Synodal Way dispute escalates

At the Council of European Bishops' Conference in Malta, Bishop Georg Bätzing of Limburg, Germany and Archbishop Stanislaw Gądecki of Poznan, Poland engaged in a tense encounter.

This followed Bätzing's public accusations against Gądecki for alleged false statements about the Synodal Way.

Bätzing accused his Polish counterpart of "overstepping his authority" and "unbrotherly behaviour" by not raising the issue during the synodal meeting in Rome.

Despite their discussion aiming for Church unity, tensions persisted, highlighting the ongoing discord about the controversial German process.

The Vatican's recent interventions and Pope Francis's stance have added weight to concerns, reflecting deeper divisions within the German Church.

Pope Francis acts against Cardinal Burke

Pope Francis has taken significant action against Cardinal Raymond Burke, revoking his subsidised Vatican apartment and salary, citing Burke's role in fomenting church disunity.

Burke has been a vocal critic of the pope's Church reforms.

According to an anonymous source, Francis was removing Burke's privileges because he used them against the church.

The move follows previous clashes between Burke and Francis over doctrinal questions and Burke's involvement in counter-synodal activities.

Letter to Pope: Synod report will disappoint

Leading reform-minded Catholics, including former Irish president Mary McAleese, penned an open letter expressing concern to Pope Francis and Synod participants.

The signatories anticipate the Synod's report will "disappoint and wound" Catholics worldwide.

They claim the Synod is one "in which prophetic voices won no significant concessions from the powerful and wealthy forces of conservatism".

The group found that the Synthesis Report published following last month's Synod was not "so much a synthesis as the minutes of an apparently unresolved quarrel".

The quarrel was between an "emerging lay church" and "bishops who have yet to find the courage to let go of their privileges" they said.

Disappointment stemmed from the absence of progress on critical issues like women's ordination, LGBTIQ rights, celibacy and clerical abuse.

Bishop Strickland's removal 'internal persecution'

Bishop Athanasius Schneider has decried the dismissal of Bishop Joseph Strickland as an act of unjust authority, signalling an "internal persecution" against faithful Catholics.

"This will go down in history as a great injustice against a bishop who only did his task in a time of confusion" said Bishop Schneider in an interview with the Catholic Herald.

Schneider described Strickland as a defender of Catholic faith and truth, citing his stance against distortions and his commitment to spiritual growth within the Church.

He criticised the trend of punishing faithful bishops while ignoring those undermining the faith, seeing it as an attempt to silence and dismantle communities adhering to tradition.

Potential for schism

Continued pressure on Pope Francis originates from both the conservative right and liberal left, risking a potential schism.

The right's resistance poses a threat as they are unlikely to be asked to depart.

At the same time, the left's dissatisfaction stems from the Church's apparent inability to tap into its democratic core.

Sources

Catholic News Agency

AP News

The Irish Times

The Catholic Herald

The blessings must not be confused with the wedding ceremonies of heterosexuals, and decisions as to whether to bless these couples should be decided on a case-by-case basis he said.

Francis shared his views on several hot theological topics after five cardinals, Raymond Burke, Walter Brandmüller, Juan Sandoval Íñiguez, Robert Sarah and Joseph Zen Ze-kiun. gave him a series of dubia (formal questions).

The topics are among those being discussed at the synod, which started in Rome on Wednesday.

The dubia and Francis's response to them were sent to the cardinals in July.

However, the Vatican published the responses on Monday after the cardinals made their initiative public, saying they are unsatisfied with Francis' answers.

"A single formulation of a truth will never be properly understood if it stands alone, isolated from the rich and harmonious context of the whole of Revelation."

Scripture and tradition also need to be interpreted, he said.

Same-sex couples blessings

Francis's current views on blessing same-sex couples has moved from the Vatican doctrinal office's explicit ruling about the topic in 2021.

In his July 2023 response to the dubia, Francis seems open to the idea, but urged caution.

"Pastoral prudence must ... properly discern whether there are forms of blessing, requested by one or more people, that do not convey a misconception of marriage" he wrote.

He stressed the Church's ruling that the sacrament of matrimony must be between only a man and woman, and open to procreation.

He wrote that the Church should avoid any other ritual or sacramental rite that contradicted this teaching.

At the same time, "pastoral charity should permeate all our decisions and attitudes" he said.

"We cannot be judges who only deny, reject and exclude.

"Because, when a blessing is requested, it is a request for help from God, a plea to be able to live better, a trust in a Father who can help us to live better."

This is true even if some acts were "objectively morally unacceptable".

Discernment necessary

Same-sex blessings should not become the norm. Nor should Church jurisdictions such as dioceses and national bishops 'conferences provide blanket approval for them, Francis wrote.

A certain amount must be left to pastors' discernment.

He does not endorse some German hopes for official, liturgical blessings of same-sex couples.

Commentators say he appears more supportive of Belgian bishops' moves on this subject.

Source

• Reuters
• The Tablet

The pontiff pointed out that, in some instances, political ideology has begun to overshadow genuine faith. This can prompt a displacement of core religious values.

Francis made the comments on August 5 in a private meeting in Lisbon with members of the Jesuit order during his trip for World Youth Day.

