Pope makes complete overhaul of Vatican liturgical congregation

I have an idea. UK time (GMT) tomorrow, Sunday 30th, 3pm, who can join with us and say a rosary for Pope Francis and our bishops ? No need to reply or sign up, just join in. We have to stop complaining about our leaders and start making sacrifices for them.

 

Have I struck a nerve? Methinks thou doth protest too much, David. This is a move that is hard to define as anything other than complete regime change. I hope, however, that you are right and I am wrong.

 

Luz de Maria message of 10/18/16 Beloved, pray for the Church of My Son, confusion divides.

 

http://www.cfnews.org/page88/files/22a89f85bceeed07846bd8db23a92171-647.html

Father Brian Harrison: Francis Purges Conservatives from Divine Worship Congregation

Father Brian Harrison:

Francis Purges Conservatives from Divine Worship Congregation

Pope Francis, in one fell swoop has today carried out a stunning mass removal of all conservative cardinals and bishops from the Vatican's Congregation for Sacraments and Divine Worship. On the hit list are Cardinals Burke, Scola, Pell, Ouellet, Ranjith and many others. The Pope has ousted all of the prelates who, together with the Prefect, make up the current membership of the Congregation, replacing them with 27 new and more 'progressive' members.

The noble Cardinal Robert Sarah, who recently aroused the Holy Father's ire by daring to promote a return to the priest's versus orientem position at Mass, remains at the head of the congregation; but his days there are clearly numbered, and he will now be considerably hemmed in by all the new and more liberal prelates who are to advise him and vote on all important decisions.

These include Archbishop Piero Marini, papal Master of Ceremonies for some years under Pope John Paul II. As a young priest he was a disciple and admirer of the chief architect of the post-Vatican II liturgical reform, the late Archbishop Annibale Bugnini. Coming from that background, it is unsurprising that Marini has been a long-time outspoken foe of traditional trends in liturgy. In John Paul II's time he orchestrated such liturgical novelties as a bare-breasted lectoress at a papal Mass in Papua New Guinea, and various other dubious forms of "inculturation".

In the 1995 papal Mass at Sydney for Australia's first-ever beatification (for Blessed, now Saint, Mary McKillop), in collusion with the liberal, habit-free nuns who dominate the now-dwindling congregation founded by Mother Mary, Marini replaced the Creed by a made-up eco-friendly litany, replaced the penitential rite by a pagan dance by a near-naked, paint-daubed Aboriginal man in which he drove away evil spirits with the help of a smoking tin can, and had the multitudes of lay Eucharistic Ministers hold up ciboriums full of Hosts during the consecration, almost as if they were "concelebrating".

This almost total clean-out of an entire Congregation's voting members in a single hit - unprecedented in Vatican history, so it seems - is also in effect a sharp rebuff to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the centerpiece of whose pontifical legacy was a restoration of tradition, dignity, and Latin in the Sacred Liturgy. One is filled with a deep sense of foreboding as to what changes to the way we are expected to worship, and what possible undermining of Benedict's liberation of the Traditional Latin Rite, are portended by today's breathtaking papal purge.

 

My heart is sinking, reading more details about this move
Dear Lord Jesus, have mercy on us.

 

The only people protesting here, DeGaulle, are the resident traditionalists. I have no idea of how 'good' or 'bad' are the new appointments but I am very confident that they will be good appointments as they come from Pope Francis. Cardinal Sarah remains head of the congregation.

Clearly there are many forum members who do not believe the Holy Spirit guides His Church. I believe the Holy Spirit does and is.

 

You're disingenuous at best. Everyone, not just "the resident traditionalists," knows just how bad these appointments are.

 

"Everyone knows just how bad these appointments are."

Hardly ANYONE knows anything about the new appointments. I have no doubt lifesitenews and similar websites are hard at work trying to find out 'incriminating' evidence but at the moment it is interesting they haven't produced much at all.

