Vatican City, Apr 29, 2017 / 03:41 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- In his conversation with journalists on the way back from Egypt, Pope Francis touched on an array of topics, including North Korea, populism and a possible visit from President Donald Trump.
While nothing has been confirmed as far as a meeting with the U.S. president, much of what Francis said in the 32-minute press conference, which took place during his April 29 flight from Cairo to Rome, focused on themes that came up during his two-day visit to Egypt, but which can be applied to some of the major issues up for global discussion today.
Please read below for CNA’s full transcript of the Pope’s inflight press conference:
Greg Burke (Vatican press director): Here among the journalists are those who are making a trip for the first time and those who have made almost 100.. No, more than 100, I think… And you, I don’t know if you know how many international trips you’ve made…
Pope Francis: 18!
Greg Burke: Ah, 18, alright great. I didn’t know. Nineteen is around the corner, so also you have a good number of Papal trips now. Thanks for this moment which is always a strong moment for us and let’s start with the Italian group, Paolo Rodari. I don’t know if you want to say something first.
Pope Francis: Yes, good evening and thanks for your work because these were 27 hours, I think, of much work. Thanks so much for what you did, thank you. And I’m at your disposal.
Greg Burke: Thank you, Holy Father.
Paolo Rodari (Repubblica): Hello. Holy Father, thank you. I wanted to ask you about your meeting yesterday with al Sisi. What did you speak about? Topics of human rights were mentioned and, in particular, that you were able to speak about the case of Giulio Regeni, and do you think the truth will be reached in that regard?
Pope Francis: On this I will give a general response, to then reach the particular. Generally when I am with a head of state in private dialogue, that remains private, unless, by agreement, we say ‘let’s say on this point, we’ll make it public.’ I had four private dialogues here with the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, with al Sisi, with Patriarch Tawadros and with Patriarch Ibrahim and I believe that if it is private, for respect one must maintain privacy… it is confidential… but later there is the question on Regeni. I am concerned, from the Holy See I have moved on that topic because the parents also asked me to. The Holy See has moved. I will not say how or where, but we have moved.
Greg Burke: Dario Menor Torres, from El Correo Espanol.
Dario Menor (El Correo Espanol): Thank you, Holiness! You said yesterday that peace, prosperity and development deserve every sacrifice and later you underscored the importance of the inalienable rights of man. Does this mean a support for the Egyptian government, a recognition of its role in the Middle East, and how it tries to defend Christians despite insufficient democratic guarantees from this government?
Pope Francis: Could you repeat… what does what mean? I didn’t hear…
Dario Menor: If these words that you said on the importance of peace, of prosperity and development, saying that they deserve every sacrifice, if we should interpret them as a support of the Egyptian government and how it tries to defend Christians despite insufficient democratic guarantees.
Pope Francis: No, No… one must interpret (it) literally as values in themselves… I said that defending peace, defending the harmony of peoples, defending the equality of citizens, whichever the religion they profess may be, are values. I spoke of values! If a person who governs defends one value or defends another, it is another issue. I have made 18 [international] visits. In many of those nations, I’ve heard, ‘But the Pope, going there, gives support to that government,’ because a government always has its weaknesses or it has its political adversaries, and some say one thing or another… I don’t get mixed up (in that)… I speak about values, and every person sees, is a judge if this government, this state, that from here, that from there, carries those values forward…
Dario Menor: Were you left with the urge to visit the Pyramids?
Pope Francis: But, do you know that today at 6:00 in the morning, two of my assistants went to visit the pyramids?
Dario Menor: Would you have liked to go with them?
Pope Francis: Truly, yes.
Dario Menor: Thanks a million.
Virginie Riva (Europe 1): Holy Father, a question possibly starting from the trip and extending it to France, if you accept. You spoke at al-Azhar, at the university, about demagogic populism. French Catholics in this moment are tempted by the populist or extreme vote, they are divided and disoriented. What elements of discernment could you give these Catholic electors?
