Showing posts with label Father Fidenzio Volpi OFM Cap.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Father Fidenzio Volpi OFM Cap.. Show all posts

Sunday, February 15, 2015

Apostolic Commissar Admits Guilt of Defaming the Franciscans of the Immaculate

Saint Peter in Chains
Edit: we were just wondering what had happened to this, as the wheels of Italian justice turned, however slowly.  We'd pointed out earlier that Father Volpi, the Apostolic Commissar of the Bishop of Rome's current persecution of the Franciscans of the Immaculate Heart, had libeled the same.  We'd also reported that the family Manelli had exonerated themselves and Father Manelli, citing Katholisches and Chiesa e post concilio) the founder of the FFI, in court.

Now it looks like Father Volpi may have to go to prison for libel, if he doesn't fulfill the requirements of publicly apologizing on all the websites he runs and paying a cash settlement to the Manellis, which is a criminal offense.  We wonder what will become of this as it plays out.  Surely, there wasn't much coverage of it when it happened, will this order be allowed, as Rorate asks, to survive and thrive as it once did in defense of the Church?

Chiesa e post concilio asks if this is the result of the prayers, fasts, rosaries offered.

Evidently, not all is lost.  Here's Rorate:



Rorate Caeli contributor Francesca Romana has translated the first report from Chiesa e post concilio reporting that Fr. Volpi will pay the family of Franciscans of the Immaculate founder Fr. Manelli a large cash sum for his "defamation and lies" and make public apologies on all websites he runs.  
For regular readers of this blog, you know that Fr. Volpi was brought in for just one reason: to crush one of the fastest-growing, traditional-minded religious orders in the world -- but not on his own: as he admitted in the past, he was "specifically ordered by the Vicar of Christ," Pope Francis to carry out his mission.
Our questions now are simple: 
Will Pope Francis now finally rein this man in and force his boot of the throat of an order that only wants to serve God as the saints have all served Him for two millennia?
And will Pope Francis finally end this unjust commissioning and allow the poor friars who have had to flee the grip of this cruel man to return to their sworn vows and live out the remainder of their vocations in peace? We pray to hear in the affirmative soon. 

Continue here...

Monday, February 9, 2015

Commissar Closes the Cloister of the Franciscans of the Immaculate in Teramo

Teramo
(Teramo) The Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate are leaving Teramo, the capital city of the Italian region of Abruzzo. As the religious house of Teramo announced in a statement, the closing on February 11th of the Monastery of Teramo is "based on a decision of the Apostolic Commissioner," Father Fidenzio Volpi.
As a reason, a "decline of Brothers" and the "departure of some religious" were mentioned. In both cases, these were direct consequences of the provisional administration of the Order which had been blooming till July 2013.  The "decline" is due to resignations, which were triggered by the radical intervention of members appointed by the Commissar appointed by the Roman Congregation of Religious because the original charism of the Order was destroyed. The "departure" means forced displacements and exile of the friars by the Commissar.
On October 6, 2007 Bishop Michele Seccia of Teramo had entrusted the parish and convent of San Domenico to the young Franciscans.  In 2008 the  Marian lay community of Missione Immacolata Media Trice and the Third Order were established. Since the same year, the Fathers have celebrated the Traditional Rite since the implementation of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, not only the convent's, but public worship, such as the  Office and Vespers. In a pastoral concern for the parish,  the Mass was celebrated in both the traditional and the new Rites.

In 2005, the Dominicans had Abandoned the Monastery for Lack of Vocations 

In 1287  the Dominicans in Teramo established  the church and convent of San Domenico. After a long flowering, the Dominican convent was dissolved in 1809 by the Napoleonic storm, the church  was converted into a stall and the monastery into barracks. After the Congress of Vienna, the Confraternity of the Rosary, founded in 1556 by the Dominicans in Teramo for the care of the restoration of the Church. Because of the anticlerical attitude of 1860 by the newly created Italian state, it would take 130 years for the Dominicans were to return to Teramo. Only the Lateran Treaty made it possible that in 1939, the church was adopted by the Dominicans and the monastery was repopulated.
The Dominican church "experienced then in 1969-1971 as part of the post-conciliar liturgical reform, interventions in the design of the presbytery," as it states on the remaining website of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate Teramo. In 2005, the Dominicans had to abandon the monastery Teramo "for lack of vocations."
Soon the monastery was empty, then the Bishop of Teramo summoned  the Franciscans of the Immaculate summoned a young  Order, which had no staffing problems and had thus guaranteed the safe continuation of the monastery and pastoral care. Less than seven years later, the tide has turned dramatically through papal intervention. In two days, the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate will leave Teramo, but for very different reasons than the Dominicans.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Wikicommons
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Commissar Volpi Threatens Bishops -- Franciscans of the Immaculate Are Trying to Overthrow Pope Francis

The Commissar and the Franciscans of the Immaculate
(Rome) The Apostolic Commissioner of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate urges the Italian bishops not to incardinate priests who want to leave the maltreated Order. It even comes to threats. The background is an alleged "conspiracy" by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate for the "downfall of Pope Francis," from which the Commissar wanted to save the Church leader. What followed was a written slugfest between Father Volpi and a leading bishop.
For the last 16 months the Order of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate  was among  the most flourishing religious orders of the Catholic Church. The young Order, canonically erected in 1990 , was astonishing in its completely opposite trend.  While other orders bemoaned a shortage of young people, the Order grew up in the West at an impressive pace. In an effort to return to the roots of the Franciscan Order and to follow the original rule of the order, the Order discovered the treasures of the Church, went to the traditional rite the tradition of the Church on its own. With the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. its fate was thus sealed. The visible figurehead of the Benedictine reform of the reform, which had become an Old Ritual Order, had lost his patron.