During a question-and-answer session, a Portuguese Jesuit recounted his disheartening experience during a sabbatical in the US.

He lamented the presence of hostility towards the pope's leadership within a segment of American Catholics, even among some bishops.

Addressing this concern, Pope Francis acknowledged the existence of a "very strong reactionary attitude" present within the US Catholic Church. He highlighted its organised nature, noting its influence on emotional attachment and affiliation.

Francis termed this attitude as "backward" and cautioned against the potential pitfalls of such a perspective. He stressed it could foster an environment of narrow-mindedness and closure.

Moreover, Pope Francis underscored the peril of allowing ideological beliefs to supersede genuine faith. He stressed that this trend could erode the authentic tradition of the Church.

He cautioned against the replacement of faith by membership within certain segments of the Church. Then Francis emphasised the importance of upholding the broader unity of the faith.

Pope often criticised by conservatives

In the ten years since his election, Francis has been criticised by conservative sectors of the US Church who are opposed to reforms such as giving women and lay Catholics more roles and making the Church more welcoming and less judgmental towards some, including LGBT people.

Appealing for a more progressive outlook, Pope Francis underscored the necessity of embracing an evolving understanding of faith and morals. He invoked historical examples, highlighting that while certain pontiffs of the past tolerated practices like slavery, the Church has evolved over time.

While the Pope's comments resonate with many who seek a more open and adaptable Church, his sentiments have also ignited reactions.

One prominent critic, Cardinal Raymond Burke, cautioned that Francis' upcoming bishops' meeting in October to shape the Church's future might inadvertently foster "confusion and error and division."

Sources

Religion News Service

Reuters

La Civiltà Cattolica

A new book, "The Synodal Process Is a Pandora's Box: 100 Questions and Answers," addresses the "serious situation" brought on by the synod, Cardinal Raymond Burke (pictured, centre) says.

Pope Francis is risking confusion and even schism in leading the upcoming Synod on Synodality in Rome, Burke writes in the book's preface.

"Synodality and its adjective, synodal, have become slogans behind which a revolution is at work to change radically the Church's self-understanding, in accord with a contemporary ideology which denies much of what the Church has always taught and practised," he continues.

It should concern all Catholics "who observe the evident and grave harm" that it has brought on the church.

The word synodality, the cardinal added, is "a term which has no history in the doctrine of the Church and for which there is no reasonable definition."

It leads to "confusion and error and their fruit — indeed schism," he says in the preface.

He backs this view citing the German Synodal Path, where church leaders consulted with lay and religious Catholics in Germany between December 2019 and March 2023.

Female ordination and blessing same-sex couples were among the issues the German consultation explored.

"With the imminent Synod on Synodality, it is rightly to be feared that the same confusion and error and division will be visited upon the universal Church. In fact, it has already begun to happen through the preparation of the Synod at the local level," Burke wrote.

The only way to uncover the "ideology at work" within the Vatican and "undertake true reform," was to turn to the "unchanging and unchangeable doctrine and discipline of the church," Burke's preface says.

He entrusted to the Virgin Mary his prayer that "the grave harm which presently threatens the Church be averted."

The synod on synodality

Francis's aims for the synod are to promote inclusivity, transparency and accountability in the Church.

After three years of world-wide consultations with Catholics, bishops and lay Catholics will gather in Rome in October under the rubric of "Synodality: Communion, Participation and Mission."

Agenda items drawn from concerns Catholics raised in diocesan forums include LGBTQ Catholics' inclusion and female leadership.

Those topics have convinced conservative Catholics that the synod will lead to changes in Catholic doctrine on questions of morality and sexuality.

The authors, the publisher and Burke

Co-authors José Antonio Ureta and Julio Loredo de Izcue are South American scholars and activists.

The publisher Tradition, Family and Property says "despite its potentially revolutionary impact, the debate around this synod has been limited primarily to ‘insiders' and the general public knows little about it."

Burke has long been a vocal opponent of Pope Francis's vision for the church.

He and three other cardinals publicly questioned Francis's decision in "Amoris Laetitia" for divorced and remarried Catholics to receive the Eucharist. Burke has also criticised efforts in the church to promote the welcoming of LGBTQ faithful.

Source

• Religion News Service
• America Magazine

Burke documents the church's history of legislating against giving Communion to persons "obstinately persevering in manifest grave sin." It begs the question of what comprises such sin.

A San Diego group, Catholic Action for Faith and Family, has reprinted, packaged and mailed the 64-page booklet, which retitles Burke's essay as "Deny Holy Communion?"

Founded by Thomas J. McKenna, who acts as Burke's scheduler and is involved with several other lay Catholic organizations, Catholic Action for Faith and Family's two episcopal advisers are Burke himself and San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone.

Determining what comprises "manifest grave sin" seems uppermost in the mind of Cordileone, who last year banned then-Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi from Communion in his archdiocese.

In an April 2022 letter, Cordileone wrote to the speaker, who professes to be a devout Catholic, "You are not to present yourself for Holy Communion … until such time as you publicly repudiate your advocacy for the legitimacy of abortion and confess and receive absolution of this grave sin."

