something that the Church DOES, but not what the Church IS?
I completely disagree with the author’s assessment. Mr. W has always been a fundamentalist regardless of what pastoral experience in the fields of the Lord reveals. Armchair Theology must be fun. Rolling up your sleeves to serve the faithful in the neighborhoods around the world is were the real work is. Talk is cheap especially when you’re just a blaring pundit with disdain for real life problems. People like you make people lose their faith, first in the church then in God. And it will be on you!
There is much hate in this column and lots of bile spilled in the replies. I pray that you may learn to replace the hate in your hearts with love and compassion for all of God’s children who are trying to live their best life in the faith.
Mr. W should replace the smug picture. It’s very revealing. Do not be like the pharisees demanding every mosaic law to be followed but having no love in their hearts. Jesus was murdered for living by the word and the Spirit. Because the word is constant but the Spirit renews. And prompts us to evolve.
In other words, Mr. Cassar, you believe truth flows from experiences and personal situations, not from God and the innate order found in creation. Got it.
“There is much hate in this column.” This statement is objectively slanderous. But I suspect you don’t recognize it.
This but another example of the consequences of abandoning the doctrine of original sin by modernist biblical scholars and theologians during and after Vatican II. All the Catholic elements appear to be their except the fundamental truths recorded in the Gospel: the suffering death and Resurrection of Jesus broke the power of Satan for those embrace and love Him in His Mystical Body the Church, and struggle to live according to His way of life.
Your response to Mr Weigel exemplifies relativism. There are plenty of congregations and societies where relativism reigns. They will not be satisfied until all the world has embraced the religion of relativism. Ruled by en elite who define what is true and false in each age.
If the word is constant then God is constant in creation as God made us male and female in human species complementary. Biology anthropology, and all exact science not pseudo science, attests to this. Therefore the Holy Spirit would be constant within this as God reveals and renews our soul heart and body to conform to creation as God created .. not as you may suggest in your personalized image..
the German synod opposes this constancy in revealed knowledge God reveals through Holy Mother Church.. not the LGBTQ etc pride flag the Munich church is proudly idolizing… Mt W said it right and not in hate as you suggest mr C
So truth is fungable to be whatever you want it to be? So what do you find objectively evil about any activity of the Manson Family? And does the “new pastoralism” recognize that self-deception is nor only humanly possible but rather commonplace, which might include when one displays vitriol while attempting to to lecture someone about not hating?
…for all of God’s children who are trying to live their best life in the faith.
In what faith? Look, the modern sexual outlook is inconsistent with Biblical teaching. Or do you not read the Bible? Might be wise to know in what you base your “faith” …
At the core of the documents of the German Path (to gehennam) lies secular humanism in its religious form: man takes over the place of God as giver of revelation via the consensus of the fallen people (“signs of the time”). This new god-man now has the capability of re-creating himself via genital mutilation and becoming his true, fallen self in its corrupted and perverted sexual nature. Transsexualism and homoexualism are not only allowed, they are necessary for accomplishing the goal of replacing the creator and his created order.
The Synodal Paths Church of Secular Humanism is paganism in the clothing of catholic hierarchy.
Thank you, Mr. Weigel, for the clear, concise, deftly expurgated account of what is happening in the European Church.
Clearly, the evil one intends to replace the Church founded by Christ Jesus with a sham edifice that bows to the culture’s monstrous evils in order to avoid controversy, censure and/or an interruption in its revenue stream.
The Catholic Church has acclimated itself to the killing of more than a billion children worldwide over the past half century. And, quite possibly, two or three times that number.
Not surprising that now the Church’s soul is hanging in the balance.
well, wrong, inadvertently: who brings to fulfillment the self-revelation of who God is, and what God intends for humanity, which began when God spoke to the Jewish people through Abraham, Moses and the Prophets. It goes back to, or began with, Genesis and Creation…unless one is removing everything before Abram came on the scene as God not speaking to His People and not part of the Dei Verbum…?? Advent blessings….
Ofcourse Francis bears responsibility for the schism, heresy, or apostasy of Germany’s Church, Francis’ papacy, and all vicious sins he has failed to sense, to know, or attempt to correct. Call it what we will–the pride of choosing to know better than Christ and His Church of scripture and tradition leads to heresy, apostasy, and schism.
Lest there arise any doubt about the bottom of the bottom of neglect and abuse of responsibility, Francis further chose the audacious stupidity to identify traditional faithful Catholics as those doing dishonor to VCII.