 

See my last post. Thanks.


https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2016/10/important-congregation-for-divine.html#more

IMPORTANT: Congregation for Divine Worship membership overhauled. Cardinals Burke, Pell, Ranjith out, Piero Marini in. (Updated)
Today's Vatican Bollettino announced the appointment of 27 prelates as members of the Congregation for Divine Worship (CDW), a major overhaul that obviously has a direct impact on the policies and overall directions of the CDW. In the CDW, as with all other Roman dicasteries, all "matters of major importance" and all "questions involving general principles" are reserved to the "extraordinary plenary" meeting (usually held once a year) to which all members are summoned (see Pastor Bonus). Furthermore, all members who happen to reside in Rome also take part in the more frequent "ordinary plenary" meetings. Membership in a Curial dicastery is retained until a member is removed from such membership, or turns 80. As such, Archbishop Piero Marini, who is now 74, will remain a member of the CDW either until he is removed / replaced or until he reaches his 80th birthday on January 13, 2022.




Cardinals:



Rainer Maria Woelki, Cologne, Germany;

John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, Abuja, Nigeria;

Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State;

Gérald Cyprien Lacroix, Québec, Canada;

Philippe Nakellentuba Ouédraogo, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso;

John Atcherley Dew, Wellington, New Zealand;

Ricardo Blázquez Pérez, Valladolid, Spain;

Arlindo Gomes Furtado, Santiago de Cabo Verde, Capo Verde;

Gianfranco Ravasi, Pontifical Council for Culture;

Beniamino Stella, Congregation for Clergy;



Archbishops:

Dominic Jala, Shillong, India;

Domenico Sorrentino, Assisi‑Nocera Umbra‑Gualdo Tadino, Italy;

Denis James Hart, Melbourne, Australia;

Piero Marini, President of pontifical committee for Eucharistic congresses;

Bernard‑Nicolas Aubertin, Tours, France;

Romulo G. Valles, Davao, Philippines;

Lorenzo Voltolini Esti, Portoviejo, Ecuador;



Bishops:



Arthur Joseph Serratelli, Paterson, NJ, USA;

Alan Stephen Hopes, East Anglia, Great Britain;

Claudio Maniago, Castellaneta, Italy;

Bernt Ivar Eidsvig, Oslo, Norway;

Miguel Ángel D’Annibale, Rio Gallegos, Argentina;

José Manuel Garcia Cordeiro, Bragança‑Miranda, Portugal;

Charles Morerod, Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg, Switzerland;

Jean‑Pierre Kwambamba Masi, auxiliary of Kinshasa, Congo;

Benny Mario Travas, Multan, Pakistan;

John Bosco Chang Shin‑Ho, auxiliary of Daegu, Korea.



PrayTell reports that up to now, Cardinals Burke and Pell had remained members of CDW. With the new wave of appointments they have lost their membership. [UPDATE Oct. 29, 2016: According to Catholic Culture, other conservative Cardinals who had been members of the CDW up to now, but are now removed, are Bagnasco, Ouellet, Scola and Ranjith. Cardinal Piacenza was also removed according to PrayTell.]
Serratelli is among those who doused cold water on Cardinal Sarah's call for the celebration of Mass ad orientem beginning the first Sunday of Advent this year, or at least in the near future.


Among the new CDW members, of particular concern are Cardinal Dew and Archbishops Marini and Sorrentino. Cardinal Dew was one of the most radical figures in the Synods of 2014 and 2015, with his advocacy of the view that the Church needed to "change its language" and his opposition to describing homosexual acts as "intrinsically disordered". Archbishop Piero Marini is well-known and the reasons for our concern need not detain us here. (He resides in Rome, which means that he will also be involved in the ordinary plenary meetings.) Archbishop Sorrentino was the Secretary of the CDW from 2003 to 2005; his removal in 2005 and his demotion to the Diocese of Assisi (although he kept the personal title of Archbishop) were attributed at the time to his opposition to the liturgical vision that Benedict XVI wanted to pursue, and his Bugninist thinking.


Cardinal Robert Sarah remains the Prefect of the CDW. However, the new membership of his Congregation makes him virtually isolated; it is hard to see how he can still push forward his hopes for some measure of "Reform of the Reform" in the years left to his tenure (he is now 71) -- not that we've entertained any hopes for the "ROTR" for a long time. His second-in-command, (the Secretary of the CDW), Abp. Arthur Roche, is anything but traditional-friendly in his liturgical leanings (see his bizarre commentary on the footwashing reform earlier this year). Shortly before Sarah's appointment as CDW head, Pope Francis had unceremoniously removed the CDW's two Benedict XVI-era undersecretaries, Msgr. Anthony Ward and Msgr. Juan Miguel Ferrer Grenesche, and replaced them with Fr. Corrado Maggioni, SMM, who is reportedly close to Abp. Piero Marini. (Ferrer Grenesche was known for his strong traditional leanings in liturgy and sacred music and concrete proposals for a "reform of the reform" of the liturgy were attributed to him.)