Pope Francis: Great… there is a dimension of “populisms” – in quotes, because you know that this word for me, I’ve had to relearn it in Europe, because in Latin America it has another meaning – there is an issue in Europe and there is an issue of the European Union behind it… that which I said about Europe I will not repeat it here… I’ve spoken about it four times, I believe, twice in Strasbourg, once at the Charlemagne Prize and at the beginning of the commemoration of the 60th. There is everything I’ve said about Europe. Every nation is free to make choices that it believes convenient before this. I cannot judge if this choice is made for this reason, or for another, because I don’t know the internal politics. It is true that Europe is in danger of dissolving. This is true! I said it softly in Strasbourg. I said it more strongly at the Charlemagne [Prize ceremony] and lately without nuance. We must meditate on only that – the Europe that goes from the Atlantic to the Urals – there is an issue that scares Europe and perhaps feeds … the issue is emigration. This is true. But let’s not forget that Europe was made by migrants, centuries and centuries of migrants. We are them! But it is an issue that must be studied well, also respecting opinions, but the honest opinions of a political discussion – with the capital letter, big, with the big ‘Politics’ and not with the little ‘politics’ of the nation that in the end winds up falling. About France, I’ll tell the truth. I don’t understand the internal French politics. I don’t understand it. I’ve sought to have good relations, also with the current president, with which there was a conflict once, but after I was able to speak clearly about things, respecting his opinion. On the two political candidates, I don’t know the history. I don’t know where they come from, nor – yes, I know that one represents the strong right, but the other I truly don’t know where they come from – for this (reason) I cannot give a clear opinion on France. But, speaking with Catholics, here in one of the gatherings, while I was greeting people, one said to me, ‘But why don’t you think big about politics ?’ What does that mean? Well, he said it to me as if asking for help… eh, to make a party for Catholics. This is a good man but he’s living in the last century. For this, the populisms have relationships with migrants, but this is not from the trip. If I still have time later I can return to this. If I have time, I will return.
Vera Shcherbakova (ITAR-TASS): Holy Father, thank you first of all for the blessings… you blessed me. I knelt down some minutes ago. I am Orthodox and I don’t see any contradiction with my baptism, anyway, I see it as a great pleasure. I wanted to ask: what are the prospects for the relations between the Orthodox, obviously Russian, but also yesterday in the common declaration with the Coptic Patriarch, the common date of Easter (came up) and that they speak of a recognition of baptism… where are we on this point? How do you evaluate the relations between the Vatican and Russia as a State, also in light of the defense of the values of Christians in the Middle East and especially in Syria? Thanks.
Greg Burke: This is Vera Shcherbakova, of the TASS Agency.
Pope Francis: Christos Anesti! I, with the Orthodox, have always had a great friendship, since Buenos Aires, no? For example, every January 6th I would go to vespers, to the complete readings, at your Cathedral of Patriarch Plato, who is in an archbishop in the area of Ukraine, no? And he… two hours and forty (minutes) of prayer in a language that I didn’t understand, but you could pray well, and then the dinner with the community. Three hundred people, a Christmas Eve dinner, not a Christmas dinner. They still couldn’t eat dairy or meat, but it was a beautiful dinner and then bingo, the lottery… friendship… also with the other Orthodox, also sometimes they needed legal help. They would come to the Catholic Curia because they are small communities and they would go to the lawyers. They’d come in and out. But, I’ve always had a filial, fraternal relationship. We are sister Churches! With Tawadros, there is a special friendship. For me, he’s a great man of God! And Tawadros is a patriarch, a pope that carries the Church forward, the name of Jesus before (him). He has a great apostolic zeal… He is one of the most – permit me the word, but in quotes – ‘fanatics’ of finding a fixed date for Easter. I am too. We are seeking the way. But he says, ‘Let’s fight!’ He is a man of God. He is a man who, when he was bishop, far from Egypt, went out to feed the disabled, a man who was sent to a diocese with five churches and he left behind 25, I don’t know how many Christian families with the apostolic zeal. The you know how they make the election among them. They look for three, then they put the names in a bag, they call a child, they close their eyes and the child chooses the name. The Lord is there. He is clearly a great patriarch. The unity of baptism is moving ahead. The guilt of baptism is an historical thing (Editor’s note: Pope Francis seems to be referring to the historical ‘breach’ between the recognition of baptism between the Coptic Orthodox and Catholic traditions. Neither currently recognizes baptism carried out in the other Church), because in the first Councils it was the same, then as the Coptic Christians baptized children in the shrines, when they wanted to get married, they came to us, they were married with a Catholic, they asked for the faith… but they didn’t have it and they asked for baptism under a condition. It started with us, not with them… but now the door has been opened and we are on a good path of overcoming this issue, the door…. In the common declaration, the penultimate paragraph speaks of this. The Russian Orthodox recognize our baptism and we recognize their baptism. I was a very close friend as the bishop of Buenos Aires with the Russians, also with the Georgians, for example… but the patriarch of the Georgians is a man of God, Ilia II. He is a mystic! We Catholics must learn also from this mystical tradition of the Orthodox Churches. During this trip, we had this ecumenical encounter. Patriarch Bartholomew was there too. The Greek Orthodox Archbishop was there and then there were other Christians – Anglicans, also the secretary of the Union of Churches of Geneva (Editor’s note: Pope Francis is referring to the Conference of European Churches) but all that makes ecumenism is on the path. Ecumenism is made on the path, with the works of charity, with the works of helping, doing things together when they can be done together. Static ecumenism doesn’t exist! It is true that theologians must study and come to an agreement, but it will not be possible for this to finish well if we’re not walking. What can we do together? Pray together, work together, do works of charity together… but, together, eh! And move ahead. The relations with Patriarch Kirill are good. They are good. Also, Metropolitan Archbishop Hilarion has come many times to speak with me and we have a good relationship.
Greg Burke: She’s asking about with the State…
Pope Francis: Ah, with the State! I know that the State speaks of this, of the defense of Christians in the Middle East. This I know and believe that it is a good thing to fight against persecution… today there are more martyrs than in the first centuries, most of all in the Middle East.
Greg Burke: Phil Pulella…this question will address the trip, but then let’s see where it ends…
Phil Pulella (Reuters): If I can I would like to speak about another topic, but I’ll start with the trip. You spoke yesterday in your first speech about the danger of unilateral action, and that everyone must be builders of peace. Now you have spoken very clearly about the “third world war in pieces,” but it seems that today this fear and anxiety is concentrated on what is happening in North Korea…
Pope Francis: Yes, it’s the focal point!
Pulella: Exactly, it’s the point of concentration. President Trump sent a team of military ships to the coast of North Korea, the leader of North Korea threatened to bomb South Korea, Japan and even the United States if they succeed in building long-range missiles. People are afraid and speak of the possibility of a nuclear war as if it were nothing. You, if you see President Trump, but also other people, what will you say to these leaders who are responsible for the future of humanity? Because we are in a very critical moment…
Pope Francis: I would call them, I call them and I will call them like I called on leaders in different positions to work on resolving problems along the path of diplomacy, and there are facilitators, many of them, in the world. There are mediators who offer…there are countries like Norway, for example, no one can accuse Norway of being a dictatorial country, and it’s always ready to help, to name an example, but there are many. The path is the path of negotiation, the path of diplomatic solutions. This world war in pieces of which I’ve been talking about for two years more or less, it’s in pieces, but the pieces have gotten bigger, they are concentrated, they are focused on points that are already hot. Things are already hot, as the issue of missiles in North Korea has been there for more than a year, now it seems that the thing has gotten too hot. I always say to resolve problems on the path of diplomacy, negotiation, because the future of humanity…today a widespread war destroys I don’t say half of humanity, but a good part of humanity, and it’s the culture, everything. It’s terrible. I think that today humanity is not able to support it. Let’s look to these countries that are suffering an internal war, inside, where there are the fires of war, in the Middle East for example, but also in Africa, in Yemen. Let’s stop! Let’s look for a diplomatic solution! And there I believe that the United Nations has the duty to resume their leadership, because it’s been watered down a bit.
Pulella: Do you want to meet President Trump when he comes to Europe? Has there been a request for a meeting?