As the historical Incarnate Word once revealed Himself, a ‘disciple’ bore responsibility for His betrayal, a betrayal of serious and everlasting consequence; the pattern reiterates today. At the bottom of the bottom is Francis. HE IS THE ONE WHO HAS HERETOFORE FAILED TO STAND AGAINST SCHEMES AND SCHISMS. He is the bottom of the bottom of all of the faithful he has failed to lead to Christ. A choice for Hegelian dialectics and peripheral sin instead of to the sacred heart of God has led this Papacy and the Orthodox Faith straight to the border of the place where confusion, disgust, sickness, heresy, schism, apostasy, and ambiguity dwell.
The result? The revelation of disorder becomes apparent and the ambiguity leads to transparency, sickness to health. The Christ-Child offers Himself in all beauty and truth and providence. The rotten core and surface of His Church ‘members’ are unworthy. Meanwhile, He favors His faithful with clear vision.
It is beyond the “pay grade for either of us to formally declare as you so aptly put it —“German Catholicism is often said to be in a de facto schism. That is an inadequate description of the German crisis. The German Catholicism manifest in the documents of the Synodal Path is in apostasy. The German Synodal Path does not accept the “faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3). Rather, one of its “foundational” texts affirmed earlier this year that “in the Church, too, legitimate views and ways of life can compete with one another, even in terms of core beliefs.” However the gift of faith does allow us as true disciples of Jesus Our Savior to proclaim the truth and defend all the teachings given to us.
“German Catholicism is often said to be in a de facto schism.”
Matthew 5:13 The Similes of Salt and Light.
“You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world…”
Luke 13:34 The Simile of Salt.
“Salt is good, but if salt itself loses its taste, with what can its flavor be restored? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.”
So what do we do if Pope Francis decides not to Anathematize the schism German Bishops, as Jesus Commands him to do so, but instead, Pope Francis decides to allow the schism German Bishops to pull the whole Body of the Universal Catholic Church into eternal damnation?
Matthew 18:9
If your eye is your downfall, gouge it out and cast it from you! Better to enter life with one eye than be thrown with both into fiery Gehenna.
Luke 11:34
The lamp of the body is your eye. When your eye is sound, then your whole body is filled with light, but when it is bad, then your body is in darkness.
The “eyes” of the “body” of Christ’s Church, are our Catholic Church Leaders. Jesus Commands His Church, that if Her eye is Her undoing, She is to gouge it out and cast it into hell, so they do not pull the whole Body of the Church into hell. Catholic Anathema is Jesus’ lips binding sinners to their sins, which cuts evildoers off from the body of the Church and casts them into hell, for the protection of Jesus’ Church on earth.
Matthew 18:5
“Whoever welcomes one such child for my sake welcomes me. On the other hand, it would be better for anyone who leads astray one of these little ones who believes in me, to be drown by a millstone around his neck, in the depths of the sea. What terrible things will come on the world through scandal! It is inevitable that scandal should occur. Nonetheless, woe to that man through whom scandal comes! If your hand or foot is your undoing, cut it off and throw it from you! Better to enter life maimed or crippled than be thrown with two hands or feet into endless fire. If your eye is your downfall, gouge it out and cast it from you! Better to enter life with one eye than be thrown with both into fiery Gehenna.
ANATHEMA
the formula of anathema which ends with these words: Wherefore in the name of God the All-powerful, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, of the Blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and of all the saints, in virtue of the power which has been given us of binding and loosing in Heaven and on earth, we deprive N– himself and all his accomplices and all his abettors of the Communion of the Body and Blood of our Lord, we separate him from the society of all Christians, we exclude him from the bosom of our Holy Mother the Church in Heaven and on earth, we declare him excommunicated and anathematized and we judge him condemned to eternal fire with Satan and his angels and all the reprobate….”
…He who dares to despise our decision, let him be stricken with anathema maranatha, i.e. may he be damned at the coming of the Lord, may he have his place with Judas Iscariot, he and his companions.
Quoted from: New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia – Anathema
Matthew 18:17 Fraternal Correction
“If he ignores them, refer it to the church . If he ignores even the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector. I assure you, whatever you declare bound on earth shall be held bound in heaven, and whatever you declare loosed on earth shall be held loosed in heaven.
Good work is appreciated! Those who are faithful to the Lord Jesus and His bride the Church are uplifted by fidelity and the broadcast of truth. We need to be much in prayer. The Lord is testing us. May He give us strength and wisdom to be effective servants. Allow me to add some scripture to your well chosen verses!
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
John 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
Jeremiah 2:8 The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who handle the law did not know me; the shepherds transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit.
1 Samuel 2:12 Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord.
Let us be examples of truth by means of the Lord’s instruction.
Dialogue misses the mark where Truth is not understood nor accepted. Life is tough; filled with worldly reflexes and physical inclinations. Openness to Grace involves a discipleship towards the Otherwordly which is so difficult.
