tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63418977320281893762024-03-16T08:23:19.153-04:00Pontifex Maximus: The Face of Jesus ChristTo elaborate on the Magisterium of the Catholic Church is our mission on Plinthos (Gk. "brick"); and to do so anonymously, so that, like any brick in the wall, we might do our little part in the strength of the structure of humanity almost unnoticed.plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comBlogger2514125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-46340202281254989632024-03-16T07:08:00.004-04:002024-03-16T08:22:46.605-04:00Elon Musk with Tucker Carlson: Full Interview<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0D62xu_xoxw" width="320" youtube-src-id="0D62xu_xoxw"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #131313; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;">PART 1 (April 17):
</span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #065fd4; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a class="yt-core-attributed-string__link yt-core-attributed-string__link--display-type yt-core-attributed-string__link--call-to-action-color" force-new-state="true" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D62xu_xoxw&t=0s" rel="nofollow" style="display: inline; text-decoration-line: none;" tabindex="0" target="">0:00</a></span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #131313; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> PART 1: AI dangers
</span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #065fd4; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a class="yt-core-attributed-string__link yt-core-attributed-string__link--display-type yt-core-attributed-string__link--call-to-action-color" force-new-state="true" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D62xu_xoxw&t=697s" rel="nofollow" style="display: inline; text-decoration-line: none;" tabindex="0" target="">11:37</a></span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #131313; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> TruthGPT
</span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #065fd4; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a class="yt-core-attributed-string__link yt-core-attributed-string__link--display-type yt-core-attributed-string__link--call-to-action-color" force-new-state="true" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D62xu_xoxw&t=981s" rel="nofollow" style="display: inline; text-decoration-line: none;" tabindex="0" target="">16:21</a></span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #131313; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Twitter acquisition
</span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #065fd4; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a class="yt-core-attributed-string__link yt-core-attributed-string__link--display-type yt-core-attributed-string__link--call-to-action-color" force-new-state="true" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D62xu_xoxw&t=1197s" rel="nofollow" style="display: inline; text-decoration-line: none;" tabindex="0" target="">19:57</a></span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #131313; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> How to use Twitter
</span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #065fd4; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a class="yt-core-attributed-string__link yt-core-attributed-string__link--display-type yt-core-attributed-string__link--call-to-action-color" force-new-state="true" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D62xu_xoxw&t=1268s" rel="nofollow" style="display: inline; text-decoration-line: none;" tabindex="0" target="">21:08</a></span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #131313; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Twitter manipulation
</span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #065fd4; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a class="yt-core-attributed-string__link yt-core-attributed-string__link--display-type yt-core-attributed-string__link--call-to-action-color" force-new-state="true" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D62xu_xoxw&t=1590s" rel="nofollow" style="display: inline; text-decoration-line: none;" tabindex="0" target="">26:30</a></span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #131313; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Mark Zuckerberg
</span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #065fd4; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a class="yt-core-attributed-string__link yt-core-attributed-string__link--display-type yt-core-attributed-string__link--call-to-action-color" force-new-state="true" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D62xu_xoxw&t=1641s" rel="nofollow" style="display: inline; text-decoration-line: none;" tabindex="0" target="">27:21</a></span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #131313; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Donald Trump
</span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #065fd4; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a class="yt-core-attributed-string__link yt-core-attributed-string__link--display-type yt-core-attributed-string__link--call-to-action-color" force-new-state="true" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D62xu_xoxw&t=1707s" rel="nofollow" style="display: inline; text-decoration-line: none;" tabindex="0" target="">28:27</a></span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #131313; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Media industry
</span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #065fd4; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a class="yt-core-attributed-string__link yt-core-attributed-string__link--display-type yt-core-attributed-string__link--call-to-action-color" force-new-state="true" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D62xu_xoxw&t=1851s" rel="nofollow" style="display: inline; text-decoration-line: none;" tabindex="0" target="">30:51</a></span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #131313; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Twitter staff reduction
PART 2 (April 18):
</span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #065fd4; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a class="yt-core-attributed-string__link yt-core-attributed-string__link--display-type yt-core-attributed-string__link--call-to-action-color" force-new-state="true" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D62xu_xoxw&t=2022s" rel="nofollow" style="display: inline; text-decoration-line: none;" tabindex="0" target="">33:42</a></span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #131313; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> PART 2: AI kill switch
</span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #065fd4; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a class="yt-core-attributed-string__link yt-core-attributed-string__link--display-type yt-core-attributed-string__link--call-to-action-color" force-new-state="true" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D62xu_xoxw&t=2153s" rel="nofollow" style="display: inline; text-decoration-line: none;" tabindex="0" target="">35:53</a></span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #131313; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Larry Page
</span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #065fd4; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a class="yt-core-attributed-string__link yt-core-attributed-string__link--display-type yt-core-attributed-string__link--call-to-action-color" force-new-state="true" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D62xu_xoxw&t=2277s" rel="nofollow" style="display: inline; text-decoration-line: none;" tabindex="0" target="">37:57</a></span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #131313; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> AI timeline
</span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #065fd4; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a class="yt-core-attributed-string__link yt-core-attributed-string__link--display-type yt-core-attributed-string__link--call-to-action-color" force-new-state="true" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D62xu_xoxw&t=2340s" rel="nofollow" style="display: inline; text-decoration-line: none;" tabindex="0" target="">39:00</a></span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #131313; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Democracy
</span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #065fd4; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a class="yt-core-attributed-string__link yt-core-attributed-string__link--display-type yt-core-attributed-string__link--call-to-action-color" force-new-state="true" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D62xu_xoxw&t=2384s" rel="nofollow" style="display: inline; text-decoration-line: none;" tabindex="0" target="">39:44</a></span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #131313; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Banking crisis
</span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #065fd4; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a class="yt-core-attributed-string__link yt-core-attributed-string__link--display-type yt-core-attributed-string__link--call-to-action-color" force-new-state="true" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D62xu_xoxw&t=2654s" rel="nofollow" style="display: inline; text-decoration-line: none;" tabindex="0" target="">44:14</a></span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #131313; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Inflation
</span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #065fd4; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a class="yt-core-attributed-string__link yt-core-attributed-string__link--display-type yt-core-attributed-string__link--call-to-action-color" force-new-state="true" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D62xu_xoxw&t=2783s" rel="nofollow" style="display: inline; text-decoration-line: none;" tabindex="0" target="">46:23</a></span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #131313; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Aliens
</span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #065fd4; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a class="yt-core-attributed-string__link yt-core-attributed-string__link--display-type yt-core-attributed-string__link--call-to-action-color" force-new-state="true" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D62xu_xoxw&t=2924s" rel="nofollow" style="display: inline; text-decoration-line: none;" tabindex="0" target="">48:44</a></span><span class="yt-core-attributed-string--link-inherit-color" face="Roboto, Arial, sans-serif" style="background: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); border: 0px; color: #131313; font-size: 14px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Birth rates & lifecycle for civilizations</span><br /><br />Twitter, after Musk takeover, is 20% of original staff. Musk: (30:00) "If you're not trying to run some sort of glorified activist organization. If you don't care that much about censorship. Then you can really let go of a lot of people, it turns out...It was absurdly over-staffed...It's working better than ever. We've increased the responsiveness of the system, in some cases, over 80%. We are trying the make Twitter the most trusted place on the internet, the least untrustworthy place on the internet."</div><p></p>plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-29236680805880715752024-02-19T09:41:00.001-05:002024-02-19T09:41:29.757-05:00Faggotry is not a Minority & Poverty is not Perversion <p>There is a huge (ancient and Jewish) error in present politics which falsely equates material prosperity with virtue and material poverty with vice.</p><p>Beware of those who equate sexual perversion with racial equality. That is the age-old racist stance which equates minority with moral evil and perversion: the notion that "those who are not like us are bad."</p><p>Beware of those who claim to love the poor but promote abortion, and sexual perversion (faggotry), her mother. Abortion is the bloody daughter of faggotry. And homosexualism, that dirty and infanticidal mother, is not a racial, a minority, category. It is moral perversion raised to the ideological, the political, level.</p><p>Both Marx and Hitler (both atheistic anti-Catholic leftists) equated poverty with vice. They theorized that those who are poor will necessarily be in the grip of vice. That is not a self-evident principle any more than the apparently opposite but related Romantic/Positivist principle of the noble savage, that civilization is the source of vice, that man in his natural state is pure and good. This is a denial of the fact of original sin on the one hand and of the glorious cultural achievement of Christian civilization on the other. It is a Hegelian rejection of Christ and His great Virtue in the world, the ideological source of those totalitarian twin brothers Marx and Hitler.</p><p>Saint Teresa of Calcutta had a wonderful principle in this regard: poverty does not mean filth. Poverty and cleanliness can and should coincide. On the one hand, minorities and the poor are often the finest Catholics, virtuous to the highest degree, and, there are countless saints among the Catholic royals of history.</p><p>Poverty and Virtue are one in Christ, and in His followers, as witnessed by the African exemption to Fiducia supplicans.</p><p>Homosexualism, a Western "white" phenomenon in our day, is trying to hijack the hispanics, the blacks, and, now, with Fiducia supplicans, the Catholic faith itself.</p>plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-3449722272517204832024-02-17T17:24:00.000-05:002024-02-17T17:24:19.253-05:00DOES FIDUCIA SUPPLICANS AFFIRM HERESY?<a href="https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2024/02/does-fiducia-supplicans-affirm-heresy">Gerhard Cardinal Müller</a><br /><br />Does the Vatican’s recent declaration <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_ddf_doc_20231218_fiducia-supplicans_en.html">Fiducia Supplicans</a> contain teachings contrary to the divine and Catholic faith? The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) addressed this question in a press release issued on January 4, in response to concerns from many bishops and entire Episcopal Conferences. The press release defends the orthodoxy of Fiducia Supplicans by quoting it, arguing that the declaration does not change the Catholic Church’s teaching on marriage and sexuality and does not state anything heretical. It argues that Fiducia Supplicans concerns not doctrine, but practical matters, and that it simply needs to be adapted to different contexts and sensitivities. <br /><br />But is it that simple? In reality, the criticism from concerned bishops is not that the declaration explicitly denies Church teaching on marriage and sexuality. Rather, the criticism is that by permitting the blessing of couples who have sex outside of marriage, especially same-sex couples, it denies Catholic teaching in practice, if not in words. The criticism is based on a solid traditional principle: lex orandi, lex credendi—the principle that the way the Church prays reflects what the Church believes. As the <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM">Catechism</a> puts it: “When the Church celebrates the sacraments, she confesses the faith received from the apostles.”<br /><br />There are, in fact, Catholic practices that cannot be altered without rejecting Catholic doctrine. Think, for example, of what the Council of Trent calls the substance of the sacraments, that is, those elements of the sacraments that were established by Christ himself. A change that affects this substance, even if it is a practical change, would be a rejection of Catholic doctrine. For example, if someone were to affirm in words the Catholic teaching on baptism, but then admit to the Eucharist those who are not baptized, he would be rejecting Catholic teaching. St. Thomas said that such contradictions created “falsehood in the sacramental signs.” <br /><br />The question, then, is whether to accept the “pastoral” and non-liturgical “blessings” proposed by Fiducia Supplicans for couples in irregular situations is to deny Catholic doctrine—not in explicit affirmation, but in practice. The press release issued by the DDF does not answer this question. It is therefore necessary to examine it in detail.<br /><br />First of all, we must consider the distinction between liturgical blessings and purely pastoral blessings, for it is on this distinction that Fiducia Supplicans relies. Fiducia Supplicans argues that these new “pastoral blessings” for couples in irregular situations are not liturgical. Now, this distinction between blessings is a novelty that Fiducia Supplicans introduces, which has not the slightest basis in Scripture, the Holy Fathers, or the Magisterium. Fiducia Supplicans claims that “pastoral blessings” are not liturgical. Yet they have a liturgical structure, according to the example given in the DDF’s press release (a prayer accompanied by the sign of the cross). And in any case, what is liturgical in Christianity is not measured, as in other religions, by objects, vestments, or altars. The fact that it is a priest, representing Christ, who imparts this “pastoral blessing” makes it a liturgical act in which the authority of Christ and the Church is at stake. The Second Vatican Council emphasizes the inseparable link between all the priest’s actions and the liturgy (see <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19651207_presbyterorum-ordinis_en.html">Presbyterorum ordinis</a>). <br /><br />Moreover, every blessing, whatever its solemnity, implies the approval of what is being blessed. This is what the constant tradition of the Church, based on Sacred Scripture, has taught. In fact, the Greek word used in the New Testament for “blessing” is eulogein, which, like the Latin benedicere, literally means “to say that something is good.” Moreover, in Scripture, to bless something is not just to declare it good, but to say that it is good because it comes from the Creator. Blessings are addressed to God’s creation, which he saw as very good, so that God himself may bring it to maturity and fullness. For this reason, a blessing cannot be invoked over relationships or situations that contradict or reject the order of creation, such as unions based on homosexual practice, which St. Paul considers a consequence of denying the Creator’s plan (Rom. 1:21–27). This need to be in harmony with the order of creation applies to every kind of blessing, regardless of its solemnity.<br /><br />We should note that the DDF implicitly recognizes that these blessings (including pastoral blessings) approve what is being blessed. That is why the press release takes pains to distinguish between the blessing of the couple and the blessing of the union. If it were true that these pastoral blessings do not legitimize anything, there would be no problem in pastorally blessing the union. The DDF’s effort to clarify that the union is not blessed betrays that the DDF considers the “pastoral blessing” an approval, and therefore insists that it is the couple and not the union that is blessed.<br /><br />Consequently, given the impossibility of distinguishing between liturgical and pastoral blessings, one must conclude that Fiducia Supplicans is doctrinally problematic, no matter how much it affirms Catholic doctrine in words. It cannot be said, therefore, that the question is merely practical and that it depends on the sensibilities of different regions. We are dealing with an issue that touches on both natural law and the evangelical affirmation of the sanctity of the body, which are no different in Malawi than in Germany.<br /><br />But the DDF has also used two other distinctions to avoid admitting that Fiducia Supplicans implies approval of homosexual unions. The first distinction is between the blessing of the union and the blessing of the couple. Is this distinction possible? Indeed, if one blesses the couple qua couple, that is, as united by a sexual relationship other than marriage, then one is approving that union, since it is the union that constitutes them as such a couple. It would be a different matter if the couple were blessed not as a same-sex couple, but, for example, as a couple of pilgrims approaching a shrine. But this is not what Fiducia Supplicans means, and that is why it speaks of blessing couples in an irregular situation, including same-sex couples. <br /><br />Let us now examine a second distinction: Could it be said that what is blessed is not the couple as united by the sexual relationship, but the couple as united by other aspects of their life, for example, by the help they give one another during an illness? This distinction does not change the fact that the couple is blessed as a couple that is united by sexual relations outside of marriage. For what continues to constitute the couple as such is the sexual relationship that unites them. The other aspects of their life as a couple are not what constitutes them as a couple, nor do all these aspects succeed in making good the sexual lifestyle that makes them a couple, as the 2021 <a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20210222_responsum-dubium-unioni_en.html">Responsum</a> of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith already affirmed. <br /><br />When Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the DDF, discussed how to give these blessings, he implied that it is not a matter of blessing the couple. For example, he suggested that the sign of the cross should be made on each person, not on the couple. However, the cardinal did not want to clarify that the couple cannot be blessed, and continued to accept signs—such as the common prayer over the two persons—that give legitimacy in the eyes of the Church to the existence of the couple as a good for the persons united. The cardinal has also refused to condemn certain blessings, such as the one that Fr. James Martin gave publicly, which are clearly addressed to the couple.<br /><br />Recently, we have noticed a new semantic change in the official explanations of Fiducia Supplicans. They no longer speak of giving the blessing to “couples,” but to “persons,” adding that it is about persons who are “together.” Now, to bless two people together who are together precisely because of the homosexual relationship that unites them is no different than to bless the union. No matter how much one repeats that one is not blessing the union, that is exactly what one is doing by the very objectivity of the rite being performed.<br /><br />Having established that the basic question is doctrinal, how should we describe the error of Fiducia Supplicans? Is this heresy?<br /><br />Consider the classical teaching on the various objects of magisterial teaching and of the believer’s adherence to it. This doctrine is contained in John Paul II’s motu proprio <a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/motu_proprio/documents/hf_jp-ii_motu-proprio_30061998_ad-tuendam-fidem.html">Ad tuendam fidem</a>, which presents three “paragraphs” of the Profession of Faith made upon assuming various ecclesiastical offices. The first paragraph refers to the truths contained in revelation; the denial of these truths constitutes heresy. The second paragraph refers to truths that, while not contained in revelation, are intimately related to it and necessary to the preservation of the revealed deposit. These are truths that, because of their historical or logical connection with the revealed truths, must be accepted and held firmly and definitively. Those who deny such truths are in opposition to the teaching of the Catholic Church, even if their assertions cannot be considered heretical in themselves. The third paragraph of the profession of faith refers to the truths taught by the ordinary Magisterium, to which religious assent of mind and will must be given. <br /><br />How does this apply to our case? The affirmation that homosexual acts are contrary to the law of God is a revealed truth; to deny it would violate the first paragraph of the Profession of Faith and would be heretical. This denial is not found in Fiducia Supplicans. It would also be heretical to accept a nuptial blessing for same-sex couples. This is likewise not found in Fiducia Supplicans. Thus, Fiducia Supplicans does not seem to violate the first paragraph. Then how do we classify its affirmation that sexual unions outside of marriage can be blessed with a non-nuptial blessing? Even if one were to argue that this affirmation is not explicitly rejected in revelation, this affirmation violates, at least, the second paragraph of the Profession of Faith, for, as we have seen, to bless these persons as same-sex couples is to approve their unions, even if they are not equated with marriage. This is therefore a doctrine contrary to the teaching of the Catholic Church, since its acceptance, even if not directly heretical, logically leads to heresy. <br /><br />For all these reasons, Fiducia Supplicans must be considered doctrinally problematic, for it contains a denial of Catholic doctrine. For this reason, it is also problematic from a pastoral point of view. In fact, a good pastor approaches every person in difficulty as a teacher of God’s commandments, recommends him to God’s prayer, and, in the case of grave sin, leads him to repentance, confession, and renewal of life through forgiveness in sacramental absolution. What he will never do in the pastoral care of Catholics in irregular sexual relationships is to draw analogies between God’s blessing for the marriage of man and woman and a so-called non-liturgical blessing for persons in sinful relationships. In the case of two persons living in an irregular situation, what pastoral reason is there for blessing the persons together rather than as individuals? Why would these persons want to be blessed together, if not because they want God’s approval of their union? To bless them together, therefore, is to confirm them in their sin and thus alienate them from God.<br /><br />Nor does the principle that we are all sinners, and that therefore no distinction can be made between some sinners and others, befit a good shepherd. Scripture distinguishes between types of sin, as we read in John: “All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly” (1 John 5:17). The Church’s teaching, based on Scripture, distinguishes between venial sins (which do not necessarily require sacramental absolution to be forgiven) and mortal sins (which do). It also distinguishes those sins that are public from those that are not, as well as sinners who stubbornly persists in their sins from sinners who are open to repentance. These distinctions are important, not for judging people, but for offering them healing. Similarly, a good doctor needs to offer different diagnoses for different cases, for not every illness can be treated in the same way.<br /><br />In conclusion, as long as the DDF does not correct Fiducia Supplicans by clarifying that blessings cannot be given to the couple, but only to each person individually, the DDF is approving statements that are contrary to at least the second paragraph of the Profession of Faith—that is, it is approving statements that are contrary to the teaching of the Catholic Church, which, without being heretical in themselves, lead to heresy. This means that these pastoral blessings for irregular unions cannot be accepted by the Catholic faithful, and especially by those who, in assuming an ecclesiastical office, have taken the Profession of Faith and the Oath of Fidelity, which calls first of all for the preservation of the deposit of faith in its entirety.<br /><br />This refusal to accept Fiducia Supplicans, which can be expressed publicly insofar as it concerns the common good of the Church, does not imply any lack of respect for the Holy Father, who signed the text of Fiducia Supplicans; on the contrary. For service to the Holy Father is due to him precisely insofar as he is the guarantor of the continuity of Catholic doctrine, and this service is honored primarily by exposing the grave defects of Fiducia Supplicans.