“A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, 'You are mad; you are not like us.” ― St. Antony the Great
BREAKING at RORATE: Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate Commissioner Volpi admits guilt of defamation and lies
Must pay 20,000 euros, make public apology
Will Pope Francis allow what's left of the FFI to survive?
The chickens have come home to roost for Pope Francis' Apostolic Commissioner of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate (FFI), Fr. Fidenzio Volpi, and possibly just in the nick of time.
Volpi meets Pope Francis the day the FI seminary was closed.
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 and in a letter to all FI friars and nuns.
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.
From Italian blog Chiesa e post concilio:
Is this a fruit of the Rosaries and fervent prayers at Santa Maria Maggiore?
For the moment the only source is Don Camillo (a priest blogger) whom I know is close to the Manelli family; for this reason I trust the source and thank him for the information. Original text [click] here.
Is the justice of men more efficient than ecclesiastical justice - of the new-church that is - which seems to have just discovered Mercy only today?
I’m wondering though, why Don Camillo can attribute what happened, to Benedict XVI, seeing that the Decree of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, wherein the Commissioning of the Franciscans of the Immaculate is laid out, with the subsequent destitution of the Founder and General Minster of the religious Institute (and its Council), is dated 11th July 2013.
The Decree, signed by the Cardinal Prefect, João Braz de Aviz and by the Archbishop Secretary, José Carballo, OFM, deprived the Superiors of the Franciscans of the Immaculate of any authority, entrusting the government of the Institute to an "Apostolic Commissioner”, Father Fidenzio Volpi, a Capuchin. A decree, what’s more, that doesn’t mention any misdeed, nor acts expressly and directly against the good of the Religious Institute. And with no reference to any question or motivation that regard properly faith, morals or discipline.
And it was confirmed in writing by Pope Francis, which made any recourse to appeal not possible.
I have never involved myself too much regarding the situation of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, but a sentence emitted by the Mediation Organism (Organismo di Mediazione forense) of the Roman Tribunal on the 12th of February is just too juicy!
The Facts:
On December 8th 2013, Father Fidenzio Volpi wrote in a letter:
“A thing which is extremely grave – and I bring to your official knowledge only now – was the transfer of assets of moveable goods and immovable real estate, belonging to the Institute, to lay people, known as spiritual sons (or daughters) and family members of the Founder, Father Stefano M. Manelli, and also to some parents of the nuns.” Father Volpi continues: “Such maneuvers, gravely illicit from a moral and canonical point of view, with repercussions in the civil and penal sphere, occurred after the nomination of the Apostolic Commissioner, thus manifesting the will to subtract such funds from the control of the Holy See.” The Commissioner tries to conceal the measures regarding it: “Those who have done or permitted all of this have fallen into grave fault, and, if a religious, are subject to severe canonical sanctions. Something similar has taken place also in the works of the apostolate: the publishing house, and television.”
[…] Well then, for these lies Father Volpi, [after] negotiating with the entire Manelli Family, whose honour was damaged, and consequently having admitted his crime of defamation and lies on February 12th 2015, as fair compensation, will have to pay 20,000 Euros to the Manelli Family, plus all legal expenses, the publication of a public apology on internet sites run by him, as well as circular letters to all of the friars and nuns.
O Muslim, when will you open your mind and heart to the truth. He was tempted by Shaytan in the desert, He did not succumb to the deceit. Why would He destroy the very instrument which he used to save us?
He whom you call Issa is Yasou' al Masih ibn Allah! He is the very God united with the Father and the Holy Spirit, One God, in Three Persons, undivided in unity.
They have lied to you. They were lied to themselves. They are in the grasp of the devil himself, of Shaytan, as you call him.
YASOU', came to earth, announced by Gabriel born of Maryam as you believe. But you have been lied to. He died on the Cross and did rise again to free us from death and lead us to life. As He came for me, so too He came for you, O Muslim, because He loved you even before you were born. Have you ever been told that?
He brings you love and life; not death, not murder, not immolation, not destruction.
He loves you and lives.
Come to Him.
He loves you.
Free yourself from bondage. Free yourself from slavery and submission. Serve Him from love and joy and humility not from fear or tyranny. He waits for you. Look at his countenance, look at his open arms.
He gave himself for you. He died for you and rose from the dead that you might be saved.