Living in Germany Berlin where the Catholic Church have not the same Power as in Bavaria and Koln The Romours of a Scisma which is felt is clearly not fully Understood by The Vatican but here in Germany is **Heard in the Cardinals Vineyard** because the Points discussed in the The German Church are about Homosexsuality About the Priesthood for Women. The fact is that the Catholic Church in Germany have Lost the Supremacy in the Teaching of Jesus which is almost Totally in the Hands of The Evangelic Church that opened their Churches to LGBT and Ministers of The Churches are Of all Gender and We have Declared Gay Priests and Married Priests and She Priests
Do More than a Theological Problem the Scisma is a Social Problem of The German Society
The Mishandling of the Pedophile Case The Corruption in the Use of
Revenues for Self Purposes and The Fact that there are No Christian Catholic Charismatic
Political Leaders and in many other Fields
This is A very Sad Moment it brings back Historical Past Events where the Strong Churches thought they could Dictate to the Pope the Teaching of Jesus seen in their Point of View Homesexuality is a part of Humanity but cannot Alter The “Dei Verbum”
When will the church see the light of truth?
Is there an iota of evidence on the existence of this invisible entity that above all will punish you ( original sin), but… he loves you!!
We live in an era of evidence based knowledge.
Get out of the dark ages.
Well said Mr. Weigel. What is the general consensus on the extension of the Synod from one to two years? I’m trying to figure out if that is a good or bad sign.
What will be the legacy of pope Francis? Unfortunately, the most empathetic and diplomatic way to describe it would be “ambiguity inevitably begets heresy”. But for now, we have to wait if the world episcopate will follow apostate European bishops down the road to the Synodom on Sodomality.
Let us suppose the German church is correct, that homosexual sex should be regarded as normal and homosexual marriages should be recognized and blessed by the Catholic Church. What happens then? It seems that the homosexual leadership at a minimum wants everyone to be bisexual, to be open to homosexual sex despite the many biblical OT and NT prohibitions. What if someone, in my case, a male, is disgusted by the thought of homosexual sex? Why does that disgust need to be overcome? Does it not indicate a God given barrier and a warning? Anal intercourse was the primary method for the heterosexual transmission of HIV in Africa in the 1980s and later. Anal intercourse, even with the use of a condom can push fecal material into the bloodstream. Such biology indicates anal intercourse is a violation of natural law. One man, wrestling with his same sex attraction, stated he did not believe he was created by God to have such kind of intercourse with other men. Do young women, in looking for a husband, have to suppress their disgust at the prospect that their prospective husband has had such sex with other men and may continue to do so? With such widespread and worsening confusion and complication, does it not become obvious why God was so clear in the Bible in his prohibition of homosexual sex? The Catechism is correct and the Courage organization was founded to help people deal with their same sex attractions. The founder of Courage, Father John Harvey, who was also a psychologist and counselor, stated in a newsletter years ago that if he could counsel a questioning young person early enough, he could almost always maintain heterosexual orientation. But once homosexuality became fixed in the personality, he only had a 30% success rate, even for motivated individuals. For them he counseled staying close to the sacraments and managing their same sex attractions. His newsletters would feature those whose orientation remained homosexual but were grateful to maintain chastity, as recommended by the Catechism. But the push has been to outlaw the counseling of minors on how to confront the issue of same sex attraction. The push is to normalize homosexuality and other alternatives and prevent therapeutic intervention for minors. God may not react as dramatically as Genesis 19 but allow a persistent degradation and we will be too blinded and stupid to see the cause.
Synods, the environment, deviant clergy, heresies by bishops of petty kingdoms. Far more important is “The kingdom of God is at hand.” People need to hear the good news. Catholics in this age are terrible at this. Jesus is the Lord of everything: science, art, culture, etc., etc. He promises his disciples a larger life where, to paraphrase CS Lewis, our life on Earth is merely an introduction to a larger story that gets better and better with each chapter. Did the saints worry about all the nonsense we fret about or did they roll up their sleeves and proclaim the good news?
Schism is defined by canon law as an intractable disagreement with the Roman pontiff on some doctrinal matter. However, it’s not quite clear that homosexuality, for example is an issue of intractable disagreement between the German bishops and Francis. The clearest disagreement regarding the German bishops is technically with Pope Francis’ predecessors.
Furthermore, it’s not simply one issue, rather the entire spectrum of moral and theological doctrine, which more closely resembles Apostasy.
It seems that the German Catholic church will soon be another Protesting denomination. The Catholic faithful around the world does not share nor accept their heretical views. Period.
Edward, if a Roman pontiff does not use his authority to thwart a national conference of bishops [here, in Germany] from edging toward apostasy, what message does it send to other national conferences world wide? If not, that they can interpret the Gospels as they wish. Universal unity in proclaiming the faith will weaken and crumble. Catholicism will cease to exist. The true faith will become disparate in practice.
“Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.” They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.”
so obviously, those pushing for this agenda in the church are on the path to hell as it’s obvious anyone higher up in the church clearly must know it’s disordered and against God, but yet they do it anyways, which makes them that much worse since they have no excuse before God when they pass from this life into the next.
many of those same types of people fall inline with the following…
“Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.” – Isaiah 5 : 20
to sum things up another way…
“A Priest goes to Heaven or a Priest goes to hell with a thousand people behind” – St. John Vianney (1786-1859)
“Where God builds a church, the devil builds a chapel nearby” – Martin Luther. The church should be prepared and be vigilant. These rebellious attacks and tendencies will continue. It beholds on the Church to be strong and the words and revelations from God.
“Pope Francis bears a heavy burden in seeking a resolution of the German crisis that is true to the reality and binding authority of divine revelation. If such a resolution is not achieved, however, it will raise the gravest doubts about the entire project of “synodality” central to his pontificate.”
Such a resolution wil never be achieved by one who does not believe that “It is a sin to accomodate an occasion of sin, and thus cooperate with evils” , and a synodality” central to his pontificate.”
“For the Holy Spirit was not promised to the successors of Peter that by His revelation they
might make known new doctrine, but that by His assistance they might inviolably keep and faithfully expound the Revelation, the Deposit of Faith, delivered through the Apostles.”
One can only have a Great Apostasy from The True Church Of Christ, Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic,and Apostolic Church.
Just when I have hope that Weigel might finally acknowledge the heterodoxy in Francis, he acts as though it doesn’t exist and that Francis will gear up to defend orthodoxy oblivious to ten years of his political cynicism of faking orthodoxy before counterpunching with heterodoxy of his own.
So Mr. Weigel writes a panegyric on Vatican II, then separately an essay on the German apostasy, yet conveniently fails to connect the two? Sorry George. While the Germans might be in schism and heresy due to a number of reasons it’s a pretty safe bet that no Vatican II, no German Apostasy.
What about that fellow who’s name begins with L? Though five hundred years ago, a hornets nest of perfidious opprobrium is raised by the faithful at the mere mention of his name. Perhaps, one might say it is like comparing rutabaga to rhubarb, yet who doesn’t savour a nice turnip?
It seems the Pope has found the solution for the German crisis: putting one of the German bishops – the one who said that “abuse is in the DNA of the Church – at the head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of Faith (http://blog.messainlatino.it/2022/12/regalo-di-natale-nuovo-prefetto.html)
Given that God’s response to Pachamama was Covid 19, one can’t help but wonder what His response to this travesty will be.
Yes, yes! Well reported and well said, but wait, is there still more? What if Germania is not only a “schism,” and more accurately an “apostasy,” but also a sweeping abdication from ALL created reality? Let’s have a look…
WHAT IF all the German novelties—theological (the wedge driven between moral theology and things “pastoral”), ecclesial (a synodal plebiscite?) and philosophical (the first law of non-contradiction lobotomized)—signify a rejection of the inseparable bond uniting the created spiritual and material realms themselves—as revealed by the Incarnation?
WHAT IF the very core to Germania’s “synodal path[s]” is the homosexual lifestyle (not inclination) itself, with all other penetrations serving, if necessary, as temporarily expendable decoys, going into the Synod on Synodality? What if this Synod of 2023/2024 is already wired with the homosexual core signaled to never to be rejected, nor formally affirmed, but harmonized as the DNA to being “Catholic in a different way”?
WHAT IF, then, a “different way” of (c)atholicity, is very much UN-different from the cosmopolitan ways of Islam?
Islam, a natural religion very much a polyglot catholicity incorporating, in its case, some of the Pentateuch (excluding the prohibitive commandments), some of Christianity (with a Nestorian slant), some of the warrior code (Arabian jihad, like Japan’s Bushido), some pagan practices (polygamy, the pilgrimage to the Ka-ba, and dismissal of the self-disclosed Trinity (as a pagan triad). Even three of the five pillars of Islam are drawn from the Judeo-Christian tradition: alms, fasting, and prayer. All-inclusive monotheism.
WHAT IF Dei Verbum is never really denied under Germania’s eliding and “different kind of catholicity?”
Is even this definitive and “binding authority over time” absorbed—as an Islamic-like and tolerated dhimmi? Very much as sexually binary/complementary humanity is still included as a residual option within random gender theory? Germania in suit and tie—a facsimile of Islam (in a turban) which replaces “the Word made flesh” with “the word made book [the Qur’an].” Germania, in our postmodern and techy age, similarly replaces Dei Verbum with a plebiscite—and the sigmoidoscope with the male sexual member!
THE BARQUE OF PETER? What if the Synod on Synodality “transitions” revealed Truth into an “endless journey” of flip-chart words about words?
