“I cannot be silent”. An extraordinary Marco Perfetti between casual Canon Law and «Scandal in the Sun»: the deceased Augustus said that homosexuality is a sin

I CAN'T BE SILENT. AN EXTRAORDINARY MARCO PERFETTI BETWEEN CONFIDENT CANON LAW AND «SCANDAL IN THE SUN»: THE DECEASED AUGUST SAID THAT HOMOSEXUALITY IS A SIN

We can only thank the creator of the blog I cannot be silent, whose interventions, sometimes characterized by an argumentative ease that raises more questions than certainties, they constitute a healthy exercise for us. They remind us that the task of the priest and the theologian is not to chase media coverage, but distinguish, clarify and faithfully safeguard the order of truth, to then defend it from error and pass it on.

— Theology and canon law —

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This video from three years ago continues to circulate online - which I discovered and listened to only a few days ago - but which retains its relevance not due to the solidity of the theses supported, but for the persistence of the ambiguities on which they are based. It often happens that argumentative constructions erected on well-packaged misunderstandings survive longer than structurally based analyses..

Every time a Pontiff gives an interview, a small media ritual is now taking place: a sentence is extracted, it is isolated from the context, clarifications are lightened, it is stripped of all distinctions and relaunched as if it were a doctrinal earthquake. This time the title is already a manifesto: “Homosexuality is a sin”. Segue, with studied gravity, the subtitle: "We're going back".

First of all, it would be interesting to understand what happened. To the constant doctrine of the Church? To the Catechism promulgated in 1992 and definitively edited in 1998? To the moral tradition that distinguishes - with that conceptual finesse that today seems to have become a rare commodity, especially among certain young people who have improvised as keyboard lawyers - between people, inclination and act? The problem is not the "going back" indignation, but the ease with which one handles categories that would demand, even before passion, competence combined with solid intellectual maturity, doctrinal and legal.

When the Roman Pontiff states that homosexuality It's not a crime but it's a sin, it neither introduces anything new nor inaugurates a regression. It makes an elementary distinction between the penal order and the moral order, between crime and sin, between the external hole and the internal hole. A distinction that belongs to the very structure of Catholic thought and which precedes today's controversies by centuries. It would be enough to have a minimal familiarity with the law - the real one, not the one evoked by hearsay - before claiming to impart lessons or using it as a polemical cudgel, sometimes with effects that are more revealing than convincing.

However, if you are unaware of what "sin" means in Catholic moral theology and the judgment on the act is confused with an ontological judgment on the person, then every word becomes material for the tabloid headline and every clarification is dismissed as a reverse. Theology is not done through titles: it is done by distinguishing. And the right, for its part, demands even greater precision, especially the one structured on a Roman basis, less elastic than common law but precisely for this reason less inclined to those ambiguities that, in inexperienced hands, they risk transforming a distinction into an accusation and a clarification into a regression.

Here the real sophistry emerges, as simple as it is effective on a media level. The author states in this video: «Acts of homosexuality are intrinsically disordered: the acts". As if the word "acts", marked with particular emphasis, was sufficient to resolve the problem and protect against any moral evaluation of the person. The question that consequently follows is therefore elementary: who carries out the acts? Given that the acts are not entities suspended in the air, they are not atmospheric phenomena, they are not metaphysical accidents that are produced by self-combustion, It is obvious: the moral act is always a human act. It is posed by a free subject, endowed with intellect and will, of freedom and free will. If we talk about an "act"", we are necessarily talking about an action performed by someone. And that “someone” is man.

Catholic moral theology — and here it would be enough to open a serious manual, not an offhand comment on social — accurately distinguishes between inclination, personal condition and freely posed act. But distinguishing does not mean ontologically separating what is united in reality. The act belongs to the person; the person is the subject of the act. Denying this to save a formula means slipping into a moral nominalism that dissolves responsibility in the lexicon and ends up arousing a certain tenderness towards sorcerer's apprentices convinced that with a terminological device they can resolve structural issues that are evidently bigger than them. St. Augustine, before I can say «I can not remain silent» — I cannot remain silent —, from Aurelius of Tagaste as he still was, he listened to that voice that whispered to him «Great doctor» — take and read. Implied: studies. Aurelius became Augustine because he listened, lessons, he studied and learned.

