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Belgian bishop claims hundreds of people in his diocese have left the Church over CDF refusal to bless gay unionsBishop Johan Bonny of the diocese of Antwerp made the claim during a recent online debate hosted by The Tablet under the title 'All God’s Children – a discussion about the Church’s ministry to LGBT Catholics and same-sex couples.'AnalysisMay 6, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) – Bishop Johan Bonny of Antwerp stated at the end of April that 700 people of his diocese have left the Catholic Church in protest against the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s (CDF) recent Responsum making clear...

May I? Sorry, Thank you, Open Dialogue about relationships, marriage and family (2016) is simplistic, misleading, and in direct opposition to Church teaching in numerous ways. Christ is the Light of the world The opening sentences of Vatican II’s Lumen gentium state that Christ is the light of all nations, not the Church, but that this light shines on the Church’s face, especially in its proclamation of the Gospel. The human reception of that light—and hence of the Gospel—is, however, open to resistance and hence to distortion, misinterpretation, and rejection (see John Paul II, Dominum et Vivificantum, §§55-56, 47). Thus,...

ANTWERP, Belgium, September 11, 2015 -- In a sweeping critique of Catholic teaching, Belgian Bishop Johan Bonny, who will participate in the Ordinary Synod on the Family next month, has attacked not only the Church’s teaching against contraception but even the very notion of the natural law. In a contribution for the recent German book, Zerreißprobe Ehe, published by Herder Verlag, the bishop of Antwerp makes a strong critique of the 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae and questions the Church's understanding of sexuality. He also criticizes the natural law as a moral foundation because it describes certain acts as good or...

Rome) Pope Francis has found a coadjutor for the Bishop of Albenga-Imperia, Msgr. Mario Oliveri with right of succession to the side. As Bishop Oliveri enjoys good health, the papal decision appears as a disempowerment without disavowing the ruling bishop entirely through impeachment. It is the indirect, more elegant form of impeachment. The direct form was felt by Bishop Rogelio Livieres of Ciudad del Este. A dismissal with no ifs or buts. A coadjutor, sometimes with right of succession, is an auxiliary device, such as when an incumbent bishop is no longer in a position to fully exercise his office...

In his book entitled, "Rise, Let Us Be On Our Way," Pope John Paul II writes that: "By his manner of life, a bishop demonstrates that the Christ as "Model" lives on and still speaks to us today. One could say that a diocese reflects the manner of life of its bishop. His virtues - chastity, a spirit of poverty and prayer, simplicity, sensitivity of conscience - will, as it were, be written into the hearts of his priests. They, in their turn, will convey these values to the faithful entrusted to their care, and in this way young people...

The Bishop of Antwerp, Johan Bonny advocates an ecclesiastical recognition of homosexual relationships. The dogma that the Catholic Church can only accept male-female relationships, he put in question in an interview with this newspaper. "There should be a diversity of recognition forms." With his plea Bonny, is one of the first church leaders who attacks the absolute monopoly of the male-female marriage. "We have to look inside the church for a formal recognition of the relationality which is also present in many gay couples. As a variety of legal frameworks in society exist for partners, he wants to instate a...

Antwerp Bishop Johan Bonny has published a long letter on the upcoming Synod of Bishops urging the assembly to have the courage to bring the Church’s moral teachings more in line with the lived experience of the laity. "The Church must step away from its defensive, antithetical stance and seek anew the path of dialogue" on moral issues, he wrote in the 22-page letter posted on his diocese’s website in five languages. More Read the letter in full "It must dare once again to start with 'life' and then move on to 'teaching'. The Church has nothing to lose in...