With the outlier Germania useful as a decoy against real theological, ecclesial, and rational discourse…Perhaps no “collision” at all in 2023? Perhaps a post-Christian “paradigm shift” from top to bottom (so to speak), like Islamic “abrogation”? Perhaps no “gravest doubts” about the anti-reality of alloyed Synodality in the grooming hands of Grech and Hollerich? With Christ’s twelve apostles replaced by twenty-four “experts”?
“Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb 13:8), now to be encapsulated as an Islamo-synodal dhimmi? “Catholic but in a different way?”—Synodal “catholicity” with a small c as in eclectic and Islamic harmonization?
Or, like councils, are real synods still something that the Church DOES, but not what the Church IS?
I completely disagree with the author’s assessment. Mr. W has always been a fundamentalist regardless of what pastoral experience in the fields of the Lord reveals. Armchair Theology must be fun. Rolling up your sleeves to serve the faithful in the neighborhoods around the world is were the real work is. Talk is cheap especially when you’re just a blaring pundit with disdain for real life problems. People like you make people lose their faith, first in the church then in God. And it will be on you!
There is much hate in this column and lots of bile spilled in the replies. I pray that you may learn to replace the hate in your hearts with love and compassion for all of God’s children who are trying to live their best life in the faith.
Mr. W should replace the smug picture. It’s very revealing. Do not be like the pharisees demanding every mosaic law to be followed but having no love in their hearts. Jesus was murdered for living by the word and the Spirit. Because the word is constant but the Spirit renews. And prompts us to evolve.
In other words, Mr. Cassar, you believe truth flows from experiences and personal situations, not from God and the innate order found in creation. Got it.
“There is much hate in this column.” This statement is objectively slanderous. But I suspect you don’t recognize it.
“…the Spirit renews. And prompts us to evolve.” Evolve?…said the COVID-19 virus to its mutant variants and sub-variants!
❤️
This but another example of the consequences of abandoning the doctrine of original sin by modernist biblical scholars and theologians during and after Vatican II. All the Catholic elements appear to be their except the fundamental truths recorded in the Gospel: the suffering death and Resurrection of Jesus broke the power of Satan for those embrace and love Him in His Mystical Body the Church, and struggle to live according to His way of life.
Your response to Mr Weigel exemplifies relativism. There are plenty of congregations and societies where relativism reigns. They will not be satisfied until all the world has embraced the religion of relativism. Ruled by en elite who define what is true and false in each age.
If the word is constant then God is constant in creation as God made us male and female in human species complementary. Biology anthropology, and all exact science not pseudo science, attests to this. Therefore the Holy Spirit would be constant within this as God reveals and renews our soul heart and body to conform to creation as God created .. not as you may suggest in your personalized image..
the German synod opposes this constancy in revealed knowledge God reveals through Holy Mother Church.. not the LGBTQ etc pride flag the Munich church is proudly idolizing… Mt W said it right and not in hate as you suggest mr C
So truth is fungable to be whatever you want it to be? So what do you find objectively evil about any activity of the Manson Family? And does the “new pastoralism” recognize that self-deception is nor only humanly possible but rather commonplace, which might include when one displays vitriol while attempting to to lecture someone about not hating?
What, then, is your secret?
…for all of God’s children who are trying to live their best life in the faith.
In what faith? Look, the modern sexual outlook is inconsistent with Biblical teaching. Or do you not read the Bible? Might be wise to know in what you base your “faith” …
What utter nonsense!
At the core of the documents of the German Path (to gehennam) lies secular humanism in its religious form: man takes over the place of God as giver of revelation via the consensus of the fallen people (“signs of the time”). This new god-man now has the capability of re-creating himself via genital mutilation and becoming his true, fallen self in its corrupted and perverted sexual nature. Transsexualism and homoexualism are not only allowed, they are necessary for accomplishing the goal of replacing the creator and his created order.
The Synodal Paths Church of Secular Humanism is paganism in the clothing of catholic hierarchy.
Thank you, Mr. Weigel, for the clear, concise, deftly expurgated account of what is happening in the European Church.
Clearly, the evil one intends to replace the Church founded by Christ Jesus with a sham edifice that bows to the culture’s monstrous evils in order to avoid controversy, censure and/or an interruption in its revenue stream.
The Catholic Church has acclimated itself to the killing of more than a billion children worldwide over the past half century. And, quite possibly, two or three times that number.
Not surprising that now the Church’s soul is hanging in the balance.
Who will answer for the screams and cries of the millions of Chinese women and girls subjected to the murder in Forced Abortion?
well, wrong, inadvertently: who brings to fulfillment the self-revelation of who God is, and what God intends for humanity, which began when God spoke to the Jewish people through Abraham, Moses and the Prophets. It goes back to, or began with, Genesis and Creation…unless one is removing everything before Abram came on the scene as God not speaking to His People and not part of the Dei Verbum…?? Advent blessings….