First of all, it is necessary to recover the category of the moral object. According to the constant doctrine, taken up with clear clarity by Saint John Paul II in the encyclical The Splendor of Truth, the human act is morally qualified on the basis of three elements: object, purpose and circumstances. The object is not the subjective intention, nor the psychological condition of the subject; it is that towards which the act is ordered in itself. When Tradition states that "acts of homosexuality are intrinsically disordered", he is not making a judgment on the dignity of the person, but on the objective structure of the act in relation to the natural law and the specific purpose of sexuality. This means intrinsically evil: that the object of the act is such that it cannot be ordered to the good under any circumstances or intention. It's technical language, not moral slogan. Confusing the judgment on the moral object with an ontological judgment on the person means not having understood the metaphysics of the act, the grammar of Catholic morality e, sometimes, not even that right that one sometimes presumes to want to teach even to others (see, who).

At this point it is best to read the text for what it is, not what you would like it to be. The N. 2357 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

«Homosexuality refers to relationships between men or women who experience sexual attraction, exclusive or predominant, towards people of the same sex. […] Tradition has always declared that "acts of homosexuality are intrinsically disordered". […] Under no circumstances can they be approved.".

It is not an improvised text, nor a marginal note. It is a systematic exposition that clearly distinguishes between inclination and act, between personal condition and morally qualified behavior. The Catechism does not state that the person "is disordered". It does not formulate an ontological judgment on the dignity of the subject. He talks about acts and qualifies them in relation to the natural law and the teleological structure of sexuality.

This distinction does not arise from a disciplinary whim, but from a precise anthropological framework: sexuality, in the Catholic vision, it is ordered to the complementarity between man and woman and to openness to life. If the act is structurally closed for this purpose, the moral object is judged disordered. Not because it was decided in some obscure Roman office by presumed custodians of trembling prejudices, but because the act is evaluated according to a conception of human nature that the Church considers to be inscribed in the order of creation.

One can dispute this anthropology? Certainly and legitimately. But you can't ridicule it by pretending not to understand it, in the hope that others will stop understanding it. The same goes for the inconsistency of the accusation of "going backwards". The text of the Catechism is from 1992, with typical edition the 1998. It was promulgated under Saint John Paul II and drafted under the supervision of then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. We are not faced with a sudden doctrinal regression of 2023 - as claimed by those who repeatedly accuse the Supreme Pontiff of having defined homosexuality as a sin - but to the simple repetition of a constant doctrine. Talking about "backsliding" means ignoring thirty years of Magisterium or pretending that it does not exist. The problem, so, it's not that the Holy Father Francis has said anything new, but that someone has decided to discover today what the Church has never hidden.

If you then really want to understand what "sin" means in Catholic language, it would be enough to remember a formula that every believer hears - or should hear - in the liturgy: «I have sinned a lot in thoughts, words, works and omissions'. Sin is not a sociological label, it is not an identity, it is not a permanent ontological condition, but a morally qualified human act, something that is accomplished, or that you fail to do. So thoughts, words, works and omissions are four ways in which freedom is exercised. E, practicing, it can be ordered towards the good or be disordered with respect to it.

Saying that an act is a sin means to say that, in that concrete choice, man has posed an action contrary to the objective moral order. It does not mean stating that the person is reducible to his act. It does not mean denying its dignity. It does not mean transforming an existential condition into a permanent guilt. The distinction between person and act is not a modern attenuation: it is the very grammar of Catholic morality. Therefore, when the Supreme Pontiff states that homosexuality is not a crime but a sin, he is simply placing the issue in the moral sphere and not in the criminal sphere. He is recalling that the Church does not invoke civil sanctions, but formulates an ethical judgment on the acts. It's a huge difference, which anyone with only an elementary notion of law should be able to recognise.

Sin belongs to the forum of conscience and the relationship with God, crime belongs to the legal system and the public sphere. Confusing the two levels means understanding neither moral theology nor the general theory of law. And it is precisely here that the controversy shows all its fragility. Why accuse the Holy Father of "backtracking" for having reiterated that a morally disordered act - in this specific case the practice of homosexuality - is a sin, equivalent, in reality, to reproach the Church for continuing to be what it is: that means, simply, itself.