Pope Francis: I still have not been informed by the Secretariat of State if there has been a request, but I receive every head of state who asks for an audience.
Greg Burke: I think the questions on the trip have finished. We can take one more still, then we have to go to dinner at six-thirty. There is Antonio Pelayo from Antena 3, who you know…
Antonio Pelayo (Antena 3): Thank you. Holy Father, the situation in Venezuela has deteriorated recently in a very serious way, and there have been many deaths. I want to ask you if the Holy See intends to carry out this action, this peacemaking intervention, and what forms could this action take?
Pope Francis: There was an intervention from the Holy See at the strong request of the four presidents that were working as facilitators. And the thing didn’t turn out. And it remained there. It didn’t turn out because the proposals weren’t accepted or they were diluted. It was a ‘yes-yes,’ but ‘no-no.’ We all know the difficult situation of Venezuela. It is a nation that I really love. And I know that now they are insisting, I don’t know well from where, I believe that it’s from the four presidents, on relaunching this facilitation and they are looking for the place. I think that this has to be with conditions already, very clear conditions. Part of the opposition doesn’t want this. Because it’s curious, the very opposition is divided and on the other hand it appears that the conflicts are always worse. But, there is something in movement. I was informed of that, but it is very up in the air still. But all that can be done for Venezuela has to be done, with the necessary guarantees, if not we’re playing ‘tin tin pirulero’ (Editor’s note: this is a Spanish term for trying one thing, then another and another without knowing what one is doing). It’s not working…
Greg Burke: Thank you Holy Father. And now we go to…
Jörg Heinz Norbert Bremer (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung): Some days ago you spoke about the theme of refugees in Greece, in Lesbos, and you used this word “concentration camp” because there were too many people. For us Germans this was obviously a very, very serious word, and very close to “extermination camp.” There are people who say that this was a linguistic lapse. What did you intend to say?
Pope Francis: First, you must read well everything that I said. I said that the most generous in Europe were Italy and Greece. It’s true, they are closer to Libya, to Syria. From Germany, I have always admired the ability of integration. When I studied there, there were many integrated Turks in Frankfurt. They integrated and had a normal life. There was no linguistic lapse: there are concentration camps, sorry: refugee camps that are true camps of concentration. Perhaps there are some in Italy, or in another area…in Germany, I’m not sure, but you think of what people do who are closed in a camp and can’t leave. Think about what happened in Northern Europe when they wanted to cross the sea and go to England. They are closed inside. But it made me laugh a bit, and this is a bit of Italian culture, but it made me laugh that in a refugee camp in Sicily, a delegate of Catholic Action told me, one of the delegates from the dioceses in Argentina – there is one or two in the area there, I don’t know which diocese – the heads of that city where the camp was spoke to the people in the refugee camp, and they said: you, here inside, it will hurt you and your mental health too…you have to go out, but please don’t do anything bad. We can’t open the door, but we can make a little hole behind. Go out, have a nice walk, and this is how relationships were made with the people who lived in that city, good relationships, and these (refugees) aren’t delinquents, they don’t commit crimes. The sole fact of being closed without anything (to do), this is a lager! (Editor’s note: he is referring to the German name for concentration camp. For example, Auschwitz was a “lager”). But it doesn’t have anything to do with Germany, no.
Greg Burke: Thank you Holy Father.
Pope Francis: Thanks to you for this work you do which helps a lot of people. You don’t know the good that you can do with your news pieces, with your articles, with your thoughts. We must help people and also help communication, because communication…may the press lead us to good things, may it not lead us to disorientations that don’t help us. Thank you very much! Have a good dinner, and pray for me!
Ed Pentin, Elise Harris, Alan Holdren and Andrea Gagliarducci contributed to this report.
[…]
It would be very difficult for me to adequately express what extreme anxiety this pontificate has caused me. It seems PF is determined to prove that the Church has been a fraud from the beginning by changing unchangeable doctrines. Would it be sinful to pray that the Lord would call PF home, immediately? Alas, the college of cardinals has been stacked anyway. We would very likely just end up with a PF clone.