Ofcourse Francis bears responsibility for the schism, heresy, or apostasy of Germany’s Church, Francis’ papacy, and all vicious sins he has failed to sense, to know, or attempt to correct. Call it what we will–the pride of choosing to know better than Christ and His Church of scripture and tradition leads to heresy, apostasy, and schism.
Lest there arise any doubt about the bottom of the bottom of neglect and abuse of responsibility, Francis further chose the audacious stupidity to identify traditional faithful Catholics as those doing dishonor to VCII.
As the historical Incarnate Word once revealed Himself, a ‘disciple’ bore responsibility for His betrayal, a betrayal of serious and everlasting consequence; the pattern reiterates today. At the bottom of the bottom is Francis. HE IS THE ONE WHO HAS HERETOFORE FAILED TO STAND AGAINST SCHEMES AND SCHISMS. He is the bottom of the bottom of all of the faithful he has failed to lead to Christ. A choice for Hegelian dialectics and peripheral sin instead of to the sacred heart of God has led this Papacy and the Orthodox Faith straight to the border of the place where confusion, disgust, sickness, heresy, schism, apostasy, and ambiguity dwell.
The result? The revelation of disorder becomes apparent and the ambiguity leads to transparency, sickness to health. The Christ-Child offers Himself in all beauty and truth and providence. The rotten core and surface of His Church ‘members’ are unworthy. Meanwhile, He favors His faithful with clear vision.
It is beyond the “pay grade for either of us to formally declare as you so aptly put it —“German Catholicism is often said to be in a de facto schism. That is an inadequate description of the German crisis. The German Catholicism manifest in the documents of the Synodal Path is in apostasy. The German Synodal Path does not accept the “faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:3). Rather, one of its “foundational” texts affirmed earlier this year that “in the Church, too, legitimate views and ways of life can compete with one another, even in terms of core beliefs.” However the gift of faith does allow us as true disciples of Jesus Our Savior to proclaim the truth and defend all the teachings given to us.
Schism, apostasy, heresy…what do these terms mean when all can be laid at the doorstep of sinful hearts.
With regard to the so-called Church in Germany, what we are seeing there and elsewhere us the homosexualization of the Body of Christ.
“German Catholicism is often said to be in a de facto schism.”
Matthew 5:13 The Similes of Salt and Light.
“You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world…”
Luke 13:34 The Simile of Salt.
“Salt is good, but if salt itself loses its taste, with what can its flavor be restored? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.”
So what do we do if Pope Francis decides not to Anathematize the schism German Bishops, as Jesus Commands him to do so, but instead, Pope Francis decides to allow the schism German Bishops to pull the whole Body of the Universal Catholic Church into eternal damnation?
Matthew 18:9
If your eye is your downfall, gouge it out and cast it from you! Better to enter life with one eye than be thrown with both into fiery Gehenna.
Luke 11:34
The lamp of the body is your eye. When your eye is sound, then your whole body is filled with light, but when it is bad, then your body is in darkness.
The “eyes” of the “body” of Christ’s Church, are our Catholic Church Leaders. Jesus Commands His Church, that if Her eye is Her undoing, She is to gouge it out and cast it into hell, so they do not pull the whole Body of the Church into hell. Catholic Anathema is Jesus’ lips binding sinners to their sins, which cuts evildoers off from the body of the Church and casts them into hell, for the protection of Jesus’ Church on earth.
Matthew 18:5
“Whoever welcomes one such child for my sake welcomes me. On the other hand, it would be better for anyone who leads astray one of these little ones who believes in me, to be drown by a millstone around his neck, in the depths of the sea. What terrible things will come on the world through scandal! It is inevitable that scandal should occur. Nonetheless, woe to that man through whom scandal comes! If your hand or foot is your undoing, cut it off and throw it from you! Better to enter life maimed or crippled than be thrown with two hands or feet into endless fire. If your eye is your downfall, gouge it out and cast it from you! Better to enter life with one eye than be thrown with both into fiery Gehenna.
ANATHEMA
the formula of anathema which ends with these words: Wherefore in the name of God the All-powerful, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, of the Blessed Peter, Prince of the Apostles, and of all the saints, in virtue of the power which has been given us of binding and loosing in Heaven and on earth, we deprive N– himself and all his accomplices and all his abettors of the Communion of the Body and Blood of our Lord, we separate him from the society of all Christians, we exclude him from the bosom of our Holy Mother the Church in Heaven and on earth, we declare him excommunicated and anathematized and we judge him condemned to eternal fire with Satan and his angels and all the reprobate….”