My wife, the Fox, hails from your Newmarket and Aurora community. She is as gobsmocked as I am with what you brave Anonymous folks from Aurora write in the combox. She also grew up in a parish where Father Scanlon was Pastor and he had dogs then, golden retrievers, but they were never, ever brought into the sanctuary. Frankly, Cardinal Ambrozic would have gone ballistic on him. She was as poorly cathechised as you, until one day she found out about it and took it upon herself to find out what the priests and teachers failed to tell her. St. Paul wrote "faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ." Romans 10:17. At the end of the argument, if what you "heard" was wrong or heard incorrectly, it is now your duty as an adult to rectify it. I've tried. I've really tried to inform you, to help you understand -- that is the whole purpose of this blog. Yet, you have not read the posts for the purpose of learning, you only see what you don't like and give an opinion. Well, you know what opinions are like, everyone has one and everyone but yours, stinks! Let me repeat once again. 1. The Holy Mass is the Sacrifice of Jesus on Calvary re-presented forward in time by the priest on the altar. It is not the Last Supper and the Eucharist is not just a meal. In Lauda Sion, the Sequence for Corpus Christi, -- of course, you've never heard of the Sequence because most priests ignore it and option it out of the Novus Ordo Mass, though it is intended, and you should be mad about that too -- there is a phrase written by St. Thomas Aquinas; "vere panis filiorum, non mittendus canibus" which translates as "the true bread of the children, not intended for the dogs." It is to be interpreted literally and as a metaphor. Dogs are beautiful creatures. I have a dog. I love dogs. Dogs do not belong in the sanctuary during Mass, period. The Mass is the Holy of Holies as in the Temple of Jerusalem and the Jews would never have taken an animal inside. It is sacred. It s not for dogs. It distracts the "children" from the Mass. Stop justifying the dog because it is cute. 2. Collections are taken up for various causes ordered by the bishop. We do not take from the collection plate for our own purposes or charities, even if we mean well. There must be accountability. We refer the poor to the St. Vincent de Paul Society or it to them. The Society is very, very active in York Region. Special collections are for what the bishop determines, the north and our native peoples, ShareLife, Shepherd's Trust, the maintenance of holy sites in Israel and Palestine, and so on. It is not for a priest or a parishioner to decide otherwise. If the priest or the individual wishes to take money from their pocket to directly help the poor, that is their business. We refer to our Catholic agencies supported from the collection. We do not give directly from the plate because it is not accountable! What don't you get about that? 3. Pope Francis is not an issue to be compared to in this regard and he would uphold the law as set by the Bishop, so leave the Holy Father out of this and stop misinterpreting him. He wants the homeless in Rome to be clean and have hair cuts, so he ordered a facility built just off St. Peter's Square. He did not sell a fresco and give the money to the poor which could be used as an enabler for alcohol, drugs, gambling, porn, prostitution or other purposes which would be harmful to the individual or his or her family. To suggest that the Pope would support what you think in this case is beyond absurd. You really are impoverished -- and I'm being charitable. If you want to learn and have valid questions, leave them in this combox and I will answer you with facts and references. In the interest of your salvation, my friends who doubt what I am saying, sit down for 16 minutes and listen to this homily: Our time is short. A storm is coming, indeed; it is already here.
I was dressing that morning, it was just after 06:00 EST. I screamed to my wife and picked up the phone to call a priest friend. He had just received a text and was distressed and going to pray before the Blessed Sacrament. I regret that day. I will regret it for years to come. A monsignor sobbed, then silence fell:
"It seemed that, in slow motion before me, an assistant television cameraman put his hand to his mouth in a cartoonlike gesture of astonishment, the monsignor sitting next to me started to sob quietly, Archbishop Gänswein’s shoulders seemed to drop. The cardinals leaned forward to make sure they understood precisely what was being said and I found myself checking that my jaw wasn’t dropping open. Then there was silence."
Reflections on some current problems of the crisis of the Catholic Church
I had the experience of living with priests who were in Stalinist prisons and camps and who nevertheless remained faithful to the Church. During the time of persecution they fulfilled with love their priestly duty in preaching Catholic doctrine thereby leading a dignified life in the imitation of Christ, their heavenly Master.
I completed my priestly studies in an underground Seminary in the Soviet Union. I was ordained a priest secretly during the night by a pious bishop who himself suffered for the sake of the faith. In the first year of my priesthood I had the experience of being expelled from Tadzhikistan by the KGB.