Therein lies the rub, and the confusion. On the other side of the country, Washington Archbishop Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory has said he would not deny Communion to President Joe Biden, another Catholic politician on the wrong side of Cordileone's reading of the law.

Late last month, Bishop Thomas J.J. Paprocki of the diocese of Springfield in Illinois, a canon lawyer who has banned legislators in his state who voted to allow abortion, threw mud into the larger equation with an ungentlemanly critique of San Diego's bishop, Cardinal Robert McElroy, who had published an article in America magazine advocating a more pastoral approach to related questions.

In the middle of all this, the Vatican — in the person of Pope Francis — opposes using Communion as a political weapon.

What does double effect have to do with the fracas? Well, President Biden and the former speaker say they are "personally opposed" to abortion even as they back measures to keep it legal and accessible.

The stretch here is their argument that legalized abortion prevents a worse result. It is a stretch. Does this rise to the level of "manifest grave sin" requiring canonical penalties?

The lawyer-bishops say yes.

The pastoral bishops say no.

Which brings us to the other morality police, the Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal, a Denver group headed by a former employee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which reportedly spent millions of dollars to track clerical use of Grindr, advertised as "the world's largest social-networking app for gay, bi, trans and queer people."

Despite canon law's insistence on not damaging individuals' reputations, the Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal does not see its spying as wrong. Founded in response to the scandal surrounding former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, they say their aim is to protect the church.

From what?

Here, the argument of Military Archbishop Timothy Broglio, president of the bishops' conference, rises: He connects priest pederasty with homosexuality.

For Catholic Laity and Clergy for Renewal, then, tracking and sharing clerics' use of hook-up apps has a good intent.

In July 2021, after the group shared its findings with various bishops and others about clerics' use of Grindr and its findings were published by the online newsletter The Pillar, Msgr Jeffrey Burrill was forced to resign as general secretary of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

It did not affect his future ministry, however. He is now the administrator of a Wisconsin parish.

The result of all this?

Are Catholics any better evangelized on the problem of abortion as a moral and political issue?

Are the people of God better served when errant clerics are publicly excoriated?

Catholicism does not allow abortion or same-sex relations.

That is well known.

But is this evangelization?

Is anyone even paying attention?

Or have the church and Catholicism in general become ignored footnotes to the news?

• Phyllis Zagano is an internationally acclaimed Catholic scholar and lecturer on contemporary spirituality and women's issues in the church.
• Republished with permission from the author.

In a letter to his followers who are praying for him, Burke says he is experiencing difficulty in recovering from Covid-19 and is challenged to regain certain fundamental physical skills for daily living; among them, he lists general fatigue and difficulty in breathing.

He told his supporters that he's pleased a secretary from Rome has moved in with him to help him with his rehabilitation and to catch up on his work.

He says he cannot predict when he will be able to return to his normal activities.

Discharged from the hospital on September 3, he is living in a house near his family.

On August 10, the 73-year-old Cardinal tweeted he had contracted the disease, and six days later, his staff tweeted he was on a ventilator.

Before being admitted to the hospital, Burke warned that governments were using fear of the pandemic to manipulate people.

In a homily given at the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in December 2020, Burke referred to Covid-19 as the "mysterious Wuhan virus" warning "it has been used by certain forces, inimical to families and to the freedom of states, to advance their evil agenda."

In May 2020, Burke said while the state can provide reasonable regulations for the safeguarding of health, it is not the only one and that the ultimate provider of health is God.

He accused the state of dictating to and manipulating its citizens through what they label as the 'new normal'; recipes for fear and ignorance.

Speaking out against mandatory vaccinations, he said some in society want to implant microchips in people.

Earlier this month, Pope Francis said he doesn't understand why people refuse to take the COVID-19 vaccine, acknowledging that "even in the College of Cardinals, there are some negationists."

In a possible reference to Burke, he said one of the cardinals, a "poor guy", had been hospitalized with the disease, adding: "Well, the irony of life."

Until Francis removed him, Burke was a very powerful cardinal overseeing the Vatican's supreme court and also a member of the Congregation of Bishops and Congregation for Divine Worship.

Burke says he is offering up his sufferings and prayers for the many intentions of his followers.

Sources

• NCR
• Wikipedia
• USNews
• CNN
• National Catholic Register

In an Aug 28 letter posted on his website, he said he would remain hospitalized as he begins what he described as "intensive rehabilitation."

The cardinal did not disclose his location.

His letter credited hospital staff who have "provided vigilant, superb and steadfast medical care" during his hospitalization.

"For these dedicated professionals, too, I offer heartfelt thanks, as well as to the priests who have ministered to me sacramentally. To those who have offered innumerable rosaries and prayers, lighted candles, and requested the offering of the Holy Mass, I extend my sincere gratitude, and I ask the Lord and his Mother to bless all of you," the letter said.

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According to an Aug 21 update on the cardinal's health, Burke was able to speak by phone with his sister on Saturday morning and "expressed his deep gratitude for the many prayers offered on his behalf," the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe reported.