…He who dares to despise our decision, let him be stricken with anathema maranatha, i.e. may he be damned at the coming of the Lord, may he have his place with Judas Iscariot, he and his companions.
Quoted from: New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia – Anathema
Matthew 18:17 Fraternal Correction
“If he ignores them, refer it to the church . If he ignores even the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector. I assure you, whatever you declare bound on earth shall be held bound in heaven, and whatever you declare loosed on earth shall be held loosed in heaven.
Good work is appreciated! Those who are faithful to the Lord Jesus and His bride the Church are uplifted by fidelity and the broadcast of truth. We need to be much in prayer. The Lord is testing us. May He give us strength and wisdom to be effective servants. Allow me to add some scripture to your well chosen verses!
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
John 16:13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.
Jeremiah 2:8 The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who handle the law did not know me; the shepherds transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit.
1 Samuel 2:12 Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord.
Let us be examples of truth by means of the Lord’s instruction.
Dialogue misses the mark where Truth is not understood nor accepted. Life is tough; filled with worldly reflexes and physical inclinations. Openness to Grace involves a discipleship towards the Otherwordly which is so difficult.
Living in Germany Berlin where the Catholic Church have not the same Power as in Bavaria and Koln The Romours of a Scisma which is felt is clearly not fully Understood by The Vatican but here in Germany is **Heard in the Cardinals Vineyard** because the Points discussed in the The German Church are about Homosexsuality About the Priesthood for Women. The fact is that the Catholic Church in Germany have Lost the Supremacy in the Teaching of Jesus which is almost Totally in the Hands of The Evangelic Church that opened their Churches to LGBT and Ministers of The Churches are Of all Gender and We have Declared Gay Priests and Married Priests and She Priests
Do More than a Theological Problem the Scisma is a Social Problem of The German Society
The Mishandling of the Pedophile Case The Corruption in the Use of
Revenues for Self Purposes and The Fact that there are No Christian Catholic Charismatic
Political Leaders and in many other Fields
This is A very Sad Moment it brings back Historical Past Events where the Strong Churches thought they could Dictate to the Pope the Teaching of Jesus seen in their Point of View Homesexuality is a part of Humanity but cannot Alter The “Dei Verbum”
When will the church see the light of truth?
Is there an iota of evidence on the existence of this invisible entity that above all will punish you ( original sin), but… he loves you!!
We live in an era of evidence based knowledge.
Get out of the dark ages.
https://www.domradio.de/artikel/bischof-wilmer-enttaeuscht-ueber-abstimmung-bei-synodalem-weg
Dr. Heiner Wilmer is residing bishop in Hildesheim and was *highly disappointed* that a minority of bishops voted against the proposal of adopting lgbt and gender ideology as new catholic doctrine as revealed by the “signs of the time”.
Well said Mr. Weigel. What is the general consensus on the extension of the Synod from one to two years? I’m trying to figure out if that is a good or bad sign.
What will be the legacy of pope Francis? Unfortunately, the most empathetic and diplomatic way to describe it would be “ambiguity inevitably begets heresy”. But for now, we have to wait if the world episcopate will follow apostate European bishops down the road to the Synodom on Sodomality.
What territory do we enter if Rome does nothing and basically approves of the Germans by way of silence?
The signpost reads “Game Over”
Let us suppose the German church is correct, that homosexual sex should be regarded as normal and homosexual marriages should be recognized and blessed by the Catholic Church. What happens then? It seems that the homosexual leadership at a minimum wants everyone to be bisexual, to be open to homosexual sex despite the many biblical OT and NT prohibitions. What if someone, in my case, a male, is disgusted by the thought of homosexual sex? Why does that disgust need to be overcome? Does it not indicate a God given barrier and a warning? Anal intercourse was the primary method for the heterosexual transmission of HIV in Africa in the 1980s and later. Anal intercourse, even with the use of a condom can push fecal material into the bloodstream. Such biology indicates anal intercourse is a violation of natural law. One man, wrestling with his same sex attraction, stated he did not believe he was created by God to have such kind of intercourse with other men. Do young women, in looking for a husband, have to suppress their disgust at the prospect that their prospective husband has had such sex with other men and may continue to do so? With such widespread and worsening confusion and complication, does it not become obvious why God was so clear in the Bible in his prohibition of homosexual sex? The Catechism is correct and the Courage organization was founded to help people deal with their same sex attractions. The founder of Courage, Father John Harvey, who was also a psychologist and counselor, stated in a newsletter years ago that if he could counsel a questioning young person early enough, he could almost always maintain heterosexual orientation. But once homosexuality became fixed in the personality, he only had a 30% success rate, even for motivated individuals. For them he counseled staying close to the sacraments and managing their same sex attractions. His newsletters would feature those whose orientation remained homosexual but were grateful to maintain chastity, as recommended by the Catechism. But the push has been to outlaw the counseling of minors on how to confront the issue of same sex attraction. The push is to normalize homosexuality and other alternatives and prevent therapeutic intervention for minors. God may not react as dramatically as Genesis 19 but allow a persistent degradation and we will be too blinded and stupid to see the cause.