Commissioner Volpi invited by Pope Confidant Galatino to Bishops' Conference

Since July 2013 provided the Order of the Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception has been provided with a provisional administration. The religious congregation continued with the approval of Pope Francis under a Capuchin Father Fidenzio Volpi. The Apostolic Commissioner  came to enforce his policy sanctions  in the autumn General Assembly of the Italian Episcopal Conference in part, after some bishops had shown willingness to include the brothers and priests of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate i in their dioceses.
After this provisional procedure became known there was a written exchange between the website Nuova Bussola Quotidiana (NBQ) and Commissioner Volpi.
We initiated  a report by Matteo Matzuzzi last 25 November. Matzuzzi is Vaticanist the daily newspaper Il Foglio .

Episcopal Head Shaking Morning "Pope \ earl"

Commissar  Volpi with Pope Francis
Matzuzzi reported on the "orientation" of many bishops around the world for the morning sermon by Pope Francis on 21 November in Santa Marta. It was the "Pearl of the Day" that triggered the helpless shaking of the head among the bishops.  Pope Francis accused  priests and parish secretaries who were supposed to have   published price lists for the sacraments on church doors. According to Vatican Radio , the "pearl" spread, and made ​​more than one bishop a squirm in his chair. "So it gives the impression as if we were only baptize when we see a donation in an envelope," said Matzuzzi quoting an Italian bishop.
There may be black sheep   everywhere, but the reality in the Church from Cape Town to Svalbard, from Vladivostok to Porto is clear. The fees are minimal and are entirely subsided in case of need. In many parts of the world where there is no government-driven church tax as in the Federal Republic of Germany, the clergy is even denied their  livelihood from these offerings.
In the afternoon of the same day there was a public clarification by Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the President of the Italian Bishops' Conference: "The sacraments are to be paid in any way. The duties of the faithful are a form of contributing to the material needs of the Church."  The statement was immediately read by observers as a response to the Pope's  morning talks if Cardinal Bagnasco did not mention the pope by name.
Who would not have understood it, was better taught contrario by the speaker of the Episcopal Conference, Monsignor Domenico Pompili as  he briefly stated:  "Each statement made by   the President of the Episcopal Conference as a counter to Pope Francis are misleading ".

Episcopal Anger at Argentine Pope

Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate
That something is not working in the relationship between the center and the edges,  is but certain. This was evident a few weeks ago, when the Pope confidante, Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto, who wrote, as the synods' Special Secretary, the controversial gay passages of the interim report for the Synod of Bishops,  who  resoundingly trumpeted Bishop Mario Marini of Fielsole at the election of the Vice-President of the Episcopal Conference.  The only 30 percent of the vote against 70 percent of Bishop Maini in the decisive second round wasn't even close, not even  for an honorable defeat, but for a man like Msgr. Forte, who feels called for higher things, it was a crushing rebuff.
The situation was very embarrassing for some, was why yet begun during the bishops' meeting, the play down "incident"."You wanted new faces precedence," was the embarrassment formula.
Anyway: One possible promotion for Fortes is one of the great Archdiocesan chairs with the dignity of Cardinal, which are open in 2015, namely Florence and Bologna, is a bar quite high. In 2011, Forte was discussed for the  Archdiocese  of Milan. Benedict XVI., however, appointed the then Patriarch of Venice, Cardinal Angelo Scola.  Forte was discussed as a possible Patriarch of Venice, but Benedict XVI, which not only was Benedict irritated by Fortes fierce opposition to the corrected translation of the words of consecration in the vernacular. (Pro multis - for many), so Francesco Moraglia was chosen instead, who himself chose a meaningfully strong coat of arms, which is virtually identical to that of St. Pius X, who himself was also Patriarch of Venice. Pope Francis has not created Patriarch Moraglia  a cardinal yet, although traditionally  the Patriarchal chair is connected to the cardinalate. It's a set back that has been associated with Moraglia's understanding of the Church.
Not enough: in the first round by the way, Bishop Mariano Crociata of Latina received 27 votes. Crociata, who in 2013 was Secretary of the Bishops' Conference  was then replaced by Pope Francis overnight by Bishop Nunzio Galatino Cassano all'Jonio. Bishop Crociata asked his brother Bishops, not to give him any more votes, because that could be interpreted as an affront to Pope Francis. But  some of the bishops intended to be demonstrative with their vote.