Subsequently, during my thirty-year stay in Kazakhstan, I served 10 years as priest, caring for faithful people in 81 localities. Then I served 20 years as bishop, initially as bishop of five states in Central Asia with a total area of around four million square kilometers.
In my ministry as a bishop I had contact with Pope Saint John Paul II, with many bishops, priests and faithful in different countries and under different circumstances. I was member of some assemblies of the Synod of Bishops in the Vatican which covered themes such as “Asia” and “The Eucharist”.
This experience as well as others give me the basis to express my opinion on the current crisis of the Catholic Church. These are my convictions and they are dictated by my love of the Church and by the desire for her authentic renewal in Christ. I am forced to resort to this public means of expression because I fear that any other method would be greeted by a brick wall of silence and disregard.
I am aware of possible reactions to my open letter. But at the same time the voice of my conscience will not allow me to remain silent, while the work of God is being slandered. Jesus Christ founded the Catholic Church and showed us in word and deed how one should fulfill the will of God. The apostles to whom He bestowed authority in the Church, fulfilled with zeal the duty entrusted to them, suffering for the sake of the truth which had to be preached, since they “obeyed God rather than men”.
Unfortunately in our days it is increasingly evident that the Vatican through the Secretariat of State has taken the course of political correctness. Some Nuncios have become propagators of liberalism and modernism. They have acquired expertise in the principle “sub secreto Pontificio”, by which one manipulates and silences the mouths of the bishops. And that what the Nuncio tells them appears as it would be almost certainly the wish of the Pope. With such methods one separates the bishops from one another to the effect that the bishops of a country can no longer speak with one voice in the spirit of Christ and His Church in defending faith and morals. This means that, in order not to fall into disfavour with the Nuncio some bishops accept their recommendations, which are sometimes based on nothing other than on their own words. Instead of zealously spreading the faith, courageously preaching the doctrine of Christ, standing firm in the defense of truth and of morals, the meetings of the Bishops’ Conferences often deal with issues which are foreign to the nature of the duties of the successors of the apostles.
One can observe at all levels of the Church an obvious decrease of the “sacrum”. The “spirit of the world” feeds the shepherds. The sinners give the Church the instructions for how she has to serve them. In their embarrassment the Pastors are silent on the current problems and abandon the sheep while they are feeding themselves. The world is tempted by the devil and opposes the doctrine of Christ. Nevertheless the Pastors are obliged to teach the whole truth about God and men “in season and out”.
However, during the reign of the last holy Popes one could observe in the Church the greatest disorder concerning the purity of the doctrine and the sacredness of the liturgy, in which Jesus Christ is not paid the visible honour which he is due. In not a few Bishop’s Conferences the best bishops are “persona non grata”. Where are apologists of our days, who would announce to men in a clear and comprehensible manner the threat of the risk of loss of faith and salvation?
In our days the voice of the majority of the bishops rather resembles the silence of the lambs in the face of furious wolves, the faithful are left like defenseless sheep. Christ was recognized by men as one who spoke and worked, as one, who had power and this power He bestowed upon His apostles. In today’s world the bishops must liberate themselves from all worldly bonds and – after they have done penance – convert to Christ so that strengthened by the Holy Spirit they may announce Christ as the one and only Saviour. Ultimately one must give account to God for all that was done and for all what wasn't done.
In my opinion the weak voice of many bishops is a consequence of the fact, that in the process of the appointment of new bishops the candidates are insufficiently examined with regard to their doubtless steadfastness and fearlessness in the defense of the faith, with regard to their fidelity to the centuries-old traditions of the Church and their personal piety. In the issue of the appointment of new bishops and even cardinals it is becoming increasingly apparent that sometimes preference is given to those who share a particular ideology or to some groupings which are alien to the Church and which have commissioned the appointment of a particular candidate. Furthermore it appears that sometimes consideration is given also to the favour of the mass media which usually makes a mockery of holy candidates painting a negative picture of them, whereas the candidates who in a lesser degree own the spirit of Christ are praised as open and modern. On the other side the candidates who excel in apostolic zeal, have courage in proclaiming the doctrine of Christ and show love for all that is holy and sacred, are deliberately eliminated.
A Nuncio once told me: “It’s a pity that the Pope [John Paul II] does not participate personally in the appointment of the bishops. The Pope tried to change something in the Roman Curia, however he has not succeeded. He becomes older and things resume their usual former course”.