At this point a further node emerges, more delicate and more serious. Because behind the media controversy there is not only a problem of distinction between sin and crime, but an ecclesiological question: l'Idea, more or less explicit, that acceptance must necessarily translate into moral approval. And here we need to be extremely clear: the Church is mother, welcomes everyone, always and without preconditions. He did it towards the adulteress - «I don't condemn you either; go and from now on don't sin anymore " (GV 8,11) — of the publican — «O God, be merciful to me a sinner! ' (LC 18,13) — of the persecutor transformed into an apostle — «Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?» (At 9,4) — of the manifest sinner sitting at table with the Master — «It is not the healthy who need the doctor, and in sickness» (MC 2,17). He never asked for a moral certification upon entry. But hospitality has never been synonymous with legitimization of the act. Nor has mercy ever been equated with the normalization of disorder.

To the number of the Catechism mentioned above (cf.. n. 2357) the one immediately following follows with precise calls to respect and welcome homosexual people:

«A non-negligible number of men and women have deeply rooted homosexual tendencies. This inclination, objectively disordered, constitutes a test for most of them. Therefore they must be welcomed with respect, compassion, delicacy. In their regard, any sign of unfair discrimination will be avoided. Such people are called to carry out God's will in their life, e, if they are Christian, to unite the difficulties they may encounter as a result of their condition to the sacrifice of the Lord's cross " (CCC n. 2358).

The point, however, is precisely this: there are subjects who do not ask for hospitality - which the Church already offers - but for moral recognition of the practice, of the exercise of moral disorder. They don't ask to be welcomed as people, but that the act is removed from moral judgment and normalized. And here we are no longer in the pastoral sphere, but in the doctrinal one. If you intend, in other words, that the Church modifies its anthropology to adapt to a dominant cultural paradigm. Who rereads his own morality in the light of contemporary identity issues. May he bless what until yesterday he defined as intrinsically disordered, without changing the theological structure of reference. Now, everything can be discussed, but the Church cannot be asked to cease being itself without openly declaring it.

The topic is usually presented in a more suggestive rather than rigorous way: inclusion is evoked, we talk about rights, the specter of discrimination is raised, to the point of manipulating the objective data by openly reproaching the Holy Father who, calling homosexuality a sin, it would offer legitimacy to the Islamist regimes that prosecute it criminally. But here what is at stake is not the dignity of the person - which the Church forcefully affirms - but rather the moral qualification of the act. And confusing the two dimensions is a suggestive rhetorical device, but theologically inconsistent and juridically cumbersome.

The truth is that someone would like to let you into the Church what we might call a rainbow Trojan horse: not the person, but the entire ideological package that claims to redefine anthropological categories, moral and sacramental. The Church does not reject people, but he cannot accept that hospitality becomes the tool to undermine his own vision of human nature. The mother hugs, but it does not rewrite the moral law to make the embrace more culturally acceptable to those who would like to transform sin into a right. Whoever asks the Church to declare what it is morally good, in the light of his own theological anthropology, considers it objectively disordered, he is not asking for a pastoral act, but a doctrinal revision. And a doctrinal revision is not achieved through media pressure, nor for effective titles, nor for personal needs, nor through reckless denunciations that alter the level of confrontation.

It is necessary to thank the creator of the blog I cannot be silent, whose interventions, sometimes characterized by an argumentative ease that raises more questions than certainties, they constitute a healthy exercise for us. They remind us of the priest's task, of the theologian and the true jurist is not chasing media coverage, but distinguish, clarify and faithfully safeguard the order of truth, to then transmit it and defend it from those ideological Trojan horses that, with rainbow hues and seductive language, they try to introduce into the Church what does not belong to it, to the point of considering the Supreme Pontiff's words about sin a real scandal in the sun.

From the island of Patmos, 28 February 2026

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Donne, law and theology used as slogans by the blog “I can not remain silent” – Donne, law, and theology used as slogans by the blog “I can not remain silent” – Women, law and theology reduced to slogan by the blog “Silere non possum”

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DONNE, LAW AND THEOLOGY USED AS SLOGANS BY THE BLOG I CAN'T BE SILENT

When a theological or legal argument does not stand up to a full reading of the sources, no invective is needed to refute it: it is sufficient to trace it back to the sources themselves, because sometimes the comparison with them is already in itself the most severe of responses.