Galatinos Franciscan Officiate and the Invitation to Commissioner Volpi

Bishop Galatino with Pope Francis
The newly appointe, without consultation with Cardinal Bagnasco, Secretary General Galatino, fills his office so that he could be imposed as the President of the Bishops' Conference and immediately maintains contact with the Vatican. Exactly, in the opinion of observers, this was whatthe Pope wanted with Galatino's appointment: A major reorganization of the Episcopal Conference, without dismissing its president, and thus attracting too much attention. Galatino is the bishop who snidely commented on the Pro-Lifers  who work against the outrageousness of the mass murder of unborn children at abortion clinics and hospitals and pray the rosary for the right to life of every human being.
The Pope's confidant, Galatino, was also appointed by Rome as the Apostolic Commissioner of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate has invited Father Fidenzio Volpi for Autumn Plenary Assembly of Bishops. The real purpose of the bishop's invitation was more apparent during the breaks.  Commissioner Volpi approached  and targeted certain bishops and urged them not to incardinate brothers of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate in their diocese who want to leave the Order because of radical upheaval. The procedure of the Commissioner is very unusual because incardination is constantly taking place in many dioceses around the world. The Commissioner's foray is therefore aimed specifically against the priests entrusted to him. They have been  denied in Rome for more than a year, the new foundation as an Old Rite Order. Commissioner Volpi will prevent the brothers leaving the Order or from being incardinated into dioceses. In other words, the impression that arises is that Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate should be forced to remain in the Order, to force them to accept the realignment.
The intention becomes clearer, if one takes into account that Bishop Galatino as Secretary of the Bishops' Conference called upon the Bishops of Italy with an official letter, that no Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate are to be incardinated. If appropriate requests are made, the bishops should immediately inform Commissioner Volpi Commissioner of it. 
Commissioner Volpi's "Clarification" That Explained Nothing
Founder Manelli celebrated in the Lateran Basilica St.Sacrifice of the Mass in the traditional rite
Matzuzzi's article drew a counter notification by the Commissioner himself, who relied on the press law.  Participation in the conference of bishops  was justified by the Commissioner with his role as General Secretary of the Superior Conference of male religious orders in Italy.  He says he did not speak to the bishops in order to address the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate addressed, but he had raised that subject on this occasion to the bishops. It belongs to the "wise practice" of the Church that a responsible  religious  will be contacted by the bishops   before incardinating former members of religious orders, especially when it comes to a priest. If Bishop Galatino is to have asked the bishops, says Volpi, to align themselves with this practice, then it would fall to his responsibilities as General Secretary of the Episcopal Conference.
Thus Commissioner Volpi  gave an unsolicited clarification, however, without clarifying anything. It was replicated by the chief editor of NBQ, Riccardo Cascioli.
Cascioli wrote to the Commissioner that no one had doubted that he was invited to the General Assembly of the Bishops' Conference, but that it posed questions about  the reasons for the referral, "especially regarding your behavior towards some bishops".
Cascioli opposed the spread of Volpi's impression that he belonged, as General Secretary of the Superiors Conference, of his own motion for the Episcopal Conference or that such participation is an established practice. But neither the one nor the other is true. "That explains," said the NBQ-Editor in Chief, "which is why many bishops were amazed when they had to take notice of your presence at the meeting  without having it exlained to them beforehand. I am sure that there was a justified reason for your presence, but unfortunately your writing does not clarify on this."

Not "wise practice", but "hard pressure"

Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate under the aegis of a Visitrix
Cascioli continues: "It may be that the bishops will be approached to you as well (I have no reason to doubt it, of which we have not spoken). We have criticized, however, that you have approached with intimidating demeanor and talk to bishops, to cause them to reject requests for incardination by the Franciscans of the Immaculate. It's a statement that you do not deny in your reply. Apart from that, it is  apparent now by  several witnesses. That raises the question of the extent  the powers of the Commissioner of an Order actually reach. We know of no case that is comparable. "
Cascioli then shredded Volpis assertion that it is a "wise practice" of the Church, to contact the appropriate religious superiors before incardinating a former religious. Be that as confirms the NBQ-editor, but what Volpi and Galatino in the case of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate do have nothing to do with the consultations of the Church's practice, but is exercising "hard pressure",  to extend  "threats against bishops" in order  "to prevent some brothers from finding refuge in a diocese or other religious order."   There is no alternative, that Volpi's motto is,  "either by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, according to  Commissar Volpi or nothing." Also it was "an unprecedented procedure that even according to the canon law, it contradicts the basic right to freedom of conscience,"  says Cascioli.