At the beginning of the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI, I wrote a letter to him in which I begged him to appoint holy bishops. I reported to him the story of a German layman who in the face of the degradation of the Church in his country after the Second Vatican Council, remained faithful to Christ and gathered young people for adoration and prayer. This man had been close to death and when he learned about the election of the new Pope he said: “When Pope Benedict will use his pontificate solely for the purpose to appoint worthy, good and faithful bishops, he will have fulfilled his task”.
Unfortunately, it is obvious that, Pope Benedict XVI has often not succeeded in this issue. It is difficult to believe that Pope Benedict XVI freely renounced his ministry as successor of Peter. Pope Benedict XVI was the head of the Church, his entourage however has barely translated his teachings into life, bypassed them often in silence or has rather obstructed his initiatives for an authentic reform of the Church, of the liturgy, of the manner to administer Holy Communion. In view of a great secrecy in the Vatican for many bishops it was realistically impossible to help the Pope in his duty as head and governor of the whole Church.
It will not be superfluous to remind my brothers in the episcopacy of an affirmation made by an Italian masonic lodge from the year 1820: “Our work is a work of a hundred years. Let us leave the elder people and let us go to the youth. The seminarians will become priests with our liberal ideas. We shall not flatter ourselves with false hopes. We will not make the Pope a Freemason. However liberal bishops, who will work in the entourage of the Pope, will propose to him in the task of governing the Church such thoughts and ideas which are advantageous for us and the Pope will implement them into life”. This intention of the Freemasons is being implemented more and more openly, not only thanks to the declared enemies of the Church but with the connivance of false witnesses who occupy some high hierarchical office in the Church. It is not without reason that Blessed Paul VI said: “The spirit of Satan penetrated through a crack inside the Church”. I think that this crack has become in our days quite wide and the devil uses all forces in order to subvert the Church of Christ. To avoid this, it is necessary to return to the precise and clear proclamation of the Gospel on all levels of ecclesiastical ministry, for the Church possesses all power and grace which Christ gave to her: “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go therefore, and teach all nations. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and I am with you always unto the end of the world” (Mt 28, 18-20), “the truth will set you free” (John 8, 32) and “let your word be Yes, yes; No, no: for whatsoever is more than these comes of evil” (Mt 5, 37). The Church cannot adapt herself to the spirit of this world, but must transform the world to the spirit of Christ.
It is obvious that in the Vatican there is a tendency to give in more and more to the noise of the mass media. It is not infrequent that in the name of an incomprehensible quiet and calm the best sons and servants are sacrificed in order to appease the mass media. The enemies of the Church however don’t hand over their faithful servants even when their actions are evidently bad.
When we wish to remain faithful to Christ in word and deed, He Himself will find the means to transform the hearts and souls of men and the world as well will be changed at the appropriate time.
In times of the crisis of the Church God has often used for her true renewal the sacrifices, the tears and the prayers of those children and servants of the Church who in the eyes of the world and of the ecclesiastical bureaucracy were considered insignificant or were persecuted and marginalized because of their fidelity to Christ. I believe that in our difficult time this law of Christ is being realized and that the Church will renew herself thanks to the faithful inner renewal of each of us.
January 1st 2015, Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God
Giulio Meotti, an Italian journalist with Il Foglio, wrote an interesting Op-Ed which I share here because it portends what is coming to America. It's only a matter of time. This because, like Belgium, America is committing spiritual and intellectual suicide.
Act. "We must, at this dangerous time, be courageous in illuminating the truly Gnostic and revolutionary character of the “Kasper agenda,” demonstrating the continuity of the Divine doctrine on marriage and its practice throughout the two thousand years of the history of our Church."
Editor’s Note: Following his strongly-worded interview with Polonia Christiana in the wake of the first part of the Extraordinary Synod on Marriage and Family, we reached out to Bishop Athanasius Schneider to seek his guidance on concrete actions Catholics can take during this time of turmoil within the Church. We specifically requested his advice on what the faithful could do to resist heterodoxy and address the errors (or at least obfuscations) that seem to be issuing forth from some of the highest prelates in the Church. Though his counsel is brief, it is deeply thoughtful, and offers us a great deal of work to do. With the next meeting of the Synod less than eight months away, there is no time to waste.