Finally, as events proved this year, Pope Francis, for all of his supposed "indifference" to the liturgy, retains the last say on matters liturgical and will not hesitate to use his authority to enforce a certain line. We saw this when he ordered Cardinal Sarah to decree the permission for women to have their feet washed during Maundy Thursday, and when Cardinal Sarah's suggestion that priests offer Mass ad orientem beginning this Advent was disowned, as it were, by the Holy See Press Office with unaccustomed rapidity. This round of appointments is already being reported (and celebrated by liberals) as Cardinal Sarah being "reined in" by Pope Francis and it is hard not to agree with that assessment.

 

I had lunch at a friend's house on Thursday with Bishop Schneider. When the pope changed the rules governing Holy Thursday foot washing, the Kazakhstan bishops decided as a whole to publish guidelines that in their country foot washing would be limited to Catholic men. He asked Cardinal Sarah if they could, in light of the pope's new guidelines, and Cardinal Sarah not only said they could but encouraged them to do so. He related that when the pope wanted to change the Holy Thursday foot washing to include non-Catholics and women, Cardinal Sarah asked him not to, painstakingly laying out the longstanding scriptural and theological arguments prohibiting it.

The pope did it any way.

This is punitive retribution for that and the Cardinal's comments on ad orientem worship.

 

This post confirms that either not much is known about the new appointees (apart from their names!) or they haven't yet come to the notice of the traditionalists.

The rorate website article seems only to be able to come up with 3: "Among the new CDW members, of particular concern are Cardinal Dew and Archbishops Marini and Sorrentino."

I'm sure the other websites will be able to do better than this....

 

If Pope Francis was into 'punitive retribution', he would have removed Cardinal Sarah.

 

View attachment 5538

 

Certainly one or other of us is in denial. And it ain't me

Anyone reading these exchanges should be able to recognize that, currently, the Pope's new appointments seem to be largely problem free.

 

We know that the Holy Spirit guides His Church. This is exactly the same thing as saying that Christ guides His Church, because the Christ and The Spirit, with The Father, are One.

We, however, cannot say with certainty that the administrative actions of a pope are always in line with the Will of The Spirit. The Holy Spirit will ensure that His Will is ultimately carried out, but it might be despite the actions of a pope raher than because of him. The Holy Spirit can, if necessary convert any human mistake into His desired outcome. One ought to be careful not to conceive of Pope Francis as some kind of 'guided' automaton doing the work of the Holy Spirit, almost like a divine drone. That is not how it works. The pope in these matters, like most matters, is still a fallible human being who can err.

This is nothing new. St. Peter, as Pope had to be admonished by Paul, had he not? Pope Liberius made an enormous error during the Arian controversy. In recent times, it would be hard to deny that Pope Paul VI made multiple errors in his administration of the disciplines and organisation of the Church following the Second Vatican Council.

This may still work out, but we are all entitled to our opinions, most of them influenced by recent history I would think. Let us not apply it as some kind of test of Faith, because, unless there were moves to alter the definition of the Real Presence or some such fundamental, it is not.

When I say it might work out, I say so in the sense that I would hope that we might learn something from our brothers in the East, particularly at a time of great suffering for so many of them. What better way to provide encouragement to these persecuted Churches, many of them in full Communion with Rome, than to adopt some of their style and rubrics, some of them very ancient and close to the Apostles? Hardly less edifying than a Eucharistic prayer composed hurriedly on the back of a napkin in a sixties Roman trattoria?

David, what would be your hopes and fears of future development of the liturgy? Let us not fall out over this issue as there are a range of alternatives which we may hold, whether we might personally like it or not, which still present as a valid Mass. Personally, I find the present Mass too bland and too lacking in silence. I would prefer the priest to join me and the rest of the congregation in facing Christ's sacrifice. A little bit of Latin could surely do no harm. The Second Vatican Council did not advocate its abandonment entirely, but suggested some cautious introduction of the vernacular. We all know that caution was not taken and we have had conflict since. Hopefully, Pope Francis will attempt to heal these wounds and divisions. Perhaps, many of us who suffer from these wounds are alarmed when faced with such a seemingly incautious and radical transformation of the congregation.

