Posted on 07/13/2023 4:55:04 PM PDT by ebb tide
(Pope Francis meets Fr James Martin, one of his US appointees to the Synod on Synodality \ Vatican Media)
The Holy See’s press office has released a comprehensive list of the bishops, clerics, religious brothers and sisters, and laypeople who will attend and vote during October’s convocation of the Synod on Synodality in Rome.
The Sixteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops will run from 4 to 29 October in which a “listening process” will be undertaken, where the “[p]eople of God [are] called to walk together toward what the Holy Spirit helps… to discern as being the Lord’s will for his Church.” They will vote on a number of ecclesiastical matters, but the ultimate say will be reserved for the Pope.
Pope Francis has handpicked fifty participants, including the controversial American priest Fr James Martin SJ– Author of Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity. His attendance will be unusual given that he is not a bishop, so belongs to a faction comprising only 21 per cent of voting members, leading to commentators questioning the necessity and appropriateness of such a selection.
A stark contrast exists between the American prelates who will be attending who were elected by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) for this purpose, and those the Pope selected.
Cardinal Vincent Dolan, Archbishop Timothy Broglio and Bishop Kevin Rhoades– all of whom are known defenders of Catholic orthodoxy– were put forward by the USCCB.
Meanwhile, Cardinals Wilton Gregory, Robert McElroy and Blase Cupich have been handpicked by Pope Francis for attendance as members of the list of “pontifical nominees”. Cardinal McElroy was elevated to his rank by Pope Francis in 2022 amidst significant controversy. Critics have pointed out that McElroy openly contradicts and questions Church teaching.
In the past the now-Cardinal McElroy, who is Bishop of San Diego, has favoured administering Holy Communion to those in an openly unrepentant state of mortal sin, “radical inclusion” for LGBT people and women, and the ordination of women to the diaconate– leaving an open door to the priesthood.
Cardinal Sarah of Guinea this week hit back at such anonymous voices in the Church by pointing out that a “female priesthood” cannot be invented under any circumstances.
Cardinal Gregory was appointed to his role by Francis in 2020, and like Cardinal Cupich favours an approach of openness, sensitivity and inclusion towards LGBT and transgender people, an inclusivity which does not for either Cardinal translate to traditionalist Catholics, as both have enforced crushing restrictions and closures on the old rite of the Mass in their dioceses.
Also in attendance from the United States will be Archbishop Sean Patrick O’Malley of Boston, Archbishop Paul Etienne of Seattle and Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville– the latter of whom was the youngest bishop in the United States after his installation by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009.
In the United Kingdom, lay members of the synod will include progressive papal biographer Austen Ivereigh and Anna Rowlands, Professor of Theology at Durham University and self-styled “feminist”.
Ivereigh once tweeted speculating about whether Jesus Christ had “homosexual tendencies”, before clarifying later “It never occurred to me that Jesus might be [sic] “gay” (or even “straight”). I was challenging the argument that priests can’t be gay because Jesus was straight. The frothing mob shows how many RCs have become snowflakes, demanding a ‘safe space’.”
Dominican friar Timothy Radcliffe from Oxford will be in attendance as one of only two “spiritual assistants” to the Synod. The 77-year-old served as the only English master of the Order of Preachers in history from 1992 to 2001. Criticised as having views “at sharp variance with Catholic teaching”, he has celebrated so-called “gay” Masses in Soho, is a vocal supporter of LGBT outreach, and once said of same-sex relations:
“Certainly it can be generous, vulnerable, tender, mutual and non-violent. So in many ways, I would think that it can be expressive of Christ’s self-gift.”
Alongside Monsignor John Wilson– Grand Prior of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre in England and Wales since 2021– Bishop Marcus Stock of Leeds will attend proceedings in October. Bishop Stock made a statement in 2017 by celebrating Mass in the traditional form, but in 2023, following Traditiones Custodes, restricted its celebration by deigning to move it out of parish churches within his diocese.
The German Synodal selections are an exception to a prevalent rule. Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller and Bishop Stefan Oster are among the “pontifical nominees” personally handpicked by Pope Francis. Both have been vocal supporters of magisterial Catholic teaching and critics of the heterodox decisions of the German Synodal Way.
However, they will have to contend with Bishop Georg Bätzing at the proceedings who openly contradicts the Church by favouring communion with Protestants and holding the unrecognised position that sex outside marriage is not a sin– alongside as favouring same-sex civil marriage.
The hope of the synodal organisers is ostensibly that the voice of the Holy Spirit will emerge from a disparate unity among the attendees.
Ping
Sadly, these men are not liberals. They are, at best, gay-friendly and hostile to traditional Catholicism. That seems to be all that matters.
Who else would attend a synod on synodality?
This takeover across all walks of world society has supernatual aspects to it. Let’s call it what it is - a Luciferian takedown.
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.