<br /><br />In short, the exercise of the Magisterium cannot be limited to giving dogmatically correct information about the “truth of the Gospel” (Gal. 2:14). Paul openly and unhesitatingly opposed the ambiguous exercise of the primacy by Peter, his brother in the apostolate, because the latter, by his erroneous conduct, endangered the true faith and the salvation of the faithful, not precisely with regard to the dogmatic profession of the Christian faith, but with regard to the practice of Christian life.<br /><br />Gerhard Cardinal Müller is former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-76382318256028644722024-02-17T17:05:00.001-05:002024-02-17T17:05:32.539-05:00Saint Peter Damian, Saint for our TimeLIBER GOMORRHIANUS: The judgment of the Doctor of the Church S. Pier Damiani on homosexuality...<br /><br /><a href="https://blog.messainlatino.it/2024/02/san-pier-damiani-e-la-denuncia.html"><img border="0" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FEnPpXr5rbA/XRT0BqhqwoI/AAAAAAAAS7k/2xJoO_CPlt09I2QM_MStS6DX4tD7AiikQCLcBGAs/s320/cover-gomorrhanius.jpg" /></a><br /><br />Summer readings for our readers.<br /><a href="https://libri.edizionifiducia.it/liber-gomorrhianus-san-pier-damiani/">HERE</a> to buy it. (Italian)<br /><br />By San Pier Damiani (Introduction by Roberto de Mattei)<br /><br /><br />His Liber Gomorrhianus appeared around 1049, in an era in which corruption was widespread, up to the top of the ecclesiastical world. In this writing, addressed to Pope Leo IX, Pier Damiani denounces the perverse vices of his time with a language that knows no false mercy and compromises.<br /><br />He is convinced that of all the sins, the most serious is sodomy, a term that includes all acts against nature, which aim to satisfy sexual pleasure by diverting it from procreation. “If this absolutely ignominious and abominable vice is not immediately stopped with an iron fist, – he writes – the sword of divine wrath will fall upon us, bringing many to ruin”.<br /><br />Pope Leo gratefully welcomed the Liber Gomorrhianus, writing to Pier Damiani that "each of the statements in this writing meets with our approval, like water thrown on the diabolical fire" and, taking up the saint's indications, he intervened firmly against the sodomites in the Church. Today, writes Roberto de Mattei in his introduction to the work, “Liber Gomorrhianus reminds us that there is something more serious than practiced and theorized moral vice. It is the silence of those who should speak, the abstention of those who should intervene, the bond of complicity that is established between the wicked and those who, under the pretext of avoiding scandal, remain silent and by remaining silent consent and, worse still, the acceptance by men of the Church of homosexuality, considered not as a very serious sin, but as a positive 'tension' towards the good, worthy of pastoral welcome and legal protection [...]. Will the reading of Liber Gomorrhianus instill the spirit of Saint Pier Damiani in the heart of some prelate or lay person, shaking him from his torpor and pushing him to speak and act?”<br /><br />San Pier Damiani (1007-1072), abbot of the monastery of Fonte Avellana and later cardinal bishop of Ostia, was one of the most prominent personalities of the Catholic reform of the eleventh century.<br /><br />Roberto de Mattei is professor of Modern History and Christianity at the European University of Rome and president of the Lepanto Foundation.<br /><br />Gianandrea de Antonellis, writer, taught Christian literature at the Higher Institute of Religious Sciences in Benevento.<br />__<br /><br /><br />Luisella Scrosati, <a href="https://lanuovabq.it/it/san-pier-damiani-e-la-denuncia-dellomosessualita-nel-clero">La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana</a> , 14-1-24<br /><br /><div>Great reformer and hermit, Pier Damiani denounced plagues such as simony and homosexuality among the clergy. But his Liber Gomorrhianus was uncomfortable even for the popes who agreed with him, probably because they felt the pressure of the sodomite clerics.<br />A great saint reformer, unfairly little known. Born in Ravenna in 1007, his father died very early and abandoned by his mother (she also died shortly after) due to the extreme poverty of the family, he was first raised by a brother, who treated him very harshly; then he was raised by another brother, the archpriest Damiano, and started to study the arts of the trivium and quadrivium. Having become a professor, he was deeply affected by an episode in which he read a divine warning: having refused a poor man alms, according to some, or white bread, according to others, he risked suffocating to death due to a bone stuck in his throat. He thus decided to embrace the solitary life, entering the hermitage of Fonte Avellana, a not very large Camaldolese monastery, which was however a hotbed of saints (76, according to Camaldolese tradition) and future bishops, very important for the reform of the Church.</div><div><br /></div><div>Pier Damiani was elected prior in 1043 and became the protagonist of numerous new foundations, zealously propagating the hermitic life as the culmination of cenobitic monastic life. But it is enough to take a look at his letters, collected in eight volumes in the Opera omnia, to understand how this hermit was particularly attentive to the plagues from which the Church of his time suffered, especially simony and homosexuality in the clergy, trying to denouncing evil, advising pastors, including popes, to implement a courageous reform. For this reason, Pope Stephen IX (1020-1058) appointed him bishop of Ostia and cardinal in 1057; a position which he seems to have accepted only under penalty of excommunication and which he endured for only ten years, then managing to return to the hermit's life.</div><div><br /></div><div>But let's take a step back. With the pontificate of Leo IX (1002-1054), Saint Pier Damiani began his significant influence on the reform of the Church. There are two writings denouncing the sins of the clergy, widespread and very serious, with the proposal of a more decisive and rigorous line by the Pope: the Liber Gratissimus of 1052, on simony, and the Liber Gomorrhianus, composed in 1049, on homosexuality in ecclesiastics. Both writings were welcomed by Leo IX, but something in the relationship between the two soon ended up cracking. Later, in 1059, he also wrote a small book, De cælibatu sacerdotum, precisely to urge Pope Nicholas II (ca 980-1061) to act against prelates who had concubines and who violated the chastity typical of their state.</div><div><br /></div><div>As for the first publication, Pier Damiani proposed a firm line against simony, but at the same time explained that the ordinations conferred to or by simoniacious prelates were still valid. On the opposite front, Cardinal Umberto da Silva Candida (†1061), in his Adversus simoniacos, instead supported the need to reorganize those who had received ordination from simoniacious bishops. Leo IX appeared strongly undecided in this regard, and it was only with Nicholas II, during the Roman Synod of 1060, that the definitive position of non-reordination was taken.</div><div><br /></div><div>But Leo IX's management of the problem of homosexuality appears even more curious. The Liber Gomorrhianus represented the strongest and clearest attempt to strike at the heart of this plague present in the clergy, which Pier Damiani called "quadruple vice", in reference to the four concrete ways in which homosexual practice took place, starting from sinning with oneself , which he considered as a first degree of sin against nature, up to the properly sodomite act. The position of Pier Damiani, who also did not intend to arrogate himself the authority to impose ecclesiastical sanctions, was very firm and decisive not only due to the gravity of the unnatural sin, but also and above all due to the fact that it was committed by clerics. In fact, he declared "contrary to reason and to the sanctions of the Fathers" that "those who habitually stain themselves with this purulent disease dare to enter the order and remain in their rank".</div><div><br /></div><div>Saint Pier Damiani therefore maintained that those who were habitually implicated in any of these quadruple faults, even if not the most serious, had to be dismissed from the clerical state. Leo IX, in the letter Ad splendidum nitentis (1054), responded personally to the hermit, sharing the firm condemnation of the «unbridled license of muddy lust» and recognizing that those who have been guilty of these sins have always been «removed from all degrees of immaculate church", in accordance with the sacred canons. But, not without disapproving Pier Damiani, the Pope decided to operate "with greater benevolence", allowing those who had been purified by a "worthy penance" and having put "a curb on lust" to be reinstated in their rank of sacred order. they were indeed guilty, "but with not a long practice nor with many people" and provided they had not "sinned in the back".</div><div><br /></div><div>A decision that was certainly condemnatory, but which left wide margins for interpretation, risking weakening the fight against active homosexuality in the clergy: what did a "not long practice" mean? And what was meant by “many people”? A letter (cf. PL 144, 208B-209C) written between 1050 and 1054 seems to attest to the fact that there was a certain distance between the two; Pier Damiani reproaches the Pope for having believed some lies against him, without wanting to verify the facts. It is not known who and for what reason spread falsehoods to the detriment of the hermit; and we don't even know the content of these lies. The fact is that the pontificate of Leo IX slipped away, without too much harm to those ecclesiastics who practiced homosexuality.</div><div><br /></div><div>But Liber Gomorrhianus was to encounter an even more singular misfortune. When, in 1061, Anselmo da Baggio was elected Pope, choosing the name of Alexander II (+1073), the hour seemed to have come for perversions in the clergy. Anselmo da Baggio had been, together with Pier Damiani, the protagonist of the reform of the Church of Milan; between them there was communion of intent and friendship. Furthermore, Pope Alexander owed his friend a strenuous defense of the legitimacy of his election against the antipope Honorius II. Even his positions as pontiff indicated a desire to fight strenuously against simony and Nicolaism. Yet, in a letter (cf. PL 144, 270A-272C) addressed to two cardinals (including Hildebrand of Soana, future Gregory VII), Pier Damiani complained that the Pope had borrowed the copy, probably the only one, of a book dear to him (which many identify with the Liber Gomorrhianus), and he had never returned it to him. In essence, a kidnapping. It is not difficult to think that the book in question must have been very inconvenient and annoyed more than one of the ecclesiastics who worked in the Roman Curia.</div><div><br /></div><div>San Pier Damiani therefore did not have an easy life precisely in terms of denouncing homosexuality in the clergy. The popes were certainly against this plague, but they seemed to approach the reform with a handbrake. A certain vagueness on the part of Leo IX first, and a probable desire not to offend Pier Damiani's adversaries on the part of Alexander II then, make it clear that the problem was evidently not only widespread, but also penetrated even to the men closest to the popes. Who evidently felt the pressure. The case of Leo IX is then particularly significant: behind his "more human" way of acting, one cannot perhaps see the very practical problem that, in dismissing from the clerical state all those who were guilty of the "fourfold vice", would there have been many problems finding sufficient replacements?<br />__</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://blog.messainlatino.it/2022/04/cosa-san-pier-damiani-pensava-della.html">Itresentieri, 22 FEBRUARY 2022</a></div><div><br /></div><div>What did Saint Pier Damiani think about homosexual practice? He said: it's the worst of vices!</div><div><br /></div><div>Written by the <a href="http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/26200">Saint and Doctor of the Church San Pier Damiani</a> , perhaps for the pro-gay Vatican lobby that wants to change the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the subject of sodomy: 1867 " The catechetical tradition also reminds us that there are "sins that cry out to heaven". They cry out towards heaven: the blood of Abel; the sin of the Sodomites ( Cf Gn 18,20; 19,13) ; the lament of the oppressed people in Egypt; the lament of the foreigner, the widow and the orphan; the injustice towards the wage earner ".</div><div><br /></div><div>Louis<br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br />Throughout the Middle Ages, i.e. in the period of formation of Western Christian civilization, the Church never stopped promoting the virtue of temperance and renewing the condemnation of unnatural vice; in this way she managed to reduce it to a very rare and marginal phenomenon.<br />Among the saints who fought homosexual vice in the Middle Ages, one of the greatest was Saint Pier Damiani, Doctor of the Church, reformer of the Benedictine order and great writer and preacher. In his Liber Gomorrhanus, written around 1051 for Pope Saint Leo IX, he denounces with great vigor the spiritual ruin to which those who practice this vice are condemned. A vice is spreading in our parts that is so gravely nefarious and ignominious that if zealous punitive intervention is not opposed as soon as possible, the sword of divine wrath will certainly rage enormously, destroying many. (…) This turpitude is rightly considered the worst of crimes, since it is written that the almighty God hated it always and in the same way, so much so that while for the other vices he established limits through the legal precept, this vice he wanted to condemn him, with the punishment of the most rigorous revenge. In fact, it cannot be hidden that He destroyed the two infamous cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all the neighboring areas, sending rain of fire and brimstone from the sky (...)<br /><br /><br />And it is quite right that those who, against the law of nature and against the order of human reason, hand over their flesh to the demons to enjoy such disgusting relationships, share the cell of their prayer with the demons. In fact, since human nature profoundly resists these evils, abhorring the lack of the opposite sex, it is clearer than the light of the sun that it would never taste such perverse and alien things if the sodomites, who have become almost vessels of wrath destined for ruin , were not totally possessed by the spirit of iniquity; and in fact this spirit, from the moment it takes possession of them, fills their souls so gravely with all its infernal wickedness, that they crave with their mouths wide open not what is solicited by their natural carnal appetite, but only what it proposes. them in his diabolical solicitude. Therefore, when the mean man rushes into this sin of impurity with another male, he does not do it because of the natural stimulus of the flesh, but only because of the natural impulse. (…)<br /><br /><br />This vice should not be considered an ordinary vice at all, because it surpasses all other vices in severity. In fact, it kills the body, ruins the soul, contaminates the flesh, extinguishes the light of the intellect, drives out the Holy Spirit from the temple of the soul, introduces the demon instigator of lust, leads into error, uproots the truth with a deceived mind, prepares snares for the traveler, throws him into an abyss, closes him there so as not to let him out again, opens Hell for him, closes the door of Paradise to him, transforms him from a citizen of the celestial Jerusalem into the heir of the infernal Babylon , from a star in the sky to straw destined for eternal fire, separates him from the communion of the Church and throws him into the voracious and seething hellish fire. This vice strives to undermine the walls of the heavenly Fatherland and to repair that of the burned and revived Sodom. In fact, it violates austerity, extinguishes modesty, enslaves chastity, kills irrecoverable virginity with the dagger of an impure contagion, defiles everything, stains everything, contaminates everything, and as far as it can does not allow anything pure, chaste to survive. , of a stranger to filth. (…).<br /><br /><br />This pestilential tyranny of Sodom makes men shameful and drives them to hatred towards God; he plots wicked wars against God; it crushes its slaves under the weight of the spirit of iniquity, severs their bond with the angels, takes away the unhappy soul from its nobility by subjecting it to the yoke of its own dominion. It deprives its slaves of the weapons of virtue and exposes them to being pierced by the arrows of all vices. It makes them humiliate in the Church, it makes them condemned by justice, it contaminates them in secret, it makes them hypocrites in public, it gnaws at their conscience like a worm, it burns their flesh like fire. (…) This plague shakes the foundation of faith, weakens the strength of hope, dissipates the bond of charity, eliminates justice, undermines fortitude, takes away temperance, dampens the acumen of prudence; and once he has expelled every wedge of virtue from the curia of the human heart, he intrudes every barbarity of vice. (…) As soon as one falls into this abyss of extreme ruin, he is exiled from the celestial Fatherland, separated from the Body of Christ, refuted by the authority of the universal Church, condemned by the judgment of the holy Fathers, despised by men and rejected by communion of saints. (...) Let these wretches therefore learn to repress such a detestable plague of vice, or manfully tame the insidious lasciviousness of lust, to restrain the annoying incentives of the flesh, to viscerally fear the terrible judgment of divine rigor, always keeping in mind that threatening sentence of the Apostle (Paul) who exclaims: “It is terrible to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb 10). (…) As Moses says “If there is anyone who is on God's side, let him join me!” (Ex. 32). That is, if someone recognizes himself as a soldier of God, he should fervently set about overcoming this vice and should not neglect to destroy it with all his strength; and wherever it is discovered, let him attack it to pierce it and eliminate it with the sharpest arrows of the word”. (San Pier Damiani OSB, Liber Gomorrhanus, in Patrologia Latina, vol. 145, coll. 159-190).</div><div><br /></div><div>(The texts above were translated by Google Translate)</div>plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-92095510000382197932024-02-17T16:44:00.001-05:002024-02-17T16:44:44.349-05:00I am a Spiritual, Doctrinal African<div><a href="https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2024/02/11/spiritually-doctrinally-im-an-african/?utm_source=The+Catholic+Thing+Daily&utm_campaign=223a154bb2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_12_07_01_02_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_769a14e16a-223a154bb2-244088537&mc_cid=223a154bb2&mc_eid=3cd1bf1dbe"><img height="360" src="https://www.thecatholicthing.org/wp-content/uploads/cq5dam.thumbnail.cropped.1500.844-26.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.thecatholicthing.org/2024/02/11/spiritually-doctrinally-im-an-african/?utm_source=The+Catholic+Thing+Daily&utm_campaign=223a154bb2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_12_07_01_02_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_769a14e16a-223a154bb2-244088537&mc_cid=223a154bb2&mc_eid=3cd1bf1dbe">Fr. Jeffrey Kirby</a></div><br />SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2024<br /><br />On January 29, the Holy Father gave an interview with the Italian newspaper, La Stampa. Many of us cringe when we hear about another papal interview, since we’ve learned it’s rarely good news. And Pope Francis’ recent interview lived up to expectations.<div><br />We were told in Fiducia supplicans, which claimed to be crystal clear about permitting blessings of “irregular couples”: “beyond the guidance provided above, no further responses should be expected about possible ways to regulate details or practicalities regarding blessings of this type.” Yet it seems the Vatican can’t stop talking about that Declaration from the Dicastery on the Doctrine of the Faith. The papal interview was just one more of those supposedly unneeded responses. And, true to form, it has brought more frustration and division than peace and unity.</div><div><br />As I read the <a href="https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2024-01/pope-francis-interview-la-stampa-israel-hamas-war-two-states.html">English text of the interview</a> provided by Vatican News, I was surprised to learn that the opposition to Fiducia supplicans is only found among those in “small ideological groups.” Later, in an apparent reference to these groups, the pope said: “In the Church, there have always been small groups that manifest reflections of a schismatic nature.”<br /><br />As a pastor and moral theologian, I’ve expressed my concerns in various settings about both the theological underpinnings of Fiducia Supplicans, as well as my opposition to its approval of blessings for couples in states of sin.<br /><br />And so, I had to ask myself, do I belong to a “small ideological group” that manifests a “schismatic nature?”<br /><br /></div><div>The answer is “no.” I don’t belong to a small group that wants schism. I love the Church and believe in her Catholic and Apostolic faith, transmitted through Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture.<br /><br />It’s this Catholic and Apostolic faith that the magisterium is supposed to interpret as its servant, in a posture of docility and reverence, as the opening of Vatican II’s Dei Verbum states: “Hearing the word of God with reverence and proclaiming it with faith. . . .this present council wishes to set forth authentic doctrine on divine revelation and how it is handed on, so that by hearing the message of salvation the whole world may believe, by believing it may hope, and by hoping it may love.”<br /><br />In the interview, the Holy Father addressed African opposition to Fiducia supplicans, saying the African continent is “a special case,” since “for them, homosexuality is something ‘ugly’ from a cultural point of view; they do not tolerate it.”<br /><br />When I read that, I felt a spiritual affinity and a unity in the Spirit with Africa.<br /><br />Our shared Catechism of the Catholic Church still echoes the Church’s perennial moral teaching: “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.” [No. 2357]At the 2019 meeting of the Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM) [Vatican News]<br /><br />If being an African means being opposed to homosexual relationships, and seeing homosexual acts as “ugly,” since they offend the complementarity of man and woman and mock the selfless act of nuptial intimacy, and if being an African means not tolerating such relationships, and efforts to normalize them, especially in supposed “gay marriages” and other such ways, then I had to start asking myself some hard questions.<br /><br />Since I’m not a part of a small ideological group seeking schism – and never would be – I realized for the first time in my almost fifty years: I’m an African! Spiritually, doctrinally, I’m an African.<br /><br />“The unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” praised by Saint Paul (Ephesians 4:3), compels me to recognize my connection with the believers in Africa and my newly recognized status as a spiritual African.<br /><br />Years ago, while I was a seminarian at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, I visited Nigeria.<br /><br />One of the local archbishops, a friend of my home bishop, hosted me for a visit to his diocese. I saw there the strong and vibrant faith of the people, which was reflected in beautiful Masses, inspirational singing and prayers, the people’s love for their shepherds, the building of hospitals and churches literally by the hands of the faithful, and by an intense and warm sense of welcome and hospitality. I had never experienced anything like it. It was like walking into the Acts of the Apostles.<br /><br />During my stay, the archbishop made time for me every evening to discuss what I had seen or learned that day. As my time in Nigeria was coming to a close, he asked me, “Jeffrey, why is God in Africa?” Honestly, I was confused by the question. My face must have shown my perplexity because the archbishop asked me again, “Jeffrey, why is God in Africa?” I finally had to respond, “I don’t know, Your Grace.”<br /><br />The archbishop, who was an apostolic man of conspicuous faith and love, smiled at my answer. He then looked directly into my eyes and said, “Jeffrey, God is in Africa because God goes where He is wanted!”<br /><br />Yes, God goes where He is wanted, and the believers of Africa want Him. They want Him as He has revealed Himself and exactly how as He has taught us to live as His children. There’s no equivocation, no compromise, no adulteration possible.<br /><br />As a Catholic Christian, I want the same, as do tens of millions in the West and all over the world. And so, in a sense, we are all spiritually African, hardly “small ideological groups,” bound with the believers of Africa in our shared Catholic and Apostolic faith and greatly wanting God and yearning for Him to come where He is wanted – and to open all eyes and hearts still closed to Him.<div><p style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></p></div></div>plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-72290059057243699302024-02-15T19:46:00.003-05:002024-02-22T09:28:18.961-05:00Courtship<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s2c2a6.htm" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgOs1VbGIKKBG4E2H2rhSTR0_5m5QHqh_xm1wtTLg30ptvJoQq5IbRtDPEgrWwd1_JhhdufFA5qa-Q2IwkrjaIL8ocAkOFYgQOeke8RuKuqdpYPvKXuI5_qTki6BI13IFtcYDTVm4ukZw_nnyblaZaiED40k34douoE6wDF3TSeikBeDe3Llmw2dm47dV8=s16000" /></a></div><br />A parish priest for over 25 years, and now a chaplain at an excellent Catholic liberal arts College for the past few years, I am completely familiar with the natural science of courtship.<br /><br /><b>Righteous (chaste) courtship has five stages.<br /></b><br /><b>1. Getting acquainted.</b> Men and women get acquainted with each other in various honest social settings.<br /><br /><b>2. First dates.</b> Those who are interested in each other go on dates to explore their mutual compatibility/interest. If after the first date they are still both interested they may go on a few successive dates. It is proper for the man to take the initiative in asking the woman "out."<br /><br /><b>3. Dating/going steady.</b> If the dates go well then they begin a particular friendship, they decide to try to become best friends in steady dating, "going steady." The man and the woman begin to "date." Again, usually at the suggesting of the man, who should typically take the initiative along every major step in the courtship.<br /><br /><b>4. Engagement.</b> If the dating goes well they decide to get married. The man proposes marriage to the woman.<br /><br /><b>5. Marriage.</b> They marry for love of God, each other and the plan of God for their marriage, open to the children he might want to send them.<br /><br />Two important points need to be added regarding courtship.<br /><br /><b>1. "If you like her, date her!"</b> A clear and immediate transition from stage 1 to stage 2 is important to avoid unnecessary confusion in the relationship. There is no intermediate stage between being simply friends (stage 1) and "going-together" (stage 2). In other words, a young man and a young woman are not fit to simply be best friends, even with the presumption of no romance. Such a platonic arrangement is fiction. It causes great confusion and people get hurt because the relationship--an exclusive male/female relationship--is, by its very nature, sexually oriented, and, therefore, always, at least, ambiguous. A male is 100% male, and a female is 100% female. If a young man and a young lady are to be best friends, they must be so as male and female, and make that clear by dating. If they want to be best friends they must date. Otherwise they must not have an exclusive friendship. That would not be healthy.