Synods, the environment, deviant clergy, heresies by bishops of petty kingdoms. Far more important is “The kingdom of God is at hand.” People need to hear the good news. Catholics in this age are terrible at this. Jesus is the Lord of everything: science, art, culture, etc., etc. He promises his disciples a larger life where, to paraphrase CS Lewis, our life on Earth is merely an introduction to a larger story that gets better and better with each chapter. Did the saints worry about all the nonsense we fret about or did they roll up their sleeves and proclaim the good news?
Schism is defined by canon law as an intractable disagreement with the Roman pontiff on some doctrinal matter. However, it’s not quite clear that homosexuality, for example is an issue of intractable disagreement between the German bishops and Francis. The clearest disagreement regarding the German bishops is technically with Pope Francis’ predecessors.
Furthermore, it’s not simply one issue, rather the entire spectrum of moral and theological doctrine, which more closely resembles Apostasy.
It seems that the German Catholic church will soon be another Protesting denomination. The Catholic faithful around the world does not share nor accept their heretical views. Period.
Edward, if a Roman pontiff does not use his authority to thwart a national conference of bishops [here, in Germany] from edging toward apostasy, what message does it send to other national conferences world wide? If not, that they can interpret the Gospels as they wish. Universal unity in proclaiming the faith will weaken and crumble. Catholicism will cease to exist. The true faith will become disparate in practice.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church #2357 says…
“Homosexuality refers to relations between men or between women who experience an exclusive or predominant sexual attraction toward persons of the same sex. It has taken a great variety of forms through the centuries and in different cultures. Its psychological genesis remains largely unexplained. Basing itself on Sacred Scripture, which presents homosexual acts as acts of grave depravity, tradition has always declared that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered.” They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life. They do not proceed from a genuine affective and sexual complementarity. Under no circumstances can they be approved.”
so obviously, those pushing for this agenda in the church are on the path to hell as it’s obvious anyone higher up in the church clearly must know it’s disordered and against God, but yet they do it anyways, which makes them that much worse since they have no excuse before God when they pass from this life into the next.
many of those same types of people fall inline with the following…
“Woe to you that call evil good, and good evil: that put darkness for light, and light for darkness: that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.” – Isaiah 5 : 20
to sum things up another way…
“A Priest goes to Heaven or a Priest goes to hell with a thousand people behind” – St. John Vianney (1786-1859)
Just wondering where the heterosexual pride flag is.
“Where God builds a church, the devil builds a chapel nearby” – Martin Luther. The church should be prepared and be vigilant. These rebellious attacks and tendencies will continue. It beholds on the Church to be strong and the words and revelations from God.
“Pope Francis bears a heavy burden in seeking a resolution of the German crisis that is true to the reality and binding authority of divine revelation. If such a resolution is not achieved, however, it will raise the gravest doubts about the entire project of “synodality” central to his pontificate.”
Such a resolution wil never be achieved by one who does not believe that “It is a sin to accomodate an occasion of sin, and thus cooperate with evils” , and a synodality” central to his pontificate.”
“For the Holy Spirit was not promised to the successors of Peter that by His revelation they
might make known new doctrine, but that by His assistance they might inviolably keep and faithfully expound the Revelation, the Deposit of Faith, delivered through the Apostles.”
One can only have a Great Apostasy from The True Church Of Christ, Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic,and Apostolic Church.
Just when I have hope that Weigel might finally acknowledge the heterodoxy in Francis, he acts as though it doesn’t exist and that Francis will gear up to defend orthodoxy oblivious to ten years of his political cynicism of faking orthodoxy before counterpunching with heterodoxy of his own.
So Mr. Weigel writes a panegyric on Vatican II, then separately an essay on the German apostasy, yet conveniently fails to connect the two? Sorry George. While the Germans might be in schism and heresy due to a number of reasons it’s a pretty safe bet that no Vatican II, no German Apostasy.
Because prior to the mid-Sixties, Germany had never been known to produce extreme philosophies, heretical theologies, or truly vile ideologies?
Dear Carl:
What about that fellow who’s name begins with L? Though five hundred years ago, a hornets nest of perfidious opprobrium is raised by the faithful at the mere mention of his name. Perhaps, one might say it is like comparing rutabaga to rhubarb, yet who doesn’t savour a nice turnip?
Yours in Christ,
Brian
George Weigel is always a good read but this time he is especially good. Spot on.