There might be an upside. There are some new appointments with certain radical ideas on sexual issues. This might keep them busy and quiet. It is encouraging that Cardinal Sarah remains. I don't think Pope Francis would have hesitated if he wanted him gone. Cardinal Burke wasn't too big to be moved sideways.

 

If it were a matter of , say the Parish Priest drinking too much on a Saturday night, or the Bishop spending too much dough on his mansion, yes I'd maybe be inclined to agree. But what he are tlaking about seems to be the rapid dismantling of the Cahtolic CHurch by an organised group of high ranking heretics from within.

Given this I don't think silence is an option, I really think we should be scremaing about it so hard we raise the roof tops. In such dire cirumstance I actually think staying silent is actually sinful and I cite Ezechial below as an authority.

The time may indeed be coming when we may see real abominations, sacriligeous abominations coming right to our own local Churches and then indeed it will be time to roll our sleeves up and go into a much , much more active phase. Please God it does not come to this. But the book of Macabees shows the way in this, I believe. I for one would not hesitate to riase a very,very considerable uproar and problem to any abomination being performed in my own area.

 

Our heretical 'friends' at the Association of Catholic Priests are getting quite excite by the changes at the Congregation for Divine Worship .

http://www.associationofcatholicpriests.ie/2016/10/liturgical-hope/

 

A purge in the Vatican’s liturgy department? Not quite

by Ed Condon
posted Saturday, 29 Oct 2016

A controversial figure: Archbishop Piero Marini in the Sistine Chapel (AP)

Some of the new names will raise eyebrows, but this isn't the coup some believe it to be

While the more eye-catching curial reforms of the Francis era have, thus far, centred on the combining of smaller department into new “super-dicasteries” and other obvious structural changes, yesterday saw a fairly broad reshaping of a curial department in the form of its personnel. The new members of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments were announced in the Vatican Press Office’s daily bulletin, and the names and sheer numbers of the new members have raised a few eyebrows.

In total, 27 new members were appointed, and there was a distinctly global complexion to the announcement, with many of the new members coming from sub-saharan Africa and further afield. While the African bishops as a group tend to be known for their doctrinal orthodoxy, liturgically they are much more diverse, with the continent producing some of the most stridently traditional liturgists in recent years, as well as the current and former heads of the Congregation itself in Cardinals Arinze and Sarah, while also being home to some of the most “enculturated” liturgies in the Church.

While the global membership of this, or any congregation, is a fairly rough indication of how this, or any Pope, sees the Catholic world, it is worth noting that in Rome, as everywhere else, the decisions tend to be made by those who show up. Consequently, more attention is often paid to the appointment of bishops or cardinals who actually live in or near Rome who can attend the ordinary business meetings of the congregation, and consequently are expected to wield a more immediate influence in the working of the department. There are a number of names included on the list of 27 new members which fit into this category. Cardinal Parolin, the Vatican Secretary of State, has been made a member; as he has grown more and more into the traditional role of Papal Prime Minister, his inclusion is hardly surprising and seems to indicate Pope Francis’ confidence in him serving as the curial centre of gravity.

More surprising, and generating much more public reaction, has been the inclusion of Archbishop Piero Marini. Marini is a controversial liturgical figure, having served as secretary to Annibale Bugnini, the Archbishop responsible for the liturgical reforms which followed Vatican II, and is also the former master of papal liturgical ceremonies. His preferences for liturgical dance, and other deeply “enculturated” forms of expression in the liturgy, have proven somewhat controversial in the past. In addition, he is notoriously and publicly impatient with those favouring the Extraordinary Form and other traditionalist liturgical practices, like the celebration of Mass ad orientem. According to a long-circulating Vatican rumour, he was originally intended to become the Prefect of the Congregation when Pope Francis first took office, but such was the resistance of the Congregation’s members that he was passed over for Cardinal Sarah.

Also of note is the appointment of Cardinal Beniamino Stella as a new member of the CDW. Cardinal Stella currently serves as Prefect of the Congregation for Clergy and has privately earned a reputation for being fiercely opposed to the rise of seminaries and priestly societies which promote or lean upon particular forms of liturgy in their formation and ministry; his personal campaign for “one priesthood, one formation, one seminary” would seem at odds with the liturgical diversity which has been favoured in recent years.