The shrine, located in La Crosse, Wisconsin, has been providing information about the 73-year-old cardinal's health after he was admitted to the hospital and put on a ventilator Aug. 14 due to complications from COVID-19.

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A source who had spoken to someone close to the cardinal told CNA on Tuesday that his condition had deteriorated, and the next 48 hours were crucial.

Cardinal Burke's Twitter account had announced Aug 14 that he "has been admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 and is being assisted by a ventilator."

A report in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said the cardinal, who lives in Rome and is prefect emeritus of the Apostolic Signatura, became ill while visiting Wisconsin, where he was raised.

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The tweet reported: "Cardinal Burke has been admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 and is being assisted by a ventilator.

"Doctors are encouraged by his progress. "

His Eminence faithfully prayed the Rosary for those suffering from the virus. On this Vigil of the Assumption, let us now pray the Rosary for him."

Burke, 73, is a former Vatican official who has expressed scepticism about the need for distancing measures to contain the coronavirus. He has also opposed mandatory vaccination schemes.

The cardinal did not say if he had recently been feeling ill or not, nor did he say whether he had been vaccinated for COVID-19.

A report Saturday in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch said Burke, who lives in Rome, became ill while visiting Wisconsin, where he was raised.

In previous remarks, sermons and speeches, Burke has raised concerns about how governments have handled the virus and vaccines. The tone of his messages echoed far-right conspiracy theories.

Burke said the virus "has been used by certain forces, inimical to families and to the freedom of nations, to advance their evil agenda."

"These forces tell us that we are now the subjects of the so-called 'Great Reset,' the 'new normal'. This is dictated to us by their manipulation of citizens and nations through ignorance and fear," said the cardinal.

In a May 2020 talk he delivered at the virtual Rome Life Forum, Burke spoke out against governments imposing vaccination mandates.

Burke also warned that some groups in modern society would suggest that "a kind of microchip needs to be placed under the skin of every person, so that at any moment he or she can be controlled by the state regarding health and about other matters which we can only imagine."

In a March 2020 blog post, Cardinal Burke wrote, "In combating the evil of the coronavirus, our most effective weapon is, therefore, our relationship with Christ through prayer and penance, and devotions and sacred worship.

"We turn to Christ to deliver us from pestilence and from all harm, and He never fails to respond with pure and selfless love."

Sources

Catholic News Agency

National Catholic Reporter

Last Saturday he welcomed Italy's front-line medical and civil protection personnel from the coronavirus-ravaged region of Lombardy to the Vatican to thank them for their selfless work and "heroic" sacrifice.

Their example of professional competence and compassion from these heroic medical staff would help Italy forge a new future of hope and solidarity, he said.

More than 160 Italian doctors and 40 nurses have died from coronavirus, and 30,000 national healthcare workers became infected.

Francis said Lombardy's medics and nurses became literal "angels". They helped the sick recover or accompanied them to their death, as their family members were prevented from visiting them in the hospital.

He spoke of the "little gestures of creativity of love" they provided: a caress or the use of their cell phone "to bring together the old person who was about to die with his son or daughter to say goodbye, to see them for the last time...

"This was so good for all of us: the testimony of proximity and tenderness."

Most priests were also in line for the Holy Father's words of praise. "They were fathers, not adolescents," Francis said.

"The pastoral zeal and creative concern of priests has helped people in their faith journeys and given them companionship in the presence of pain or fear."

"This priestly creativity has won out over some, a few, adolescent expressions against the measures of public authorities, who have the obligation to take care of people's health. The majority were obedient and creative."

The "adolescents" he was speaking of are conservative priests griping about shuttered churches amid the outbreak.

Among those challenging the call to close churches and obey isolation and social distancing regulations was conservative Catholic Cardinal Raymond Burke.

In a letter published on 21 March, Burke said just as people are able to continue going to pharmacies and supermarkets, the faithful should also "be able to pray in our churches and chapels, receive the Sacraments, and engage in acts of public prayer and devotion, so that we know God's closeness to us and remain close to Him, fittingly calling upon His help."

Despite Burke's concerns about the pandemic regulations, Francis is hopeful Italy would emerge morally and spiritually stronger from the emergency and the lesson of interconnection that it taught: that individual and collective interests are intertwined.

"It's easy to forget that we need one another, someone to take care of us and give us courage," he said.

Source

• Daily News
• Religion News Service
• AP
• Image: The National

"In considering what is needed to live, we must not forget that our first consideration is our relationship with God," Burke wrote.

"That is why it is essential for us, at all times and above all in times of crisis, to have access to our churches and chapels, to the Sacraments, and to public devotions and prayers."

He suggests priests could kept their distance during Mass and they or the faithful could ensure churches and confessionals were sanitised afterwards.

Burke (who is from the US but lives in Italy) has always been critical of Francis's pontificate and was one of the four cardinals who wrote the "Dubia".

The Dubia document challenged Francis's cautious opening to allowing Communion for divorced and remarried couples in the 2016 apostolic exhortation "Amoris Laetitia."

Access to Masses and the sacraments in Italy has been an on-again off-again situation during the past few weeks.

Initially, the Italian bishops conference banned Masses and religious gatherings to follow the government's safety measures.