 Dogged Action Against the Order and the "Plans" to Overthrow Pope Francis

Commissar Volpi with Pope Francis (7 November 2014)
This exacerbates the issues that have already found no satisfactory answer: "Why this harshness up to this day, that  neither the reasons for the provisional administration were explained about this blooming Order in the Summer of 2013, nor a time frame for the provisional government."
The official internet site which is controlled by the Commissioner of the Order  offers no help to find answers to the open questions. Helpful on the other hand, is a blog that says of himself, is close to Commissioner Volpi.  The blog describes itself "in accordance with the provisional administration of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate" and published an arid  invective against the article by Matteo Matzuzzi.
In another entry from November 17, however, the anonymous blogger explained why Commissioner Volpi is so "concerned" that no Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate be incardinated in dioceses: "The very purpose of seeking incardination seems clear: it is about the creation of a platform, perhaps off shore, like the Archdiocese of Lipa in the Philippines and a Catholic minority diocese as in England, for the consecrated priests  and former seminarians of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate to newly gather in the hope of a revolution against the current management of the universal Church."
To this Cascioli's response to Commissioner Volpi was: "In other words, the blog says, you would act in concert with whom you were  invited to the meeting of the Episcopal Conference to Assisi, because a plot to overthrow Pope Francis was in progress, whom the clerics and former seminarians of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate, were  together with some bishops, who were to include in their dioceses. However, this would be really laughable, if it were not someone close to you  who has spread an unofficial declaration of your whole approach. I hope, therefore, that you will want to clarify this account and also the blog that speaks on your behalf ". Signed, Riccardo Cascioli.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: MiL / CR / Chiesa e Postconcilio / Osservatore Romano
Trans: vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Will the Traditional Diocese of Albenga Receive a Commissar?

Bishop Oliveri of Albenga-Imperia
(Albenga / Rome) The "compassionate cure" which  Pope Francis has bestowed upon the Order of the Franciscans of the Immaculate   and the deposed Bishop Rogelio Livieres of Ciudad del Este, could be directed against another church representative who in some church circles is more than friendly to tradition. There is talk of Bishop Mario Oliveri of Albenga-Imperia on the Italian Riviera. Bishop Oliveri, born in 1944, was placed under de facto provisional supervision as a coadjutor bishop who has been asked by Pope Francis have an auxiliary bishop to the side.
Since the Diocese of Albenga-Imperia is located near the French border, the allegation that is made ​​to the bishop could also be represented as: " qui veut noyer son chien, l'accuse de la rage ". There are no official allegations. However, it seems to have to do with his friendliness to  tradition  and above all with a "misstep" in connection with the Franciscans of the Immaculate, which Rome  can not seem to forgive.

Growing Number of Candidates for the Priesthood

The diocese of Albenga-Imperia is characterized under Bishop Oliveri, among other things, by a growing number of seminarians. Since the diocese is friendly to tradition  and the direction of the training  of priests is designed in this sense, priestly vocations are attracted from other diocese in search of a Catholic seminary.  The diocese of Albenga-Imperia, which includes only ten percent of the Catholics of Liguria, has more seminarians than the whole rest of Liguria.
The same phenomenon is also experienced  by a tradition friendly  Diocese of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay. The Bishop has now been dismissed by Pope Francis. Recognize the signs, i.e. a popular slogan of our time, but these signs are not recognized. Some would say they are well recognized, but just to eliminate them. Given the yawning emptiness of many other seminaries has led to resentment of the flowering of Albenga in the past.

"Doctrinal and Liturgical Persecution of Clergé Réfractaire "

"Let us be under no illusions.  Some reason will be found. The real reason, however, is a doctrinal and liturgical persecution, which aims to strike the clergé réfractaire  which has resisted novel features, as it was already set during the French Revolution," said Messa in Latino
The decision to appoint a coadjutor was announced today by the Ligurian newspaper Il Secolo XIX . The daily bulletin of the Vatican has published  nothing.
Bishop Mario Oliveri was born in the Ligurian diocese of Acqui, consecrated in 1968 where he was incardinated a priest. The thesis of his doctorate at the Lateran University Church in law was published in the Vatican publishing house. After training at the Diplomatic Academy of the Holy See from 1972 to 1990 he was employed in the diplomatic service. In the same year, he was appointed Bishop of Albenga-Imperia. He was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI. as a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the International Council for Catechesis of Congregation of Clergy. 

"Misstep" to Defend the Order of the Franciscans of the Immaculate 

Bishop Oliveri made the headlines because he celebrated Mass in the Immemorial Rite in the Co-Cathedral of Imperia in 2008 on the occasion of perpetual vows of seven Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception.  This created considerable media interest because he was the world's first bishop, who celebrated a public Pontifical Mass according to the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum   from the episcopal throne.
The bishop granted the Franciscans of the Immaculate spacious accommodations and conferring upon them the care of several churches and places of pilgrimage. When the Order was put under provisional administration ​​in July 2013, the priests were initially banned categorically and have since been allowed only with the greatest restrictions to celebrate in the traditional rite, Bishop Oliveri  took  pen and paper and sent a letter to Rome, where he  himself defended the Order. He supported the requests of the Franciscans of the Immaculate in his diocese to be able to continue to celebrate the Old Rite and referred to the pastoral care of the faithful at the three Mass  locations. In the eyes of many in Rome that was a fatal "blunder."
By the end of 2013, all three branches were closed by Commissioner Volpi in the diocese of Albenga-Imperia. Messa in Latino spoke then of "retaliation" because the bishop "had dared to defend the Franciscans of the Immaculate." 
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Accion Litugrica
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMGD

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Cardinal Betori Forbids Immemorial Mass -- The Dilemma of the "Conservatives" Under Pope Francis

Franciscans of the Immaculate, Photo From Better Times:
1st Row in the middle are the two founders (Father Pellettieri,
Father Manelli). 2nd Row, 2nd from the right, Father
Serafino Lanzetta
(Florence) The "tragedy" of so-called "conservatives" in the Church under Pope Francis is currently being revealed emblematically  in Florence, says lawyer Carlo Manetti. This coming September 25, Father Serafino Lanzetta of the "Commissariat" oppressed Order of the Franciscans of the Immaculate in Florence will his announce his latest book: "The Second Vatican Council: a Pastoral Council" arranged to be introduced in the context of this conference. Cardinal Archbishop of Florence Betori has prohibited the public celebration of Holy Mass in the traditional Rite by Father Lanzetta.
Father Lanzetta had been the Prior of the Order,  since the provisional administration, at its convent in Florence.  Since then he lives in "exile" in the monastery of Kitzbühel.
It was not only he and his brothers were forced to leave the city by the Apostolic Commissar Father Fidenzio Volpi.  Meanwhile, the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Florence  must vacate, who are currently affected by Apostolic Visitrix.

