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[Catholic Caucus] Vatican preparing document for couples living in ‘new unions’ after ‘marriage failure’ Cdl. Kevin Farrell, a notable promoter of Pope Francis' 2016 apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, revealed that his dicastery was preparing a document in line with the Pope's wishes on people who ‘live in new unions’ after ‘marriage failure.’VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — A Vatican dicastery is preparing a text on the divorced and “re-married” in line with the wishes of Pope Francis, who has called for people in such circumstances to receive Holy Communion – contrary to Catholic teaching.Cardinal Kevin Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity,...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope outlines vision for lay ministry; Vatican to publish document on those remarried outside April 24, 2023In an April 22 address to the second plenary assembly of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, Pope Francis outlined his vision of lay ministry in the Church.In his apostolic constitution on the Roman Curia (Praedicate Evangelium, 2022), Pope Francis established that curial dicasteries should hold plenary sessions, typically every two years, that involve all of their members (Article 26). The theme of the Dicastery’s second plenary assembly, held from April 20 to 22, was “Laity and Ministry in a Synodal...

[Catholic Caucus] Archbishop Viganò calls on bishops to defend marriage, oppose the errors of Amoris LaetitiaConsider that your silence takes away from the Glory of Heaven the souls entrusted to you by the Supreme Shepherd, to whom even the one who sits in Rome will one day answer.(LifeSiteNews) — In the glorious martyrs, Holy Church gives us examples of heroic virtues to imitate, showing us how the Grace of God assists those who love Him even to the point of facing torments and death. And while the wicked rage in vain against the bodies of the Martyrs in order to...

[Catholic Caucus] Jesuit in Rome admits Francis is correcting JPII moral theology'It is fundamental to untie the knots of Veritatis Splendor'Julio Martinez, S.J.: Pope Francis “has introduced discernment in the concrete circumstances of marriage and family life."Amoris Laetitia, the apostolic exhortation published by Pope Francis in March 2016 after the two synods of bishops on the family, not only radically altered the church’s concrete pastoral approach to marriage and the family, it also opened new ways of doing moral theology in the 21st century, Julio Martinez, S.J., a Spanish priest and moral theologian, told America magazine in an exclusive interview....

Pope: Church courts must never manipulate facts for a desired endVATICAN CITY (CNS) — The promotion of justice, including in marriage tribunals, requires a “synodal spirit” of pastoral accompaniment, heartfelt listening and using “the right reasoning” in discernment, Pope Francis said.This attitude of synodality, he said, “allows for bringing out the essential characteristics” of the judicial process, which is to be at the service of a justice that is inextricably linked to truth and the salvation of souls.In fact, “any deliberate alteration or manipulation of the facts, aimed at obtaining a pragmatically desired result, is not permissible,” he said. This...

[Catholic Caucus] Marital Nullity, Farewell. Doors Open for “Catholic Divorce”Pope Francis is known for speaking without restraint during in-flight press conferences, saying everything and the opposite of everything. But he also wings it when he meets with the Italian bishops behind closed doors.Proof of this are the two hours of confidential conversation he had with the Italian bishops gathered in plenary assembly at the end of November (in the photo). Officially, nothing has been leaked to outsiders. But there was just one topic on which the pope lambasted the unfortunate audience. The same one that on November 26, at the...

[Catholic Caucus] The ‘mercy’ of Amoris Laetitia has evil consequences for the Church: open letter to Pope FrancisWith the pontiff's novel doctrines, 'the architecture of the sacraments is broken.' YAMOUSSOUKRO, Ivory Coast (LifeSiteNews) — The following is a letter by an African priest known to LifeSiteNews who prefers to use the nom-de-plume Fr. Jesusmary Missigbètò. His first open letter to Pope Francis regarding Amoris Laetitia can be found here. SECOND OPEN LETTER TO POPE FRANCIS, CARDINALS AND BISHOPS Yamoussoukro (City of Peace); Ivory CoastDecember 8, 2021Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin MaryDear Father, Dear Elders in the Catholic...

Amoris Laetitia: the Church accompanies fragile familiesIn 10 episodes — one each month — we bring you a video with the Pope’s reflections and first-hand testimonies of families from across the world on the theme of the family. The initiative, a joint collaboration between the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, and Vatican News, and aims to ‘re-read’ Amoris laetitia, with the aid of downloadable material prepared for personal and community reflection. Because, as Pope Francis reminds us: being a family is always “primarily an opportunity.”AMORIS LAETITIA(n. 291-312)ACCOMPANYING, DISCERNING AND INTEGRATING WEAKNESS291. The Synod Fathers stated that, although the...

Pope’s Italian crackdown suggests he’s more irked by sloth than ideologyROME – Early on Pope Francis may have played down most of the traditional epithets of his office, such as “Primate of Italy,” by instructing the Vatican to print them on a separate page of its annual yearbook. The fact he avoids the title, however, clearly doesn’t mean he dislikes the gig.On the contrary, few popes in recent memory have been quite as aggressive in seeking to reshape the Italian church in their own image as Francis, who may be Argentinian but whose family roots are in the northern Italian...

