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Heterodox Amazon Synod bishop claims Church ‘cannot return’ to time before Pope Francis‘Married priests will come first, then the diaconate for women. Women priests will be the next stage,’ Bishop Erwin Kräutler said, contradicting the infallible teaching of the Catholic faith.Bishop Erwin Kräutler, a key architect of the Amazon Synod and a proponent of “women priests,” has said that the Church “cannot return” to the time before the “change” that Pope Francis has initiated.In an interview with the Swiss outlet kath.ch, Kräutler, 84, addressed the possibility of the Catholic Church officially allowing female ordinations and consecrating “proven” married men as...

Why public heretics are not true members of the Catholic Church(LifeSiteNews) — This is the fourth part of our series on membership of the Church. It examines who the members of the Church are, and who they are not. Part I can be read here; Part II can be read here; and Part III can be read here.IntroductionIn his letter to the Galatians, St. Paul warned that “there are some who trouble you, and wish to pervert the gospel of Christ.” (Gal 1:7)In the face of these false preachers, he commanded his flock to remain faithful to the true gospel...

[Catholic Caucus] Pope’s warning about German ‘Synodal Council’ has nothing to do with sexual morals, correcting heresyThe pope’s criticism has nothing to do with the Synodal Way’s attack on Catholic moral teaching, but rather with undermining the authority of the bishops via the 'Synodal Council' the German bishops are trying to set up. Pope Francis has expressed his “concern” that the Church in Germany is moving away from the Universal Church, but he failed once again to correct the Synodal Way’s heretical teachings on sexuality. The German Newspaper WELT published a letter written by Pope Francis addressed to four women,...

[Catholic Caucus] The Heresy of Practice: Some Insights from Saint Bernard and Saint AlphonsusRecently used by Cardinal Müller,[i] the phrase “practical heresy” has been popularized in a couple of his latest articles by Timothy Flanders,[ii] the editor-in-chief of One Peter Five (1P5). Essentially, this concept refers to any religious practice that contradicts, through deeds and actions, a revealed doctrine. We will take the teaching on marriage as an example. Every well-formed Christian knows that in the Church founded by our Savior Jesus Christ, “the essential properties of Marriage are unity (monogamy) and indissolubility.”[iii] In practice, in the case of spouses...

[Catholic Caucus] Exclusive: Cardinals Cupich, McElroy say 'impossible to go back' to synods without lay voters Two U.S. cardinals said one of the immediate results of Pope Francis' major summit on the future of the Catholic Church is that it should now be "impossible" to return to an era where lay men and women are not given both a voice and vote in major Vatican meetings. "It would seem to me impossible to go back now," said San Diego Cardinal Robert McElroy on Oct. 29. "It would be wrenching to go back if you just had bishops there or just...

[Catholic Caucus] Rearranging the Synod Table ChairsThe Synod was a series of fixations on matters of utter inconsequence, rather like the deck hands busily arranging chairs on the Titanic before its final plunge into the sea.There was a time, not so very long ago, when the raging controversy among Catholics was about how best to receive Holy Communion. Would greater reverence be shown when receiving Our Lord on the tongue, which had been the custom for centuries, or in the hand, which not a few innovators were proposing as somehow more fitting? How quaint it all now seems up against...

[Catholic Caucus] The synodal expectations gameAfter a month of meetings in Rome, it’s finally now halftime in the synod of bishops’ synod on synodality, with delegates departing Rome to bring the good news about synodality back to their home countries.As they head out, they will be taking with them the assembly’s interim report document, published Saturday after considerable debate and amendment from the initial draft version produced by the synodal secretariat’s writing committee.Debate over that text, and the significance of the language used, or not used, in some passages has become the subject of much post-session synodal debate. How significant...

[Catholic Caucus] The Greatest Catholic Event Since Vatican II?Several voices – mostly close to Pope Francis and the organizers of the Synod on Synodality – declared the assembly, before the fact, the most significant event in the life of the Catholic Church since Vatican II. The official organizers, however, sought to rein in expectations, perhaps because the Synod has deliberately been structured to put the “nice” stuff first – conversation, listening, mutual respect – reserving the harder sayings for next October’s meeting. Then again, several of the officially selected speakers suggested, as one of them put it, “When we reach...

[Catholic Caucus] “What does the Pope really want?” - Bishop Rob MutsaertsA post by Bishop Rob Mutsaerts, Auxiliary Bishop of 's-Hertogenbosch (Bois-le-Duc), Netherlands. Translated from his blog in Dutch here. What is the synod underway in Rome actually about? Over and again, official Vatican sources are telling us many things. That it is not about theology, nor about doctrinal matters, nor about LGBTQ+, the ordination of women and the issue of celibacy. Neither is it, they add, about seeking to undermine or replace the hierarchical nature of the church or democratize the decision-making process. No, it would seem to be...