<br /><br /><b>2. <a href="http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s2c2a6.htm">Chastity</a> is essential throughout courtship.</b> The relationship should not be at all a physical relationship until stage 5 (after marriage; and, in marriage, marital chastity is to be observed). The relevant acronym for courtship is KISS ("Keep It Simple Stupid"). It would be entirely contrary to the true friendship proper to courtship for the couple to habitually and deliberately cause each other to commit even the least sins of lust, because lust would greatly inhibit any real relationship. The flesh and the passions would be an obstacle to the union of persons which happens primarily on the level of the human souls, getting to know each other as persons, not as mere objects. Couples that are dating are not properly lovers, they should simply be best friends who are chastely exploring the possibility of becoming lovers, in the exclusive domain of marriage. Lust and near occasions of sins of unchastity should be carefully avoided and shunned throughout any courtship worthy of the name. Love is the opposite of lust. Lust is selfishness, theft; love is a generosity, gift, self-gift.<div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/r1V4w38v2mI" width="320" youtube-src-id="r1V4w38v2mI"></iframe></div><div><br /></div>plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-28425561446238851482024-02-13T06:45:00.006-05:002024-02-13T09:13:57.591-05:00International Condom Day: WHO"WHO (The World Health Organization) joins communities and partners in celebrating International Condom Day on 13 February 2024. It is important to bring visibility back to this safe, inexpensive and highly effective tool to prevent transmission of HIV, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and unplanned pregnancies." --Google<div><br /></div><div>Lies!<br /><div><br /></div><div>The prophylactic is not safe nor highly effective in the prevention of the transmission of HIV or any sexually transmitted infections or unplanned pregnancies. Rather, it promotes lust and every manner of sexual immorality and gives a false sense of security and even a pretended nobility to this most perverse tool of sexual license in Gaydom. The Condom is one of the greatest causes of sin, preventable disease, abuse, and murder (e.g. abortion) in our present, especially among the young. Its acceptance and diffusion is a terrible scandal leading innumerable souls to perdition, physical as well as spiritual.</div><div><br /></div><div>"Thou shalt not commit adultery," says the Lord. Sexual sins are death to the soul and they also destroy the flesh itself! Chastity, Virginity and Celibacy are necessary virtues for world health. The World Health Organization is clueless. Cf. <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+5-7&version=DRA">Proverbs 5-7</a>, <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+19%3A12&version=DRA">Matthew 19:12</a>.</div><div><br /></div><div>Condomastic sex is multiple adultery, it is more that one sexual sin, adding to the particular improper extra-marital sexual relation the distortion of the natural procreative end of marriage.</div><blockquote><div>"...[W]hen [Onan] went in to his brother's wife [He] spilled his seed upon the ground, lest children should be born in his brother's name. And therefore the Lord slew him, because he did a detestable thing." Genesis 38:9b-10.</div></blockquote><div>Condom use is detestable! It is dirty, shameful, abusive; it is mutual-masturbation; it is akin to sodomy. It is a grotesque misuse of what is meant to be the temple of God, the human body.</div><blockquote><div>"Know you not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid. Or know you not, that he who is joined to a harlot, is made one body with her? For they shall be, saith he, two in one flesh. But he who is joined to the Lord, is one spirit. Fly fornication. Every sin that a man doth, is without the body; but he that committeth fornication, sinneth against his own body. Or know you not, that your members are the temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from God; and you are not your own? For you are bought with a great price. Glorify and bear God in your body." <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+6%3A15-20&version=DRA">1 Cor. 6:15-20</a>.</div></blockquote><div>May Christ Our Sweet and Blessed Lord and Our Lady, the Ever Virgin and Immaculate Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, save us!</div><div><br /></div><div><h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="background-color: white; color: #555544; font-family: tahoma, "Trebuchet MS", lucida, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 21.6px; margin: 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://plinthos.blogspot.com/2020/08/condom-degrades-man-ratzinger.html" style="background: transparent; color: #88bb22;">Condom Degrades Man --Ratzinger</a></h3></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://plinthos.blogspot.com/search?q=condom">https://plinthos.blogspot.com/search?q=condom</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://plinthos.blogspot.com/search?q=lust">https://plinthos.blogspot.com/search?q=lust</a></div></div>plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-79365732302007775842024-02-12T10:32:00.005-05:002024-02-12T10:32:38.570-05:00Nostalgia Cubana<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/chNNqRMnhH4" width="320" youtube-src-id="chNNqRMnhH4"></iframe></div><p></p>plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-48127777234700899692024-02-06T10:46:00.004-05:002024-02-06T10:48:43.580-05:00Ash Wednesday 2024 is Valentine's Day<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://daotaodaynghe.edu.vn/memento-h-169412627266062/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="658" data-original-width="763" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhuFVPTkAvgvc-uH3LpWXDfrxpFYEQfgj50BoMb_yRrGlrrZQVO3_pn517rMDLiX2T9C2d6OwJXhzvUhp7ynomdH4ymzu304zbnkkAjxg-imrBJDBnxpmu9yumaQqic_FX3NopeP3gXEGKY5YphHn2JN4AcY7FU4FFP1I_kKPdFn37Iyf3QOrEdzFaeUcQ=w400-h345" width="400" /></a></div><br />February 14th, a week from tomorrow, is Ash Wednesday.<br /><br />How fitting that Ash Wednesday this year should fall on the popular feast of Saint Valentine's Day, that we might do penance for our disordered affections! and for our sexual sins, and for those same sins of disordered sensuality of all men throughout the whole world, making reparation in union with the Passion and Death of our Sweet Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ on the Cross!<div><br /></div><div><i>Memento homo quia pulvus es, et in pulverem reverteris!</i> (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+3%3A19&version=VULGATE">Genesis 3:19</a>)</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://daotaodaynghe.edu.vn/memento-h-169412627266062/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1124" data-original-width="1106" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhuqWGp7Vuqs-ogU2s5Ip4bqOf2l6AFGt769io2klkEJF1VVOZnQWgzIA9hjK7kTtTndnnn_LymhqJlQxtOOoX2TjbzIrfWdUhWBb76aeoJlNRknbTVOUgdUDYn6-hXt2rtWknb499pDKoy44succUDYELO39dlUuUN8LvBd9fZU5t6ymH8uoSCUdK-B_Y=w394-h400" width="394" /></a></div></div>plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-78682748895437624422024-02-03T07:01:00.002-05:002024-02-03T07:08:14.380-05:00Appeal to Hierarchy for Official Rejection of Fiducia Supplicans<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lifepetitions.com/petition/sin" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="810" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8ZJS8pFuOnj63-I5MjsDty99bshVf_LDff6hYIys1hTTJKH_2KnFyB1RL_xG48pVbaehjM45R5XIb5jzjToIJ32NrrY6wpiH6d8LAmGmoJbvs3ri4bSK4jbWNS6FkSrUS9uLZKtXqPyhqmr7yXLjZKpKwo4aFNT-JdZgiyg_iIUz5kydZhxj68DHlFkQ/w400-h247/frantuch.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div><a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/breaking-priests-scholars-ask-church-leaders-to-request-the-pope-withdraw-fiducia-supplicans/?utm_source=featured_news&utm_campaign=usa">Filial Appeal</a></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/breaking-priests-scholars-ask-church-leaders-to-request-the-pope-withdraw-fiducia-supplicans/?utm_source=featured_news&utm_campaign=usa">To all Cardinals and Bishops of the Catholic Church</a> (<a href="https://katholisches.info/2024/02/03/appell-an-alle-kardinaele-und-bischoefe-der-katholischen-kirche-sagen-sie-nein-zu-fiducia-supplicans/">Deutsch</a>) <br /><br />Your Eminencies, Your Excellencies:<br /><br />We, the undersigned Catholic priests, scholars, and authors, write to you on the occasion of the latest document published by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, <i>Fiducia supplicans</i>, which has caused so much scandal in the Church during this last Christmastime.<br /><br />As is widely known, a relevant part of the world episcopate has practically rejected it, due to its evident break with Scripture and the Tradition of the Church. Twenty episcopal conferences, dozens of individual prelates, and even cardinals invested with the highest positions, such as Cardinal Müller and Cardinal Sarah, have expressed an unequivocal condemnatory judgment. So have also the UK, USA, and Australian Confraternities of Catholic Clergy. Never in the history of the Catholic Church has a document of the Roman Magisterium experienced such a strong rejection.<br /><br />Indeed, despite its explicit reaffirmation of the traditional doctrine of the Church on Marriage, it turns out that the pastoral practice that the document allows is in direct opposition to it. So much so, that the document has been very favorably received by those few episcopates and prelates that for decades have been openly advocating a change in the doctrine on sexual morality. It is evident that the practical message that this new declaration transmits is much more in line with the program and ideas of those who want to change the doctrine, than with the doctrine itself that the document claims to keep intact.<br /><br />The document effectively attempts to introduce a separation between doctrine and liturgy on the one hand, and pastoral practice on the other. But this is impossible: in fact, pastoral care, like all action, always presupposes a theory and, therefore, if pastoral care performs something that does not correspond to the doctrine, what is actually being proposed is a different doctrine.<br /><br />The blessing of a couple (whether “liturgical” or “pastoral”) is, so to speak, a natural sign. The concrete gesture sayssomething naturally, and therefore has a natural, immediate communicative effect, which cannot be artificially changed by the verbal caveats of the document. A blessing as such, in the universal language of humanity, always implies an approvalof what is being blessed.<br /><br />Therefore, the concrete sign that is given with such blessing, in front of the whole world, is that “irregular couples,” extramarital and homosexual alike, according to the Catholic Church, would now be acceptable to God, precisely in the type of union that specifically configures them as couples. Nor does it make sense to separate “couple” from “union,” as card. Fernández has tried to do, since a couple is a couple because of the union that gives existence to it.<br /><br />The fact that other significant and accidental circumstances such as timing, location, or ornaments such as flowers and wedding clothes are excluded from the act does not change the nature of the act, since the central and essential gesture remains. Furthermore, we all know from experience what such “restrictions” are worth and how long they last.<br /><br />The fact is that a priest is imparting a blessing on two people who present themselves as a couple, in the sexual sense, and precisely a couple defined by its objectively sinful relationship. Therefore—regardless of the intentions and interpretations of the document, or the explanations the priest may try to give—this action will be the visible and tangible sign of a different doctrine, which contradicts traditional doctrine.<br /><br />Let us remember that the traditional doctrine on the subject must be considered infallible, since it is unequivocally confirmed by Scripture and Tradition, a universal and uninterrupted tradition, ubique et semper. And it must be remembered that this is a doctrine of natural law, which does not allow for any change.<br /><br />In practice, the faithful will not even be aware of the subtle theoretical justifications introduced by the Declaration, much less those that were added in the recent clarification on the Declaration. The message that is effectively launched, and that the people of God, and the entire world, will inevitably register and are already registering is that: The Catholic Church has finally evolved, and now accepts homosexual unions, and, more generally, extramarital unions.<br /><br />This situation fully justifies the decided rejection of so many episcopal conferences, so many prelates, so many scholars, and so many ordinary lay people. In this context, it is definitely not justifiable, especially for a cardinal or a bishop, to remain silent, since the scandal that has already occurred is serious and public, and if it is not stopped, it is bound to be more and more amplified. The threat does not become smaller but more serious, since the error comes from the Roman See, and is destined to scandalize all the faithful, and above all the little ones, the simple faithful who have no way of orienting and defending themselves in this confusion: “Whoever offends one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for him if a donkey’s millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea” (Mt 18,6).<br /><br />The pastors and all those who have some responsibility in the Church have been constituted as sentinels: “If the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the horn, so that the people are not warned, and when the sword comes he kills one of them, he will perish because of him, but I will ask the watchman to account for his blood” (Ez.33,6).<br /><br />In light of the above we fervently implore you to:<br /><br />(1) Follow the brave example of so many brother bishops around the world: please forbid immediately the application of this document in your diocese.<br /><br />(2) Please ask directly the Pope to urgently withdraw this unfortunate document, which is in contradiction with both Scripture and the universal and uninterrupted Tradition of the Church and which clearly produces a serious scandal.<br /><br />In this difficult moment, a clear word of truth would be the best example of your faithful and courageous dedication to the people of God entrusted to you, a sign of fidelity to the true mission of the Papacy and at the same time the best help for the pope himself, an eloquent “fraternal correction,” which he urgently needs in this last and most critical period of his pontificate and probably of his life. If you act promptly, there is still some hope that he may rescue his pontificate and his own person from a stain that could otherwise weigh on him indelibly, not only in history, but in eternity.<br /><br />Initial Signatories <br /><br />Edmund P. Adamus, MA, Secretary to Commission of Inquiry into Discrimination Against Christians, UK <br /><br />Wolfgang R. Ahrens, PhD Philosophy, Chile <br /><br />Sergio González Arrieta, MA in Classics and History, Chile <br /><br />Gil Bailie, Founder and President of the Cornerstone Forum <br /><br />Dr Heinz-Lothar and Raphaela Barth, Bonn, Germany <br /><br />Donna F. Bethell, JD, USA <br /><br />Judie Brown, President, American Life League, Falmouth, Virginia <br /><br />Dr Dr Sergio R. Castaño, CONICET, Argentina <br /><br />Paweł Chmielewski, commentator for Polonia Christiana, Warsaw, Poland <br /><br />Michelle Cretella, MD, USA <br /><br />Edgardo J. Cruz Ramos, President, Una Voce Puerto Rico <br /><br />Dr Tomasz Dekert, religious studies scholar, Rajbrot, Poland <br /><br />Deacon Julian L. Delgado, MD <br /><br />Roberto de Mattei, historian, President of Lepanto Foundation, Rome, Italy <br /><br />Deacon Nick Donnelly, MA, England <br /><br />C. Joseph Doyle, Executive Director, Catholic Action League of Massachusetts<br /><br />Rev. Angelo Luigi Fratus, Montfort Missionary, Zambia <br /><br />Rev. Stanisław Gibziński, Portsmouth Diocese, England <br /><br />Corrado Gnerre, professor of theology and founder of Il cammino dei tre sentieri <br /><br />Maria Guarini, author, Editor of Chiesa e postconcilio <br /><br />Michael K. Hageböck, headmaster and journalist, Germany <br /><br />Michael Hichborn, President of the Lepanto Institute, Virginia <br /><br />Maike Hickson, PhD, Front Royal, VA <br /><br />Prof. Dr.rer.nat. Dr.rer.pol. Rudolf Hilfer, Stuttgart, Germany <br /><br />Rev. Joseph Illo, Pastor, Star of the Sea Parish, San Francisco, California <br /><br />Marek Jurek, former Marshal of the Polish Parlament, Wólka Kozodawska, Poland <br /><br />Bogusław Kiernicki, President, Saint Benedict Foundation, Dębogóra, Poland <br /><br />Kacper Kita, publicist, international policy analyst, Poland <br /><br />Rev. Donald Kloster, Lumen Christi Academy Principal, Pipe Creek, TX <br /><br />Dr Dr Dr.med. Adorján F. Kovács, Frankfurt am Main, Germany <br /><br />Dr Thaddeus Kozinski, Memoria College <br /><br />Gabriele Kuby, sociologist and author, Prien am Chiemsee, Germany <br /><br />Peter A. Kwasniewski, PhD, Lincoln, Nebraska <br /><br /><div>Dr John R. T. Lamont, D.Phil. <br /><br />Philip F. Lawler, author, Editor of Catholic World News <br /><br />Leila M. Lawler, author <br /><br />Rev. Joseph Levine, Pastor, Holy Family Catholic Church, Burns, Oregon <br /><br />Pedro L. Llera, director of educational centers, Gobiendes, Spain <br /><br />Maria Madise, Managing Director, Voice of the Family, UK <br /><br />Rev. Patrick H. Magee FLHF, Fall River, MA <br /><br />Dr Regis Martin, professor of theology, Franciscan University Steubenville <br /><br />Brian M. McCall, Orpha and Maurice Merrill Chair in Law, University of Oklahoma <br /><br />Deacon Eugene McGuirk, Front Royal, Virginia <br /><br />Dr Justyna Melonowska, psychologist and philosopher, Warszawa, Poland <br /><br />Rev. Cor Mennen, emeritus lecturer in Canon Law, Seminary of ‘s-Hertogenbosch <br /><br />Dr Paweł Milcarek, Editor of Christianitas, Brwinów, Poland <br /><br />Sebastian Morello, PhD, Senior Editor of The European Conservative <br /><br />Rev. Alfredo Morselli, Italy <br /><br />Rev. Gerald E. Murray, JCD, Pastor, Church of the Holy Family, New York, NY <br /><br />Dina Nerozzi, MD, child psychiatrist and endocrinologist, former professor at the University of Rome <br /><br />Doyen Nguyen, MD, STD, moral theologian, bioethicist, USA/Portugal <br /><br />Rev. Daniel R. Nolan, FSSP, Littleton, CO <br /><br />Deacon Dr Bart Overman, Den Bosch, The Netherlands <br /><br />Michael Pakaluk, PhD, professor of ethics and social philosophy, Washington, DC <br /><br />Gottfried Paschke, theologian, retired professor of mathematics, Bad Homburg, Germany <br /><br />Paolo Pasqualucci, retired Professor of Philososophy, Faculty of Law, Perugia, Italy <br /><br />Rod Pead, Editor, Christian Order, UK <br /><br />Dr Claudio Pierantoni, PhD History of Christianism, PhD Philosophy, Chile <br /><br />Rev. John A. Perricone, PhD, adjunct professor of philosophy, Iona College in New Rochelle, New York <br /><br />Prof. Thomas Pink, emeritus professor of philosophy, King’s College, London <br /><br />Rev. Andrew Pinsent, MA, Dphil, PhB, STB, PhL, PhD, FRSA, University of Oxford, UK <br /><br />Tomasz Rowiński, historian of ideas, Editor of Christianitas, Grodzisk Mazowiecki, Poland <br /><br />Anna Rist, retired professor of classics, Toronto, Canada <br /><br />John Rist, PhD, retired professor of classics and early Chrisitian philosophy and theology <br /><br />Luis Román, theologian and Catholic commentator, Florida <br /><br />Jesse Romero, Catholic apologist, evangelist, author, Queen Creek, Arizona. <br /><br />Eric Sammons, Editor, Crisis Magazine <br /><br />Dr César Félix Sánchez Martínez, professor of philosophy, Universidad Nacional de San Agustín, Perú <br /><br />Dr Tommaso Scandroglio, author, Italy <br /><br />Wolfram Schrems, Mag. theol., Mag. phil., catechist, pro-life activist, Vienna, Austria <br /><br />Dr Anna Silvas, specialist in Greek Fathers, retired adjunct, UNE, Australia <br /><br />Rev. Robert Sirico, President, St. John Henry Newman Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan <br /><br />Dr Michael Sirilla, Professor of Theology, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio <br /><br />John Smeaton, Co-founder of Voice of the Family, UK <br /><br />Rev. Tam X. Tran, S.T.L., Pastor of Our Lady of Vietnam Catholic Church, Silver Spring, Maryland <br /><br />Rev. Glen Tattersall, Pastor of St. John Newman Parish, Melbourne, Australia <br /><br />Inge M. Thürkauf, actress, journalist, pro-family public speaker, Germany <br /><br />José Antonio Ureta, author, Paris, France <br /><br />Aldo Maria Valli, writer, Rome, Italy <br /><br />Dr Gerard van den Aardweg, author, psychologist and psychotherapist, The Netherlands <br /><br />Christine de Marcellus Vollmer, president of PROVIVE, ALAFA, Former Member of PAL, Venezuela. <br /><br />Mathias von Gersdorff, author and pro-life activist, Frankfurt, Germany <br /><br />Prof. Dr Berthold Wald, retired professor of philosophy, Münster, Germany <br /><br />Dr Thomas Ward, President, John Paul II Academy of Human Life and the Family <br /><br />Leonard P. Wessell, Dr.Phil., PhD, emeritus professor, German Studies, University of Colorado <br /><br />John-Henry Westen, Co-founder and Editor-in-chief, LifeSiteNews <br /><br />Elizabeth D. Wickham, PhD, Executive Director, Lifetree.org, Raleigh, North Carolina <br /><br />Dr Timothy Williams, professor of French, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio <br /><br />Chilton Williamson, writer, former editor at National Review and Chronicles, Laramie, Wyoming <br /><br />Dr Hubert Windisch, priest, retired professor of pastoral theology, Burglengenfeld, Germany <br /><br />Deacon Timothy Woods, Huntington, Indiana <br /><br />Elizabeth F. Yore, Esq., Founder of Yore Children, Chicago, Illinois <br /><br />ATTENTION: Pastors, clergy, scholars, professors, doctors, and other qualified individuals may submit their signatures to this list in the next two weeks. Please provide your name, qualifications, position, and location by February 15th, to <a href="mailto:filialappeal@gmail.com">filialappeal@gmail.com</a>. A definitive list of cumulative signatories will then be published on February 17th. </div></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://lifepetitions.com/petition/sin">https://lifepetitions.com/petition/sin</a></div><div><div class="petition-main-ctr" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #373a3c; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; position: relative;"><div class="petition-inner-ctr" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: auto; position: relative; width: 315px;"><div class="petition-form-ctr" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline; width: 100%; z-index: 2;"><div class="inset-progress" id="inset-progress" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: 10px; margin-top: 22px;"><div class="progress-signed" id="progress-signed" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; font-size: 15px; font-weight: 700;"><span class="currentsigs" id="currentsigs" style="box-sizing: inherit;">21,000 </span>have signed.</div> <div class="progress-goal" id="progress-goal" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; font-size: 15px; margin-left: 6px;">Let's get to <span class="currentgoal" id="currentgoal" style="box-sizing: inherit;">22,500</span>!</div></div><div class="inset-progressbar" id="inset-progressbar" style="box-sizing: inherit; padding-top: 4px;"><div class="progressbar-ctr" id="progressbar-ctr" style="background-color: rgba(151, 151, 151, 0.1); border-radius: 20px; box-sizing: inherit; margin: 7px auto 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; width: 302.391px;"><div class="progressbar" id="progressbar" style="background-image: url("/images/progress-bkg2.png"); border-radius: 20px; border: 0px solid rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; padding: 0px;"><div class="progressbar-filled" id="progressbar-filled" style="background: rgb(0, 163, 223); border-radius: 20px; border: 1px solid transparent; box-sizing: border-box; height: 21px; width: 281.219px;"></div></div></div></div><div class="inset-bottom" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 3px; margin-top: 12px; vertical-align: top;"><div class="bottom-label-ctr" id="bottom-label-ctr" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; margin-right: 8px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 13px; padding-top: 10px; vertical-align: top; width: 309px;"><div class="bottom-label-add-sig" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #dd0c0e; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 700; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 5px; margin-top: 0px;">Add your signature:</div></div> <div class="bottom-form-ctr" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding: 10px 0px 0px; width: 309px;"><form action="https://lifepetitions.com/petition/sign/sin" class="c-petition-engagement__engagement-form mobile-form" data-pid="612" enctype="multipart/form-data" id="signature-form" method="post" style="box-sizing: inherit; width: 309px;"><div class="mob-form-row1" style="box-sizing: inherit; height: 40px; position: relative; width: 309px;"><input class="petition-form-ctl mobile-form-ctl mob-petitions-email" data-email="1" data-error="Please enter a valid email" data-trim="1" id="email" name="email" placeholder="Email *" required="" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); border-color: rgb(224, 223, 223); border-radius: 5px 5px 0px 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0.5px; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: inherit; color: #ababab; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 40px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px -1px; overflow: visible; padding: 9px; width: 309px;" type="email" value="" /></div><div class="mob-form-row2" style="box-sizing: inherit; height: 40px; position: relative; width: 309px;"><input class="petition-form-ctl mobile-form-ctl mob-firstname" data-error="Please enter your first name" data-trim="1" id="first_name" name="first_name" placeholder="First Name *" required="" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); border-color: rgb(224, 223, 223); border-radius: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0.5px; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: inherit; color: #ababab; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 40px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 9px; width: 309px;" type="text" value="" /></div><div class="mob-form-row3" style="box-sizing: inherit; height: 40px; position: relative; width: 309px;"><input class="petition-form-ctl mobile-form-ctl mob-lastname" data-error="Please enter your last name / surname" data-trim="1" id="last_name" name="last_name" placeholder="Last Name *" required="" style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); border-color: rgb(224, 223, 223); border-radius: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0.5px; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: inherit; color: #ababab; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 40px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.5; margin: -1px 0px 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 9px; width: 309px;" type="text" value="" /></div><div class="mob-form-row3a" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="country-drop-down" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: left; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.5em; vertical-align: top;"><select class="petition-form-ctl mobile-form-ctl mob-petition-form-select mob-country w100" data-error="Please enter your country" id="country" name="country" required="" style="-webkit-box-align: center; -webkit-writing-mode: horizontal-tb !important; appearance: menulist; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); border-color: rgb(224, 223, 223); border-top-left-radius: 5px; border-top-right-radius: 5px; border-width: 0.5px; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(171, 171, 171) !important; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 40px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 9px 7px; position: relative; width: 309px; z-index: 2;"> <option disabled="" style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="">Country * ...