Bishop Wilmer applies ambiguity on doctrine as a form of adherence similar to Pope Francis. Cardinal Ladaria Ferrer who also seemed in line with the Zeitgeist when he admonished the American bishops allow for diversity regarding communion for Catholic bishops who support abortion, has now regained visible status as a defender of the faith in his condemnation of the German Synodaler Weg. If that’s why he is ‘released’ at 78, 3 years past retirement age when others are retained by Pope Francis he goes out with honor.
“For the Holy Father must be fully informed of the views of Bishop Wilmer”(Wiegel). Considering His Holiness’ personal appointments of Card Hollerich SJ as Synod on Synodality relator, Archbishop Paglia as prefect of the Pontifical Academy for Life, his tolerance [of which Wiegel very recently warned against as damaging calling into question Synodality itself] of the German Synod it’s sufficiently clear there’s a pattern. Card Parolin’s warning the Pontiff of Wilmer’s extreme heterodoxy is questionable.
George Wiegel’s previous marked concern on the direction of the Synod on Synodality itself – if Francis doesn’t take decisive action against the German Synod [Robert Royal theorized it may be a template for the former] that it would cast a shadow on his pontificate – would also be duly warranted in the Heiner Wilmer CDF scenario.
Correction: To clarify should read, “when he admonished the American bishops allow for diversity concerning bishops who permit communion for Catholic politicians who support abortion”.
I have great respect for your intelligence and that of Mr. Weigel, although he has been stubborn about acknowledging Francis’ faults. But I have trouble understanding how anyone can doubt that Francis has not been fully aware of and approving of the heterodox leanings of Bishop Wilmer already.
Wow! It sounds like the German Bishops are planning a hostile takeover of Christ’s Church! The German Bishops schism away from Christ’s Church, but now the German Bishops are trying to force their Progressive operatives into our Catholic Church hierarchy.
https://youtu.be/ZnKB9NzgD4k
It certainly does sound like an attempted hostile takeover, which may lead to schism. But schism is preferable to accommodating apostasy.
The views of the progressive German bishops was, I believe, aptly defined in an earlier era by a fellow German. Dietrich Bonhoeffer called it “cheap grace.”
After the fall of the papacy’s Papal States temporal power in 1870, Pope Leo XIII was then in tremendous fear of Freemasonry seizing control of the Spiritual power of St. Peter’s Chair as well. In great distress, Pope Leo XIII sent out the Calling All Angels, SOS, Distress, Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel. The prayer to St. Michael the Archangel was recited after all low Masses around the world from the 1880s to 1964. It is still recommended today.
The 1890 version of the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, is really an exorcism prayer, put in place to protect the, “Holy Place” Chair of St. Peter, from the, Matthew 24:15 The Great Tribulation. “When you see the desolating abomination spoken of through Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place”.
Do we have our best Catholic Priest exorcists praying, night and day 24/7, the 1890 Exorcist prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, at the Vatican? I think we ought to have all Catholics around the world now switch to praying the 1890 version of the Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel, to beg Michael the Archangel come and “cast into Hell, Satan and all the other evil spirits, who prowl through the world, seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.”
A portion of, Prayer to St. Michael the Archangel 1890 version
These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on her most sacred possessions.
In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most blessed Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety, with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck, the sheep may be scattered.
Arise then, O invincible prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and bring them the victory.
Quoted from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_to_Saint_Michael…
“Papal ban of Freemasonry,
Leo XIII “emphasizes that ‘the ultimate and principal aim’ of Masonry ‘was to destroy to its very foundations any civil or religious order established throughout Christendom, and bring about in its place a new order founded on laws drawn out of the entrails of naturalism’.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_ban_of_Freemasonry
Matthew 24:15 The Great Tribulation.
“When you see the desolating abomination spoken of through Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee to the mountains, a person on the housetop must not go down to get things out of his house, a person in the field must not return to get his cloak. Woe to pregnant women and nursing mothers in those days. Pray that your flight not be in winter or on the sabbath, for at that time there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will be.
We read: “What would it mean – what would it signal to the rest of the world Church…?”
