Another letter of the four cardinals to the pope. Also this unanswered

By Sandro Magister, June 20, 2017

At a distance of seven months from ” dubia “, Pope Francis received in the middle of this spring another letter by the four cardinal, signed by Carlo Caffarra on behalf of the other three: Walter Brandmüller, Raymond L. Burke and Joachim Meisner.

And even at this point, as the “dubia”, he did not respond.

The four cardinal asked the pope to be received at the hearing. To talk to him divisions generated by “Amoris laetitia” and the resulting “state of confusion and bewilderment of large” part of the Church.

The letter is in the hands of Francesco from May 6. But the prolonged absence of an answer has expanded nature. As was the case for “dubia”, the four cardinal believe right now that the letter is offered to the reflection of God of the whole “people”, from which rises the question of clarity to which they give voice.

The full text of the letter is reproduced below.

But meanwhile it is also useful to note that, in the 45 days between the delivery of the letter to the pope and his publication, the Babel of interpretations of “laetitia Amoris” – but not only – has been further growing.

You can report about it these new facts.

– In Poland, the Episcopal Conference has announced that in October will publish the guidelines for the application of “Amoris laetitia” that will hold still, without exception, the teaching of Giovanni Paolo II on remarried divorcees, who may receive communion only if you commit to live “as brother and sister.”

– But the bishops in Belgium, in a ” pastoral letter “, they gave the green light to communion for divorced and remarried, although simply “decided in conscience”, something that already happens in that country almost anywhere for a long time.

– Even in the Italian Episcopal Conference of Sicily Region it has published the ” pastoral guidelines ” on the eighth chapter “Amoris laetitia” involving “different practical solutions to different situations”, including absolution and communion for divorced and remarried living ” husband and wife “.

– In Argentina, in the diocese of Reconquista, the vescovo Ángel José Macin, there established by Pope Francis in 2013, celebrated publicly the full re-admission into the Church about thirty pairs of divorced and remarried continue to live “husband and wife”, giving them the communion – he said – at the end of a collective process of preparation based on the guidelines of “laetitia Amoris” and the following letter written by the Pope to the bishops of the Rio de la Plata region.

– Still in Italy, the theologian Maurizio Chiodi has published the latest edition of the authoritative ” the Italian Clergy Magazine ” an essay in which he argued in the light of “Amoris laetitia” the possibility of communion for divorced and remarried based on “a theory of consciousness than the alternative of the standard “. The “Magazine of the Italian Clergy” is published by the Catholic University of Milan, under the direction of three bishops: Gianni Ambrosio, Franco Giulio Brambilla and Claudio Giuliodori. And Nails has been appointed by the Pope a few days ago an ordinary member of the renewed Pontifical Academy for Life.

– In Italy, in Turin, the Catholic priest Fredo Olivero has announced that the interfaith group “Breaking bread” in which he participated meets once a month to celebrate the Eucharist in a Catholic rite now protestant now, with the audience that they all do the communion. He said sure this is the real “personal thoughts” of Pope Francis, according to what he told 15 November 2015 during the visit to the Lutheran Church of Rome. He added that the transustaziazione dogma must be reread in a “spiritual” and that, according to Jesus, putting the can celebrate anyone and not only an ordained minister. Don Olivero did this “outing” in the latest issue of ” reform “, the weekly of the Waldensian Church.

– And finally, at the Vatican, it appears to have been established a commission charged with “reinterpreting” in light of “Amoris laetitia” Paul VI’s encyclical “Humanae Vitae” on contraception. They are part of this commission Pierangelo Sequeri, head of the Pontifical Giovanni Paolo II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, Angelo Maffeis, Dean of the Paul VI Institute of Brescia, and Philippe Chenaux, professor of church history at the Pontifical Lateran University. The coordinator is Gilfredo Marengo , professor of theological anthropology in that institution founded by Giovanni Paolo II and advocate for some of revisionist theses time.

This state of facts. And this letter to the pope of four cardinals who will not resign.

“OUR CONSCIOUSNESS IMPELS …”

Most Holy Father,

It is with some trepidation that I address Your Holiness, during these days of the Easter season. I do so on behalf of the Cardinals: Walter Brandmüller, Raymond L. Burke, Joachim Meisner, and myself.

We would like first of all renew our total commitment and our unconditional love to the Chair of Peter, and for your august person, in which we recognize the Successor of Peter and Vicar of Jesus: the “sweet Christ on earth”, as he put S. Caterina da Siena. It does not belong to us any way the position of those who consider a vacancy in the See of Peter, nor of those who wants to give to others the indivisible responsibility of the “munus” Petrine. We are motivated only by the awareness of serious responsibility from the “munus” Cardinals: being advisers to the Successor of Peter in his ministry sovereign. And the sacrament of the Episcopate, which “has placed us as bishops to nourish the Church, which he has purchased with his own blood” (Acts 20: 28).

The September 19, 2016 we delivered to your and the Doctrine of the Faith Congregation five Holiness “dubia”, asking her to resolve uncertainties and to clarify some of the Post-Synodal Apostolic points “Amoris Laetitia”.

Having received no response from Your Holiness, we came to the decision to ask you, respectfully and humbly, Audience, together if it will appeal to Your Holiness. We enclose, as is customary, a Hearing Sheet where we expose the two points on which we wish to entertain us with you.

Most Holy Father,

A year has now gone by since the publication of “Amoris Laetitia.” During this time, interpretations of some objectively ambiguous passages of the post-synodal Exhortation have publicly been given that are not divergent from but contrary to the permanent Magisterium of the Church.

Despite the fact that the Prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith has repeatedly declared that the doctrine of the Church has not changed, numerous statements have appeared from individual Bishops, Cardinals, and even Episcopal Conferences, approving what the Magisterium of the Church has never approved.

Not only access to the Holy Eucharist for those who objectively and publicly live in a situation of grave sin, and intend to remain in it, but also a conception of moral conscience contrary to the Tradition of the Church.

And so it is happening – how painful it is to see this! – that what is sin in Poland is good in Germany, that what is prohibited in the archdiocese of Philadelphia is permitted in Malta. And so on.

One is reminded of the bitter observation of B. Pascal: “Justice on this side of the Pyrenees, injustice on the other; justice on the left bank of the river, injustice on the right bank.”

Numerous competent lay faithful, who are deeply in love with the Church and staunchly loyal to the Apostolic See, have turned to their Pastors and to Your Holiness in order to be confirmed in the Holy Doctrine concerning the three sacraments of Marriage, Confession, and the Eucharist.

And in these very days, in Rome, six lay faithful, from every Continent, have presented a very well-attended study seminar with the meaningful title: “Bringing clarity.”

Faced with this grave situation, in which many Christian communities are being divided, we feel the weight of our responsibility, and our conscience impels us to ask humbly and respectfully for an Audience.

May Your Holiness remember us in Your prayers, as we pledge to remember You in ours. And we ask for the gift of Your Apostolic Blessing.

Carlo Cardinal Caffarra

Rome, April 25, 2017

Feast of Saint Mark the Evangelist

 

http://magister.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.it/