Then priests were allowed to act according to conscience while maintaining distancing advice.

Burke says going to Mass is the same as going to pharmacies and supermarkets.

The faithful "must be able to pray in our churches and chapels, receive the Sacraments, and engage in acts of public prayer and devotion, so that we know God's closeness to us and remain close to Him, fittingly calling upon His help," he says.

Many priests in Italy have taken to social media and live streaming to keep in touch with the faithful.

Others are administering the sacraments to the sick and dying or attending to the needs of their local hospitals.

"There is no question that great evils like pestilence are an effect of original sin and of our actual sins. God, in His justice, must repair the disorder which sin introduces into our lives and into our world," Burke wrote.

Burke criticised the 'pop culture' for being distant from God citing the evils of abortion, euthanasia, "the pervasive attack upon the integrity of human sexuality," and the so-called ‘gender theory,' are examples of this, he says.

"We cannot simply accept the determinations of secular governments, which would treat the worship of God in the same manner as going to a restaurant or to an athletic contest.

"We bishops and priests need to explain publicly the necessity of Catholics to pray and worship in their churches and chapels, and to go in procession through the streets, asking God's blessing upon His people who suffer so intensely."

Source

• Religion News Service
• Image: LifeSite

On Monday (NZ time) he will invite a gathering of bishops, men and women from religious orders, indigenous people and secular experts to think boldly about a remote but ecologically sensitive corner of the Earth: the endangered rain-forests which cover swathes of Brazil and eight other countries.

For a vocal faction of traditionalists this spirit of boldness is already on the verge of heresy.

The pontiff himself sees the three-week Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon as a logical outcome of his passionate belief in giving centre stage to people and places that were hitherto considered marginal.

It also reflects his conviction, driven home relentlessly during an African tour last month, that environmental care is inseparable from the fight against global inequality.

As he said in Madagascar, "there can be no true ecological approach...without the attainment of social justice...not only for present generations but those yet to come."

Some conservative Catholics, under the de facto leadership of Raymond Burke, an American cardinal, have been calling for the faithful to pray intensely during the Amazon synod: not for its success but for the avoidance of deadly theological and pastoral errors which they claim to see on the horizon.

The cardinal has called the instrumentum laboris, a working document prepared in advance of the synod, a "direct attack on the Lordship of Christ" by virtue of its openness to non-Christian forms of wisdom and religious practice.

"This is apostasy," he told First Things, an American journal.

Both he and a fellow traditionalist, Cardinal Walter Brandmüller, a 90-year-old German, are especially concerned about a proposal which more liberal-minded figures find welcome and exciting: the idea that married men, who have raised families and won respect in the community, should be ordained as priests.

Although the proposal is specifically linked to the Amazon, conservatives see it as a precedent which would end a millennium-old tradition that most priests should be celibate.

The German prelate's critique of the instrumentum laboris is especially sharp.

He claims to detect a "pantheistic idolatry of nature" similar in tone to an anthem penned in 1913 for a socialist workers' movement and later adopted by the Hitler Youth.

As arguments between the pope and his hard-line critics grow louder, the forthcoming synod is emerging as a kind of high-noon moment.

The very design of the meeting, almost ignoring national boundaries, is disruptive.

It empowers progressive figures like Bishop Erwin Kräutler, an Austrian-born missionary who led a vast, forested Brazilian territory for over 30 years, at the expense of better-known clerics who wield power in big cities.

Brazil's right-wing government has made clear its unhappiness over the synod, suspecting an assault on its national sovereignty.

It reacted in a similar way when this year's spate of forest fires triggered calls for global action to save the trees.

Although the call for married clerics has been the most contentious proposal, it is presented in strikingly cautious terms.

The document suggests that there could be "priestly ordinations of older people, preferably indigenous, respected and accepted by their communities, even if they have an established and stable family life, in order to ensure availability of the Sacraments."

As well as excoriating that idea, critics have focused on bits of the document which in their view raise even deeper problems.

They allege that it verges on paganism in the way it idealises creation; that in urging Catholics to learn from indigenous traditions, healing practices and lore, it is abandoning the truths of Christianity; and that it downgrades the human species by presenting it as simply one more link in an ecological chain.

As for the Americans who have found a leader in Cardinal Burke, many are unhappy with the radical economic view that underpins the synod: one that blames greedy extractive industries and agri-businesses based in the northern hemisphere for the felling and burning of trees whose existence is crucial to the planet. Continue reading

It is is not official church teaching, he says.

It is a way for bishops to listen to the local church's concerns.

The working document ( also called the Instrumentum Laboris) "isn't a document of the synod, it is for the synod," Hummes told journalists.

"It is the voice of the local church, the voice of the church in the Amazon: of the church, of the people, of the history and of the very earth, the voice of the earth," he said.

Hummes and Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops, responded to a journalist's questions about criticisms against the synod and its working document.

The Vatican-based synod, which began on Sunday and will continue for most of this month, will focus on "Amazonia: New paths for the church and for an integral ecology."

In June, German Cardinal Walter Brandmuller published an essay in which he accused the synod's working document of being heretical.