The Archbishop, the Old Mass and "Reasons of Expediency"

These days one of the decisions of the Archbishop of Florence has caused a stir. Because of the abnegation of Pope Benedict XVI's Moto Proprio by the Congregation of Religious,  the organizers presented Archbishop Giuseppe Cardinal Betori  the request for Father Lanzetta  to celebrate on the occasion of the meeting and for the participants in Florence, a Holy Mass in the traditional rite. The request was rejected by the cardinal.
In the book, which is at the same time a Doctoral thesis, Father Lanzetta outlined and analyzed, based on meticulous documentation of the main currents of the Second Vatican Council and its work in bringing about the conciliar documents (see separate report Mental Power of an Exile - Habilitation Thesis of Father Lanzetta Presented on Second Vatican Council ). The preface is by the famous theologian Manfred Hauke, who supervised Lanzetta's habilitation. A book of "incontrovertible orthodoxy," said Carlo Manetti in an interview. Manetti is the editor of the book:Un caso che fa discutere: i Franciscan of the Immaculate (Franciscans of the Immaculate: One Case that Provides Discussions, Fede & Cultura, Verona).
The lecturer in International Relations is one of the speakers at the conference, to be held in the ballroom of the Regional Parliament of Tuscany. Among others, the historian Roberto de Mattei (European University of Rome) and Pietro De Marco (University of Florence) will speak, as well as representatives of Catholic media, Guido Scatizzi (Riscossa Christiana) and Pucci Cipriani ( Controrivoluzione ). The organizer of the conference is traditional  association Communion Tradizionale of Florence, under its president, Ascanio Ruschi. Ruschi it was who put the motion to the Archbishop and received the written rejection from  him. The interview was conducted by Domenico Rosa for Il Sito di Firenze .

The No of Cardinal Betori to Father Lanzetta and Traditional Rite

Carlo Manetti on the "conservatives" in the new "climate" of Pope Francis
And yet seems Cardinal Betori, who is counted among the "conservative" bishops, does not consider the book by Father Lanzetta as "orthodox" ...
Manetti: Judging by the letter his lawyer Ruschi, President of the association Communion Tradizione has sent, in which he expressly forbids Father Serafino public celebration of the traditional Mass, one can see no doctrinal condemnation of the book content, but - if one may say  - it is a "political" condemnation of the text. It is said that a Bishop can not approve the theses contained there, without claiming that we are dealing with heresies, whereby the doubt arises that this impossibility is not caused by the thesis itself, but the position of the bishop; in other words. that it is not about doctrinal reasons, but "pastoral" considerations that cause the head of a Catholic diocese, to not comment positively in public on the great work of Father Serafino.
If you allow, I would like to extend the question still to the drama, not to say, tragedy, to present the situation in which the so-called "conservative" Catholics are: they would like,perhaps to return to the truth in their hearts, but  reasons of practical expediency, which are called "pastoral" today ," compels them to accept this and to confess as always, they are valid and immutable. So, to avoid the current widespread accusations of "traditionalism" or more recently even the "crypto-Lefebvrianism", they are forced to represent opinions and to put actions that actually represent the progressive Catholic extremism.
How do you explain the ban in the Church of San Gaetano to celebrate a Holy Mass in the traditional rite ... the church which is supervised by the Old Rite  Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest? How do you see this "turnaround" of the Archbishop of Florence, who generously supported the traditional Mass until recently and the Old Ritual community churches entrusted to his care?
Manetti: As the Cardinal himself stated in his letter, the reasons are not doctrinal, but pastoral, political, ideological. Today, after the accession of Pope Francis, the "most endangered" prelates, the so-called "conservatives" are exactly like that. case of Cardinal Piacenza example showed: the first defenestrated  by the new Pope. They are forced to show themselves as far more progressive than their colleagues to provide evidence of their loyalty to the "new course". For the progressives whose resistance acted against Benedict XVI., is today, however, like a life insurance policy, a guarantee certificate for the future that they believe in the so-called new "Church of Mercy". The Conservatives, however, who, offered assistance to Benedict XVI have aroused ​​"suspicions",  and are forced today, but also in the future, to provide evidence of their "reliability".  In particular, they may not afford the slightest relapse and that includes any concession to the "Traditionalists."