Pope ensures application of marriage annulment reforms in ItalyPope Francis issues Motu Proprio, setting up a new commission to verify and implement new rules for marriage annulment cases in Italian dioceses. Vatican News Six years ago in September 2015, Pope Francis issued the Motu proprio Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus (The Gentle Judge, our Lord Jesus), introducing new rules to streamline the process for obtaining marriage annulments, addressing complaints that the proceedings in marriage tribunals were too cumbersome, complicated, and expensive. Motu Proprio On Friday, the Pontiff made a further move in this area, issuing a motu proprio to establish a...

Newly appointed Swiss bishop declines to have his own episcopal coat of armsThe 72-year-old Bonnemain is an Opus Dei priest (ordained in 1978) and, while he initially had worked in the 1990s under the conservative former Bishop of Chur, Wolfgang Haas, he has since turned toward a more progressivist attitude, inclined to collaborate with the very secularist Swiss public.SWITZERLAND, February 18, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – Joseph Maria Bonnemain, who Pope Francis picked on Monday for the Diocese of Chur, Switzerland against the wishes of the local ecclesial leadership, declared on Wednesday that he won’t have his own episcopal coat of arms....

Pope Francis: Dismantling MarriageIn the context of this article by the excellent Phil Lawler, Dr. Peter Kwasniewski offers the following comment:Not long ago, I was involved in a fairly intense discussion of whether Pope Francis is an evil man. One side said "yes, absolutely, you can see that from his years-long patterns of equivocation, ambiguity, and deception, his personnel selections and promotions, his attitude of contempt for tradition, his arrogance, insults, etc." The other side said "no, we don't know enough about his internal state, his knowledge, his capacities, to be able to make such a claim. All we can...

Pope says money at root of opposition to annulment reformVatican City — The potential loss of money and authority are often at the heart of the opposition against reforming the Catholic Church's annulment process, Pope Francis said.Departing from his prepared remarks during a Jan. 29 meeting with members of the Roman Rota, a tribunal handling mostly marriage cases, the pope said that after implementing reforms that streamlined annulments in 2015, he "received many letters" and encountered "so much resistance.""Almost all of them were lawyers who were losing clients. And therein lies the problem of money," he said. "In Spain, there...

[Catholic / Orthodox Caucus] How Amoris Laetitia’s Stalemate Debases Marriage In modernity, monogamy is often defined to mean “one partner at a time” or, in other words, “anything short of a harem.” As the Sexual Revolution enters its third generation, the figures are becoming clear: a greater number of sexual partners corresponds to a lower success rate in a later marriage.Marriage as we know it cannot coexist with free love, yet weddings continue to be performed. We govern ourselves by our decisions, not by averages, but we must acknowledge averages if we are to avoid following courses of least resistance...

Vatican Commission Implies that the Vast Majority of Catholic Marriages Are Invalid: Annul Away! The Pseudo-Magisterium that has afflicted the Church since the Second Vatican Council has just issued a new pseudo-doctrinal pronouncement from the “International Theological Commission” (ITC).  The ITC, which has no doctrinal authority whatsoever and is essentially a neo-Modernist think tank whose mission apparently is to undermine true Catholic teaching while pretending to explain it, has just published something called “The Reciprocity Between Faith and Sacraments in the Sacramental Economy.”I’ll skip the endless blah, blah, blah we have come to expect from Roman documents since the Council...

Can every dissatisfied spouse now get an annulment because she doesn’t experience, to her satisfaction, spiritual riches and communication from her spouse? Zenit published the Vatican-provided text of Pope Francis’ address to the Roman Rota. When the Pope gives his annual address to the Roman Rota, it is understood to be the legislator’s instruction about canon law. The Roman Rota is a Tribunal of appeal available to any aggrieved party in a judicial canon law case.Pope Francis discussed the duty of the Church to assist couples, and the obligation of bishops and priests. There is a need for a triple preparation...

Cleveland Canon Lawyer Criticizes Catholic Teaching on Marriage News: Commentary AddThis Sharing ButtonsShare to FacebookShare to TwitterShare to Google+Share to EmailShare to Print by Church Militant  •  ChurchMilitant.com  •  June 8, 2017    52 CommentsLynette Tait promotes Holy Communion to civilly remarried, contrary to Church teaching and practice By Bai Macfarlane Though the Catholic Church officially upholds the indissolubility of marriage, statements made by Lynette Tait, a diocesan canon lawyer, lead me to question whether marriage is being upheld in the Cleveland diocese. Tait has her two-year degree in canon law from St. Paul University in Ottawa, Canada. She teaches...

This blog has not ceased to denounce Antonio Spadaro S.J. as a villainous deceiver and a heresiarch. The cunning Jesuit, on a number of occasions, has skillfully and subtly pushed for the Adulterist Party - that is, those churchmen who are advocating the giving of Holy Communion to adulterers. Toronto Catholic Witness has posted a number of times on Spadaro's and others attempts to introduce the acceptance of adultery (the acceptance of sin!) into the Church, all the while denying it, and that doctrine would be changed. The Vox, at Vox Cantoris has written numerous times about this attempt to...

ROME — Pope Francis celebrated a Mass for the Holy Family on Sunday, designed as a reminder of the spiritual and pastoral importance of the family in the context of his Holy Year of Mercy. Plans called for similar Masses to be held around the world in basilicas where there’s a holy door for the jubilee year. “Let us not lose confidence in the family!” Francis said, telling families gathered with him in St. Peter’s Basilica that the world and the Church need them “now more than ever.” In terms of Church politics, however, Sunday’s Mass was also a reminder...