— Theology and canon law —

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A necessary premise is necessary. the blog I can not remain silent it has never aroused particular appreciation among the editors of this magazine, not out of prejudice, but by method.

Our mission is not to fuel controversy, but rather to recall the theological and juridical truth when this is exposed in an imprecise way, approximate or ideologically oriented. The problem is not criticism - which is legitimate and sometimes necessary in the Church - but the quality of criticism. When texts of an ecclesiological and canonical nature are disseminated with peremptory tones, selective quotes and arguments that seem solid only until they are subjected to scrutiny, it becomes necessary to intervene. Not so much for professionals, who possess the tools to discern, as for those priests in good faith and for those Catholic faithful who are not adequately prepared, which risk taking as rigorous analyzes what often turns out to be a rhetorical and emotional construction rather than theological and juridical one.

The last article «Women who evaluate bishops? The results of this tokenism are there for all to see" (see who), represents an emblematic example of this approach. In several places the text borders on invective; in legal and theological citations, then, the authenticity sometimes appears similar to that of a zircon presented as a pure diamond: shiny on the surface, but lacking the structural consistency that only rigorous analysis can guarantee. For this reason - and for this reason alone -, it is appropriate to go into detail.

«The power of government is an unresolved issue» constitutes the main topic of the article, solemn in form yet fragile in substance. It is stated that the power of government, being sacramentally rooted in Holy Orders, cannot be "normalized" nor exercised according to administrative logic that involves non-ordained faithful. The reference to Benedict XVI - in particular to the catechesis on governing office the 26 May 2010 — it's suggestive, but markedly selective. And above all theologically imprecise. Not for academic subtlety, but due to an evident confusion between sacramental ownership of the gift and legal cooperation in the exercise of authority.

The text uses correct formulas — «sacramental structure», «sacred origin of authority», "bond with the Sacrament of Orders" - but isolates them from the overall context of Catholic doctrine, transforming them into apologetic slogans through selective extrapolations. The result is an argument that appears compact only until it is subjected to a complete reading of the sources. It's true: the hierarchy in the Church has a "sacred origin"; ecclesial authority does not arise from a sociological investiture; the gift governing it is not comparable to one leadership corporate. But, from these premises, what the article claims to demonstrate does not follow at all.

The Code of Canon Law is extremely clear: the can. 129 § 1 states that those who have received Holy Orders are eligible for the power of government. Ma he §2, which immediately follows - and here is the point systematically ignored - establishes that «the lay faithful can cooperate in the exercise of this power, according to law". To cooperate does not mean to usurp, replace or exercise the episcopal office, but participate, according to methods determined by the ecclesial system, to the concrete exercise of functions that are not of a sacramental nature, but administrative, consultative, investigation, management. Denying this principle one should consistently maintain that: lay people operating in ecclesiastical courts exercise a surreptitious episcopate; the lay experts who participated in the Ecumenical Councils participated sacramentally in the the task of teaching; every administrative function of the Curia requires episcopal consecration, to the point of transforming the ecclesial organization into a sort of monolithic exclusively sacramental apparatus. Simply said,: such a conclusion is not only not required by Catholic theology, but it misrepresents the fundamental distinction between sacramental ownership and juridical cooperation.

Following the logic of the authors of the article, at least one titular bishop should be appointed to manage the parking lots of the Vatican City State, so as to prevent a simple administrative official from exercising an "insufficiently sacramental" power in matters of blue lines and time discs, perhaps with appropriate references to sacramental dogmatics. Of course: the absurd is not the irony but the premise. Benedict XVI, in recalling the "sacred origin" of ecclesial authority, he has never maintained that every act of government in the Church ontologically coincides with the exercise of Holy Orders. The distinction between the power of the order e the power of government it is classic in Catholic theology and finds a clear and systematic formulation in canon law. The sacramental origin of the episcopate does not eliminate the institutional and juridical dimension of ecclesial government: the foundation and the structure. Confusing these levels means exchanging the root for the branches. Authority is born sacramentally, but its concrete administration is instead structured according to juridical forms. The two dimensions are not alternatives, but complementary.

