Posted on 06/04/2018 7:17:38 AM PDT by Petrosius
VATICAN CITY, June 4, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) — Just one month after directing the bishops of Germany to reach a “unanimous” decision on whether a Protestant spouse married to a Catholic may receive the Holy Eucharist, Pope Francis has changed course and blocked the German bishops’ intercommunion proposal.
In a letter sent to German Cardinal Reinhard Marx “with the explicit approval of the Pope” by Archbishop Luis Ladaria, S.J., prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Holy Father has halted the publication of the German bishops’ intercommunion document that ignited the controversy.
Veteran Italian Vaticanist, Sandro Magister, broke the story this morning in Rome, releasing the full text of the letter in Italian.
Here below is a LifeSiteNews translation of Archbishop Ladaria’s letter to Cardinal Marx.
***
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Prot. N. 212/2018 - 64727
Vatican City
Palace of the Holy Office
May 25, 2018
To His Eminence, the Most Reverend
Lord Cardinal Reinhard Marx
Archbishop of Munich and Freising
President of the German Episcopal Conference
Kardinal-Faulhaber Str. 7
D-80333 Munich
Bundesrepublik Germany
Your Eminence, Most Illustrious lord president!
At the end of our fraternal conversation of May 3, 2018, regarding the document “Mit Christus gehen…" [“Walking with Christ. On the path of unity. Interfaith marriages and common participation in the Eucharist. A pastoral aid ofthe German Bishops’ Conference”] we jointly established that I would inform the Holy Father about the meeting.
Already at an audience on May 11, 2018, I spoke with Pope Francis about our meeting and I gave him a summary of the conversation. On May 24, 2018 I again discussed the matter with the Holy Father. Following these meetings, and with the explicit consent of the Pope, I would like to bring to your attention the following points.
1. The many ecumenical efforts of the German Bishops’ Conference, especially its intense collaboration with the Council of the Evangelical Church of Germany, deserve recognition and appreciation. The joint commemoration of the Reformation in 2017 has shown that in recent years and decades a basis has been found which allows us to bear witness together to Jesus Christ, the Savior of all men, and to work together in an active and decisive way in many areas of public life. This encourages us to move forward with confidence on the path to ever deeper unity.
2. Our conversation on May 3, 2018 has shown that the text of the pamphlet raises a number of significant issues. The Holy Father has therefore come to the conclusion that the document is not ready to be published. The main reasons for this decision can be summarized as follows:
a. The question of admitting evangelical Christians in interfaith marriages to Communion is a topic which touches on the faith of the Church and has relevance for the universal Church.
b. This question has effects on ecumenical relations with other Churches and ecclesial communities which should not be underestimated.
c. The matter concerns the law of the Church, especially the interpretation of canon 844 of the Code of Canon Law. Since in some sectors of the Church there are open questions in this regard, the competent dicasteries of the Holy See have already been charged with producing a timely clarification of these questions at the level of the universal Church. In particular, it seems opportune to leave to the diocesan bishop the judgment on the existence of an “imminent grave necessity.”
3. It is a great concern to the Holy Father that the spirit of episcopal collegiality remain alive in the German Episcopal Conference. As the Second Vatican Council underlined, “episcopal bodies of today are in a position to render a manifold and fruitful assistance, so that this collegiate feeling may be put into practical application” (Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium n. 23).
In bringing this to your attention, I extend fraternal greetings and best wishes for every blessing.
Yours in the Lord
Luis F. Ladaria, S.J.
Titular bishop of Thibica
Prefect
Copied in:
His Eminence, the Most Reverend
Lord Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki
Archbishop of Cologne
His Excellency, the Most Reverend
Felix Genn
Bishop of Münster
His Excellency, the Most Reverend
Karl-Heinz Wieseman
Bishop of Speyer
His Excellency, the Most Reverend
Rudolf Voderholzer
Bishop of Regensburg
His Excellency, the Most Reverend
Gerhard Feige
Bishop of Magdeburg
Under this Pope you can’t tell Catholics from Protestants anyway, except Protestants aren’t as blatant Communists.