This is because it refers to the rainforest as a place of divine revelation, he wrote.

He also criticized the synod for its plans to get involved in social and environmental affairs.

Other critics, U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke and Auxiliary Bishop Athanasius Schneider of Kazakhstan, voiced similar accusations in a released on 12 September.

In this, they cited "serious theological errors and heresies" in the synod's working document.

In response, Baldisseri said, "if there is a cardinal or a bishop who does not agree, who sees that there is content that does not correspond (to church teaching), well then, in the meantime I would say that it is necessary to listen and not judge because it isn't a magisterial document."

Baldisseri explained while he believes everyone should be free to express their disagreement, he also thinks it is inappropriate "that a judgment should be made about a document that isn't a pontifical document.

"This is just a working document that will be given to the synod fathers," he said.

"And that will be the basis to begin the work and build the final document from zero. It's also known as a ‘martyred document.'"

Hummes said the synod's working document arose from the church's desire to listen to the local church in the Amazon.

"The church didn't do it for the sake of doing it to only ignore them," he daid.

"No! If it was done, it was so that (the church) could to listen to them. This is the synodal path: to seriously listen."

Source

• Catholic News Service
• Image: America Magazine

There have been many schisms in the Church's 2,000-year history, he noted.

Although he said he is "not afraid of schisms," Francis added that he prays there won't be any as the "spiritual health of many people is at stake."

He said is concerned about the "rigid" ideology that has already infiltrated the American church, which his critics use to mask their own moral failings.

Led by Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, who stepped up attacks on the pope after Francis demoted him from a senior Vatican post, the conservative movement is growing.

Some conservative political movements in the United States have joined forces with religious conservatives to attack the pope.

Implying his critics are hypocrites, Francis confronted doctrinal issues raised in the U.S. and beyond by those who oppose his outreach to gay and divorced people and his concern for the poor and the environment.

"When you see Christians, bishops, priests, who are rigid, behind that there are problems and an unhealthy way of looking at the Gospel," Francis said.

"So I think we have to be gentle with people who are tempted by these attacks because they are going through problems. We have to accompany them with tenderness," he said.

Even though he is rejecting the conservatives' stance, he said he welcomes "loyal" criticism that leads to introspection and dialogue.

Such "constructive" criticism shows a love for the church. In contrast, his ideologically driven critics don't really want a response but merely to "throw stones and then hide their hand."

"Let there be dialogue, correction if there is some error. But the path of the schismatic is not Christian," he added.

Francis' allies, including German Cardinal Walter Kaper and the head of Francis' Jesuit order, have said the conservative criticism amounts to a "plot" to force the first Jesuit pope to resign so a conservative would take his place.

Asked about the criticism and risk of schism, Francis said his social teachings were identical to those of St. John Paul II, the standard-bearer for many conservative Catholics.

In a tweet posted yesterday, Rome correspondent Christopher Lamb says next month Burke will speak at a summit which includes a $500 per head priests' conference and seminarians-only event.

The tweet continues: "Francis says 'A schisms is always an elitist separation'".

Source

• Reuters
• Washington Times
• Image: Catholic World Report

Cardinals Walter Brandmüller and Raymond Burke have both written to fellow members of the College of Cardinals raising concerns about the document.

"Some points...seem not only in dissonance with respect to the authentic teaching of the Church, but even contrary to it," Brandmüller, who is a German prelate wrote.

Parts of the working document are heretical, he says.

Noting what he calls the document's "nebulous formulations" Brandmüller pointed to topics the synod will focus on.

These include a proposal to create new ecclesial ministries for women and another enabling the priestly ordination of the so-called viri probati - married men of good reputation, who could act as priests in places where there are none.

Brandmüller says these topics' inclusion raises "strong suspicion that even priestly celibacy will be called into question,"

He also said Cardinal Claudio Hummes's appointment as the president of the synod means he "will exercise a grave influence in a negative sense," which presents "a well founded and realistic concern".

He said Brazilian emeritus bishop Erwin Kräutel (who is a long-time proponent of married priests) and Franz-Josef Overbeck of Germany are of concern.

Overbeck advocates reexamining the Church's teaching on ordination and sexual morality.

"We must face serious challenges to the integrity of the Deposit of the Faith, the sacramental and hierarchical structure of the Church and its Apostolic Tradition," Brandmüller wrote.

Today's situation "is unprecedented in church history," he said. All cardinals must consider how they will react to "any heretical statements or decisions of the synod."

Burke said he shares Brandmüller's concerns.

In his letter to fellow cardinals, he said the long working document is "marked by language which is not clear in its meaning, especially in what concerns the Depositum fidei [the body of revealed truth in the Scriptures and Tradition]".

It "contradicts the constant teaching of the Church," he wrote.

It also "obscured, if not denied" ... "the truth that God has revealed Himself fully and perfectly through the mystery of the Incarnation of the Redeemer, the Son of God.

He said he agreed with Brandmüller assessment that the document attacks the "hierarchical-sacramental structure" and "the Apostolic Tradition of the Church".

In his view, the working document portends "an apostasy from the Catholic faith."