So you are, in a humanly speaking, very difficult situation from which there is a solution only if  they recognized the priority fully for themselves of the truth about the practice, recognize and accept the primacy of faith over the pastoral, the primacy of Jesus Christ through the hierarchy. This is not just a question of courage. After decades of the devaluation of truth in favor of the tactical achievement of practical results, it is hard to sacrifice everything you have built up personally and intellectually appropriated. Often it is difficult to be conscious of this necessity.
Father Serafino Lanzetta is not a dangerous heretic?
Manetti: Of course not. Father Serafino Lanzetta is not only not a dangerous heretic, but - despite his young age - one of the greatest living theologians, brilliant and profound at the same time, capable, as I said, to the depths of the errors, but also he has gathered the reasons and presented the actors of the Council.
How is the provisional administration of the Franciscans of the Immaculate to end, after most of the brothers have unsuccessfully made ​​the request to be allowed to leave the Order?
Manetti: Everything happening so far suggests that the deliberate intention is to "liquidate"  the Order of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, both the male and the female branch. All measures, sometimes accelerated, sometimes slowed down, aim at that. It can be seen plainly that the case of the Franciscans of the Immaculate reveal the violent face of modernism and show the way postulated by Gramsci of the primacy of practice leads over theory. 
I would therefore like to take the opportunity of this interview to prompt all, in the defense the truth about the Order of the Franciscans of the Immaculate founded by Father Manelli and Father Pellettieri, to persevere so that the silence about this sad state of affairs can  be spread, because of the silence can make profit only the persecutors.
Introduction / Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Messa in Latino / Carlo Manetti
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Commissar Closes Another Friary of the Franciscans of the Immaculata

Church of San Pasquale in Benevento
Friary of the Franciscans of the
Immaculate Heart Closed
(Rome) The Apostolic Commissar Father Fidenzio Volpi is closing,  with the Secretary General, Father Alfonso Bruno, another friary of the Franciscans of the Immaculate (FI). In the Italian town of Benevento, just 40 kilometers away from the mother house of the Order in Frigento (Diocese of Avellino). The monastery of San Pasquale is closed.
The decision is symbolic. In Benevento (1915-1996) a decree was signed on June 22, 1990 on the eve of the feast of the Sacred Heart, by Archbishop Carlo Minchiatti for the establishment of the Order by diocesan right. The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is thus the canonical founding of the Franciscans of the Immaculate . On that Sunday, in 1990  the first 30 monks professed their vows.
The Monastery of San Pasquale has existed for many years. The pastoral care of the faithful was initially in the new Rite, but with entry into force of the motu proprio, Summorum Pontificum a parallel was established in the traditional rite. In addition to daily Mass in the Immemorial Rite, daily Eucharistic Adoration was held.
The presence of the Franciscans of the Immaculate and their pastoral care were all the more precious because otherwise, no other priests or religious celebrate the Immemorial Rite in the Archdiocese of Benevento. 
With the provisional administration, the Beneventese believers were deprived of all the traditional Rites, as the priest of the Order were prohibited from  the celebration of the Immemorial Mass. Now they are also deprived of the Order, where it has its canonical origin.
A faithful of the Archdiocese of Benevento wrote  a letter to the website Messa in Latino : "It raises the question: Is the reform, which the commissioner has boasted, to restore the Order back to its 'original'  spirit, that is to say, where  the monasteries are closed and the faithful are deprived through the widespread doctrinal confusion in the Diocese where today people are more in need of pastoral care for  salvation?"
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Wikicommons
Trans: Tancred vekron@hotmail.com
AMDC

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Troika Over the Franciscans of the Immaculate -- Who is Mario Castellano, Really?

Mario Castellano, Member of the Troika, Which Oversees
The Franciscans of the Immaculatee
(Rome) A year ago, on 29 July 2013, the provisional government of the Franciscans of the Immaculate (FI) was announced.  Nine days before, Katholisches.info had just reported on the opening of a new monastery that the Order was still in flower. The decree of the Congregation of Religious was signed with the approval of Pope Francis on July 11th.  Since August 11, the Order has been prohibited the celebration in the traditional form of the Roman rite. Its fate now lies in the hands of a triumvirate: which was set up by the Congregation of Religious' Apostolic Commissioner Father Fidenzio Volpi, OFM Cap, the Franciscan "parricide" Father Alfonso Bruno (FI) and a hitherto barely visible, but the more active eccentric figure, who was active as a consultant with the criminal action against the Order: "Professor" Mario Castellano. Who is Mario Castellano? This question was asked by Emmanuele Barbieri for Corrispondenza Romana. What he was doing is astonishing as  summarized here.
Mario Castellano came into the world in 1949 in Imperia on the Italian Riviera, the son of a well-off Catholic family. Father Adolfo had come into prosperity as a representative of the rice brand Scotti. During the German occupation of Italy, he joined the  "whites", i.e. Catholic partisans, and after the war on the council of the Christian Democratic party in his hometown. Uncle Ismaele Mario Castellano was Archbishop of Siena.The young Castellano studied law and was admitted as a lawyer, a profession he never exercised, however. His political sympathies were always to the left. To be precise, he belonged to the left wing of the Christian Democrats (DC).In Imperia where he was known as a Cathokommunist. It is said that he belonged to the Grand Orient of Sanremo since the 90s. We wait for the person who denies this news.

