Must The Four Cardinals Formally Correct The Pope?

Earlier this week we learned of the attempt of the four cardinals to seek clarification from Pope Francis regarding the heretical statements in Amoris Laetitia.  The questions were formatted in such a way that they must be answered in the positive or negative - no "in-between".  In September they had posed their questions to the pope privately but received no reply.

Yesterday the National Catholic Register published an interview between Edward Pentin and Cardinal Burke regarding these questions.  Towards the end, Pentin asked His Eminence about any "next steps", should these publicized questions not be answered.  The cardinal spoke of "taking a formal action of correction of a serious error".

That more or less leaves the proberbial ball in the pope's court.  Whether or not such a formal action would be deemed necessary is largely up to him.  Unfortunately, he has given us an indication of his inclinations.  Recall that several months ago, Archbishop Chaput of Philadelphia issued guidelines that plainly stated that divored/remarried Catholics may not receive Holy Communion unless they live as brother and sister.  He was directly contradicted by Cardinal-designate Kevin Farrell.  Farrell plainly stated that those de-facto adulterors could receive Holy Communion while continuing in their mortal sin.  Now recall that the pope picked Farrell to head the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life, as well as naming him a Cardinal.  With that in mind, it is reasonable to deduce that with regards to the heresies embodied in Amoralis Lamentia, that Farrell and the pope are of like mind.

Let us pray that the pope will ponder carefully the correction that the four Cardinals are trying to offer him.  But let us be prepared for what will likely follow in the wake of continued papal obduracy.

Skullduggery In The College Of Cardinals - Sarah Sidelined, Three New Progressives In

Cardinal Robert Sarah is a faithful prelate who did much to oppose the wreckage of the Magisterium that was the purpose of the two sin-nods on the family.  This blog and others have been shining the light on theses sin-nods and their resultant mess that is named Amoris Laetitia.  I have renamed it Amoralis Lamentia.

It seems that His Eminence is beginning to share some of the fate of Cardinal Burke, another faithful prelate.  Cardinal Sarah is currently Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.  He had been scheduled to open the academic year for the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family on October 27 in Rome, but the pope basically expelled him from that role, saying he'd do it himself.  This comes after the pope apppointed two progressive prelates to head that institute.  That institute had also opposed the progressive juggernaut at the two sin-nods.

In August, I wrote about one of those progressive prelates, Archbishop Paglia.  His appointment is solid evidence that the pope does indeed intend - as stated in Amoralis Lamentia - to allow divorced Catholics who are living in adultery to commit the mortal sin of sacrilege by receiving Holy Communion without the requisite repentance from mortal sin.  In that post, I wrote about another progressive prelate who has done damage to the faith - Bishop Farrell.  I will be addressing him in the next paragraph.

The pope just announced that he named 17 new cardinals, to be elevated on November 19th.  Three of them are US prelates and one of them is Bishop Farrell.  Another is - Archbishop Blaise Cupich of Chicago.  Yes, this Cupich!  As you can see, he has occasioned a whole series of blog posts with his dissidence and insults to the Faith.  Read that anthology and consider the progression of events.

The third US prelate is Archbishop Joseph Tobin of Indianapolis.  In January 2015, we learned that a Knight of Columbus council in his diocese rented their hall to lesbians so they could celebrate their sinful relationship.  We contacted him to have this debacle stopped; we heard crickets from him.  He is not to be confused with Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence RI, who is a faithful prelate.

I just touched upon the three US cardinal-designates.  I'd be willing to bet that the fourteen from other countries are just as problematic.

There can be no doubt that the pope is deliberately stacking the College of Cardinals with progressive cronies while marginalizing truly faithful Princes of the Church.

At The Vatican, Personnel Is Poison

On August 16th it was revealed that Pope Francis has appointed Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia to head both the Pontifical Council for Life and the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family.  He already heads the Pontifical Council for the Family.  Please note that it was the latter council that published a "sex education" program during World Youth Day that can accurately be described as pornographic and disrespectful of the authority of parents.  It was also Paglia who stated that during last year's World Family Meeting in Philadelphia last year, gays would enjoy the same status as other attendants, in implementation of the proceeds from the sin-nods at that time.  See here and here for more details.  Given the job he's done so far, what could possibly go right with this new dual appointment?

The 1P5 piece mentions that the former head of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, was excluded from the two sin-nods although he is a staunch defender of the Church's teachings in these matters.  Hmm..  Perhaps that preceding sentence might be a tad more accurate if we scratch the "although" and instead substitute "because".  I was aware that no one representing the JPII Institute was present for either sin-nod, perhaps for the same reason.  There is also some expectation that Professor Josef Seifert will be ejected from the Council for Life, both for his defense of the Faith and for being a vocal critic of Amoris Laetitia.

A Catholic News Service piece that appears in Catholic Register stated that the Pope made these changes to "focus more clearly on the horizon of mercy" for "even in theological study, a pastoral perspective and attention to the wounds of humanity should never be lacking".  Here we see the false dichotomy between truth and mercy being ever so slyly interjected here.  Without the sharpest focus on God's truth, there is no real mercy.  What we will see is an allowance of the "anything goes" attitude that Paglia already displayed at the Philadelphia meeting.  No one can seriously doubt that the pope is systematically establishing godless progressivism inside the Vatican.

Now for the second Kasperite dissident bishop..

Bishop Kevin Farrell of the Archdiocese of Dallas will be taking the reins of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life.  He too has proven himself an enemy of Church moral teaching.  Recently he appointed as pastor of one of his churches a priest who was associated with "St. Sebastian's Angels", a network of flaming-gay priests.  Vox Cantoris exposed that, plus Farrell's hissy-fit against Catholic bloggers (he'd do Rosica proud!).  A Blog For Dallas Area Catholics revealed that Farrell is giving support to a dissident "gay ministry" in area parishes.  The fact that this group calls itself "Always Our Children" is its own red flag.  This bunch has links to both New Ways Ministry and Dignity groups.  Again, one wonders what could possibly go right with such an assignment.  But having things "go right" is obviously not the intent.

Cardinal Burke has called for a 54-day Rosary novena for the intention of bringing our nation back to sanity.  It couldn't hurt to include Holy Mother Church in that prayer intention as well.  We clearly need it.