When it is stated that an administrative appointment «shifts the center of gravity from the Holy Order to the papal nomination», a false dilemma is constructed. The Roman Pontiff does not create the sacramentality of the episcopate through an administrative act; but he can legitimately confer non-sacramental government roles on those who have not received the Order, provided that it is not the actual exercise of episcopal office. Reducing everything to the category of "sacred origin" to deny any form of lay cooperation is not a defense of theology: it is a rhetorical construction that takes on the language of doctrine to support an identity position. All expressed - and it is a fact that cannot be ignored - by authors who systematically choose anonymity, while they do not hesitate to describe them as "ignorant", «incompetent», "illiterate" or even "wandering clerics thrown out of their dioceses" people who have gained preparation and competence through decades of serious study and ongoing training. The moral authority of criticism is not strengthened with invective, least of all with anonymity.

The section dedicated to the «female gaze» presents itself as a criticism of ideology. Ma, paradoxically, ends up building a mirror-image and inverse ideology. It is stated that the idea of ​​a "peculiar female gaze" is an empty thesis, sentimental, identity. However, to demolish this thesis we resort to the same scheme that we would like to refute: Women are attributed with an emotional predisposition, unstable, incapable of objective discernment. The stereotype cannot be overcome: you turn it upside down. The topic thus slides from a legitimate perplexity about the risk of personalistic criteria to a generalized judgment on the presumed female inclination towards sentimentalism. It is not a theological passage nor a canonical argument, not even a well-founded sociological analysis, it's just a rhetorical device.

If there really was a "feminine criterion" intrinsically unreliable in discernment, one should then conclude — consistently — that women cannot be judges in ecclesiastical courts, nor teachers of moral theology, nor authorized to exercise consultative functions in the canonical field or to manage complex administrative offices. But the Church has never taught anything of the sort. The can. 228 § 1 it is unmistakable: suitable lay people are able to assume ecclesiastical offices and tasks for which they are capable. The criterion is not gender, but suitability. The law is clear, it becomes less so when it is read in fragments or bent to a thesis based on prejudice. Attributing to women a natural inclination towards emotional judgment is in fact equivalent to repeating, in a polemical way, the same stereotyped anthropology that it claims to want to fight. We move from the myth of the "naturally welcoming mother" to the myth of the "naturally impressionable woman". Change the sign, not the structure.

At this point a question arises spontaneously — and it doesn't need to be shouted but asked calmly — because critical attention focuses almost exclusively on women? Because you can't read it, with the same vehemence, an analysis of the male power dynamics that have produced clientelism for decades, cross protections, ideological consortiums and networks of influence are not always clear?

The recent history of the Curia was not marked by an excess of the "female gaze", but rather crossed by logics of belonging, sometimes very compact, sometimes surprisingly indulgent towards well-known internal fragilities, as long as they are placed in the right relational network. When we thunder against the female presence as a destabilizing factor, but there is silence about much more structured and deep-rooted protection systems, criticism inevitably loses credibility. Not because the presence of women is untouchable - no ecclesial function is - but because the selectivity of indignation is always a clue. Impetuously stigmatizing the femininity of those who are women by nature and grace, while at the same time overlooking certain "masculine" habits and vices that have nothing evangelically virile about them, it is not doctrinal rigor, it is a polemical asymmetry.

Another point deserves clarification: the consultation process for choosing bishops — governed by cann. 377 e 378 — does not attribute sacramental power to any consultant. It does not confer the episcopal office. The consultation is an investigative tool, non-exercise of governing office. When a lay person - man or woman - expresses an opinion, does not exercise sacramental jurisdiction: contributes to an information process. The decision then remains entirely with the Apostolic See.

Claim that the mere presence of women in a consultative body compromises the sacramentality of the episcopate means confusing distinct levels of the ecclesial order. It is a notable conceptual confusion, not a defense of the doctrine. The real problem, if it exists, it is not the gender of the consultants but the quality of the criteria. If some appointments are questionable, the question is not whether the person expressing an opinion was a man or a woman, but ask yourself: what information was collected? By what method? With what verification? With what final assumption of responsibility? Reducing everything to an identity opposition - "feminine gaze" versus "sacramental governance" - not only oversimplifies reality, but it distorts it. The Church does not need symbolic quotas. But it doesn't even need selective indignation, ready to take action on some profiles and surprisingly silent and protective on other, much more consolidated power dynamics, even when they emerge in a public and seriously scandalous form (cf.. who).