Support For The "Nicaraguan Revolution"

Although he never completed his habilitation, he adorns himself with the title "Professor". Castellano taught law  immediately after the takeover by the Marxist Sandinistas at the University of Managua. For ideological reasons, Castellano had moved to support the "Nicaraguan Revolution" to Nicaragua, where he married a Nicaraguan woman, from whom he separated after a few years. After returning to Europe, he worked with various esoteric and pro-Islamic websites before it was the "right hand" or perhaps better to the "left head" of Father Alfonso Bruno. Castellano moved into the convent of the Franciscans of the Immaculate on the Via Boccea in Rome. Into the house that can be viewed as the center of dissidents who originated the order's internal subversion. From this house from the the Sacristan service also  supports   the Papal Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. It's the appropriate place to come into close contact with various points in the Vatican. From there, Castellano accompanied Father Bruno as the new Secretary General of the Order in its inspections of the monasteries and religious houses.

Sympathies for the Left, Esotericism and Muslims

Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate Conception as they were allowed to celebrate the Old Rite
Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate Conception as they were allowed to celebrate the Old Rite
Starting in 2005 Castellano wrote passionately for the rights of Muslims in Italy and the EU; for multiculturalism; for the adaptation of European laws on the rights of Muslims and even for believers and non-believers and believers of all religions.
2008 Castellano stood against the traditional rite and everything that might offend "Jewish sensibility". The author named the esoteric as one of three positive reasons why the Catholics are not "damned forever"  to fight against the Muslims and the Jews. On the website Islam Online he raved of mosques as a "factor of stability and security."
In 2011 he held, at a conference  organized by the Lions Club Sanremo  for the Italian Risorgimento,  a lecture on "The timeliness of Cavour," the notoriously anticlerical Italian statesman, who reeked of English Freemasonry.

From the French Revolution to the EU Superstate

In 2012 he was on the website run by Father Alfonso Bruno mediatrice.net  with the anonymous essay " Europe on the way to a federation?," but this actually was by Castellano.
The author gives himself to be an enthusiastic supporter of the French Revolution and of a centralized unitary state of Europe. The crisis that Europe is currently experiencing, he compares with the crisis in France shortly before the outbreak of the revolution. At that time the crisis was voiced in a revolutionary act by which the Estates-General proclaiming the Constituent Assembly and thus nudged the revolution. Today, the takeover of the sovereign debt of some EU Member States and the private debts of some banks by the EU constitutes a revolutionary act, which will make the  way free to a European federal state.

Castellano's Masonic Mind Games

In the wake of the French Revolution, the clergy was divided on the issue of the schismatic Civil Constitution between  constitutionalist and priests true to Rome. Castellano's sympathies include the schismatic priests as he wrote in the  article "France and the Positive Secularity": "When Napoleon concluded the Concordat of 1801 with Pius VII, the clergy true to Rome was pardoned and allowed to exercise their office again, while the work of the clergy loyal to the constitution  had been recognized in the previous decade from the canonical view. It had therefore acted properly both from the point of view of the state as well as from the point of view of the Church in France, who had decided to remain faithful to the nation. "
Mario Castellano has made himself known, beside his sympathies for the left (first left, always to the left), mainly by his wild attacks against traditional Catholics, who are not willing to  make cheap and lucrative compromises with the spirit of the times and the respective power. Perhaps it is therefore such considerations by Commissioner Volpi and the Congregation of Religious that made him a consultant.
He is a remarkable figure who may have a say in the Order, which was obliged to  Catholic tradition and the Old Rite and dared to join the struggle against the influence of Freemasonry. The goat has been appointed to be gardener.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Corrispondenza Romana
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMGD



Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Non Audiatur et Altera Pars: Pope Francis and the Franciscans of the Immaculate

Franciscans of the Immaculate Remain in the Shadows
of the Pontificate of Pope Francis
(Rome) The official news agency of the Catholic Church in Germany (CBA) and Switzerland (KIPA) have entitled the following stories:  "Pope  Insists on New Mass for Franciscans of Immaculata" and "Pope Insists on New Mass."  It is further stated in the reports, "Pope Francis has  rapped the Franciscans of the Immaculata over  decisions of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and the subsequently developed New Mass."   The pope "warned against departing from  the provisions of Pope Benedict XVI., who had opened up the celebration of the Tridentine Mass again  with a motu proprio of 2007  under certain conditions."
Apart from the peculiar admission that a new Mass form was "developed" that after the Council, the reports are based on the hoax, that the Franciscans of the Immaculate had deviated from "requirements" of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum of Pope Benedict XVI.  and thus forged a special path, which had made the intervention of Rome necessary. The Franciscans of the Immaculate were pastorally speaking a perfect bi-ritual Order. Therefore, they were entrusted with the care of parishes and places of pilgrimage not only in Italy. The reports confirm, however, that it is actually the Old Rite, which allowed the Congregation of Religious to  go berserk against the young order with the approval of the Pope. 
Pope Francis remarked with a raised index finger several times directly or indirectly against traditional Catholics with the accusation of "ideologically" motivated action. However, the case of the Franciscans of the Immaculate however, calls into question   question just who is "ideologically"  motivated. The traditional site Corrispondenza Romana published a revealing background report on the papal audience, we document here. The intertitles are from the editorial staff.
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The "Party" Commissar Volpi in Audience with the Pope

Pope Francis meets Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception, but a Audiatur et altera pars looks different
The meeting of the Pope with the young students (and it was a smaller number of young people) of the Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception took place on the morning of last June 10 in the chapel of Santa Marta.  The message was only on published on the 23rd of June with an article by Andrea Tornielli and from some photos posted on Facebook, while the Vatican media ignored it completely. Why was the announcement  made only 13 days later? There are numerous doubts around the source, which only become thicker the closer one looks. 