</option> <option selected="" style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="US">United States of America</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="CA">Canada</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AX">Aaland Islands</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AF">Afghanistan</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AL">Albania</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="DZ">Algeria</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AS">American Samoa</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AD">Andorra</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AO">Angola</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AI">Anguilla</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AQ">Antarctica</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AG">Antigua and Barbuda</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AR">Argentina</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AM">Armenia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AW">Aruba</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AU">Australia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AT">Austria</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AZ">Azerbaijan</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="BS">Bahamas</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="BH">Bahrain</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="BD">Bangladesh</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="BB">Barbados</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="BY">Belarus</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="BE">Belgium</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="BZ">Belize</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="BJ">Benin</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="BM">Bermuda</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="BT">Bhutan</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="BO">Bolivia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="BA">Bosnia and Herzegovina</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="BW">Botswana</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="BV">Bouvet Island</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="BR">Brazil</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="IO">British Indian Ocean Territory</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="BN">Brunei Darussalam</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="BG">Bulgaria</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="BF">Burkina Faso</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="BI">Burundi</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="KH">Cambodia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="CM">Cameroon</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="CV">Cape Verde</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="KY">Cayman Islands</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="CF">Central African Republic</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="TD">Chad</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="CL">Chile</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="CN">China</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="CX">Christmas Island</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="CC">Cocos (Keeling) Islands</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="CO">Colombia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="KM">Comoros</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="CG">Congo</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="CK">Cook Islands</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="CR">Costa Rica</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="CI">Cote D'Ivoire</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="HR">Croatia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="CU">Cuba</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="CW">Curacao</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="CY">Cyprus</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="CZ">Czech Republic</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="CD">Democratic Republic of the Congo</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="DK">Denmark</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="DJ">Djibouti</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="DM">Dominica</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="DO">Dominican Republic</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="EC">Ecuador</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="EG">Egypt</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="SV">El Salvador</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="GQ">Equatorial Guinea</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="ER">Eritrea</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="EE">Estonia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="ET">Ethiopia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="FK">Falkland Islands</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="FO">Faroe Islands</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="FJ">Fiji</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="FI">Finland</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="FR">France</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="GF">French Guiana</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="PF">French Polynesia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="TF">French Southern Territories</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="GA">Gabon</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="GM">Gambia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="GE">Georgia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="DE">Germany</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="GH">Ghana</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="GI">Gibraltar</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="GR">Greece</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="GL">Greenland</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="GD">Grenada</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="GP">Guadeloupe</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="GU">Guam</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="GT">Guatemala</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="GG">Guernsey</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="GN">Guinea</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="GW">Guinea-Bissau</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="GY">Guyana</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="HT">Haiti</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="HM">Heard and McDonald Islands</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="HN">Honduras</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="HK">Hong Kong</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="HU">Hungary</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="IS">Iceland</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="IN">India</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="ID">Indonesia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="IR">Iran</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="IQ">Iraq</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="IE">Ireland</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="IM">Isle of Man</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="IL">Israel</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="IT">Italy</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="JM">Jamaica</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="JP">Japan</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="JE">Jersey</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="JO">Jordan</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="KZ">Kazakhstan</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="KE">Kenya</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="KI">Kiribati</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="KW">Kuwait</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="KG">Kyrgyzstan</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="LA">Lao People's Democratic Republic</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="LV">Latvia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="LB">Lebanon</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="LS">Lesotho</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="LR">Liberia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="LY">Libya</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="LI">Liechtenstein</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="LT">Lithuania</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="LU">Luxembourg</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MO">Macau</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MK">Macedonia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MG">Madagascar</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MW">Malawi</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MY">Malaysia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MV">Maldives</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="ML">Mali</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MT">Malta</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MH">Marshall Islands</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MQ">Martinique</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MR">Mauritania</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MU">Mauritius</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="YT">Mayotte</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MX">Mexico</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="FM">Micronesia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MD">Moldova</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MC">Monaco</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MN">Mongolia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="ME">Montenegro</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MS">Montserrat</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MA">Morocco</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MZ">Mozambique</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MM">Myanmar</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="NA">Namibia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="NR">Nauru</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="NP">Nepal</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="NL">Netherlands</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AN">Netherlands Antilles</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="NC">New Caledonia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="NZ">New Zealand</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="NI">Nicaragua</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="NE">Niger</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="NG">Nigeria</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="NU">Niue</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="NF">Norfolk Island</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="KP">North Korea</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MP">Northern Mariana Islands</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="NO">Norway</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="OM">Oman</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="PK">Pakistan</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="PW">Palau</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="PS">Palestine</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="PA">Panama</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="PG">Papua New Guinea</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="PY">Paraguay</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="PE">Peru</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="PH">Philippines</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="PN">Pitcairn</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="PL">Poland</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="PT">Portugal</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="PR">Puerto Rico</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="QA">Qatar</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="XK">Republic of Kosovo</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="RE">Reunion</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="RO">Romania</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="RU">Russia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="RW">Rwanda</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="BL">Saint Barthelemy</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="SH">Saint Helena</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="KN">Saint Kitts and Nevis</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="LC">Saint Lucia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MF">Saint Martin</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="PM">Saint Pierre and Miquelon</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="VC">Saint Vincent and the Grenadines</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="WS">Samoa</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="SM">San Marino</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="ST">Sao Tome and Principe</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="SA">Saudi Arabia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="SN">Senegal</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="RS">Serbia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="SC">Seychelles</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="SL">Sierra Leone</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="SG">Singapore</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="SX">Sint Maarten</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="SK">Slovakia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="SI">Slovenia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="SB">Solomon Islands</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="SO">Somalia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="ZA">South Africa</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="GS">South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="KR">South Korea</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="SS">South Sudan</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="ES">Spain</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="LK">Sri Lanka</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="SD">Sudan</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="SR">Suriname</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="SJ">Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="SZ">Swaziland</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="SE">Sweden</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="CH">Switzerland</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="SY">Syria</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="TW">Taiwan</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="TJ">Tajikistan</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="TZ">Tanzania</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="TH">Thailand</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="TL">Timor-Leste</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="TG">Togo</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="TK">Tokelau</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="TO">Tonga</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="TT">Trinidad and Tobago</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="TN">Tunisia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="TR">Turkey</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="TM">Turkmenistan</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="TC">Turks and Caicos Islands</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="TV">Tuvalu</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="UG">Uganda</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="UA">Ukraine</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AE">United Arab Emirates</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="GB">United Kingdom</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="UM">United States Minor Outlying Islands</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="UY">Uruguay</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="UZ">Uzbekistan</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="VU">Vanuatu</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="VA">Vatican City</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="VE">Venezuela</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="VN">Vietnam</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="VG">Virgin Islands (British)</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="VI">Virgin Islands (U.S.)</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="WF">Wallis and Futuna Islands</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="EH">Western Sahara</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="YE">Yemen</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="ZM">Zambia</option> <option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="ZW">Zimbabwe</option> </select></div></div><div class="mob-form-row4" style="box-sizing: inherit; height: 40px; margin-top: -1px; width: 309px;"><div class="state-drop-down" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: right; vertical-align: top; width: 309px;"><select class="petition-form-ctl mobile-form-ctl mob-petition-form-select mob-state w100" data-error="Please enter your state" data-value="" id="statesDropdown" name="state" required="" style="-webkit-box-align: center; -webkit-writing-mode: horizontal-tb !important; appearance: menulist; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); border-bottom-left-radius: 5px; border-bottom-right-radius: 5px; border-color: rgb(224, 223, 223); border-width: 0.5px; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: inherit; color: rgb(171, 171, 171) !important; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 40px; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 9px 7px; position: relative; width: 309px; z-index: 2;"><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="">State...</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AL">Alabama</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AK">Alaska</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AS">American Samoa</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AZ">Arizona</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AR">Arkansas</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="CA">California</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="CO">Colorado</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="CT">Connecticut</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="DE">Delaware</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="FM">Federated States Of Micronesia</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="FL">Florida</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="GA">Georgia</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="GU">Guam</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="HI">Hawaii</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="ID">Idaho</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="IL">Illinois</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="IN">Indiana</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="IA">Iowa</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="KS">Kansas</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="KY">Kentucky</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="LA">Louisiana</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="ME">Maine</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MH">Marshall Islands</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MD">Maryland</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MA">Massachusetts</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MI">Michigan</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MN">Minnesota</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MS">Mississippi</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MO">Missouri</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MT">Montana</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="NE">Nebraska</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="NV">Nevada</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="NH">New Hampshire</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="NJ">New Jersey</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="NM">New Mexico</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="NY">New York</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="NC">North Carolina</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="ND">North Dakota</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="MP">Northern Mariana Islands</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="OH">Ohio</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="OK">Oklahoma</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="OR">Oregon</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="PW">Palau</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="PA">Pennsylvania</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="RI">Rhode Island</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="SC">South Carolina</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="SD">South Dakota</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="TN">Tennessee</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="TX">Texas</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="UT">Utah</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="VT">Vermont</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="VI">Virgin Islands</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="VA">Virginia</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="WA">Washington</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="DC">Washington D.C.</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="WV">West Virginia</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="WI">Wisconsin</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="WY">Wyoming</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AE">Armed Forces Europe</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AA">Armed Forces Americas</option><option style="box-sizing: inherit;" value="AP">Armed Forces Pacific</option></select></div></div><div class="bottom-errors" id="bottom-errors" style="box-sizing: inherit; clear: both; color: #dd0c0e; display: inline-block; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 700;"><div class="petition-error-list" style="background-color: #efefef; box-sizing: inherit; margin-left: 5px; padding-top: 4px;"></div></div><div class="mob-form-row5" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-top: 0px; position: relative; text-align: center; width: 309px;"><div 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You can unsubscribe at any time.</div></div><div class="lsn-inputs" style="box-sizing: inherit; left: -503em; overflow: hidden; position: absolute;"><input autocomplete="off" name="age" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-radius: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 36px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0.4rem 0.625rem;" type="number" value="1706961508" /> <input autocomplete="nope" data-1p-ignore="true" data-lpignore="true" name="birth_year" style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255); border-color: rgb(239, 239, 239); border-radius: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px; box-shadow: none; box-sizing: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 1rem; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; height: 36px; letter-spacing: -0.003em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 0.4rem 0.625rem;" type="text" value="" /></div><div class="submit-btn-ctr" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 7px; margin-top: 12px;"><button class="petition-button" id="sign-button" style="appearance: button; background-color: #de0e0e; border-color: initial; border-radius: 5px; border-style: initial; border-width: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; color: white; cursor: pointer; display: block; font-family: inherit; font-size: 16px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: 0.05em; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 0px 6px; overflow: visible; padding: 0.625rem 4.4rem; position: relative; width: auto;" type="submit"><span style="box-sizing: inherit;"><span class="fa fa-edit" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span> <span class="petition-button-text" id="petition-button-text-mob" style="box-sizing: inherit;">Sign this Petition</span></span></button></div></div></form><div class="bottom-label-showtext" data-petition-unique="" id="bottom-label-showtext" style="box-sizing: inherit; color: #7d7d7d; cursor: pointer; font-size: 13px; font-weight: 700; margin-top: 15px; text-align: center;"><span class="fa fa-eye" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; font-family: FontAwesome; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1; text-rendering: auto;"></span> Show Petition Text</div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div><br /></div>plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-89623356610777427852024-01-31T09:32:00.001-05:002024-01-31T09:32:23.885-05:00Javier Milei at World Economic Forum on Capitalism<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Pfcd0gWNIog" width="320" youtube-src-id="Pfcd0gWNIog"></iframe></div><p></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XRKmOUreIoY" width="320" youtube-src-id="XRKmOUreIoY"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Spanish Original</div><p></p>plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-55269058713358874652024-01-30T09:18:00.003-05:002024-01-30T16:03:10.735-05:00The Erroneous Assumptions of Fiducia Supplicans<p><i>Fiducia supplicans</i> is based on two grave erroneous assumptions, derived from the present homofied Western culture, which account for its grave erroneous conclusion that same-sex "couples" may be blessed:</p><p>1) That there are same-sex "couples" in our Christian communities</p><p>2) That same-sex "couples" are to be considered in the same way as heterosexual couples in irregular situations.</p><p>1) The first erroneous assumption might take the form of a pastoral question: What are we to do with the same-sex "couples" which are present in our churches? This erroneous assumption is based on a grave pastoral error, the tacit acceptance of public perversion in our Christian community. No pastor worthy of the name can permit that type of scandal in his community: same-sex "couples," publicly and obstinately identifying as such. He needs to directly address it and correct it. In other words, good pastors do not have that circumstance in their communities. That, in fact, officially, is the case, in the African continent as a whole. Deo gratias! It should be so in the whole world.