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Image: ABC

Someone as traditionalist and as media-savvy as Timothy Busch has to understand that whatever else was said during his Napa Institute's sprawling conference at the end of July, the most visible symbol was Cardinal Raymond Burke, one of the most outspoken critics of Pope Francis.

The five-day conference in Napa, California, at the posh Meritage Resort and Spa, one of Busch's holdings, was transparently partisan (Republicans Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and former Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin were the politicos on hand) and tilted, episcopally and theologically, to the far right.

All of that, of course, is unsurprising.

Busch has made no secret of his ambitions or of his spending aimed at influencing the church, its institutions and the narrative that is fed to the wider culture.

But symbols are important and Burke is a living symbol, in both thought (amply expressed in rather arrogant terms even when his critique is aimed at the pope) and appearance (often amply adorned in the royal paraphernalia of imagined ages long past).

His thought on this occasion, under the heading "Proclaiming the Truths of the Faith in a Time of Crisis," was a repeat of an eight-page "declaration" that he signed with four other prelates — a retired cardinal from Latvia and three bishops from Kazakhstan — outlining 40 points of contemporary church teaching about which Burke and his cohort believe "there is much error and confusion."

Of the points he raised at Napa, addressed early was "confusion" about bringing Jews and Muslims to Christianity. Burke advocates a more aggressive approach to converting those of other religions.

He might reacquaint himself with the Vatican II declaration Nostra Aetate, which speaks with great regard for other world religions, specifically, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and, particularly, Judaism.

"The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions," the document states.

"She regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men."

Burke noted more confusion in the understanding of some (including, increasingly, the U.S. bishops) that the church does not permit civil authorities to exercise capital punishment.

This is a direct slap at Francis, who has advanced the growing objection to capital punishment voiced during the two previous papacies, and who recently described the death penalty as "a serious violation of the right to life of every person."

In Burke's imagination, the Catholic community is simply riddled through with confused souls, and there is error everywhere.

He maintains that significant numbers of Catholics are in "open apostasy."

He took another direct shot at Francis when he criticized the working document for the upcoming Synod of Bishops on the Amazon, which includes discussion of possible ordination of widely respected married men to assure continued access to the sacraments.

"Celibacy stems from the example of Christ," said the cardinal.

That may be, but it is not the only example provided, given that the chosen Twelve included married men and that the tradition of celibacy is merely a thousand years old, half the life of the church.

The tradition has certainly been mutable.

Intentionally or not, the Napa gathering provided us with a full cast of those creating acute strains in the church today.

In placing Burke as the keynoter, Busch and the organizers sent a clear signal: The lay leadership they exemplified would take us back to a romanticized church that never existed.

It would reconstitute the clericalism that is at the heart of the sex abuse cover-up scandal that continues to undermine the authority of the church, and it would attempt to replace the dynamism of Francis' model of accompaniment with a return to a statute-bound and static institution in service of itself.

Burke personifies the kind of legal "rigorist" that Francis ardently resists.

Burke is the modern version of that religious leader that drew some of Jesus' harshest condemnations, those who placed undue burdens on others and pronounced themselves the undisputed bearers of truth. Continue reading

• Image: Taylor Marshall

John Meyer, the Executive Director of the Institute, says the conference will be an opportunity to discuss "Catholic renewal in a time of great crisis in the Church".

Among the speakers is one of the "dubia cardinals", Cardinal Raymond Burke, who challenged Francis about opening communion for divorced and remarried couples in the apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia.

Other conservative Catholic figures - George Weigel, Jim Daly and Father Robert Spitzer - will also speak at the conference.

In terms of the "crisis of accountability in the Church," Meyer says the Institute plans on putting a special emphasis on the role of laity in the Church.

He denies the conference and its organisers are against Francis and his pontificate.

Rather, Meyer says he welcomes the opportunity for dialogue with progressive and liberal Catholics instead of being stuck "in echo-chambers".

"It's wrong and it's really the work of the devil that we are divided over these issues, instead of working together for the common good," he says.

"We choose to bicker about small things, rather than fight together for the big ones."

Meyer says the idea for the conference itself came out of a letter Archbishop Chaput wrote 10 years ago, where he said that it was going to be difficult if not prohibitive to live out the Catholic values for a Catholic leader in this country, especially for a secular Catholic leader.

"We try to inform people on these issues so that they know how to meaningfully defend the faith, not just knowing what the Church believes on critical issues but why, Meyer says.

Explaining the Catholic Moment theme of next month's conference, Meyer says it has been chosen as the overarching theme "because we are kind of at a critical point in our Church history and we want to look at this Catholic moment, and how to renew the Church from various aspects".

The theme, as he describes it, will move from personal renewal to society and then the parish as a model of renewing the Church at a difficult time.

Meyer says the conference will open with Weigel and Burke offering their thoughts in the state-of-the-Church address.

Then the discussion will move to the true role of the laity - "not the kind of role that has been thrown out there, but the need for lay saints in this time and the role of the laity in the universal call to holiness," Meyer says.

"The second day we are going to be looking more at the cultural issues, renewing the culture as well as the Church, so we are going to have a conversation with Jim Daly from Focus on the Family and Alan Sears [Founder of Alliance Defending Freedom]."

