In wake of rejection of dubia Pope cancels meeting with cardinals

EWTN Great Britain ^ | November 17, 2016 | Deacon Nick Donnelly

[ebb tide]

In an unprecedented development in the post Vatican II Church Pope Francis has cancelled his meeting with the world's cardinals at the consistory he convoked to take place on Saturday 19th November. The Holy Father's surprise decision follows the unusual step he has taken not to respond to the dubia -- the five questions --- submitted to him by senior cardinals to clarify confusion arising from his post-synodal exhortation, Amoris Laetitia.

A consistory is a formal meeting of the college of cardinals convoked and chaired by the pope that are usually conducted in secret, though can be held in public. The Code of Canon Law sets out the purposes of consistories:

Can. 353 §1 Cardinals assist the Supreme Pastor of the Church in collegial fashion particularly in Consistories, in which they are gathered by order of the Roman Pontiff and under his presidency. Consistories are either ordinary or extraordinary.

§2 In an ordinary Consistory all Cardinals, or at least those who are in Rome, are summoned for consultation on certain grave matters of more frequent occurrence, or for the performance of especially solemn acts.

§3 All Cardinals are summoned to an extraordinary Consistory, which takes place when the special needs of the Church and more serious matters suggest it.

§4 Only an ordinary Consistory in which certain solemnities are celebrated, can be public, that is when, in addition to the Cardinals, Prelates, representatives of civil states and other invited persons are admitted.

In the light of this, it appears unusual that having convoked a consistory the pope is not meeting with his college of cardinals to discuss important issues facing the Church.

Marco Tosatti, Italian journalist and Vatican expert, reports Pope Francis's decision to cancel his meeting with the college of cardinals. He describes it as a "strange Consistory", strange because, unlike the other two previous occasions, the Pope will not meet the cardinals in Rome the day before. Tosatti observes that a consistory is a very special event in the life of the Church because it creates new cardinals. It is also a special occasion for the pope to "see gathered around him the College, including those who rarely come ad limina, to receive information, exchange ideas and perceptions, and send messages." Marco Tosatti gives details of the unconventional programme

This year, there will not be a meeting with all the cardinals. The program provides only for the ceremony of creation of new cardinals in St. Peter's Basilica, at 11 Saturday, November 19, and the mass the next day. The Saturday afternoon from 16.30 to 18.30 are provided courtesy visits, “di calore" in curial jargon.

Pope Francis used his first consistory to tentatively introduce his plan to change the Church's teaching on communion for the divorced and civilly "re-married'. He invited Cardinal Kasper -- the long-time proponent of radical change in the Church's perennial teaching -- to address his fellow cardinals At the time Marco Tosatti reported that Cardinal Kasper's addresse caused consternation among the cardinals:

Card. Ruini noted that some 85% percent of cardinals who spoke up after Kasper were against Kasper’s proposals. He opined of those who said nothing that perhaps they were simply “embarrassed”.

In the light of Pope Francis's other unprecedented decison not to respond to the cardinals' concerns about Amoris Laetitia, expressed to him in the traditional form of a dubia, it is being speculated that the Holy Father has cancelled his meeting with the college of cardinals in order to avoid discussing the dubia and his decision about it.

Comment

One of the much vaunted acheivements of the Second Vatican Council was its re-discovery and renewal of the ancient Catholic principles of collegiality and synodality as visible signs of the communion of the Church. As a consequence, consistories and synods were developed as practical instruments of ecclesial government and liturgical events in the life of the Church that manifested the communion of the Mystical Body of Christ and the People of God.

In light of the serious issues raised by the cardinals' dubia and Pope Francis's decision not to respond to their concerns it was even more important that he and the cardinals met during the consistory to begin the process of dealing with these sensitive issues that are vital for the future of the Church. The Holy Father's decision to cancel his meeting with the college of cardinals only adds to the sense of growing concern.

[ebb tide]

Pope Francis used his first consistory to tentatively introduce his plan to change the Church's teaching on communion for the divorced and civilly "re-married'. He invited Cardinal Kasper -- the long-time proponent of radical change in the Church's perennial teaching -- to address his fellow cardinals At the time Marco Tosatti reported that Cardinal Kasper's addresse caused consternation among the cardinals:

Card. Ruini noted that some 85% percent of cardinals who spoke up after Kasper were against Kasper’s proposals. He opined of those who said nothing that perhaps they were simply “embarrassed”.

In the light of Pope Francis's other unprecedented decison not to respond to the cardinals' concerns about Amoris Laetitia, expressed to him in the traditional form of a dubia, it is being speculated that the Holy Father has cancelled his meeting with the college of cardinals in order to avoid discussing the dubia and his decision about it.

[Sacajaweau]

I suppose he's holding his breath until he turns blue, too.

Goes to show you....even the College of Cardinals can scr** up.

[Ciaphas Cain]

I am not Catholic but I am finding all of this extremely fascinating. Maybe like Reagan, John Paul II left his shoes too big to be filled by anyone in the immediate future.

Has there EVER been tension of this magnitude, at this high a level of the Church, in any living memory?

[Eddie01]

This pope loves the devils work.

Can’t say enough of communist memes.

The Vatican wreaks of rotting fish.

Flies buzz at his feet.

