Cardinal Eijk: Pope Francis Needed to Give Clarity on Intercommunion

National Catholic Register ^ | May 7, 2018 | Cardinal Willem Jacobus Eijk

[ebb tide]

COMMENTARY: Failure to give German bishops proper directives, based on the clear doctrine and practice of the Church, points to a drift towards apostasy from the truth.

Cardinal Willem Jacobus Eijk

The German bishops’ conference voted by a large majority in favor of directives which entail that a Protestant married to a Catholic may receive the Eucharist after meeting a number of conditions: he must have carried out an examination of conscience with a priest or with another person with pastoral responsibilities; he must have affirmed the faith of the Catholic Church, as well as having wished to put an end to “serious spiritual distress” and to have a “desire to satisfy a longing for the Eucharist.” 

Seven members of the German bishops’ conference voted against these directives and sought the opinion of some dicasteries of the Roman Curia. The consequence was that a delegation from the German bishops’ conference spoke in Rome with a delegation from the Roman Curia, including the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

[ebb tide]

Observing that the bishops and, above all, the Successor of Peter fail to maintain and transmit faithfully and in unity the deposit of faith contained in Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, I cannot help but think of Article 675 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

“The Church’s ultimate trial

Before Christ’s second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers. The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth will unveil the ‘mystery of iniquity’ in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth.”

[pepsi_junkie]

Cardinal Eijk: Pope Francis Needed to Give Clarity on Intercommunion

He won't. He prefers chaos and ambiguity. In that environment, traditionalists who adhere to doctrine are paralyzed with uncertainty while the leftists implement radical changes unchallenged. And he looks above the fray when it's him pulling the strings.

[DuncanWaring]

Not unlike Barky O in this country.

[bgill]

Needs to give more clarity, huh. Same song, different verse.

[Campion]

This man is an active (i.e., not retired) Cardinal Archbishop of the Utrecht in the Netherlands. He’s virtually accusing the Pope of apostasy. Wow.

[utahagen]

At last! An ACTIVE Cardinal comes right out and tells the truth about what Pope Francis is passive-aggressively doing to the Church, slyly pointing out how he (the Pope) laid the seeds a couple of years ago, when he gave that Lutheran woman tacit permission to receive Communion when she had no business receiving it. This is a big development, mostly because this Cardinal is an ACTIVE Cardinal who has much to lose, and almost certainly will.

May God give this Cardinal the grace to hang tough, and may He inspire other bishops and Cardinals - especially ACTIVE ones - to speak out.