Posted on 10/22/2019 12:05:48 PM PDT by ebb tide
VATICAN (ChurchMilitant.com) - The Vatican is considering pressing criminal charges against the "new iconoclasts" who removed the pagan "Pachamama" statues from the Church of Santa Maria del Traspontina and dumped them in the River Tiber Monday morning.
Vatican spokesmen have reacted with outrage after a local Italian newspaper carried a story on the unceremonious immersion of the fertility idols with the headline "Justice is done." REPAM, a Catholic network that advocates on behalf of Amazon peoples and is headed by Synod leader Cdl. Claudio Hummes, has condemned the act "of violence" in a statement published Monday.
"We deeply regret and at the same time denounce that in recent days we have been victims of acts of violence, which reflect religious intolerance, racism, oppressive attitudes, which affect above all indigenous peoples, a refusal to build new roads for the renewal of our Church," the statement read.
Calling the traditionalist Catholics who removed the statues "the new iconoclasts," Andrea Tornielli cited the writings of the newly canonized Cdl. John Henry Newman to support the adoption of pagan elements. Quoting Newman's 1878 Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine, he wrote:
The use of temples, and these dedicated to particular saints, and ornamented on occasions with branches of trees, incense, lamps and candles; votive offerings on recovery from illness; holy water, asylums; holy days and seasons, use of calendars, processions, blessings on the fields, sacerdotal vestments, the tonsure, the ring in marriage, turning to the east, images at a later date, perhaps the ecclesiastical chant, and the Kyrie Eleison, are all of pagan origin, and sanctified by their adoption into the church.
Saint Francis of Assisi is also showcased by the Vatican in defense of pagan idols: "An image of motherhood and the sacredness of life, a traditional symbol for indigenous peoples representing the bond with our 'mother earth,' as described by Saint Francis of Assisi in his Canticle of the Creatures, was thrown away with contempt in the name of tradition and doctrine," wrote Tornielli.
Father Cor Mennen, lecturer in Canon Law at the Major Seminary of the Diocese of 's-Hertogenbosch (Netherlands), disagrees, saying that what was done to the carved fertility figures was right.
"But now that they are bringing their horrors into a Catholic Church and desacrating a holy place with an idol, such an action is more than justified," said Fr. Mennen. "After all, we must obey God more than those disturbed organizers of the synod."
A British deacon also rejects Tornielli's arguments.
"Those violently objecting to the righteous removal of the idols from a Vatican church can't get their stories straight," Deacon Nick Donnelly told Church Militant.
"Expressing manufactured outrage, some claim that they represent Our Lady of the Amazon but Vatican officials have repeatedly insisted that they have no connection with the Blessed Virgin Mary but are effigies representing fertility, women or life," he said. "They don't realize that this is exactly what Pachamama idols represent."
"Others claim that the idols represent Mother Earth as described by St. Francis of Assisi in his Canticle to Brother Sun," Donnelly continued. "But St. Francis made it clear that it was a hymn about the Lord's creatures. Christians do not worship creatures, but those in Rome worshiped these idols with profound prostrations, by so doing proving that they are indeed idols. The more the critics of these young men object the more they prove they did the right thing.
Where's all that francismercy that the dictatorpope has been preaching about?
Ping
Well, it is mercy from a Stalinist’s perspective.
Ahhh, the perps - ever eager to see themselves as victims.
Pope Saint Greta: How dare you take our idols!?
God is letting this happen in order for people to choose which side they are on. Francis and his allies are standing on the quicksand of history, and it is going to get really crazy but funny, too, as they sink into insanity.
As for me, I support the “blue Marian wave” as Bishop Strickland calls it. Let’s sink this false church with all its false leaders; sooner the better.
2 Chronicles 33:15
Does anyone know the jurisdiction of this? Did it occur in Vatican City or was it on Italian soil?
Speaking of false gods -The Devil is more cunning than we give him credit for. The smart phone is the greatest deception perpetrated on modern man. The Apple icon... with Eve’s bite prominently displayed says it all.
Church outside the Vatican.
“The Vatican is considering pressing criminal charges against the “new iconoclasts”
So they are idols in fact. Icons of the Church they are not.
Thank you for clarifying that!
Hey......I did it!! Arrest me!
I know. I was your camera man!
Interestingly, the current cardinal of Santa Maria in Traspontina is the former Archbishop of Quebec, Marc Ouellet, who supports Opus Dei.
I haven't heard that he's said anything yet.
Long live the Sensus Fidelium!
That’s not an “idol in the Temple”.
it’s too bad it wasn’t burned to ashes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.