WOULD IT MEAN that, as the Synod on Synodality suffocates the Church in the “smoke of Satan,” the Prefect for the (mere) Dicaster for the Doctrine of the Faith would remain…SILENT?
WOULD IT MEAN that the very idea of articulate “doctrine” has been fully displaced by the fluid “process” (!) of synodality?
WOULD IT MEAN that while the Nicene Creed is retained, it serves in a more decorative role, like the coliseum, or anything fixed in writing, or any other “backward”-looking memory of a past hat means nothing–that “meaning” itself has no meaning?
WOULD IT MEAN, then, that the lockstep Synod on Synodality will be extended not only from 2023 into 2024, but then into 2025—the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea? Surprise, surprise!
WOULD IT MEAN, then, that the Council of Nicaea was not a doctrinal affirmation of the singular event of the Incarnation at the center of human history, but rather that the “incarnation” is more of a culture-bound idea (Rahner?), and instead, that “realities are more important than ideas”? This ambiguous anti-doctrine being one of the four “principles” (a doctrine!) superimposed into Evangelii Gaudium (2013)…
NICAEA, about which: https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2022/10/18/opinion-yesterdays-council-of-nicaea-and-todays-synodism/
A CWR posting from which, this: “The institutional question is: Was Nicaea more an act of consensus and decision, or firstly and instead, a forthright and deeper judgment of fidelity and exclusion [!]? Was Nicaea the result of a voted synodal consensus while ‘walking together,’ or was it the rejection [!] of a false consensus, while standing together? Some historians estimate that prior to Nicaea, eight out of ten Catholic bishoprics had succumbed to the Arian apostasy. Does this lingering secular-ecclesial ‘consensus’ best account for the forced exile of Athanasius, five times after Nicaea, between 335 and 366? Too rigid? Too bigoted?”
Textual abuse (!) and silence by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith WOULD MEAN no longer that “the smoke of Satan” has entered the Church (as Pope Paul VI reported), but rather that the Church has entered the smoke of Satan.
With apologies for added length, an ADDENDUM to the above inquiry: The Second Vatican Council developed the needed grounding for our totally novel situation today of nihilism and the “tyranny of relativism”—by rooting the future of the Church within it’s very self-understanding (ressourcement) and then, with this, evangelizing willfully and truly (aggiornamento).
Three Points and a further Inquiry:
FIRST, likewise, the Catholic Act of Faith engages the whole person; it is an act of both the INTELLECT (rooted in MEMORY) and the WILL. The will, and the intellect engaged with reasoned inquiry, a field well-plowed by the Classical world.
SECOND, facing a similar turning point in Arabia, Islam is an act only of the WILL (the time prior to Muhammad is dismissed as “the days of ignorance”—a time of intertribal division to be replaced by a megatribe moving ever forward and outward). One becomes a Muslim by simply saying “Ash Shadoo an La ilaha illa Allah, Wa Ash Shadoo ana Muhammadan rasoolu Allah.” (“I bear witness that there is no true god except God [Allah], and I bear witness that Muhammad is the [Final] Messenger of God.”)
THIRD, in our own post-Christian and tribal moment of nihilism and the “tyranny of relativism,” the synodal strategy disconnects too much the Church (and the human person!) from its full personality (of the memory/intellect and will), with too little self-accountability. Rather, a “compiled, aggregated and synthesized” expression of so many willful (!) needs.
But no need for the well-grounded and real Second Vatican Council…
Possible because the Council is rooted in both the full Revelation AND the full meaning of each human personality in the innate NATURAL LAW (Gaudium et Spes, nn. 16, 17). As understood in the Catechism (unmutilated, as now signaled by Bats-sing, Grech/Hollerich & Co.) and as affirmed by the Magisterium regarding moral absolutes in Veritatis Splendor (especially nn. 95, 115).
INQUIRY, after unsuccessfully “walking together” at the areopagus with the pagan Athenians (toward their “unknown god”), the less accommodating (!) St. Paul entered the port-city corruptions of Corinth to teach only “Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor 2:1-2). Why, therefore, is today’s synodal “endless journey” so backward looking (and even Islamic?)—so detached from the conversion, thanksgiving and sacrifice (!) of the Eucharist (CCC 1374)?
sigh…another ecclesiastic functionary who could not find God or his behind with a flashlight, and so, revolution must be the answer, where the voice of the people MUST be the voice of God. They are so very lost. I bet he has a really nice residence, and excellent liquor cabinet at the residence bar, though.