Jesus did not nor would never offer lucifer bread

, but this pope stokes levin ovens to feed the king of the dead

[Steely Tom]

In wake of rejection of dubia Pope cancels meeting with cardinals

"Who'd I get rejected by now?"

[HarleyLady27]

There was a REASON Pope Benedict ‘retired’...this is not that common, has been done I think once before...but I have NEVER believed it was because Pope Benedict couldn't do his job...

He was involved with re restructuring the Vacatian Bank, which is ‘sacred’ to a lot of Cardinals, including Cardinal Dolan...(I don't trust him either)...

I believe this was ‘planned’ by some Cardinals that knew they were going to get caught with their hands in the cookie jar and got this to happen...

This Francis the talking poop, is not a True Pope...and those of us that know our religion and have lived it all our lives know this...

[Petrosius]

The issuing of Amoris laetitiae against the views of the two synods also goes against the professed respect for collegiality.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Meeting with the Cardinals has been rescheduled
for June 13 as part of a day/night doubleheader.

[Steely Tom]

Maybe like Reagan, John Paul II left his shoes too big to be filled by anyone in the immediate future.

Very interesting observation.

The cold war gave rise to its own type of great leaders. Reagan was one; Thatcher was one, and so was John Paul II.

Perhaps Gorbachev was one also.

Now we're in a new kind of war, more diffuse in terms of states, but more intimate, involving every human being and their deepest thoughts about the Creator, their concept of Him and their relationship with Him.

This new war will give rise to great generals and presidents too, but that process may take even more time to shake out than the last one did.

I don't know if Trump will be that President, but I'm pretty sure that Obama will be an asterisk.

[Claud]

Has there EVER been tension of this magnitude, at this high a level of the Church, in any living memory?

Doctrinally I can't think of any similar situation in the last 200 years, although what Paul VI did liturgically to the Mass in 1970 comes close.

You have to go back to the 1300s to find a Pope saying something heretical and being upbraided by the Cardinals for it. And Pope Honorius was posthumously anathematized as a heretic by the 6th Ecumenical Council in the 600s.

This is indeed pretty historic territory we are entering into. And we have Benedict still alive in the wings. I wonder what part he will play in this.

[Claud]

They need time to schedule the meeting agenda carefully so as not to allow these issues to reach the floor. The modernists are unbelievably organized when it comes to this stuff.

[SoFloFreeper]

Took his mitre and went home, eh?

[Repealthe17thAmendment]

It looks like the four Cardinals have pushed Pope Francis into a corner,and he's trying to wriggle out.

If he fails to respond to the dubia, the Cardinals have a plan for that, too.

If anything, Cardinal Burke is the most knowledgeable person on earth when it comes to Canon Law. The Pope will not find a safe way out of the box he has out himself in.

[Cicero]

In the last thousand years, only one other Pope retired. And Dante pictured him lying on the floor of Hell for doing it.

I simply can’t imagine how a great pope like Pope Benedict was forced into retiring. He would not have minded damage to himself. I can only imagine that the Cardinals threatened damage to the Church if he stayed on.

As it is, I think the damage has been far worse than if he had stayed on and met their challenge. A very sad business. At this point, it will take divine intervention to straighten it out.

[Red Badger]

LOL!...............I thought they were Methodists?...............

[NewJerseyJoe]

P4L

[Buckeye McFrog]

They need time to schedule the meeting agenda carefully so as not to allow these issues to reach the floor. The modernists are unbelievably organized when it comes to this stuff.

Must have been taking notes from the Obama Administration

[HarleyLady27]

I agree with you, and I think your starting to see the ‘divine intervention’ starting by Francis the talking poop not talking right now...it will fall, we pray every day and night and believe in the Lord...this is the way it will happen...

[marshmallow]

........ it is being speculated that the Holy Father has cancelled his meeting with the college of cardinals in order to avoid discussing the dubia and his decision about it.

I'm not sure that this is the correct interpretation.

A man of Francis' hubris doesn't take kindly to being interrogated, which is essentially what the dubia amount to. I see this as a gesture of extreme displeasure on the part of El Lider Maximo; a papal "we are not amused" moment.

He's letting his ...er.....entourage know, that heads will roll. Not the heads of the "Four Cardinals", of course. There's not much he can do to them. No, this is a shot across the bows of the other cardinals who may be sympathetic towards the revolt, or those currently straddling the fence and thinking of joining it.

[Buckeye McFrog]

The Pope will not find a safe way out of the box he has out himself in.

I humbly disagree.

The Pope will eventually get what he wants, because this is all about following the money.

The Catholic Church in developed countries is experiencing a demographic cratering. I have seen the figures from my own diocese, and they are sobering. Registered Catholic parishoners, Mass attendance, collections, all down by big double-digits in just over a decade.

Very significant numbers of Catholics have stopped coming to Mass because they are divorced, whether through any fault of their own, or not. Rather than deal with being shunned from the sacraments, or put through a humiliating annulment process, most just stop showing up. Large numbers of these then join nondenominational churches where they TITHE.

And therein lies the rub for the Vatican. They are determined some how, some way, to woo these people back to the Catholic Church and get them contributing to OUR collection baskets again.

Those of you saying "there's no way the Cardinals will allow this to stand" are the same ones who said "no way the Supreme Court will ever allow Obamacare to stand." The Cardinals will ultimately go through whatever philosophical gymnastics that are required in order to justify this.