While the appointment of 27 new members to a single congregation is bound to have an impact on its character, it must be noted that the Vatican announcement failed to mention which of the current members of the congregation would be staying on. This has not stopped instant and vociferous internet speculation from taking off, with some websites insisting that Cardinals Burke, Pell, Ouellet, and Scola were all leaving the congregation. This speculation, for that is all that it is at the moment, is being framed as a removal of the “Ratzingerians” and a purge of the traditionalists from the congregation. Meanwhile the new Rome-based members are being pitched as arch-modernists who will leave Cardinal Sarah effectively isolated at the top of his own congregation. Wild interpretations of this sort should be taken with a large measure of salt.

In the first place, none of the supposedly departing “Ratzingerians” has actually been confirmed as yet. Even if these so far unconfirmed reports are true, they fail to account for the considerable depth of experienced members of whom nothing has yet been said, and who can be assumed to be carrying on until we hear otherwise. These include formidable minds and characters like Cardinal Peter Erdö, the Relator General of the Synod of Bishops’ General Assembly; Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, the Archbishop of Columbo and former Secretary of the CDW; Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, former Prefect of the Congregation for Clergy and current head of the Apostolic Penitentiary; and Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the head of the Italian Bishops’ Conference.

While the simultaneous appointment of 27 new members to any congregation represents a real changing of guard, as with so many of the acts of this pontificate there has been an instinctive rush to interpret events through the most ecclesiastically partisan lens to be found.

While it is true that some of the new members have distinct and forceful thoughts on liturgy, few can contend that they are unqualified for membership. Similarly, while it may come out that some of the more seasoned traditionalists in the CDW have not had their membership renewed, it would be a gross overstatement to insist that there has been some kind of philosophical coup, or that there are not still several loud and authoritative voices to be heard on both sides of the liturgical discussion. Surely the whole point of a global and diverse membership is to have the best of all sides in the conversation.

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/com...in-the-vaticans-liturgy-department-not-quite/

 

So I'm going to throw this out there - has anyone considered (I'm thinking Brian has already because of his post with the AL article) that this may be the beginning of one of Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich's prophetic visions?

“I had another vision of the great tribulation. It seems to me that a concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping. But others, and the lukewarm among them, readily did what was demanded. It was as if people were splitting into two camps…”

I'm not going to speculate as to whether or not Pope Francis is aware of and responsible for this or just zealous in his application of mercy (very poor wording on my part, I have not had enough coffee yet this morning and honestly do not have an opinion on whether or not some of the doing and sayings of Pope Francis are with intention to do harm or completely ignorant in the attempt to bring as many into the ark before SHTF).
However, we do know through prophesies that the defining battle is over marriage and the family, as Sr Lucy of Fatima said:

"the final battle between the Lord and the reign of Satan will be about marriage and the family. Don’t be afraid, she added, because anyone who operates for the sanctity of marriage and the family will always be contended and opposed in every way, because this is the decisive issue. And then she concluded: however, Our Lady has already crushed its head."

Whether or not Pope Francis intended to or not, there are undeniably some bishops and cardinals who have called for the allowance of reception of communion by the divorced and remarried, and some even for a recognition of some kind for same sex couples. This is absolutely an attack on marriage and the family. Whether or not one agrees, there are some in the hierarchy who insist that AL hints at or even allows the way for these changes. It is argued in the link that Brian supplied that these changes would be difficult to implement under Cardinals Sarah and Burke (and other conservatives) but now that the entire body has been replaced, it would seem that pathway may be more clear, considering the liberal histories of some of those chosen. Perhaps this is the start of that vision of Blessed Emmerich - a concession demanded of the clergy (communion for those currently forbidden, interfaith communion with Lutherans, a redefining of love and marriage? It could be any of those). I'm just saying, this is out of the ordinary and not business as usual, especially regarding the timing of many prophesies in this day and age. We are after all in the beginnings of the tribulation according to many prophesies, approved and unapproved.

 

I would suggest you read the above article from the Catholic Herald (a very non-liberal journal). The entire body has not been replaced and it seems uncertain if ANYbody has been replaced.

Amoris Laetitia is a wonderful document in support of the family and you are on a slippery path if you start to 'buy' the critics negative version of it.