</p><p>2) The second erroneous assumption is that same-sex "couples" and heterosexual couples in irregular situations are to be publicly/pastorally treated the same. Here is another grave pastoral error, closely related to the first. A same-sex "couple," in fact, is never a couple in any true sense and can never be truly legitimatized in any way, though a heterosexual couple may indeed become a regularized marital union or may otherwise be a true couple in some limited senses.</p><p>A man is never rightly romantically involved with another man. Any public display to the contrary is always lewd, a scandal for all who witness it. A homosexual "couple" is always an affront to the basic decency of all observers, beginning with the "couple" themselves. It can therefore never be accepted or tolerated in the Christian community. Heterosexual couples, because of the ambiguity and redeemability of their case, are quite different. Oftentimes heterosexual couples have children which have come from their natural procreative sexual intimacy, and for which they have serious natural duties as the father and mother of their common children in their home. Furthermore, their irregular situation, in principle, might be regularized, if they should have no impediment to holy marriage, or if the present impediments should in the future cease to exist. Neither of these two factors can ever be the case with same-sex "couples." And, because of the open affront of public same-sex romance to basic decency, no pastor can rightly permit it in any way in his community. He has no authority to permit what God condemns, namely every form of homosexual activity, including all public displays of homosexual affection: the "couple."</p><p>No, contrary to the first erroneous assumption, Christians forbid any manner of same-sex romance ("couples") in the Church, in any way! Because, contrary to the second erroneous assumption, homosexual romance is categorically different from heterosexual romance, which is not forbidden in the Church. It, heterosexual romance, in fact, is applauded in our Christian communities, and celebrated and upheld in the form of holy marriage, to which it is exclusively fitted. Every manner of same-sex romance Christ categorically condemns, as do we. We do not permit it.</p><p>So, the real answer to the question, "Can we bless the same-sex "couples" of our community?" is, We do not have such couples in our community. That is forbidden.</p><p>The Africans are right!</p><h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="background-clip: padding-box; background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; color: grey; font-family: Georgia, Garamond, Times; font-size: 24px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; list-style: none; margin: 0.75em 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2024/01/africa-parts-ways-collective-rejection.html" style="background-clip: padding-box; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px; border: 0px; color: #4d0b53; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Africa Parts Ways: Collective Rejection of Fiducia Supplicans by all Catholic Churches in Africa (Full Document)</a></h3><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2G0fdKbGMtiE5ugAm8vY8jCGXW6Tp7-umCKrJlz4d2biAyJt7x9g-2GgXRhiFrTCbckyxodowsWc0CYFReM9Os-sbCgbT7cHqIqL1cVYEDpQRXGDYiV6wKriMAO5_n_K3QxpU9OzO0PJS7wcIDwOl3eQlQqh9URVSSZFfHrAF7CL4rR8IpPb89z8KSXo" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3508" data-original-width="2480" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2G0fdKbGMtiE5ugAm8vY8jCGXW6Tp7-umCKrJlz4d2biAyJt7x9g-2GgXRhiFrTCbckyxodowsWc0CYFReM9Os-sbCgbT7cHqIqL1cVYEDpQRXGDYiV6wKriMAO5_n_K3QxpU9OzO0PJS7wcIDwOl3eQlQqh9URVSSZFfHrAF7CL4rR8IpPb89z8KSXo=w453-h640" width="453" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj0ITzb_P4JP-PqKyTiLRsx_AKmiFy2xPPzW8c2PcJ-flxktphygPSrG42lbvwNuuAlSxpzsAFGiaZxnZu2XoBr-mEtQJJ276K1AVzpWlzS3FDfmD04jizdQeyQSmrAESdsqkVyi6HYNdasXcwXQD2TidzMvo9tx4k0lNvt9rwlyQE-zjAsfGWrg1e5k1k" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="452" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj0ITzb_P4JP-PqKyTiLRsx_AKmiFy2xPPzW8c2PcJ-flxktphygPSrG42lbvwNuuAlSxpzsAFGiaZxnZu2XoBr-mEtQJJ276K1AVzpWlzS3FDfmD04jizdQeyQSmrAESdsqkVyi6HYNdasXcwXQD2TidzMvo9tx4k0lNvt9rwlyQE-zjAsfGWrg1e5k1k=w453-h640" width="453" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiGAWgVzqvjfb0axhNUicnVVkTgXJl9lwYgsvaSbr14G_bpce7HmOXU2vllqkwGxhs-upMQa_VVIaEGvp0Sl1kk_UEQJazGUBfBKsUrr2QLp5mZr5GeND3igrHcqCrjxiRonfjHNawALeo-rkvq-HJsnix5LJkS4sbR-Sbtf_5t-0v8PhwwX2A8qj8vG58" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="452" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiGAWgVzqvjfb0axhNUicnVVkTgXJl9lwYgsvaSbr14G_bpce7HmOXU2vllqkwGxhs-upMQa_VVIaEGvp0Sl1kk_UEQJazGUBfBKsUrr2QLp5mZr5GeND3igrHcqCrjxiRonfjHNawALeo-rkvq-HJsnix5LJkS4sbR-Sbtf_5t-0v8PhwwX2A8qj8vG58=w453-h640" width="453" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhyDG-STtyBC3IlJXIJsTlFm_VNr9ShywxXFw609JyNYfZsRVVPIIAniRKMrSv3CREIuy-JrPyHKrIPS9UfZcxjYQCINe0gRw2aQfeYCPTuz3Vjye7qIEhg6PNvqB75tXOeIWVjHWQ_8xwBdmTcMzz43RpMJV7E7aI4M1qOPjPyjrjcodLf_f9Ek_KmgW8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="452" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhyDG-STtyBC3IlJXIJsTlFm_VNr9ShywxXFw609JyNYfZsRVVPIIAniRKMrSv3CREIuy-JrPyHKrIPS9UfZcxjYQCINe0gRw2aQfeYCPTuz3Vjye7qIEhg6PNvqB75tXOeIWVjHWQ_8xwBdmTcMzz43RpMJV7E7aI4M1qOPjPyjrjcodLf_f9Ek_KmgW8=w453-h640" width="453" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjyUNOsgRwg85ueLey_k1RluvpbHsSQOIG4sR29PNR1cRUITXhqpLL2NajjY4DAau-iIfAsTrgI9RyI9hKSsX7QPgy1VYz_pDIlMqd0lsoFOlqO3RMCp_0EqU-M2wq-CqBvt_jLxy5C3kkSU6i_wLdaxX6seSFUkmKFVHakyz3VqQ_xOD0UI-0cBFdynpo" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="452" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjyUNOsgRwg85ueLey_k1RluvpbHsSQOIG4sR29PNR1cRUITXhqpLL2NajjY4DAau-iIfAsTrgI9RyI9hKSsX7QPgy1VYz_pDIlMqd0lsoFOlqO3RMCp_0EqU-M2wq-CqBvt_jLxy5C3kkSU6i_wLdaxX6seSFUkmKFVHakyz3VqQ_xOD0UI-0cBFdynpo=w453-h640" width="453" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">We, in America and in Western Europe, find ourselves in gaydom, and are therefore more susceptible than the Africans to these erroneous assumptions. God Himself, in Sacred Scripture tells us that we are to have different standards for the members of our communities than we have for the world.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+5%3A9-13&version=DRA">I Cor. 5:9-13</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div>I wrote to you in an epistle (<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Thessalonians+3%3A14&version=DRA">2 Thess. 3:14</a>), not to keep company with fornicators. I mean not with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or the extortioners, or the servers of idols; otherwise you must needs go out of this world.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">But now I have written to you, not to keep company, if any man that is named a brother, be a fornicator, or covetous, or a server of idols, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner: with such a one, not so much as to eat. For what have I to do to judge them that are without? Do not you judge them that are within? For them that are without, God will judge. Put away the evil one from among yourselves.<br /></div></div>plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-27111412192182550012024-01-30T08:13:00.003-05:002024-01-30T16:32:52.784-05:00Good Catholics are Critical of Bad Popes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://plinthos.blogspot.com/2024/01/scandal-is-sin-of-leading-others-to-sin.html" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="481" data-original-width="779" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEisBPER_lXEXI_PVWtEIQtDbAmzG3dzyxJK350XNbs7R6u21LaHFLvvZoqmGusDFaGNNulNG0ITrRDejKss6Eg3Ig3LNzdUxAYziBQHK4V7lfo0hgt_OAKj4feYv65Tr7k5kGrKW8aWVTbWh3Z6yZ16qP6nRtA6uwJXHMfdIrC1V3I4SR6wovmHYF-By8U=w400-h247" width="400" /></a></div><br />How popular this Pope is with the sworn enemies of the Church, of Christ, of God! Our enemies love him, and he seems to love them, e.g. the communists. He has only kind words for the communists.<div><br /></div><div>It is not only good Catholics who can be critical of the Pope. There are plenty of bad Catholics who hated the last two Popes. Many of the ones who love Pope Francis hated Pope Benedict XVI and even Pope Saint John Paul II! Remember that Saint Catherine of Siena was very critical of the Avignon Papacy. Saint Peter Damian was also a critic of a corrupt Papacy.<div><br /></div><div>Pope Francis seems like a bad pastor, that's all. I have suffered many of them in my lifetime. Deo gratias!</div><div><br /></div><div>One thing bad leaders do is they shed light on the fact that they are not the Savior or the Health of the world, Christ our Lord is, and He alone! Christ is our King, there is no other! The Pope, and any priest, in fact, is simply the representative of the King, His vicar. He is not the King himself.</div><div><br /></div><div>It is highly ironic that, in the wake of <i>Fiducia supplicans</i>, the world, typically hyper-critical of the Pope, and of Jesus Christ Himself, now, suddenly, dictates to us, both, what it thinks the Pope is saying, and, that we should be following the Pope in this one thing. The implication is that all of the Popes in history (especially the last two) were wrong, and that this one is all of a sudden right. That is emblematic of the arrogance of our Age. To think that we can invent the truth/reality. It is the height of presumption.</div><div><br /></div><div>What the world needs to understand is that the Pope, like any priest, is the Servant of the Servants of the Gospel, not its Lord. He is a servant of the Truth, He has no authority to invent it at random. And, the truth today, cannot contradict the truth of yesterday, nor the Truth itself. Anyone who does not understand that, does not understand the nature of the Papacy, of the Church, of the Catholic priest, or of Christianity, of what it means to be a Christian, or of what it means to be simply a discerning human being, to be able and willing to distinguish between what a thing is and what a thing is not.</div><div><br /></div><div>In this regard Catholic theology needs to clarify the distinction between papal infallibility and papal primacy.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Papal infallibility</b>. Papal infallibility means that the Pope cannot err. There are two types of papal infallibility: <i>ex cathedra</i> teaching and the teaching of the ordinary magisterium. <i>Ex cathedra</i> infallibilty is rarely exercised. It is a rare and explicit solemn papal declaration (e.g. the infallible declaration of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception,...the dogma of the Assumption). The latter type of infallibility, much more common, takes place in the ordinary exercise of papal teaching. That ordinary teaching has the character of infallibility only in matters of faith and morals, that are taught repeatedly through major official papal means (e.g. encyclical letters), consistent with the faith and moral teaching of the Church as contained in Sacred Scripture and the Tradition of the Church. Though it is ordinary, the infallibility of that ordinary teaching is very limited in its scope. That divine guarantee of infallibility, with all of the conditions attending it, is an essential function in the guarantee and transmission of the divine Deposit of Faith and, specifically, in its unchanging aspect.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Papal primacy</b>. Primacy is a matter of jurisdiction, the legal authority to act. In itself, papal primacy, though supreme, is not infallible. It is simply the reality of the supreme ruling authority possessed by the Roman Pontiff in the leadership of the Church in the world, that no human power is over that of the Pope, that he exercises his Office entirely unimpeded and unmediated. Unlike papal infallibility, however, there is no divine guarantee that the governance of the Roman Pontiff is free from mistakes. The Roman Pontiff does err in the exercise of his governance of the Church. He has primacy, but his primacy is not infallible. In other words, he has the God-given right to decide, but no divine guarantee that his decisions are the right ones, in the simple matters of governance.</div><div><br /></div><div>It is essential, for the understanding of papal authority, to distinguish between infallibility and primacy, and to consider the proper parameters of each. Pope Francis, with his bad governance of the Church, is helping the Church to clarify and to define the extent and the limits of the papal office.</div><div><br /></div><div>Fiducia supplicans, a decree on how to give blessings, is simply an exercise of papal primacy. It is a grave error. It is a serious mistake in papal governance. As such, it carries no infallible weight. It is simply one more bad action of our bad pastor.</div><div><br /></div><div>May the good Lord quickly save the Church and the world from the wolves (beginning with Pope Francis) who are posing as her shepherds, leading countless souls to Hell!</div><div><a data-ved="2ahUKEwj-tZHQjoWEAxXcv4kEHXWwCD4QFnoECA0QAw" href="https://onepeterfive.com/critics-vatican-i/#:~:text=The%20critics%20of%20Vatican%20I%20were%20correct%20that%20it%20was,potential%20for%20misunderstanding%20and%20abuse." jsname="UWckNb" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://onepeterfive.com/critics-vatican-i/%23:~:text%3DThe%2520critics%2520of%2520Vatican%2520I%2520were%2520correct%2520that%2520it%2520was,potential%2520for%2520misunderstanding%2520and%2520abuse.&ved=2ahUKEwj-tZHQjoWEAxXcv4kEHXWwCD4QFnoECA0QAw" style="-webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1); background-color: white; color: #1a0dab; font-family: Roboto, arial, sans-serif; font-size: small; outline: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;"><h3 class="LC20lb MBeuO DKV0Md" style="display: inline-block; font-size: 22px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.272; margin: 18px 0px 0px; padding: 5px 0px 0px; text-decoration-line: underline;">Can We Learn Anything from the Critics of Vatican I?</h3></a></div></div><div><br /></div><div><h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="background-color: white; color: #555544; font-family: tahoma, "Trebuchet MS", lucida, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 21.6px; margin: 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://plinthos.blogspot.com/2024/01/scandal-is-sin-of-leading-others-to-sin.html" style="background: transparent; color: #88bb22;">Scandal is the Sin of Leading Others to Sin</a></h3></div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.marcotosatti.com/2024/01/30/bergoglio-in-argentina-and-the-desire-for-power-jose-arturo-quarracino/"><span style="font-size: large;">The Politics of Jorge Bergoglio,...Soros, etc.</span></a></div>plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-79152304071320924432024-01-29T10:27:00.002-05:002024-01-29T10:29:56.914-05:00Pope Francis' Official Words on Fiducia Supplicans<div><div><a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/speeches/2024/january/documents/20240126-plenaria-ddf.html">SPEECH OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS</a></div><div><a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/speeches/2024/january/documents/20240126-plenaria-ddf.html">TO PARTICIPANTS IN THE PLENARY ASSEMBLY</a></div><div><a href="https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/speeches/2024/january/documents/20240126-plenaria-ddf.html">OF THE DICASTERY FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Clementine Hall</div><div>Friday, January 26, 2024</div></div><div><br /></div>Dear Cardinals, dear brothers in the episcopate and in the priesthood, brothers and sisters!<div><br /></div><div>I welcome you at the end of your Plenary Assembly. I greet the Prefect and the other Superiors, the Officials and the Members of the Dicastery: my gratitude to all for your precious work.</div><div><br /></div><div>As established by the Apostolic Constitution <i>Praedicate Evangelium</i>, the "task of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith is to help the Roman Pontiff and the Bishops in announcing the Gospel throughout the world, promoting and protecting the integrity of Catholic doctrine on faith and morals, drawing on the deposit of faith and also seeking an ever deeper understanding of it in the face of new questions" (art. 69).</div><div><br /></div><div>Precisely to achieve these ends, already with the motu proprio <i>Fidem servare</i> (11 February 2022) two distinct Sections were created within the Dicastery: the Doctrinal and the Disciplinary. In the letter I sent to the Prefect on 1 July 2023, on the occasion of his appointment, I referred to this provision to better define his role and the current mission of the Dicastery. On the one hand, I underlined the importance of the presence of competent professionals within the Disciplinary Section, to ensure attention and rigor in the application of current canonical legislation, in particular in the management of cases of abuse of minors by clerics, and promote canonical training initiatives for Ordinaries and legal practitioners. On the other hand, I insisted on the urgency of giving greater space and attention to the specific sphere of the Doctrinal Section, where there is no shortage of trained theologians and qualified personnel, also for the work in the Marriage Office and in the Archives, of which I recall the 25th anniversary of opening to the public by Saint John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger, then Prefect of the Congregation, in the imminence of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Dicastery thus sees itself committed to the field of understanding the faith in the face of the epochal change that characterizes our time. In this direction, I would like to share with you some thoughts, which I gather around three words: sacraments, dignity and faith.</div><div><br /></div><div><i>Sacraments</i>. In recent days you have reflected on the topic of the validity of the Sacraments. The life of the Church is nourished and grows thanks to them. For this reason, particular care is required of ministers in administering them and in revealing to the faithful the treasures of grace that they communicate. Through the Sacraments, believers become capable of prophecy and testimony. And our time has a particular urgent need for prophets of new life and witnesses of charity: let us therefore love and make loved the beauty and saving power of the Sacraments!</div><div><br /></div><div>The second word: <i>dignity</i>. As Christians, we must not tire of insisting "on the primacy of the human person and on the defense of his dignity beyond all circumstances" (Apostolic Exhortation <i>Laudate Deum</i>, 39). I know you are working on a document on this topic. I hope that it can help us, as a Church, to always be close "to all those who, without proclamations, in concrete everyday life, fight and pay personally to defend the rights of those who do not count" (Angelus, 10 December 2023) and ensure that, "faced with different current ways of eliminating or ignoring others, we are able to react with a new dream of fraternity and social friendship that is not limited to words" (Encyclical letter <i>Fratelli tutti</i>, 6) .</div><div><br /></div><div>The third word is <i>faith</i>. In this regard, I would like to recall two events: the tenth anniversary, recently completed, of the Apostolic Exhortation <i>Evangelii gaudium</i> and the now imminent <a href="https://www.ncregister.com/cna/pope-francis-announces-year-of-prayer-to-prepare-for-2025-jubilee">Jubilee</a>, in which we will renew our faith in Jesus Christ, true God and true man, hope of history and of the world. However, we cannot hide the fact that in large areas of the planet faith - as Benedict XVI said - "no longer constitutes an obvious prerequisite for common life, indeed it is often even denied, derided, marginalized and ridiculed" (Apostolic Letter in form of Motu proprio Porta fidei, 2). It is time, therefore, to reflect again and with greater passion on some themes: the announcement and communication of the faith in today's world, especially to the younger generations; the missionary conversion of ecclesial structures and pastoral agents; the new urban cultures, with their burden of challenges but also with new questions of meaning; finally and above all, the centrality of the <i>kerygma</i> in the life and mission of the Church.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here help is expected from the Dicastery: "guarding the faith" translates today into a commitment to reflection and discernment, so that the entire community works towards a real kerygmatic pastoral and missionary conversion, which will also be able to help the synodal path in progress. What is essential, most beautiful, most attractive and at the same time most necessary for us is faith in Christ Jesus. All together, God willing, we will solemnly renew it during the next Jubilee and each of us is called to announce it to every man and woman of the earth. This is the fundamental task of the Church, to which I gave voice in <i>Evangelii gaudium</i>.</div><div><br /></div><div>In this context of evangelization I also mention the recent Declaration <i>Fiducia supplicans</i>. The intent of the "pastoral and spontaneous blessings" is to concretely show the closeness of the Lord and the Church to all those who, finding themselves in different situations, ask for help to carry on - sometimes to begin - a journey of faith. I would like to briefly underline two things: the first is that these blessings, outside of any liturgical context and form, do not require moral perfection to be received; the second, that when a couple spontaneously approaches to ask for them, the union is not blessed, but simply the people who have requested the blessing together. Not the union, but the people, naturally taking into account the context, the sensitivities, the places in which one lives and the most suitable ways to do so.</div><div><br /></div><div>Esteemed friends, I renew my gratitude for your service and encourage you to move forward with the help of the Lord. And please don't forget to pray for me. Thank you.</div><div><br /></div><div>(Plinthos translation)</div>plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-28008693766251869992024-01-26T10:28:00.000-05:002024-01-26T10:28:29.318-05:00Pope Emeritus Benedict on the Sexual Revolution<a href="https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/41013/full-text-of-benedict-xvi-essay-the-church-and-the-scandal-of-sexual-abuse">Vatican City, Apr 10, 2019 / 15:23 pm</a><br /><br /><div>The following is a previously unpublished essay from Pope emeritus Benedict XVI:<br /><br />On February 21 to 24, at the invitation of Pope Francis, the presidents of the world's bishops' conferences gathered at the Vatican to discuss the current crisis of the faith and of the Church; a crisis experienced throughout the world after shocking revelations of clerical abuse perpetrated against minors.<br /><br />The extent and gravity of the reported incidents has deeply distressed priests as well as laity, and has caused more than a few to call into question the very Faith of the Church. It was necessary to send out a strong message, and seek out a new beginning, so to make the Church again truly credible as a light among peoples and as a force in service against the powers of destruction.<br /><br />Since I myself had served in a position of responsibility as shepherd of the Church at the time of the public outbreak of the crisis, and during the run-up to it, I had to ask myself - even though, as emeritus, I am no longer directly responsible - what I could contribute to a new beginning.</div><div><br /></div><div>Thus, after the meeting of the presidents of the bishops' conferences was announced, I compiled some notes by which I might contribute one or two remarks to assist in this difficult hour.<br /><br />Having contacted the Secretary of State, Cardinal [Pietro] Parolin and the Holy Father [Pope Francis] himself, it seemed appropriate to publish this text in the Klerusblatt [ a monthly periodical for clergy in mostly Bavarian dioceses].<br /><br />My work is divided into three parts.<br /><br />In the first part, I aim to present briefly the wider social context of the question, without which the problem cannot be understood. I try to show that in the 1960s an egregious event occurred, on a scale unprecedented in history. It could be said that in the 20 years from 1960 to 1980, the previously normative standards regarding sexuality collapsed entirely, and a new normalcy arose that has by now been the subject of laborious attempts at disruption.<br /><br />In the second part, I aim to point out the effects of this situation on the formation of priests and on the lives of priests.<br /><br />Finally, in the third part, I would like to develop some perspectives for a proper response on the part of the Church.</div><div><br /></div><div>I.</div><div>(1) The matter begins with the state-prescribed and supported introduction of children and youths into the nature of sexuality. In Germany, the then-Minister of Health, Ms. (Käte) Strobel, had a film made in which everything that had previously not been allowed to be shown publicly, including sexual intercourse, was now shown for the purpose of education. What at first was only intended for the sexual education of young people consequently was widely accepted as a feasible option.<br /><br />Similar effects were achieved by the "Sexkoffer" published by the Austrian government [A controversial 'suitcase' of sex education materials used in Austrian schools in the late 1980s]. Sexual and pornographic movies then became a common occurrence, to the point that they were screened at newsreel theaters [Bahnhofskinos]. I still remember seeing, as I was walking through the city of Regensburg one day, crowds of people lining up in front of a large cinema, something we had previously only seen in times of war, when some special allocation was to be hoped for. I also remember arriving in the city on Good Friday in the year 1970 and seeing all the billboards plastered up with a large poster of two completely naked people in a close embrace.</div><div><br /></div><div>Among the freedoms that the Revolution of 1968 sought to fight for was this all-out sexual freedom, one which no longer conceded any norms.</div><div><br /></div><div>The mental collapse was also linked to a propensity for violence. That is why sex films were no longer allowed on airplanes because violence would break out among the small community of passengers. And since the clothing of that time equally provoked aggression, school principals also made attempts at introducing school uniforms with a view to facilitating a climate of learning.</div><div><br /></div><div>Part of the physiognomy of the Revolution of '68 was that pedophilia was then also diagnosed as allowed and appropriate.</div><div><br /></div><div>For the young people in the Church, but not only for them, this was in many ways a very difficult time. I have always wondered how young people in this situation could approach the priesthood and accept it, with all its ramifications. The extensive collapse of the next generation of priests in those years and the very high number of laicizations were a consequence of all these developments.</div><div><br /></div><div>(2) At the same time, independently of this development, Catholic moral theology suffered a collapse that rendered the Church defenseless against these changes in society. I will try to outline briefly the trajectory of this development.<br /><br />Until the Second Vatican Council, Catholic moral theology was largely founded on natural law, while Sacred Scripture was only cited for background or substantiation. In the Council's struggle for a new understanding of Revelation, the natural law option was largely abandoned, and a moral theology based entirely on the Bible was demanded.