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[Catholic Caucus] Catholic priest: Cardinal Fernández wants to ‘cancel’ Marian apparitions and the supernatural
LifeSite News ^ | May 22, 2024 | Fr. Joachim Heimerl

Posted on 05/22/2024 6:59:43 PM PDT by ebb tide

[Catholic Caucus] Catholic priest: Cardinal Fernández wants to ‘cancel’ Marian apparitions and the supernatural

‘Cardinal Fernández pretends to be faithful in order to undermine the faith,’ most recently by denying the ‘supernatural character’ of Marian apparitions that contradict Pope Francis’ ‘synodal’ agenda, Father Joachim Heimerl writes.

The “Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith” published a new document shortly before Pentecost. It is the latest during the tenure of the controversial Cardinal Prefect Víctor Manuel Fernández and is likely to cause as much uproar among Catholics around the world as the previous ones. Let me say it in advance: Gradually, it would be time to rename the dicastery: “Dicastery for Faithlessness” would still be a harmless term.

But one thing at a time: The new document doesn’t sound very exciting: “Norms for the proceeding in the discernment of alleged supernatural phenomena.” What lies behind the bulky title, however, is toxic: put simply, it is about Marian apparitions and how they can be neutralized or canceled.

READ: Vatican issues new norms on alleged visions, refusing to rule on supernatural origin of events

This is not without controversy, as countless Catholics are significantly inspired by such apparitions in their faith life; the new document – and even more so its application – is therefore unlikely to be met with broad approval by the faithful. And all the less so when one sees through the statements behind it.

The procedure is always the same: Cardinal Fernández pretends to be faithful in order to undermine the faith. This could be observed in the heretical “blessing” document “Fiducia supplicans” as well as – somewhat more subtly – in “Dignitas infinita,” which was about “human dignity.”

Now it is the turn of the Marian apparitions, and Fernández emphasizes that they are always “private revelations” that are not part of the deposit of faith. That is correct and nothing new, but that is not the point.

Rather, it is about something that is not said at all: It is about the fact that such phenomena simply take place and, above all, that they are quite disruptive. It doesn’t matter whether they are historical and ecclesiastically recognized apparitions, such as in Lourdes (1858) and Fatima (1917), or current ones, such as those reported in Medjugorje (since 1981).

But who is actually bothered by these apparitions?

Certainly not the millions and millions of pilgrims who experience grace, conversion, and healing through them. But they do disturb all those who no longer believe in God, especially those who hold high ecclesiastical offices, i.e., Fernández and Co.

Those who want to establish a “synodal,” man-made church and falsify the faith according to their own ideas have no use for Marian apparitions. After all, they point like an exclamation mark to God as the Lord of the Church and remind us that we are only obliged to HIM and HIS final revelation. However, this is often the opposite of what Cardinal Fernández teaches on behalf of the pope.

Long story short: Marian apparitions are not to be used for the propaganda of the synodal “church reformers,” and therefore, they are to be decisively relativized. For this reason, the new “norms” will, in the future, at best, attest to the harmlessness of such phenomena but no longer, as before, to their supernatural character. In other words, the Church will at most put a question mark behind everything supernatural and leave it at that.

Of course, already recognized apparitions are also indirectly affected by this regulation because the signal of the “norms” is clear: there are no reliable statements about the supernatural. This view is egregious and also heretical since it indirectly denies God Himself or at least His power to intervene in our present time.

In this respect, the new document goes far beyond Marian apparitions. It sheds significant light on the current imbalance in the Church, in which supernatural faith no longer plays any role at all.

The documents Fiducia supplicans and Dignitas infinita have already shown that this is the case. Even the “World Synod” does not serve to defend or deepen the deposit of faith but to adapt it to the spirit of the age. For this to work, a trick is used that is known in synodal parlance as “conversation in the Holy Spirit”: It’s about listening to the “Holy Spirit” and the supposedly “new” things He tells the Church.

Isn’t that amazing? Because even if the Holy Spirit really did speak to the Synod, it would be one of those “supernatural phenomena” that the new “norms” deny.

And: the result of this would be something that does not exist according to the teaching of the Church, namely a new revelation of God that no longer agrees with the previous one.

Let me therefore put it as simply as it is: supposedly “supernatural phenomena” are now only accepted if they correspond to the pope’s destructive church-political program. Everything else, including the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, will in the future be considered “unobjectionable” at most and therefore meaningless.

However, there is a catch: even if apparitions are “private revelations,” it has always pleased God to speak to His people and guide them, because only God is the sovereign Lord of the Church and not Francis or even Fernández.

The new “norms” cannot prevent this, and therefore, they could soon be overtaken by heaven. God Himself or the Blessed Virgin Mary do not need one thing: the recognition of the pope or his prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith.

The most famous example is probably the miracle of the sun in Fatima, which was witnessed by hundreds of thousands of people on October 13, 1917. This miracle was so overwhelming and so obviously supernatural that ecclesiastical recognition of the apparitions remained a formality after the fact.

Even today, we can be certain: The Blessed Virgin, who crushed the unbelief of the Portuguese communists back then, will also destroy the new unbelief in the Church; perhaps Francis and Fernández will live to see this in office. After all, in Medjugorje, 10 secrets are announced for the near future, which are to be proclaimed to the world three days before they occur. And also in Garabandal (1961-65), the Blessed Virgin once predicted a warning, followed by a miracle and finally the judgment.

Incidentally, all of this is supposed to occur after an event that was unknown in Church parlance at the time, namely after an important “synod!”

The half-life of the new “norms” could, therefore, perhaps be very short; that of the faithless “synodal church” and the “world synod” possibly also. We shall see!


TOPICS: Apologetics; Catholic
KEYWORDS: apostatates; frankenchurch; tucho

Isn’t that amazing? Because even if the Holy Spirit really did speak to the Synod, it would be one of those “supernatural phenomena” that the new “norms” deny.

And: the result of this would be something that does not exist according to the teaching of the Church, namely a new revelation of God that no longer agrees with the previous one.

Let me therefore put it as simply as it is: supposedly “supernatural phenomena” are now only accepted if they correspond to the pope’s destructive church-political program. Everything else, including the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, will in the future be considered “unobjectionable” at most and therefore meaningless.

1 posted on 05/22/2024 6:59:43 PM PDT by ebb tide
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2 posted on 05/22/2024 7:00:17 PM PDT by ebb tide
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