When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”(Lk 18, 8)
PF is using the power of the papacy to destroy the papacy…. The CC can become one of the Largest of 40,000+ Proddy sects … each of us can shop for a Suitable or apt Church of What’s Happening Now, for God wills all of them. Maybe people will be invited to dip their symbolic Eucharist in a cup of coffee and Irish cream.
We are in chastisement… sex, drugs and rock’n roll have delivered us. Or are we aborted?
If you look at his published work and background, the thinness of his preparation in sacramental theology, scripture, ecclesiology and dogmatics is notable.
He did seminary academic work at Freiburg (Germany), studied the modern philosopher Blondel at the Gregorian in Rome, and returned to Germany to earn his Doctorate in Theology at Freiburg, his thesis being Blondel and mysticism.
Blondel is quite the abstract modern theologian.
The danger in that sort of academic hyper-specialization is a lack of broad knowledge in theology. He has five publications, all of them on rather abstract topics (Blondel, Duns Scotus’ First Principles). According to his wiki he was a visiting prof at Fordham Prep – and he taught history!
The office of Prefect of the CDF (now the DDF) demands a background in Scripture, Dogmatics, Ecclesiology and Sacramental Theology. That would usually be substantiated via a deep publication history on relevant matters of theology.
It’s no surprise he views the Eucharist as “over-rated.” The trend among younger Catholics towards the Vetus Ordo is a precise and direct response to clergy who speak of the Eucharist as if it were a community encounter, rather than as a) central aspect of the Catholic faith and b) essential to salvation history.
“One hopes that Pope Francis is also aware that the appointment of a man such as Bishop Wilmer as Prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith would throw into crisis the Synod on Synodality that has become the centerpiece of his pontificate.”
Lol. He’s aware.
How is this possible? How can this or any Pope, leader of the Roman Catholic Church and one who sits on the seat of Peter, who has been given the keys to the Kingdom put any priest into a position of authority? How is it the Pope does not stop this heresy within the German Church and those popping up elsewhere? Saddened, sickened at those statements from the Bishop and another reason to believe that THE Church will soon be smaller but more faithful to Jesus Christ and his teaching. I am no theologian by a long way, but I try to be a faithful Catholic and this Bishop and others are unfaithful IMO.
If this man is appointed head of the CDF then truly dark days are ahead. The SCJs are extremely heterodox and this man will be a poison.
While not for a moment agreeing with this appointment, which will be anything but good; I have to admit for a 61 year old to look like he was only ordained is quite an accomplishment! What’s his secret?
Watching Mass on the Computer may be acceptable if a parishioner is ill or cannot reach Church that Sunday. However, used for any reason other than illness does not fulfill your Sunday obligation.
the franciscan
To say the least, Germany isn’t a nation teeming with evangelizing, committed Catholics. Nor has it been for a very long time. Nor will it be if all these “changes” were adopted. What more needs to be said?
Even within the church, “important” people are given privileges over the ordinary. Horrible that these pro-abortion politicians were so welcomed and were given communion! Popes and priests that did and do that should be intensely corrected and maybe even excommunicated!
During my years of atheism, the philosophical proposition was always self-evident to me that if God existed, He could not be an idiot. My delay in becoming a believer was prolonged by the fact that vast numbers of religious people I met had no problem at all treating God as an idiot which is exactly what God would have to be to turn everything “upside down” He had previously been leading them towards for thousands of years. In due course I simply applied the self-evident fact that it is impossible for sinners to not be idiots much of the time, which would include self-serving assumptions about God.
In the midst of the Christmas season, late in the day on Dec. 27, Rorate Caeli blog published news. Heiner Wilmer’s appointment to the DDF was apparently shut down by the College of Cardinals.
rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2022/12/cardinals-block-appointment-of-heiner.html