No pretense left, Catholics: The buffet is OPEN.
Under this Pope you can’t tell Catholics from Protestants anyway, except Protestants aren’t as blatant Communists.
No pretense left, Catholics: The buffet is OPEN.
Big difference, in my opinion.
So - a priest/religion can tell someone they can’t follow Jesus’ instruction that when we break bread, we honor His memory and gift of Grace — that’s nice.....they need to read and understand the story of Jonah....
Not really. He just said that the document is “not ready for publication.” He didn’t say anything about the issue itself.
Ladaria, the new (Jesuit) head of the CDF, is much more intelligent and craftier than the former head, so you can expect a lot of more highly refined ambiguous statements to give the appearance of orthodoxy and avoid controversy. But essentially, they still say nothing.
NO Protestants should EVER be allowed to receive HOLY COMMUNION!!! STOP THE MADNESS AND THE HERESY!
"Break bread"? Really? That's it?
All righty then!
You are hereby cordially and warmly invited to come over to my house, Chez Don-o, for a sandwich anytime.
We the Don-o Family do not make a claim that this bread-breaking at our kitchen table constitutes the Holy Eucharist, in which --- in His words --- it is His Body which is real food.
At our Don-o Family bread-breaking you will always be welcome. Because, like your bread-breaking, it's just bread.
Too much blowback when he was poised to allow a group of German Bishops declare the Eucharist nothing but a cracker. Seems even this dictator pope has some limits to how far he can go overnight.
Liberal Protestants have been blatantly Communist for over a century--the Soviets took an ecumenical policy to infiltration:
The National Council of Churches (NCC) Communist Agenda
National Council of Churches: Worldviews, Activities, and Agendas
??Liberal Protestants have been blatantly Communist for over a century—the Soviets took an ecumenical policy to infiltration:<<
Good point — there is no longer any difference.
I agree that a religion has the right to try to exclude non-members from its rituals - I find it ironic that a good size portion of the actual members are probably not "in good standing" as they partake of these rituals.
I reject that any religion's refusal to allow an "outsider" (kind of blows up the concept of a all-encompassing "catholic" gathering) to participate in its rituals is to deny that person his own personal Communion with God - Jesus walked the earth as a Man in order to let us know He wanted us to establish personal relationships with Him - those that presume that they can call that which He has made worthy/clean into something unworthy/unclean should read Jonah - again and again and again...
Reminds me of the joke about a man moving to a new town with only one church in it and finding the rules so strict and severe that he realizes that by those rules he can't be a member....he prays to God about it because he wants to worship and asks why they make it so hard to be a member of the church....God responds, "Don't take it personal, My son; they won't let Me in either..."
This is quite different from the Eucharist, which is Christ's Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity: to most sacred entity in the visible Universe.
Let's pray for each other.
I find it ironic that a church with the moniker "Catholic" finds so many folks unworthy of their God and thinks it can be a bar to them. Once again - I urge all to read and digest the message in Jonah and even hit the New testament and go through Peter's dream - especially the part where he is chastised by words to the effect, "How dare you declare something unclean when I have declared it clean.." - I understand the topic was food but He washed away the sins of those who accepted Him and yet we have a church declaring them "unclean"...
Fortunately, those who knock on His door will have it opened to him - knocking on some church's doors results in a "Prove you be clean and chaste and perfect enough" - because they practice so many rituals (the very same type acts that were declared a spit in His face and Gift in the NT) .... sorry but I have trouble wrapping my head around it that the Pharisees, who were chastised for putting on pompous, holier-than-thou shows won....and that they have the power/right to try to deny communion with God from anyone.
Jesus came back and simplified everything and then men decided to re-complicate it with their various religions that cover more extraneous stuff than they do the Good News of the New Covenant.
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