[Catholic Caucus] Archbishop of Sydney: If a Synod proposal contradicts Catholic teaching, it’s ‘not of the Holy Spirit’Archbishop Anthony Fisher warned that it is ‘superstitious’ to attribute everything happening at the Synod on Synodality to the Holy Spirit and noted that the Holy Spirit doesn’t choose every pope or bishop.ROME (LifeSiteNews) – An archbishop attending the Synod on Synodality said in an interview last week that any proposals coming from the Synod that contradict the Gospel are not of the Holy Spirit. Speaking with Catholic News Agency (CNA), Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Syndey, Australia, also said that people should be...

[Catholic Caucus] In open letter, synod urges more synodalityAn open letter published by the synod on synodality Wednesday said that the Church should focus more on the idea of synodality ahead of the October 2024 final session of the Church’s years-long consultative process. The Oct. 25 text also emphasized discipleship of Jesus Christ, and commitment to both service of the poor and protection of the environment.“We hope that the months leading to the second [Vatican] session in October 2024 will allow everyone to concretely participate in the dynamism of missionary communion indicated by the word ‘synod,’” said the letter, which...

[Catholic Caucus] Faithful Catholics resist the anti-Christian agenda coming from the VaticanOn October 30, Catholic leaders will present to the media condemnations of the Synod on Synodality’s departure from the teachings of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Holy Scriptures.ROME (LifeSiteNews) — African Catholic leaders from Uganda and Kenya are joining with LifeSiteNews and America’s best-known traditional Catholic Michael Matt, as well as traditional Catholic activists from around the world, in condemning the Synod on Synodality’s departure from the teachings of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Holy Scriptures. Since 2013, the attempt to weaken Church doctrine on life, faith,...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Schönborn cites death penalty revision when asked about changing Catechism on LGBT issuesVATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) –– Vienna’s Cardinal Christoph Schönborn has argued that changing the Catechism’s teaching against accepting LGBT issues was a matter for the Pope, but added that the Catechism’s passages on the death penalty had already been changed.Speaking to journalists at a press briefing for the Synod on Synodality, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn fielded a number of questions regarding the synod’s process and the possible future for the Catholic Church. In particular, he was asked if he anticipated any changes to the Catechism of the...

[Catholic Caucus] Why We Have Not Covered the Synod on SynodalityA reader e-mails us to ask why we have not covered the proceedings of this first session of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality (the second session will be in the autumn of 2024).First, of course, because because it is not a proper Synod (that is, a Synod OF BISHOPS), but a meeting of laity, religious men and women, priests, bishops, all with the right to vote. Its standing in a Church willed by God as hierarchical is doubtful at best.Second, because the whole idea is ridiculous: a "meeting on...

[Catholic Caucus] Women deacons: ‘too early to make any concrete decisions’ at Synod gatheringROME – Participants in Pope Francis’s Synod of Bishops on Synodality chosen to speak to the media said on Friday that while various topics are being discussed, no decisions will be made on specific issues, and that it is too early in the process to rule on hot-button questions such as women deacons.Asked during an Oct. 20 press briefing whether it was time to make a decision on women deacons, Archbishop Tarcisio Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo said there are “differences of opinions” within the synod.There are also...

Pope: “The Church Has to Change”In a new interview, the Roman Pontiff has elaborated on the synodal dream of Cardinal Martini, taking place now in Rome. But before we get to that, we should be fair and say that he also said a few good things:We were all unexperienced young people once, and sometimes young boys and girls hold onto miracles, to a messiah, to things being solved in a messianic way. There is only one Messiah who saved us all. The rest are all clowns of messianism. None of them can promise a solution to conflicts, unless it’s emerging...

[Catholic Caucus] Should the Laity Ignore the Synod on Synodality?Given that the advice offered to the pope during the synodal proceedings will likely contain at least some errors and ambiguities, most lay Catholics are probably better served by simply ignoring the Synod proceedings.We are now in the second full week of the Synod on Synodality. If you are like me, perhaps you have felt a strong inclination to follow the activities of the Synod closely. In fact, at one point last week I was in Eucharistic adoration and thought, “I should read about exactly what is said and done each...

SYNODAL WALKATHON: Accompanying Sinners to HellNew Short from RTV ...

[Catholic Caucus] ‘Confused and confusing’: Cardinal Zen talks to the Herald about his ongoing Synod concernsROME – Cardinal Joseph Zen Ze-kiun, the former bishop of Hong Kong, has become seen in recent years as something of a Confessor — one who has suffered but not (yet) died for the Faith.He has had well-documented difficulties with China’s Communist authorities, which have seen him in recent years charged under new security laws and held under house arrest, as well as his well-known struggles with the Vatican over their Ostpolitik approach to Beijing.Now he has felt forced to speak out in defence of...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishop Strickland: Pray and fast during the Synod as you would for LentOn this week's episode of The Bishop Strickland Show, Bishop Joseph Strickland calls for prayer and fasting during the Synod on Synodality and voices support for the recent dubia presented to Pope Francis.(LifeSiteNews) — On this week’s episode of The Bishop Strickland Show, Bishop Joseph Strickland voices support for the recent dubia by Cardinal Raymond Burke and company, comments on a quote by Archbishop Ven. Fulton Sheen, and calls for prayer and fasting during the Synod on Synodality.Beginning the show addressing the Synod, Strickland encourages us...