<br /><br />I still remember how the Jesuit faculty in Frankfurt trained a highly gifted young Father (Bruno Schüller) with the purpose of developing a morality based entirely on Scripture. Father Schüller's beautiful dissertation shows a first step towards building a morality based on Scripture. Father Schüller was then sent to America for further studies and came back with the realization that from the Bible alone morality could not be expressed systematically. He then attempted a more pragmatic moral theology, without being able to provide an answer to the crisis of morality.<br /><br />In the end, it was chiefly the hypothesis that morality was to be exclusively determined by the purposes of human action that prevailed. While the old phrase "the end justifies the means" was not confirmed in this crude form, its way of thinking had become definitive. Consequently, there could no longer be anything that constituted an absolute good, any more than anything fundamentally evil; (there could be) only relative value judgments. There no longer was the (absolute) good, but only the relatively better, contingent on the moment and on circumstances.<br /><br />The crisis of the justification and presentation of Catholic morality reached dramatic proportions in the late '80s and '90s. On January 5, 1989, the "Cologne Declaration", signed by 15 Catholic professors of theology, was published. It focused on various crisis points in the relationship between the episcopal magisterium and the task of theology. (Reactions to) this text, which at first did not extend beyond the usual level of protests, very rapidly grew into an outcry against the Magisterium of the Church and mustered, audibly and visibly, the global protest potential against the expected doctrinal texts of John Paul II (cf. D. Mieth, Kölner Erklärung, LThK, VI3, p. 196) [LTHK is the Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, a German-language "Lexicon of Theology and the Church", whose editors included Karl Rahner and Cardinal Walter Kasper.]<br /><br />Pope John Paul II, who knew very well the situation of moral theology and followed it closely, commissioned work on an encyclical that would set these things right again. It was published under the title Veritatis splendor on August 6, 1993, and it triggered vehement backlashes on the part of moral theologians. Before it, the "Catechism of the Catholic Church" already had persuasively presented, in a systematic fashion, morality as proclaimed by the Church.<br /><br />I shall never forget how then-leading German moral theologian Franz Böckle, who, having returned to his native Switzerland after his retirement, announced in view of the possible decisions of the encyclical Veritatis splendor that if the encyclical should determine that there were actions which were always and under all circumstances to be classified as evil, he would challenge it with all the resources at his disposal.</div><div><br /></div><div>It was God, the Merciful, that spared him from having to put his resolution into practice; Böckle died on July 8, 1991. The encyclical was published on August 6, 1993 and did indeed include the determination that there were actions that can never become good.</div><div><br /></div><div>The pope was fully aware of the importance of this decision at that moment and for this part of his text, he had once again consulted leading specialists who did not take part in the editing of the encyclical. He knew that he must leave no doubt about the fact that the moral calculus involved in balancing goods must respect a final limit. There are goods that are never subject to trade-offs.<br /><br />There are values which must never be abandoned for a greater value and even surpass the preservation of physical life. There is martyrdom. God is (about) more than mere physical survival. A life that would be bought by the denial of God, a life that is based on a final lie, is a non-life.<br /><br />Martyrdom is a basic category of Christian existence. The fact that martyrdom is no longer morally necessary in the theory advocated by Böckle and many others shows that the very essence of Christianity is at stake here.<br /><br />In moral theology, however, another question had meanwhile become pressing: The hypothesis that the Magisterium of the Church should have final competence [infallibility] only in matters concerning the faith itself gained widespread acceptance; (in this view) questions concerning morality should not fall within the scope of infallible decisions of the Magisterium of the Church. There is probably something right about this hypothesis that warrants further discussion. But there is a minimum set of morals which is indissolubly linked to the foundational principle of faith and which must be defended if faith is not to be reduced to a theory but rather to be recognized in its claim to concrete life.<br /><br />All this makes apparent just how fundamentally the authority of the Church in matters of morality is called into question. Those who deny the Church a final teaching competence in this area force her to remain silent precisely where the boundary between truth and lies is at stake.</div><div><br /></div><div>Independently of this question, in many circles of moral theology the hypothesis was expounded that the Church does not and cannot have her own morality. The argument being that all moral hypotheses would also know parallels in other religions and therefore a Christian property of morality could not exist. But the question of the unique nature of a biblical morality is not answered by the fact that for every single sentence somewhere, a parallel can also be found in other religions. Rather, it is about the whole of biblical morality, which as such is new and different from its individual parts.<br /><br />The moral doctrine of Holy Scripture has its uniqueness ultimately predicated in its cleaving to the image of God, in faith in the one God who showed himself in Jesus Christ and who lived as a human being. The Decalogue is an application of the biblical faith in God to human life. The image of God and morality belong together and thus result in the particular change of the Christian attitude towards the world and human life. Moreover, Christianity has been described from the beginning with the word hodós [Greek for a road, in the New Testament often used in the sense of a path of progress].<br /><br />Faith is a journey and a way of life. In the old Church, the catechumenate was created as a habitat against an increasingly demoralized culture, in which the distinctive and fresh aspects of the Christian way of life were practiced and at the same time protected from the common way of life. I think that even today something like catechumenal communities are necessary so that Christian life can assert itself in its own way.<br /><br />II.<br />Initial Ecclesial Reactions</div><div><br /></div><div>(1) The long-prepared and ongoing process of dissolution of the Christian concept of morality was, as I have tried to show, marked by an unprecedented radicalism in the 1960s. This dissolution of the moral teaching authority of the Church necessarily had to have an effect on the diverse areas of the Church. In the context of the meeting of the presidents of the episcopal conferences from all over the world with Pope Francis, the question of priestly life, as well as that of seminaries, is of particular interest. As regards the problem of preparation for priestly ministry in seminaries, there is in fact a far-reaching breakdown of the previous form of this preparation.<br /><br />In various seminaries homosexual cliques were established, which acted more or less openly and significantly changed the climate in the seminaries. In one seminary in southern Germany, candidates for the priesthood and candidates for the lay ministry of the pastoral specialist [Pastoralreferent] lived together. At the common meals, seminarians and pastoral specialists ate together, the married among the laymen sometimes accompanied by their wives and children, and on occasion by their girlfriends. The climate in this seminary could not provide support for preparation to the priestly vocation. The Holy See knew of such problems, without being informed precisely. As a first step, an Apostolic Visitation was arranged of seminaries in the United States.<br /><br />As the criteria for the selection and appointment of bishops had also been changed after the Second Vatican Council, the relationship of bishops to their seminaries was very different, too. Above all, a criterion for the appointment of new bishops was now their "conciliarity," which of course could be understood to mean rather different things.<br /><br />Indeed, in many parts of the Church, conciliar attitudes were understood to mean having a critical or negative attitude towards the hitherto existing tradition, which was now to be replaced by a new, radically open relationship with the world. One bishop, who had previously been seminary rector, had arranged for the seminarians to be shown pornographic films, allegedly with the intention of thus making them resistant to behavior contrary to the faith.<br /><br />There were - not only in the United States of America - individual bishops who rejected the Catholic tradition as a whole and sought to bring about a kind of new, modern "Catholicity" in their dioceses. Perhaps it is worth mentioning that in not a few seminaries, students caught reading my books were considered unsuitable for the priesthood. My books were hidden away, like bad literature, and only read under the desk.<br /><br />The Visitation that now took place brought no new insights, apparently because various powers had joined forces to conceal the true situation. A second Visitation was ordered and brought considerably more insights, but on the whole failed to achieve any outcomes. Nonetheless, since the 1970s the situation in seminaries has generally improved. And yet, only isolated cases of a new strengthening of priestly vocations came about as the overall situation had taken a different turn.<br /><br />(2) The question of pedophilia, as I recall, did not become acute until the second half of the 1980s. In the meantime, it had already become a public issue in the U.S., such that the bishops in Rome sought help, since canon law, as it is written in the new (1983) Code, did not seem sufficient for taking the necessary measures.<br /><br />Rome and the Roman canonists at first had difficulty with these concerns; in their opinion the temporary suspension from priestly office had to be sufficient to bring about purification and clarification. This could not be accepted by the American bishops, because the priests thus remained in the service of the bishop, and thereby could be taken to be [still] directly associated with him. Only slowly, a renewal and deepening of the deliberately loosely constructed criminal law of the new Code began to take shape.<br /><br />In addition, however, there was a fundamental problem in the perception of criminal law. Only so-called guarantorism, [a kind of procedural protectionism], was still regarded as "conciliar." This means that above all the rights of the accused had to be guaranteed, to an extent that factually excluded any conviction at all. As a counterweight against the often-inadequate defense options available to accused theologians, their right to defense by way of guarantorism was extended to such an extent that convictions were hardly possible.<br /><br />Allow me a brief excursus at this point. In light of the scale of pedophilic misconduct, a word of Jesus has again come to attention which says: "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung round his neck and he were thrown into the sea" (Mark 9:42).<br /><br />The phrase "the little ones" in the language of Jesus means the common believers who can be confounded in their faith by the intellectual arrogance of those who think they are clever. So here Jesus protects the deposit of the faith with an emphatic threat of punishment to those who do it harm.<br /><br />The modern use of the sentence is not in itself wrong, but it must not obscure the original meaning. In that meaning, it becomes clear, contrary to any guarantorism, that it is not only the right of the accused that is important and requires a guarantee. Great goods such as the Faith are equally important.<br /><br />A balanced canon law that corresponds to the whole of Jesus' message must therefore not only provide a guarantee for the accused, the respect for whom is a legal good. It must also protect the Faith, which is also an important legal asset. A properly formed canon law must therefore contain a double guarantee - legal protection of the accused, legal protection of the good at stake. If today one puts forward this inherently clear conception, one generally falls on deaf ears when it comes to the question of the protection of the Faith as a legal good. In the general awareness of the law, the Faith no longer appears to have the rank of a good requiring protection. This is an alarming situation which must be considered and taken seriously by the pastors of the Church.<br /><br />I would now like to add, to the brief notes on the situation of priestly formation at the time of the public outbreak of the crisis, a few remarks regarding the development of canon law in this matter.<br /><br />In principle, the Congregation of the Clergy is responsible for dealing with crimes committed by priests. But since guarantorism dominated the situation to a large extent at the time, I agreed with Pope John Paul II that it was appropriate to assign the competence for these offences to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the title Delicta maiora contra fidem.<br /><br />This arrangement also made it possible to impose the maximum penalty, i.e., expulsion from the clergy, which could not have been imposed under other legal provisions. This was not a trick to be able to impose the maximum penalty, but is a consequence of the importance of the Faith for the Church. In fact, it is important to see that such misconduct by clerics ultimately damages the Faith.<br /><br />Only where faith no longer determines the actions of man are such offenses possible.<br /><br />The severity of the punishment, however, also presupposes a clear proof of the offense - this aspect of guarantorism remains in force.<br /> <br />In other words, in order to impose the maximum penalty lawfully, a genuine criminal process is required. But both the dioceses and the Holy See were overwhelmed by such a requirement. We therefore formulated a minimum level of criminal proceedings and left open the possibility that the Holy See itself would take over the trial where the diocese or the metropolitan administration is unable to do so. In each case, the trial would have to be reviewed by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in order to guarantee the rights of the accused. Finally, in the Feria IV (i.e., the assembly of the members of the Congregation), we established an appeal instance in order to provide for the possibility of an appeal.<br /><br />Because all of this actually went beyond the capacities of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and because delays arose which had to be prevented owing to the nature of the matter, Pope Francis has undertaken further reforms.<br /><br />III.<br />(1) What must be done? Perhaps we should create another Church for things to work out? Well, that experiment has already been undertaken and has already failed. Only obedience and love for our Lord Jesus Christ can point the way. So let us first try to understand anew and from within [ourselves] what the Lord wants, and has wanted with us.<br /><br />First, I would suggest the following: If we really wanted to summarize very briefly the content of the Faith as laid down in the Bible, we might do so by saying that the Lord has initiated a narrative of love with us and wants to subsume all creation in it. The counterforce against evil, which threatens us and the whole world, can ultimately only consist in our entering into this love. It is the real counterforce against evil. The power of evil arises from our refusal to love God. He who entrusts himself to the love of God is redeemed. Our being not redeemed is a consequence of our inability to love God. Learning to love God is therefore the path of human redemption.<br /><br />Let us now try to unpack this essential content of God's revelation a little more. We might then say that the first fundamental gift that Faith offers us is the certainty that God exists.<br /><br />A world without God can only be a world without meaning. For where, then, does everything that is come from? In any case, it has no spiritual purpose. It is somehow simply there and has neither any goal nor any sense. Then there are no standards of good or evil. Then only what is stronger than the other can assert itself. Power is then the only principle. Truth does not count, it actually does not exist. Only if things have a spiritual reason, are intended and conceived - only if there is a Creator God who is good and wants the good - can the life of man also have meaning.<br /><br />That there is God as creator and as the measure of all things is first and foremost a primordial need.<br /><br />But a God who would not express Himself at all, who would not make Himself known, would remain a presumption and could thus not determine the form [Gestalt] of our life. For God to be really God in this deliberate creation, we must look to Him to express Himself in some way. He has done so in many ways, but decisively in the call that went to Abraham and gave people in search of God the orientation that leads beyond all expectation: God Himself becomes creature, speaks as man with us human beings.<br /><br />In this way the sentence "God is" ultimately turns into a truly joyous message, precisely because He is more than understanding, because He creates - and is - love. To once more make people aware of this is the first and fundamental task entrusted to us by the Lord.<br /><br />A society without God - a society that does not know Him and treats Him as non-existent - is a society that loses its measure. In our day, the catchphrase of God's death was coined. When God does die in a society, it becomes free, we were assured. In reality, the death of God in a society also means the end of freedom, because what dies is the purpose that provides orientation. And because the compass disappears that points us in the right direction by teaching us to distinguish good from evil. Western society is a society in which God is absent in the public sphere and has nothing left to offer it. And that is why it is a society in which the measure of humanity is increasingly lost. At individual points it becomes suddenly apparent that what is evil and destroys man has become a matter of course.<br /><br />That is the case with pedophilia. It was theorized only a short time ago as quite legitimate, but it has spread further and further. And now we realize with shock that things are happening to our children and young people that threaten to destroy them. The fact that this could also spread in the Church and among priests ought to disturb us in particular.<br /><br />Why did pedophilia reach such proportions? Ultimately, the reason is the absence of God. We Christians and priests also prefer not to talk about God, because this speech does not seem to be practical. After the upheaval of the Second World War, we in Germany had still expressly placed our Constitution under the responsibility to God as a guiding principle. Half a century later, it was no longer possible to include responsibility to God as a guiding principle in the European constitution. God is regarded as the party concern of a small group and can no longer stand as the guiding principle for the community as a whole. This decision reflects the situation in the West, where God has become the private affair of a minority.<br /><br />A paramount task, which must result from the moral upheavals of our time, is that we ourselves once again begin to live by God and unto Him. Above all, we ourselves must learn again to recognize God as the foundation of our life instead of leaving Him aside as a somehow ineffective phrase. I will never forget the warning that the great theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar once wrote to me on one of his letter cards. "Do not presuppose the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but present them!"<br /><br />Indeed, in theology God is often taken for granted as a matter of course, but concretely one does not deal with Him. The theme of God seems so unreal, so far removed from the things that concern us. And yet everything becomes different if one does not presuppose but present God. Not somehow leaving Him in the background, but recognizing Him as the center of our thoughts, words and actions.<br /><br />(2) God became man for us. Man as His creature is so close to His heart that He has united himself with him and has thus entered human history in a very practical way. He speaks with us, He lives with us, He suffers with us and He took death upon Himself for us. We talk about this in detail in theology, with learned words and thoughts. But it is precisely in this way that we run the risk of becoming masters of faith instead of being renewed and mastered by the Faith.<br /><br />Let us consider this with regard to a central issue, the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Our handling of the Eucharist can only arouse concern. The Second Vatican Council was rightly focused on returning this sacrament of the Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ, of the Presence of His Person, of His Passion, Death and Resurrection, to the center of Christian life and the very existence of the Church. In part, this really has come about, and we should be most grateful to the Lord for it.<br /><br />And yet a rather different attitude is prevalent. What predominates is not a new reverence for the presence of Christ's death and resurrection, but a way of dealing with Him that destroys the greatness of the Mystery. The declining participation in the Sunday Eucharistic celebration shows how little we Christians of today still know about appreciating the greatness of the gift that consists in His Real Presence. The Eucharist is devalued into a mere ceremonial gesture when it is taken for granted that courtesy requires Him to be offered at family celebrations or on occasions such as weddings and funerals to all those invited for family reasons.<br /><br />The way people often simply receive the Holy Sacrament in communion as a matter of course shows that many see communion as a purely ceremonial gesture. Therefore, when thinking about what action is required first and foremost, it is rather obvious that we do not need another Church of our own design. Rather, what is required first and foremost is the renewal of the Faith in the Reality of Jesus Christ given to us in the Blessed Sacrament.<br /><br />In conversations with victims of pedophilia, I have been made acutely aware of this first and foremost requirement. A young woman who was a [former] altar server told me that the chaplain, her superior as an altar server, always introduced the sexual abuse he was committing against her with the words: "This is my body which will be given up for you."<br /><br />It is obvious that this woman can no longer hear the very words of consecration without experiencing again all the horrific distress of her abuse. Yes, we must urgently implore the Lord for forgiveness, and first and foremost we must swear by Him and ask Him to teach us all anew to understand the greatness of His suffering, His sacrifice. And we must do all we can to protect the gift of the Holy Eucharist from abuse.<br /><br />(3) And finally, there is the Mystery of the Church. The sentence with which Romano Guardini, almost 100 years ago, expressed the joyful hope that was instilled in him and many others, remains unforgotten: "An event of incalculable importance has begun; the Church is awakening in souls."<br /><br />He meant to say that no longer was the Church experienced and perceived as merely an external system entering our lives, as a kind of authority, but rather it began to be perceived as being present within people's hearts - as something not merely external, but internally moving us. About half a century later, in reconsidering this process and looking at what had been happening, I felt tempted to reverse the sentence: "The Church is dying in souls."<br /><br />Indeed, the Church today is widely regarded as just some kind of political apparatus. One speaks of it almost exclusively in political categories, and this applies even to bishops, who formulate their conception of the church of tomorrow almost exclusively in political terms. The crisis, caused by the many cases of clerical abuse, urges us to regard the Church as something almost unacceptable, which we must now take into our own hands and redesign. But a self-made Church cannot constitute hope.<br /><br />Jesus Himself compared the Church to a fishing net in which good and bad fish are ultimately separated by God Himself. There is also the parable of the Church as a field on which the good grain that God Himself has sown grows, but also the weeds that "an enemy" secretly sown onto it. Indeed, the weeds in God's field, the Church, are excessively visible, and the evil fish in the net also show their strength. Nevertheless, the field is still God's field and the net is God's fishing net. And at all times, there are not only the weeds and the evil fish, but also the crops of God and the good fish. To proclaim both with emphasis is not a false form of apologetics, but a necessary service to the Truth.<br /><br />In this context it is necessary to refer to an important text in the Revelation of St. John. The devil is identified as the accuser who accuses our brothers before God day and night (Revelation 12:10). St. John's Apocalypse thus takes up a thought from the center of the framing narrative in the Book of Job (Job 1 and 2, 10; 42:7-16). In that book, the devil sought to talk down the righteousness of Job before God as being merely external. And exactly this is what the Apocalypse has to say: The devil wants to prove that there are no righteous people; that all righteousness of people is only displayed on the outside. If one could hew closer to a person, then the appearance of his justice would quickly fall away.<br /><br />The narrative in Job begins with a dispute between God and the devil, in which God had referred to Job as a truly righteous man. He is now to be used as an example to test who is right. Take away his possessions and you will see that nothing remains of his piety, the devil argues. God allows him this attempt, from which Job emerges positively. Now the devil pushes on and he says: "Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. But put forth thy hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face." (Job 2:4f)<br /><br />God grants the devil a second turn. He may also touch the skin of Job. Only killing Job is denied to him. For Christians it is clear that this Job, who stands before God as an example for all mankind, is Jesus Christ. In St. John's Apocalypse the drama of humanity is presented to us in all its breadth.<br /><br />The Creator God is confronted with the devil who speaks ill of all mankind and all creation. He says, not only to God but above all to people: Look at what this God has done. Supposedly a good creation, but in reality full of misery and disgust. That disparagement of creation is really a disparagement of God. It wants to prove that God Himself is not good, and thus to turn us away from Him.<br /><br />The timeliness of what the Apocalypse is telling us here is obvious. Today, the accusation against God is, above all, about characterizing His Church as entirely bad, and thus dissuading us from it. The idea of a better Church, created by ourselves, is in fact a proposal of the devil, with which he wants to lead us away from the living God, through a deceitful logic by which we are too easily duped. No, even today the Church is not just made up of bad fish and weeds. The Church of God also exists today, and today it is the very instrument through which God saves us.