Meticulously Selected Participants, Who did not Know Who They Were Meeting

The participants in the private audience with the Holy Father were meticulously selected, as it were hand-picked, but without knowing until the day itself, where they were to go. Only after they were directed towards St. Peter's, were they informed that they would meet the Pope. It was said they were making a pilgrimage to St. Peter's, others wanted to know that there was a special meeting with the Commissioner. But almost none of the brothers cited   (the novices, the remaining seminarians and some led by the rebellious priests and the leading professed) knew where you really went this morning.
Surprise: After a few minutes of waiting they stood before the Holy Father. Shortly before, the  master of ceremonies and actual architect of the meeting, Father Angelo Maria Gaeta 1 , with the Commissioner, gave directions on how  behave in the presence of the Pope: no spontaneous questions, obedient listening,  at the end of a quick kiss on the hand without stopping. The Pope was very busy. The day before, he had canceled his audience due to illness.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

A New Blow Against the Franciscans of the Immaculata --- Pilgrimage Church Refused Them

(Rome), a new blow by  the Commission  set upon  the  Franciscans of the Immaculate by the Congregation for Religious. The lay association Mission of the Immaculate Mediatrix (MIM) was denied the Marian Sanctuary of Pompeii.  Since the year 2004, MM brought believers together to  take a pilgrimage from Naples and Campania  to the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary in Pompeii, the most famous Marian shrine in this part of southern Italy. Yesterday, on Divine Mercy Sunday, however, the faithful were denied  access to the holy image

Prohibition of Commissar Volpi Led Prelate of Pompeii to Ban

On 10 April, when everything was already organized, the faithful were informed by the rector of the Basilica, Monsignor Salvatore Acampora,  the use and access ban without notice. Pilgrimage, Holy Mass, Rosary and Marian songs had to be canceled. On request of the disappointed believers, Msgr Acampora declared the following day that the Church has the status of a Pontifical Basilica Cathedral and was erected as a Territorial Prelature in 1926. So it stands under papal law, which is why the responsible Prelate and Pontifical Delegate for the Shrine, Titular Archbishop Tommaso Caputo currently could not ignore the measures of the Apostolic Commissar of the Franciscans of the Immaculate,  Fr Fidenzio Volpi.

"Tell us What We Have Done Wrong?"

Commissioner Volpi had in the course of the destruction of  the Franciscan Order, which the Congregation of Religious calls "normalization", forbid on 27 November, 2013, the ecclesiastically recognized lay association from any activity.  "A radical intervention, which took place without any justification. Tell us what we've done wrong: If it is a sin, an act against the Gospel or a violation of canon law" demanded Claudio Circelli, one of MIM leaders of Naples, for the last ten years, who organized the annual pilgrimage to the Queen of the Rosary.

Unfounded Prohibitions: "So They Don't Apply to Believers"

The ban on the pilgrimage's access at the basilica of Pompeii can be justified formally,  with the activity ban on the MIM.  "A ban in reference to the unjustified ban of the Commissioner, and one washes the other's hands. That's arbitrariness. So it doesn't apply to  the faithful," wrote the newspaper which quoted Il Mattino di Napoli, an  indignant member of the MIM. In fact, a Commissioner Volpi has not justified that the prohibition will result in further bans after themselves without ever explaining in order to punish the lay organization.

Old Mass, Promoting Tradition, Criticism of the Second Vatican Council - For Some Unbearable

The provisional administration of the Franciscans of the Immaculate was arranged by the prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, João de Aviz Cardinal Bráz in July 2013.   A step that also took place with the express approval of Pope Francis in a form that the Order took every opportunity to appeal.
The crackdown is connected with that of the hitherto flourishing religious order under Benedict XVI. which changed internally to the  old rite and intellectually took a  very active part in the debate initiated by the German theologian Pope   on the interpretation of the Second Vatican Council. It undertook a defense of Catholic tradition against modernist tendencies in the Church and especially in the training of theologians and priests,  which to some was unbearable in the Church, but under Benedict XVI. they could not take action against the Order. However, due to the pontificate change to Pope Francis, they were active immediately and with the utmost severity against the Order. The arbitrary act against the Order has overshadowed the current pontificate.

MIM - Marian and Missionary

The MIM was established in 1990 by the founder of the Franciscans of the Immaculate   in 2013, the deposed   Superior General Father Stefano Maria Manelli in the Marian shrine of Loreto. The MIM align themselves with lay people who try to live in their respective state of the charism of the Order. They vow  to be Marian and missionary and to promote the devotion to Mary and to promote the mission ad gentes, particularly "where the struggle for the salvation of souls and the edification of the Church is particularly fierce."
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Wikicommons