Meyer says the final day will focus on practical issues, such as parish renewal.

Source

• Crux Now
• napa.institute.org

While the church must be generous to "individuals that are not able to find a way of living in their own country," this is not the case for many Muslim migrants "who are opportunists," he said.

As evidence that Muslim immigration is having an effect even in the United States, he cited the book "No Go Zones: How Sharia Law is Coming to a Neighborhood Near You," written by former Breitbart News reporter Raheem Kassam.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breitbart_Newsis a far-right syndicated American news, opinion and commentary website).

He then went on to tell those at the conference that Islam "believes itself to be destined to rule the world.

"You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see what has happened in Europe," he said, pointing to the large Muslim immigrant populations in France, Germany and Italy.

Burke's comments add to the debate among Catholics about applying Gospel precepts to the large numbers of migrants arriving in Western nations from Africa and the Middle East.

While the church must be generous to "individuals that are not able to find a way of living in their own country," he said this is not the case for many Muslim migrants, "who are opportunists."

A cause of Europe's Muslim influx can be attributed to Christian nations' abandonment of traditional moral norms, Burke continued.

"Muslims have said that they are able today to accomplish what they were not able to accomplish in the past with armaments because Christians no longer are ready to defend their faith, what they believe; they are no longer ready to defend the moral law," the cardinal said.

Another reason for the demographic shift Burke noted is that "Christians are not reproducing themselves," referring to the widespread use of contraceptives.

In this context, Burke said Catholics have a duty to instruct migrants on "what is bankrupt in the culture" into which they are received.

They should even to try to work with migrants "to recover what is true culture," which includes recognising the dignity of life, respect for sexual morality and proper worship of God.

In view of these considerations, limiting "large-scale Muslim immigration is in fact, as far as I'm concerned, a responsible exercise of one's patriotism," Burke added.

Burke's views differ from those of Pope Francis, who has made a generous attitude toward migrants a cornerstone of his pontificate.

Francis stresses the Christian duty to "welcome the stranger" over political and demographic considerations.

At the same time, he has repeatedly added that government leaders have a responsibility to assess how many migrants their countries truly can integrate. This includes considering including the financial costs of helping immigrants learn the local language and customs.

Source

• Catholic Herald
• Image: National Catholic Register

Ramping up his message ahead of the European elections, Bannon said Francis should stay out of politics.

"He's the administrator of the church, and he's also a politician. This is the problem," Bannon - who lives in Italy - said.

"He's constantly putting all the faults in the world on the populist nationalist movement."

The Pope's remarks about social justice have long irked Bannon and those of his ideological mindset.

Swing back to April 2016, when Bannon suggested Matteo Salvini should start openly targeting Francis about migration, because Francis has made the plight of refugees a cornerstone of his papacy. (At that time, Salvini was the minister for the interior and the leader of Italy's anti-immigration League party.)

"Bannon advised [Salvini] ... the pope is a sort of enemy. He suggested for sure to attack, frontally," a senior League insider says.

Salvini became more outspoken against the pope, claiming conservatives in the Vatican were on his side.

As an example, on 6 May 2016, after the pope's plea for compassion towards migrants, Salvini said: "Uncontrolled immigration, an organised and financed invasion, brings chaos and problems, not peace."

Salvini - who is now the Deputy Prime Minister of Italy's coalition cabinet - says he wants to bring the far right from across Europe into an alliance.

Last week, only days after meeting Bannon in Rome, Salvini revealed his "vision of Europe for the next 50 years", calling it the launch of a new right-wing coalition for the European parliamentary elections on 23 May.

Some say the timing of Italy's new coalition and Salvini's meeting with Bannon suggest Salvini has been handpicked as the informal leader of Eurosceptic populist forces in Europe.

According to Mischaël Modrikamen, the Movement's managing director, six months ago Bannon and Salvini tweeted that Italy's deputy prime minister "is in!"

Bannon also takes issue with the pope's warnings over resurgent populist movements.

"You can go around Europe and it's [populism] catching fire and the pope is just dead wrong," he says.

After Salvini and Bannon's 2016 meeting, Salvini was photographed holding up a T-shirt emblazoned with the words: "Benedict is my pope."

The slogan refers to a Vatican version of the "birther" campaign waged by Trump against Barack Obama, claiming that Francis's papacy is illegitimate and that his predecessor Benedict XVI is the true pontiff.

The League source also alleged that Salvini would have attacked the pope harder but was restrained by his own party, predominantly by Giancarlo Giorgetti, the deputy federal secretary of Lega Nord who is close to senior figures in the Vatican.

Bannon has been building opposition to Francis through his Dignitatis Humanae Institute, based in a 13th-century mountaintop monastery not far from Rome.

In January 2017, Bannon became a patron of the institute, whose honorary president is Cardinal Raymond Burke, who believes organised networks of homosexuals are spreading a "gay agenda" in the Vatican.

The institute's chairman is former Italian MP Luca Volontè, who is presently on trial for corruption for accepting bribes from Azerbaijan. He has denied all charges.

Source

• The Guardian
• The Telegraph
• Image: Daily Express