<br /><br />It is very important to oppose the lies and half-truths of the devil with the whole truth: Yes, there is sin in the Church and evil. But even today there is the Holy Church, which is indestructible. Today there are many people who humbly believe, suffer and love, in whom the real God, the loving God, shows Himself to us. Today God also has His witnesses (martyres) in the world. We just have to be vigilant in order to see and hear them.<br /><br />The word martyr is taken from procedural law. In the trial against the devil, Jesus Christ is the first and actual witness for God, the first martyr, who has since been followed by countless others.<br /><br />Today's Church is more than ever a "Church of the Martyrs" and thus a witness to the living God. If we look around and listen with an attentive heart, we can find witnesses everywhere today, especially among ordinary people, but also in the high ranks of the Church, who stand up for God with their life and suffering. It is an inertia of the heart that leads us to not wish to recognize them. One of the great and essential tasks of our evangelization is, as far as we can, to establish habitats of Faith and, above all, to find and recognize them.<br /><br />I live in a house, in a small community of people who discover such witnesses of the living God again and again in everyday life and who joyfully point this out to me as well. To see and find the living Church is a wonderful task which strengthens us and makes us joyful in our Faith time and again.<br /><br />At the end of my reflections I would like to thank Pope Francis for everything he does to show us, again and again, the light of God, which has not disappeared, even today. Thank you, Holy Father!<br /><br />--Benedict XVI<br /><br /><br />Translated by Anian Christoph Wimmer.<br />Quotes from Scripture use Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE).</div>plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-63688830528818628242024-01-26T09:40:00.000-05:002024-01-26T09:40:12.435-05:00Prudence and Courage<p>The coward will tend to consider the courageous man either arrogant or foolish.</p><p>The fool will tend to consider the prudent man a coward.</p>plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-8314080891490374202024-01-23T07:35:00.008-05:002024-01-23T07:37:40.250-05:00Calls for Removal of Cardinal Fernández<div><a href="https://edwardpentin.co.uk/john-paul-ii-academy-calls-for-removal-of-cardinal-fernandez-as-vaticans-doctrinal-chief/"><b>The John Paul II Academy for Human Life and the Family formally requests Pope Francis to dismiss Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández</b><br /></a><br />The John Paul II Academy for Human Life and Family (JAHLF) feels obliged to express its astonishment and perplexity that Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández has accepted the role of Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith despite having in past decades written scandalous books of an erotic nature which border on pornography and which contain passages that clash with the traditional teaching of the Church, in particular his works <i>Sáname con tu boca – El arte de besar</i> (“Heal Me With Your Mouth: The Art of Kissing”) and <i>La Pasión mística – espiritualidad y sensualidad</i> (“Mystical Passion-spirituality and sensuality”). Far from retracting the disgraceful passages that these works contain, Cardinal Fernandez has limited himself to stating that he would not have published them today and that he has prohibited their reprinting.</div><br />The sensual-mystical literature for which the cardinal has a particular propensity is one of the worst evils of our time to the extent that under the pretext of spirituality, it, in reality, does nothing but justify the worst excesses of the sexual revolution that is deeply corrupting our society and leading our youth to the abyss.<br /><br />Although all honest acts performed with good intentions are meritorious before God, sexual relations in our present order of fallen nature are so linked to unruly concupiscence that, generally, they cannot constitute an object that awakens or elevates piety. Already during the pontificate of Pius XI, the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office published an Instruction entitled De sensuali et de sensuali-mystico litterarum genere explicitly condemning mystical-sensual literature, in particular works of those authors who “do not fear to embellish the pasture of a sickly sensuality with sacred things, mixing immodest loves with a certain piety towards God and an entirely false religious mysticism.” The Instruction explicitly states that no intention of the author can prevent “that readers whose fragility is generally great, as is also great their propensity to lust as a result of the corruption of their nature, gradually caught in nets by the bait of these impure pages, are not perverted in their minds and depraved in their hearts.”<br /><br />It is deplorable that almost a century after this Instruction, lay Catholics should have to remind the Prefect of the admonition of his own predecessor:<br /><br />“Let these literati learn once and for all that they cannot serve two masters, God and sensuality, religion and impurity. ‘He who is not with me, said the Lord Jesus, is against me’ (Matthew, 12, 30). They are certainly not with Jesus Christ, the writers who, through sordid descriptions, deprave good morals, which are the most authentic foundations of civil and family society.”<br /><br />These scandalous episodes show that Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández does not have the necessary minimum qualities required to fulfil the role of defender of the faith. For this reason, this Academy formally asks the Holy Father to dismiss him and appoint in his place a competent theologian faithful to the moral teachings of the Church.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: right;">Dr Thomas Ward President (United Kingdom)</div><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: right;">Mrs Christine Vollmer Vice President (Venezuela)</div><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: right;">Mr Steven Mosher (USA)</div><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: right;">Prof. Roberto de Mattei (Italy)</div><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: right;">Mr José Antonio Ureta (Chile)</div><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: right;">Dr Adrian Treloar’ (United Kingdom)</div><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: right;">John Henry Westen (Canada)</div><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: right;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PbNJPGhkypQ" width="320" youtube-src-id="PbNJPGhkypQ"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">2020 Lecture by President <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-thomas-j-ward-95934225">Dr. Thomas Ward</a> on Marxism's Basic Error</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Dialectic Materialism</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-55204337013725873392024-01-06T15:06:00.010-05:002024-01-06T16:48:29.377-05:00Scandal is the Sin of Leading Others to Sin<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_ddf_doc_20231218_fiducia-supplicans_en.html" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="482" data-original-width="589" height="327" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEi1R0j99oJONbWte5zWTkK36Y3kStP_w8udgRW6kuwKT0kEqIu3X5r9JmHThk_Hb32OUL_HHuwesfxb4SnEUw784QqOBDKYbPvkSiMgXmNvjY9hUh_jW4WQli0arhm5qCmATEZeAI-etJoIGUuk-3sge-b0q9Mi2HkG5p230XujHmkOOIHo_e-nRG_o53A=w400-h327" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Below is Plinthos' response to the declaration <i><a href="https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_ddf_doc_20231218_fiducia-supplicans_en.html">Fiducua supplicans</a></i>.<p></p><p>The promulgation of <i>Fiducia supplicans</i> is a sin of scandal, sacrilegious scandal, of the gravest sort. <i>Fiducia supplicans</i> is scandal given to the whole world by the highest authority of God on the earth, The Holy See.</p><p>The <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=WT08AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA400&lpg=PA400&dq=%22in+how+many+ways+may+we+either+cause+or+share+the+guilt+of+another%27s+sin%22&source=bl&ots=Pyg1c0Byp3&sig=Y5UN5T7RIjTBVBPPB6vgcnbM1Bw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi9nuCokO3UAhWFHT4KHdBuCU8Q6AEIOzAD#v=onepage&q=%22in%20how%20many%20ways%20may%20we%20either%20cause%20or%20share%20the%20guilt%20of%20another&f=false" style="font-style: italic;">Basic Catechism of Christian Doctrine</a> (327) says that the sin of Sodom is one of the four sins crying to heaven for vengeance, along with deliberate murder, oppression of the poor and defrauding laborers of their wages. To bless, approve of, or in any way promote, those sins, or any other sins, is to be guilty of them oneself, because, as is said in the <i><a href="https://magnificatpress.com/penny.html">Basic Catechism of Christian Doctrine</a></i> (328), "We are answerable for the sins of others whenever we cause them, or share in them, through our own fault."</p><p></p><blockquote><p><a href="https://plinthos.blogspot.com/2017/07/if-you-consent-to-someone-elses-sin-you.html">We may either cause or share in the guilt of another's sin in nine ways</a>:</p><div style="text-align: left;">1. By counsel<br />2. By command<br />3. By consent<br />4. By provocation<br />5. By praise or flattery<br />6. By concealment<br />7. By being a partner in sin<br />8. By silence<br />9. By defending the ill done </div></blockquote><blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=WT08AQAAIAAJ&pg=PA400&lpg=PA400&dq=%22in+how+many+ways+may+we+either+cause+or+share+the+guilt+of+another%27s+sin%22&source=bl&ots=Pyg1c0Byp3&sig=Y5UN5T7RIjTBVBPPB6vgcnbM1Bw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi9nuCokO3UAhWFHT4KHdBuCU8Q6AEIOzAD#v=onepage&q=%22in%20how%20many%20ways%20may%20we%20either%20cause%20or%20share%20the%20guilt%20of%20another&f=false"><i>Basic Catechism of Christian Doctrine</i> (329)</a> </div></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><i>Fiducia supplicans</i> rightly cautions against any possible scandal in the matter of blessing of couples in irregular situation. (cf. <a href="The Basic Chttps://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_ddf_doc_20231218_fiducia-supplicans_en.htmlatechism of Christian Doctrine">#30, 31</a>) Ministers of God should in no way give the appearance of approving or promoting sin of any kind, especially sins which cry to heaven for divine retribution. To bless as a couple, a couple which is obstinately in a manifest romantic relationship with each other, a relationship which is also manifestly and irredeemably objectionable (e.g. man with man) can't but be a source of grave scandal to the couple and to society.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">However, <i>Fiducia supplicans</i>, by its very publication, makes the Holy See complicit in all of the sins of all of the couples of the world which are obstinately in manifest sinful relationships, because, by claiming that those relationships may be blessed, the decree gives them the Church's stamp of approval. In other words, with <i>Fiducia supplicans</i>, by granting priests permission to bless couples in publicly sinful relationships, the Holy See is saying that the Church recognizes and approves sexual relationships; relationships which in fact do not and cannot have the Church's official recognition, because they are against God's express will. Crazy. It is as if the Church were divided against Herself, as if the Church were saying, we (priests) can bless what God cannot bless. What a mockery of every form of religious integrity!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">With this loathsome decree of <i>Fiducia supplicans</i>, by giving its blessing to irregular couples, by calling those partnerships blessable, the Prefect of the Dicastery, and the Holy Father Himself by extension, causes and shares in the guilt of the sins of others (the blessing ministers and the couples) committing innumerable grave sins of sacrilegious scandal; 1) by counsel, recommending the blessings; 2) by command, issuing the decree; 3) by consent, agreeing to the partnerships; 4) by praise and flattery, giving the couple the highest religious recognition; 5) by being a partner in sin, sharing in the scandalous action of all of the priests' "blessing" of such unions; 6) by silence, neglecting to openly condemn the public fact of these grave immoral institutions of obstinate and manifest immoral unions; 7) by defending the ill done, attempting to place it all under the guise of something legitimate; and 8) doing it all in the name of God, which makes it sacrilegious, and of the highest order, because it is apparently done by the Visible Head of the Church, Pope Francis Himself, the Vicar of Christ, Who is God!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Here is the section of <a href="https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc/index.htm">The Catechism of the Catholic Church</a> on the sin of scandal, which it treats under the fifth commandment of God, under the title, "Respect for the Dignity of Persons," because to cause someone to sin is the gravest form of disrespect.</div><blockquote>2326 Scandal is a grave offense when by deed or omission it deliberately leads others to sin.<br /><br />II. Respect for the Dignity of Persons<br /><br /> Respect for the souls of others: scandal<br /><br />2284 Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. the person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor's tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave offense.<br /><br />2285 Scandal takes on a particular gravity by reason of the authority of those who cause it or the weakness of those who are scandalized. It prompted our Lord to utter this curse: "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." (Mt. 18:6; Cf. 1 Cor 8:10-13) Scandal is grave when given by those who by nature or office are obliged to teach and educate others. Jesus reproaches the scribes and Pharisees on this account: he likens them to wolves in sheep's clothing.(Cf. Mt 7:15)<br /><br />2286 Scandal can be provoked by laws or institutions, by fashion or opinion.<br /><br />Therefore, they are guilty of scandal who establish laws or social structures leading to the decline of morals and the corruption of religious practice, or to "social conditions that, intentionally or not, make Christian conduct and obedience to the Commandments difficult and practically impossible." (Pius XII, Discourse, June 1, 1941) This is also true of business leaders who make rules encouraging fraud, teachers who provoke their children to anger, (Cr. Eph 6:4; Col. 3:21) or manipulators of public opinion who turn it away from moral values.<br /><br />2287 Anyone who uses the power at his disposal in such a way that it leads others to do wrong becomes guilty of scandal and responsible for the evil that he has directly or indirectly encouraged. "Temptations to sin are sure to come; but woe to him by whom they come!" (Lk 17:1)</blockquote><p></p><p>Sin is only damnable, never blessable. No priest can bless what God Himself condemns! And, therefore, no priest (even if he be the Pope Himself!) can in any way authorize the blessing of sin.</p><p>Scandal of scandals!<br /><br />May heaven avenge the grand scandal of <i>Fiducia supplicans</i>!<br /><br />May heaven avenge this scandal of scandals, this travesty of Papal authority!</p><p>And, my the good and blessed Lord Jesus, sweet and gentle Jesus, Who today, on this Holy Epiphany, appeared to us, have, in the end, mercy on us all!</p><h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="background-color: white; color: #555544; font-family: tahoma, "Trebuchet MS", lucida, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 21.6px; margin: 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://plinthos.blogspot.com/2012/11/oppose-gaydom.html" style="background: transparent; color: #88bb22;">Oppose Gaydom</a></h3><div><br /></div><h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="background-color: white; color: #555544; font-family: tahoma, "Trebuchet MS", lucida, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 21.6px; margin: 5px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://plinthos.blogspot.com/2017/07/if-you-consent-to-someone-elses-sin-you.html" style="background: transparent; color: #88bb22;">If You Consent to Someone Else's Sin, You are Sinning</a></h3>plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-70571962699973881612024-01-06T07:36:00.001-05:002024-01-06T07:36:23.812-05:00Fiducia Supplicans is Divisive<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.prelaturademoyobamba.com/mensaje-pastoral-del-obispo-prelado-de-moyobamba-sobre-la-declaracion-fiducia-supplicans/" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1374" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhRnPvdLneW-vRn7xZu1fJYo3UZs9UI6C3log2Dr6HjlFzQg2Ukoz_xvkbeiL8qO3JKLmxOnWdpjf8P3o2ZsS1ncjaNZR_lnvZhsj7Olmki-Y-UWjzgfsdNSZp7yEGrWcm0EvsSg_7HXev_4dDzQtk-AjVPUTB1WnwCqFSlqkjT2CfIKx3MDphKEsXIDM/w349-h400/monsescu.png" width="349" /></a></div><br /><a href="https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2024/01/this-document-damages-communion-of.html">Pastoral Message of the Bishop Prelate of Moyobamba on the Declaration <i>Fiducia Supplicans</i>, Published by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith on December 18, 2023.</a><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Dear priests, consecrated religious, and lay faithful:</div><div><br /></div><div>Grace and Peace for the Nativity of the Lord!<br /><br />Faced with the unprecedented bewilderment provoked by the Declaration Fiducia supplicans in the clergy and many faithful of this Prelature and in so many places in the Catholic world, I have taken a few days of prayer and reflexion to respond calmly and serenely.</div><div><br /></div><div>The Declaration allows "the possibility of blessing couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples" (FS, 31) and in a very confusing way insists that such blessings are done "without oficially validating their status or changing in any way the Church's perennial teaching on marriage" (FS, 31), making it clear that marriage is the stable union of male and female blessed by the Sacrament.</div><div><br /></div><div>This document damages the communion of the Church, for such blessings directly and seriously contradict Divine Revelation and the uninterrupted doctrine and practice of the Catholic Church, including the recent magisterium of Pope Francis, which is why there are no citations in the entire Declaration that rely on the previous magisterium. In its 2021 Responsum, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, with the Holy Father's rubric, told us that "The Church does not have, nor can she have, the power to bless same-sex unions."<br /><br />Blessing couples in an irregular situation and same-sex couples is a grave abuse of the Most Holy Name of God, which is invoked over an objectively sinful union of fornication, adultery, or even worse homosexual activity. Moreover, in the latter case it must be emphasized that "homosexual acts are disordered and, above all, contrary to the natural law" (Catechism of the Catholic Church n. 2357). God never blesses sin. God does not contradict himself. God does not lie to us. God, who always loves the sinner unconditionally, for this very reason, seeks his repentance, his conversion and his life. God desires good for all of us.<br /><br />The present Declaration distinguishes between liturgical blessings and pastoral blessings and allows us to bless couples, but not unions, with "pastoral blessings". This distinction leaves us perplexed and confused, for the act of blessing, whether performed in a liturgical assembly or in private, imparted by a minister, is still a blessing, of the same nature. To bless a couple is to bless the union that exists between them, there is no logical, real way to separate one thing from the other. Why else would they ask for a blessing together and not two separately?<br /><br />The underlying problem is much more serious, and it is that not a few brothers in the episcopate and priests, contravening the objective morality of Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, have long been confusing the people of God with the indiscriminate blessing of these objectively disordered and therefore sinful unions, incurring in horrendous sacrilege.<br /><br />Given the lack of clarity of the document, we must follow the uninterrupted praxis of the Church to date, which is to bless every person who asks for a blessing, and not same-sex couples or those in an irregular situation. We will avoid all scandal, confusion, inducement to sin and at the same time we will continue to show the mercy that the Church has always shown to every sinner who approaches her, above all, offering him conversion, forgiveness, the life of Grace and Eternal Life.<div><br /></div><div>The Church blesses sinners, but never their sin or their sinful relationship. Our pastoral charity towards those in sinful situations obliges us to call them to conversion. Every sincerely repentant sinner with the first intention to stop sinning and to put an end to their public sinful situation (such as, for example, living together outside of a canonically valid marriage or same-sex union), can receive a blessing and even better, sacramental absolution and Holy Communion.</div><div><br /></div><div>Dear priests and lay faithful, let us not minimize the destructive and short-range consequences resulting from this effort made by some Church hierarchs to legitimize such blessings, in some cases with good intentions and in others, as not a few have been manifesting, with the intention of destroying the Sacred Deposit of the Church's Tradition.</div><div><br /></div><div>On the day of my episcopal ordination I solemnly swore to "preserve the deposit of faith in purity and integrity, in accordance with the Tradition always and everywhere observed in the Church since the time of the Apostles". Therefore, I admonish the priests of the Prelature of Moyobamba not to perform any form of blessing of couples in an irregular situation or same-sex couples.</div><div><br /></div><div>Since God does not want the death of the sinner, but his conversion to eternal life, I cordially and paternally recommend and exhort those persons who feel attraction towards the same sex or live in homosexual or irregular union to approach Christ through prayer, listening to the Word, fasting, penance, and the help of the Virgin Mary, with a view to their conversion, and to take advantage of the opportunity of conversion that God offers them for a happier life and the attainment of eternal life.</div><div><br /></div><div>Likewise, I exhort the priests and faithful of the Prelature to continue to cultivate their filial union with the present Pontiff of the Holy Church of God Pope Francis, those who preceded him and those who will come. It is this communion that moves me to undersign this present letter.</div><div><br /></div><div>With my affection and blessing.</div><div><br /></div><div>+ Rafael Escudero López-Brea<br />Bishop Prelate of Moyobamba</div><div><br /></div><div>Moyobamba,<br />January 2, 2024,<br />Memorial of the Holy Bishops and Doctors SS. Basil and Gregory</div></div>plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-85881077884613681892024-01-03T18:06:00.000-05:002024-01-03T18:06:06.799-05:00The Most Holy Name of Jesus --Luis de León<p>Among all His other titles, the name "Jesus" <span style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202124; font-size: 28px; text-align: right; white-space: pre-wrap;">[</span><span style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202124; font-family: inherit; font-size: 28px; text-align: right; white-space: pre-wrap;">יֵשׁוּעַ] </span>is Christ's proper name and the name which contains the meaning of all His other names [Sapling, Face(s) of God, Way, Pastor, Mountain, Father of the Future Age, Arm of God, King of God, Prince of Peace, Husband, Son of God, Beloved]. The name Jesus is Christ's proper name also because it is not a nickname but rather His <i>birth-name</i>, His given name, and the name which brings Him absorbed in its being; because His Christ being is <i>Jesus</i>, because everything that is in Christ is <i>salvation </i>and <i>health</i>. Which, furthermore, Christ anted that it should be His proper name, to declare His love to us. That is why He did not choose any other of His titles to name Himself from those which do not look to us, having so many greatnesses in Himself as is proper that He should have, in Whom, as Saint Paul says (Col. 2:9), resides as in a seat and as if corporally, every divine weath; rather he chose for His proper name that one which tells the goods which He does in us and the health which He gives us, most clearly showing the much that He loves us and esteems us, since He does not value nor make into a name except that of our health...</p><p>Jesus is His being; Jesus are His works, and Jesus is His name, that is, pity and health.</p><p>Christ willed to take <i>health</i>, which is <i>Jesus,</i> as His proper name, because health is not just one good, but rather a universe of innumerable goods. Because it is in health that one has powers, agility in movement, good appearance, agreeable speech, the complete discursiveness of reason, and the good exercise of all of the parts and of all of the works of man. <i>Health</i> contains within itself good hearing, good seeing, and success and industry. Such that <i>health</i> is a pregnancy of all goods, and thus, since Christ is truly this pregnancy, that is why this <i>name</i> is the one which is most fitting to Him. Because Christ, as in His divinity is the idea and the treasure and the fountain of all goods, likewise according to His humanity He has all of the remedies and all of the medicines and all of the healths which are necessary to everyone.</p><p>(Plinthos translation.)</p><p><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=I2hYEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT525&lpg=PT525&dq=%22jesus+es+su+ser;+jesus+son+sus+obras,+y+jesus+es+su+nombre%22&source=bl&ots=PQwqKhiv26&sig=ACfU3U2v_UawRIk8YfUlN6CCBtFd5l6q0w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjdpZGNpsKDAxX4k4kEHWyODs8Q6AF6BAgwEAM#v=onepage&q=%22jesus%20es%20su%20ser%3B%20jesus%20son%20sus%20obras%2C%20y%20jesus%20es%20su%20nombre%22&f=false">Fray Luis de León, Obras Completas I, ed. Felix Garcia, Biblioteca de Autores Cristianos, 1957, pp. 779, 780 and 781</a>. (The link is to a newer edition of the text.)</p><p>P.S. Jesus's name means salvation. In Latin the word for salvation, <i>salus</i>, means health.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jL6rvcA_9eU" width="320" youtube-src-id="jL6rvcA_9eU"></iframe></div><p><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); color: #131313; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jesus Christus nostra salus</span></p><p><span style="background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.05); color: #131313; font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; white-space: pre-wrap;">quod reclamat omnis malus,
nobis sui memoriam
dedit in panis hostiam.
O quam sanctus panis iste,
quem tu praebes Jesu Christe,
caro cibus sacramentum,
quo non est maius inventum.
Hoc est donum sanctitatis
charitasque Deitatis,
virtus et Eucharistia,
communionis gratia.
Ave Deitatis forma,
Dei unionis norma,
in te quisque delectatur,
qui in fide speculatur.
Non solus panis, sed Deus,
homo liberator meus,
qui in cruce pependisti
et in carne defecisti.
Non augetur consecratus,
nec consumptus fit mutatus,
nec divisus in fractura,
plenus Deus in statura.
Esca digna angelorum,
charitasque lux sanctorum,
lex moderna comprobavit,
quod antiqua figuravit.
Salutare medicamen,
peccatorum relevamen
pasce nos, a malis leva,
duc nos ubi lux longeva.
Caro cibus, sanguis potus,
manet tamen Christus totus,
huic sit laus et gloria
in seculorum secula.</span></p>plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-85067205152464797852024-01-03T10:58:00.002-05:002024-01-03T10:58:34.052-05:00Homily Responding to Fiducia Supplicans<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0MMS-dLlCi4" width="320" youtube-src-id="0MMS-dLlCi4"></iframe></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>This is a reposting on his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@fr.edwardmeeks1539">YouTube Channel of Father Meeks</a>' homily from the Feast of the Holy Family 2020, most fitting in the present context of the wake of Fiducia supplicans: the presumptuous so-called "permission" of the DDF for priests to give so-called "blessings" to so-called "gay" so-called "couples." Lies! Lies! Lies! The layers of scandal (leading others into sin and confusion) are legion.<p></p>plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-67267216568940997082023-12-31T16:55:00.005-05:002023-12-31T17:19:47.933-05:00Merry Christmas and Year of Our Lord Jesus Christ MMXXIV!<p style="text-align: center;"> <iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c5bRJTj7NWM" width="320" youtube-src-id="c5bRJTj7NWM"></iframe></p><div>Here is a recent performance of <i>in dulci jubilo</i> by the Regensburg Domspatzen. I heard this amazing boy's choir sing for the annual Regensburg Ordination in the City Cathedral during my time in Regensburg a few years ago. It was the most beautiful sound I have heard in this life! They were singing directly behind me in the sanctuary of that medieval Cathedral. I am also familiar with the Audimax where they did this December 19, 2023 concert, that is the same auditorium of the famous/prize-winning <a href="https://plinthos.blogspot.com/2008/03/regensburg-address-lecture-of-his.html">Benedict XVI Regensburg Address</a> at the University of Regensburg.</div><div><br /></div><div>P.S. Today is the one year anniversary of the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. May he rest in the peace of Christ, and may he intercede for us before God for the Church and for the world, right now. Amen. We sorely need his help from heaven. May the Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on us all.</div><div><br /></div><div>Here is the text of the song.</div><div><br /></div><div><table bgcolor="white" border="0" cellpadding="7" cellspacing="0" style="color: black; width: 800px;"><tbody><tr><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;" valign="TOP" width="50%"><p align="LEFT" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b>Latin/German Text</b></p></td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;" valign="TOP" width="50%"><b></b><p align="LEFT" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b>English Translation</b></p></td></tr><tr><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;" valign="TOP" width="50%"><p align="LEFT" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">1. In dulci jubilo,<br />Nun singet und seid froh!<br />Unsers Herzens Wonne liegt<br />in praesepio,<br />Und leuchtet als die Sonne<br />Matris in gremio,<br />Alpha es et O!</p></td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;" valign="TOP" width="50%"><p align="LEFT" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">In dulci jubilo [In quiet joy]<br />Let us our homage show<br />Our heart’s joy reclineth<br />In praesepio [In a manger]<br />And like a bright star shineth<br />Matris in gremio [In the mother's lap]<br />Alpha es et O. [Thou art Alpha & Omega]</p></td></tr><tr><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;" valign="TOP" width="50%"><p align="LEFT" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">2. O Jesu parvule<br />Nach dir ist mir so weh!<br />Tröst' mir mein Gemüte<br />O puer optime<br />Durch alle deine Güte<br />O princeps gloriae.<br />Trahe me post te!</p></td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;" valign="TOP" width="50%"><p align="LEFT" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">2. O Jesu parvule [O tiny Jesus]<br />I yearn for thee always<br />Listen to my ditty<br />O puer optima [O best of boys]<br />Have pity on me, pity<br />O princeps gloriae, [O prince of glory]<br />Trahe me post te. [Draw me unto thee]</p></td></tr><tr><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;" valign="TOP" width="50%"><p align="LEFT" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">3. O Patris caritas!<br />O Nati lenitas!<br />Wir wären all verloren (verdorben)<br />Per nostra crimina<br />So hat er uns erworben<br />Coelorum gaudia<br />Eia, wären wir da!</p></td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;" valign="TOP" width="50%"><p align="LEFT" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">3. O Patris caritas [O Father's charity]<br />O Nati lenitas [O Newborn's mildness]<br />Deeply were we stained<br />Per nostra crimina [by our crimes]<br />But thou hast for us gained<br />Coelorum gaudia [Heavenly joy]<br />O that we were there.</p></td></tr><tr><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;" valign="TOP" width="50%"><p align="LEFT" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">4. Ubi sunt gaudia<br />Nirgend mehr denn da!<br />Da die Engel singen<br />Nova cantica,<br />Und die Schellen klingen<br />In regis curia.</p><p align="LEFT" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Eia, wären wir da!</p></td><td style="overflow-wrap: break-word; word-break: break-word;" valign="TOP" width="50%"><p align="LEFT" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">4. Ubi sunt gaudia [Where be joys]<br />If that they be not there<br />There are angels singing<br />Nova cantica [New songs]<br />There the bells are ringing<br />In regis curia [At the king's court]<br />O that we were there.</p></td></tr></tbody></table></div>plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-59496200551123159232023-12-29T18:42:00.004-05:002023-12-30T16:44:47.337-05:00Bishops Conferences, Etc., Rejecting Fiducia SupplicansHere is an <a href="https://katholisches.info/2023/12/29/aktualisierte-liste-des-widerstands-gegen-fiducia-supplicans/">updated list</a> and links to episcopal conferences, cardinals, bishops, priestly associations, orders, etc., that oppose the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) declaration Fiducia supplicans on the blessing of homosexual couples (“irregular situations”):<br /><br />1) Bishop Joseph Strickland, Bishop Emeritus of Tyler ( <a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/exclusive-bishop-strickland-urges-bishops-to-say-no-to-francis-blessings-of-gay-couples/">here</a> ).<br /><br />2) Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X. A short but very clear and penetrating text ( <a href="https://fsspx.news/de/news/pressemitteilung-des-generaloberen-der-fsspx-41522">here</a> ).<br /><br />3) Malawian Bishops' Conference ( <a href="https://twitter.com/RorateCaeli/status/1737184988288946181">here</a> ).<br /><br />4) Archdiocese of Astana ( <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/archbishop-prohibits-priests-from-performing-any-form-of-blessing-of-same-sex-couples-in-response-to-new-vatican-declaration/">here</a> ). Particularly strong: “With sincere brotherly love and with due respect, we turn to Pope Francis, who, by allowing the blessing of couples in an irregular situation and of same-sex couples, 'does not walk sincerely according to the truth of the Gospel' (cf. Gal 2:14) to borrow the words with which the apostle Paul publicly admonished the first pope in Antioch. Therefore, in the spirit of episcopal collegiality, we ask Pope Francis to revoke permission to bless unmarried and same-sex couples.”<br /><br />5) Msgr. Marian Eleganti, emeritus. Auxiliary Bishop of Chur ( <a href="https://katholisches.info/2023/12/20/orthodoxie-und-orthopraxie-sind-deckungsgleich/">here</a> ).<br /><br />6) Msgr. José Munilla, Bishop of Orihuela-Alicante ( <a href="https://www.infocatolica.com/?t=noticia&cod=47682">here</a> ).<br /><br />7) Msgr. Jaime Fuentes, Bishop Emeritus of Minas ( <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvfY0uvABkI">here</a> ).<br /><br />8) Zambian Bishops' Conference ( <a href="https://twitter.com/ednyoka/status/1737441037583352086?s=20">here</a> ).<br /><br />9) Nigerian Bishops' Conference ( <a href="https://twitter.com/frjamesa/status/1737576981099610510">here</a> ). A particularly clear statement: “Therefore, there is no possibility in the church to bless same-sex partnerships and same-sex acts. This would violate the law of God, the teachings of the Church, the laws of our land and the cultural sensibilities of our people.”<br /><br />10) Roman Catholic Bishops' Conference of Ukraine ( <a href="https://rkc.org.ua/blog/2023/12/19/yepyskopat-ukrayiny-nemaye-blagoslovennya-na-zhyttya-u-grisi/">here</a> ).<br /><br />11) British Brotherhood of Catholic Clergy ( <a href="https://confraternityccb.org.uk/#:~:text=The%20Confraternity%20of%20Catholic%20Clergy%20represents%20over%20500%20British%20priests,governors%2C%20chaplains%20or%20parish%20priests.">here</a> ).<br /><br />12) Cardinal Gerhard Müller ( <a href="https://www.kath.net/news/83375">here</a> ). Substantial and clear document in which he states, among other things: “The priest who blesses homosexual couples commits a sacrilegious and blasphemous act against the Creator's plan and against Christ's death for us to bring the Creator's plan to fruition. This also affects the diocesan bishop.”<br /><br />13) Msgr. Carlo Maria Viganò ( <a href="https://www.aldomariavalli.it/2023/12/21/video-di-monsignor-vigano-sulla-fiducia-supplicans/amp/">here</a> ).<br /><br />14) Ghanaian Bishops' Conference ( <a href="https://www.aciafrica.org/news/9860/weve-no-rites-for-such-things-bishop-in-ghana-on-blessing-of-same-sex-marriages">here</a> ).<br /><br />15) Father Gerald Murray, canon lawyer for the Archdiocese of New York ( <a href="https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/prominent-canon-lawyer-fr-murray-excoriates-new-vatican-doc-endorsing-blessings-of-gay-couples/">here</a> ).<br /><br />16) Beninese Bishops' Conference ( <a href="https://www.aciafrique.org/news/9446/lhomosexualite-est-contraire-a-la-volonte-de-dieu-depuis-la-creation-du-monde-les-eveques-du-benin">here</a> ).<br /><br />17) Togolese Bishops' Conference ( <a href="https://www.republicoftogo.com/toutes-les-rubriques/societe/benediction-des-couples-homosexuels-reticence-des-eveques-togolais">here</a> ).<br /><br />18) Rwandan Bishops' Conference ( <a href="https://twitter.com/ArchKigali/status/1737888235399921671?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1737888235399921671%7Ctwgr%5Ee92a5cc6af1859b1b18568dee4aa0afdda4a3abc%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fsecretummeummihi.blogspot.com%2F">here</a> ).<br /><br />19) Symposium of the Bishops' Conferences of Africa and Madagascar (SCEAM) ( <a href="https://secretummeummihi.blogspot.com/2023/12/ambiguedad-de-declaracion-fiducia.html">here</a> ).<br /><br />20) Polish Bishops' Conference ( <a href="https://info.wiara.pl/doc/8613887.Rzecznik-Episkopatu-Deklaracja-Fiducia-supplicans-w-niczym-nie">here</a> ).<br /><br />21) Cameroon Bishops' Conference ( <a href="https://actucameroun.com/2023/12/22/les-eveques-du-cameroun-contre-les-benedictions-des-couples-homosexuels-declaration/?utm_content=cmp-true">here</a> ).<br /><br />22) Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church of Ukraine ( <a href="https://ugcc.ua/data/komunikat-shchodo-retseptsiy-v-ugkts-deklaratsiy-dykasteriy-virovchennya-fiducia-supplicans-pro-dushpastyrske-znachennya-blagosloven-4124/">here</a> ).<br /><br />23) Zimbabwe Bishops' Conference ( <a href="https://twitter.com/CatholicSat/status/1738225578724266152?t=BdkeYAhcqXhSmncSfoDObw&s=03">here</a> ).<br /><br />24) Episcopal Conference of Angola and São Tomé ( <a href="https://katholisches.info/2023/12/28/bischoefe-angolas-die-kirche-segnet-die-suende-nicht/">here</a> ).<br /><br />25) Congolese Bishops' Conference ( <a href="https://twitter.com/ArchidioceseO/status/1738665459652710740/photo/1">here</a> ).<br /><br />26) Episcopal Conference of Burkina Faso and Niger ( <a href="http://www.gcatholic.org/dioceses/conference/010.htm">here</a> ).<br /><br />27) Burundian Bishops' Conference ( <a href="https://eglisecatholique.bi/images/communiques/CECAB_Communiqu_sur_Fiducia_Supplicans_Dec_2023.pdf">here</a> ).<br /><br />28) Haitian Bishops' Conference ( <a href="https://www.haitilibre.com/article-41278-haiti-flash-le-vatican-autorise-la-benediction-des-couples-homosexuels-reactions-des-eveques-d-haiti.html">here</a> ).<br /><br />29) Antillean Episcopal Conference ( <a href="https://aecbishops.org/statement-from-the-bishops-of-the-antilles-episcopal-conference-on-the-declarations-fiducia-supplicans/">here</a> ).<br /><br />30) Hungarian Bishops' Conference ( <a href="https://katholisches.info/2023/12/29/ungarns-bischoefe-stellen-sich-gegen-fiducia-supplicans/">here</a> ).<br /><br />31) Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo, Archbishop of Kinshasa ( <a href="https://www.religionenlibertad.com/mundo/831347128/ambiguedad-fiducia-cardenal-ambongo-toda-africa-declaracion-propia.html">here</a> ).<br /><br />32) Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier OFM, em. Archbishop of Durban ( <a href="https://twitter.com/CardinalNapier">here</a> ).<br /><br />33) Msgr. Victor Masalles, emeritus. Bishop of Bani ( <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WECrpxcdh2Y">here</a> ).<br /><br />34) Msgr. Jesus Sanz Montes OFM, Archbishop of Oviedo ( <a href="https://twitter.com/jsmofm/status/1738244142323409373?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet">here</a> ).<br /><br />35) Msgr. Alberto Molina Palma, Archbishop of Los Altos in Guatemala (here).<br /><br />36) Cardinal Jean-Pierre Kutwa, Archbishop of Abidjan ( <a href="https://information.tv5monde.com/afrique/benediction-des-couples-homosexuels-par-leglise-larcheveque-dabidjan-demande-ses-fideles">here</a> ).<br /><br />37) Msgr. Hector Aguer, em. Archbishop of La Plata ( <a href="https://centropieper.blogspot.com/2023/12/fiducia-supplicans-no-debe-ser.html">here</a> ).<br /><br />38) Msgr. Robert Mutsaerts, Auxiliary Bishop of Herzogenbusch ( <a href="https://www.complicitclergy.com/2023/12/21/citing-diabolical-ambiguity-dutch-bishop-pleads-for-clarity/">here</a> ).<br /><br />39) Msgr. Charles Chaput, em. Archbishop of Philadelphia ( <a href="https://www.infocatolica.com/?t=noticia&cod=48304">here</a> ).<br /><br />40) Msgr. Adair Guimarães, Bishop of Formosa in Brazil ( <a href="https://youtu.be/IaWdz5Z_YhA?si=ra5H3i-txRHa3Onr">here</a> ).<br /><br />41) Cardinal Daniel Sturla, Archbishop of Montevideo ( <a href="https://www.elpais.com.uy/informacion/sociedad/sturla-cree-que-instruccion-de-vaticano-sobre-parejas-del-mismo-sexo-no-debio-surgir-en-navidad-y-no-bendecira-este-tipo-de-uniones?fbclid=IwAR1RSW4pGwP0c1R76AKcgijd1zRoo8uq5h6frDHn7C2kN6tvkm6w5GEeytA">here</a> ).<br /><br />42) Msgr. Philip Anyolo, Archbishop of Nairobi ( <a href="https://www.citizen.digital/news/bishop-anyolo-defies-popes-decision-forbids-blessing-of-same-sex-couples-in-nairobi-n333736">here</a> ).<br /><br />43) Msgr. Czeslaw Kozon, Bishop of Copenhagen ( <a href="https://www.katolsk.dk/den-katolske-kirke-i-danmark/aktuelt/single-news/biskoppen-om-troslaeredikasteriets-erklaering-om-den-pastorale-betydning-af-velsignelser-herunder-af-personer-af-samme-koen">here</a> ).<br /><br />44) Msgr. Eric Varden OCSO, Bishop of Trondheim ( <a href="https://www.katolsk.dk/den-katolske-kirke-i-danmark/aktuelt/single-news/biskoppen-om-troslaeredikasteriets-erklaering-om-den-pastorale-betydning-af-velsignelser-herunder-af-personer-af-samme-koen">here</a> ).<br /><br />45) Msgr. Bernt Eidsvig, Bishop of Oslo ( <a href="https://www.katolsk.no/nyheter/2023/12/vatikanet-klargjor-utvikling-i-kirkens-laere-om-velsignelser">here</a> ).<br /><br />46) Msgr. Hans Hendricks, Bishop of Amsterdam ( <a href="https://www.arsacal.nl/?p=contentitem&id=3335&t=Mogen+priesters+homorelaties+gaan+zegenen">here</a> ).<br /><br />47) Msgr. Michael Nazir-Ali, former Anglican Bishop of Rochester ( <a href="https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/fiducia-supplicans-whos-saying-what">here</a> ).<br /><br />48) Msgr. Gintara Grušas, Archbishop of Vilna ( <a href="https://www.vilnensis.lt/arkivysk-g-grusas-apie-deklaracija-fiducia-supplicans-del-palaiminimu-pastoracines-reiksmes/">here</a> ).<br /><br />49) Msgr. Antonio Suetta, Bishop of Ventimiglia-San Remo ( <a href="https://www.diocesiventimiglia.it/note-su-fiducia-supplicans/">here</a> ).<br /><br />50) Province of the USA and Argentina of the Marian Order ( <a href="https://twitter.com/ChristineNiles1/status/1738053369439105216?t=xFN2xYMD7ToeLw-_o526QQ&s=08">here</a> ).<br /><br />51) Order of the Transalpine Redemptorists ( <a href="https://papastronsay.blogspot.com/2023/12/on-declaration-fiducia-supplicans-our.html?m=1">here</a> ).<br /><br />52) Association of Catholic Lawyers of Argentina ( <a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gQyulzh7UyZg_gJzpIpTMY7XZL-J4Y02/view?usp=drive_link.">here</a> ).<br /><br />53) Brotherhood of Catholic Clergy of the USA ( <a href="https://catholicclergy.net/statement-of-the-confraternity-of-catholic-clergy-usa-regarding-the-recent-declaration-fiducia-supplicans/">here</a> ).<br /><br />54) Brotherhood of Catholic Clergy of Australia ( <a href="https://catholicclergy.net/statement-of-the-australian-confraternity-of-catholic-clergy-concerning-fiducia-supplicans/">here</a> ).<br /><br />55) Msgr. Paul Kariuki Njiru, Bishop of Wote ( <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5-oa-jGtCY5ih8L4-xxSSygxh7KzXVcx-KrO2urcK1VEDnSmPp1nIp1LDkFOUZ8q3bn7I-fmix26zHmqRcpi5fgv5nyQaWI2dGb1KRWBr_Jrhw0grfAewjXOvlc9mgmQfofeO3t4KpO4vo3LQWXuBcYCsNgo1Kz5-tAmzZlMBKGyCDS9VPUmQec51FVoV/s2048/2.jpeg">here</a> ).<br /><br />56) Gabonese Bishops' Conference ( <a href="https://news.dayfr.com/international/3084255.html">here</a> ).<br /><br />Compilation: Caminante Wanderer/Giuseppe Nardiplinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-30572947520025991822023-12-29T11:32:00.001-05:002023-12-29T11:32:27.170-05:00The Thug Who Invented Kwanzaa<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8lKQsUdGdbsF_-piACyYxuvtW2p961E6HZC-J2ciKk_jLHI3TBTmDFnFIsdVC17-dkmgotGNRvuauYdp13T3qY76vE1wBQWt9UA1EPL02FfSx8bgQdEdxzxZW1-errMffpkXRQ_alZPz7tIuJ-ivvzPvgQ9maTYup3iJvu9Gde_28M6tyNCI69Uqnack/s1024/blackmary.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8lKQsUdGdbsF_-piACyYxuvtW2p961E6HZC-J2ciKk_jLHI3TBTmDFnFIsdVC17-dkmgotGNRvuauYdp13T3qY76vE1wBQWt9UA1EPL02FfSx8bgQdEdxzxZW1-errMffpkXRQ_alZPz7tIuJ-ivvzPvgQ9maTYup3iJvu9Gde_28M6tyNCI69Uqnack/w400-h400/blackmary.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Born Ronald McKinley Everett, later changing his name to Maulana Ndabezitha Karenga, Karenga is "best known as the creator of the pan-African and African-American holiday of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwanzaa">Kwanzaa</a>," which no one either in Africa or America celebrate, though it is widely advertised in the USA by the liberal, anti-Christian media.<br /><br />Karenga invented "Kwanzaa" in an attempt to supplant Christmas. "During the early years of Kwanzaa, Karenga said it was meant to be a black alternative to Christmas. Karenga, a secular humanist, challenged the sanity of Jesus and declared Christianity a 'White religion' that black people should shun." <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maulana_Karenga">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maulana_Karenga</a><div><br />Here is what the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwanzaa#History_and_etymology">Kwanzaa</a> website says about the anti-Christmas foundation of Kwanzaa.<br /><br />American black separatist Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1966 during the aftermath of the Watts riots as a non-Christian, specifically African-American, holiday. Karenga said his goal was to "give black people an alternative to the existing holiday of Christmas and give black people an opportunity to celebrate themselves and their history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society." For Karenga, a figure in the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s, the creation of such holidays also underscored the essential premise that "you must have a cultural revolution before the violent revolution. The cultural revolution gives identity, purpose, and direction."<br /><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maulana_Karenga">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwanzaa#History_and_etymology</a><br /><br />Karenga was sent to prison from 1971-1975 in prison, sentence to ten years in prison on counts of felony assault and false imprisonment. This man and the non-holiday he created are typical of the apostasy and disgrace promoted among the blacks in America.</div><div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maulana_Karenga">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maulana_Karenga</a><br /><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh42S_gJtknAhkBNDbv4RwIkBIVdczFf9dt9nassT0lv0rUJw4_D7XC2qh8qr19-dcnzylhSfQUIyEd2fr2oE0icp1zTj16-2J0-e3sGJLe3DtpPV2zd65ObQLv0I1ghW8_jKbnmJPs1igV3m3jHjvssxgGmeuuNikYh4Z4AbEYjZxrlVRmIAsEfdhmv8A/s364/blackmadonna.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="364" data-original-width="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh42S_gJtknAhkBNDbv4RwIkBIVdczFf9dt9nassT0lv0rUJw4_D7XC2qh8qr19-dcnzylhSfQUIyEd2fr2oE0icp1zTj16-2J0-e3sGJLe3DtpPV2zd65ObQLv0I1ghW8_jKbnmJPs1igV3m3jHjvssxgGmeuuNikYh4Z4AbEYjZxrlVRmIAsEfdhmv8A/s16000/blackmadonna.jpg" /></a></div>Jesus Christ, Christianity, and Christmas are totally and authentically African and African-American, the greatest treasure of the African people everywhere! Christ Himself during The Flight into Egypt, spent the first seven years of his life in the African continent, Himself born in Bethlehem of Judea, racially and religiously a Jew. Here is another irony, to reject Jesus Christ is anti-Semitism. Karenga, in his zealous anti-Christian apostasy is also anti-Semitic.<br /><br />N.B. Hannukah is the Jewish <a href="https://plinthos.blogspot.com/search?q=kwanzaa">Kwanzaa</a>, a mid-20th century American invention intended to supplant and distract from Christmas. "In the United States, Hanukkah became a more visible festival in the public sphere from the 1970s when Rabbi <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menachem_M._Schneerson">Menachem M. Schneerson</a> called for public awareness and observance of the festival and encouraged the lighting of public menorahs."</div><div><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukkah">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanukkah#Rituals</a><br /><br />Cf. <a href="https://www.bitchute.com/video/BAWcPBumLVvT/">https://www.bitchute.com/video/BAWcPBumLVvT/</a><br /><br /></div><div>Cf. <a href="https://plinthos.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-jews-took-christ-out-of-christmas.html">Jews Took Christ out of Christmas</a></div></div>plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6341897732028189376.post-4103114449949830352023-12-28T19:58:00.001-05:002023-12-28T19:58:28.455-05:00The Litany of Trust<a href="https://sistersoflife.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Mobile-Litany-of-Trust.pdf"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://sistersoflife.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Mobile-Litany-of-Trust.pdf"></a><a href="https://sistersoflife.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Mobile-Litany-of-Trust.pdf" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1427" data-original-width="800" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgh3jliK4hX0iWMfZ6omU3_G1z9TyvT1j3RzE75kOBoL6eHUHIfLaWLZkEgfjIdhqBOSFzsAXUiz7AMd8BdpP3ct2LdNfNY5dI3leWbIfKVNTT23L3lrMG8uZhOdnI7KTkFzwFGScN5icXs21lXYbBP00l_6Bv8FlfD_zr8P_k4xMJjK85FawTS_1xoCtI/w359-h640/dali.jpg" width="359" /></a></div><br />How to pray the Litany of Trust<br /><br />Make the Sign of the Cross. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.<br /><br />Ask Jesus to deliver you from the various fears and insecurities that hold us back from fully trusting Him. After each petition, respond with “Deliver me, Jesus.”<br /><br />From the belief that I have to earn Your love<br />From the fear that I am unlovable <br />From the false security that I have what it takes<br />From the fear that trusting You will leave me more destitute<br />From all suspicion of Your words and promises<br />From the rebellion against childlike dependency on You<br />From refusals and reluctances in accepting Your will<br />From anxiety about the future<br />From resentment or excessive preoccupation with the past<br />From restless self-seeking in the present moment <br />From disbelief in Your love and presence<br />From the fear of being asked to give more than I have <br />From the belief that my life has no meaning or worth <br />From the fear of what love demands<br />From discouragement<br /><br /><br />Place your trust in Jesus, knowing that He will always wrap you in His arms. After each petition, respond “Jesus, I trust in You.”<br /><br />That You are continually holding me, sustaining me, loving me<br />That Your love goes deeper than my sins and failings and transforms me <br />That not knowing what tomorrow brings is an invitation to lean on You<br />That You are with me in my suffering <br />That my suffering, united to Your own, will bear fruit in this life and the next<br />That You will not leave me orphan, that You are present in Your Church <br />That Your plan is better than anything else<br />That You always hear me and in Your goodness always respond to me<br />That You give me the grace to accept forgiveness and to forgive others <br />That You give me all the strength I need for what is asked <br />That my life is a gift<br />That You will teach me to trust You<br /><br />Conclude with the Sign of the Cross. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. <br /><br /><br />SISTERS OF LIFE<div>Annunciation Motherhouse</div><div>38 Montebello Road Suffern, NY 10901</div><div>845.357.3547</div><div><br /></div><div>Written by Sr. Faustina Maria Pia, SV<br /></div>plinthoshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02727933805185400769noreply@blogger.com