The difference between an ideological presence and a competent presence it doesn't go through gender. Go through eligibility, training, ecclesial maturity, the ability to discern. If you really want to avoid tokenism, the criterion must be competence, always. For men and women. Otherwise we end up fighting one ideology by building another, with the only difference that this time the controversy takes on the face of a theologically selective nostalgia.

The bombastic question: «We want competent bishops or the approval of the media?» constructs a contrast that is as suggestive as it is artificial. No canonical law provides that bishops are chosen to obtain media consensus. The can. 378 § 1 indicates very concrete requirements: intact faith, good morals, compassion, very per le anime, wisdom, prudence, human virtues, good reputation, at least thirty-five years of age, five years of priesthood, doctorate or license in sacred disciplines or at least real expertise in them. The parameter is objective suitability, not journalistic approval. To say that recent appointments are driven by a media obsession may be an opinion; however, transforming it into a total interpretative key becomes a self-sufficient narrative: every choice that is not shared is explained as giving in to the media; every unwanted profile as the result of "tokenism".

It is an effective rhetorical mechanism, but fragile. If the criterion was really the applause of the "popular", how can it be explained that many appointments were contested by the media? How can it be explained that quite a few episcopal choices have generated critical reactions even in the secular world? The argument works only as long as it remains unproven; subjected to verification, loses consistency and reveals itself to have no objective basis. The real problem — and it is a serious problem — is not media approval. It is the quality of the information collected in the consultation process. And this is where the discussion should focus. The procedure foreseen by can. 377 §2-3 it is articulated: common and secret consultation among the bishops; collection of qualified opinions; possible listening to priests and lay people; transmission of a detailed picture to the Apostolic See. The system is not built to replace episcopal judgment with media judgment. It is built to broaden the candidate's knowledge. The investigation does not remove responsibility from the Apostolic See; the qualification.

If some appointments are unfortunate, the problem is not the presence of lay people or women in the consultative process. The problem, eventually, it is the quality of the evaluations, the solidity of the information, the verification of reports and - in times that Scripture would call "lean" - also the objective difficulty of finding profiles of particular depth and value. And here a significant detail emerges: the article denounces emotional criteria, impressionistic, identity. But in doing so he uses equally impressionistic categories: "disaster", "state of desperation", "power games", «unliveable dynamics». Strong terms, but without detailed documentation. We criticize the subjectivity of others by resorting to our own subjectivity. If the problem is the quality of the appointments, the discussion must remain objective, otherwise we remain in the sphere of polemical impression.

Another impressive question it is what is contained in the slogan: «Il gift you can't improvise", with reference to the need to distinguish "between theology and selective use of law". It is the most theologically challenging part of the article, dedicated to gift episcopal. And this is where extreme clarity is needed. The the task of teaching, to sanctify and govern it belongs to the episcopate (cf.. can. 375). Nobody disputes it. No recent reform has attributed the episcopal office to non-ordained subjects. No woman exercises the episcopal office. Today no layman, man or woman, governs a diocese by virtue of sacramental power. When, in past eras, distortions occurred in the management of the dioceses — with absent owners, sometimes never residents and administrations de facto delegated to relatives or trustees according to the logic of nepotism - these were historical abuses that the Tridentine reform corrected precisely to bring ecclesial government back to its authentic and pastoral form. Evoking similar scenarios today as if they were re-proposable means superimposing radically different and completely inappropriate historical plans.

The real question is another: who can cooperate in the investigative and administrative processes that precede or accompany the exercise of gift? The legal answer has already been given. It is not an innovation of the current or previous pontificate. The can. 129 §2 provides that the lay faithful can cooperate in the exercise of the power of government according to law; the can. 228 recognizes suitable lay people the possibility of assuming ecclesiastical offices; the can. 377 §3 it explicitly contemplates the consultation of priests and lay people in the process of episcopal appointment. The fundamental distinction is between sacramental ownership of gift and functional cooperation in the exercise of authority. Confusing the two dimensions means transforming an administrative question into an ontological question. And this is not a defense of theology, but alteration of its categories.

If only to those who sacramentally participate in the gift is given to contribute to the discernment of a candidate, then it should consistently be excluded: lay academics consulted for their theological expertise; non-ordained canonists; lay people included in disciplinary commissions; economic experts in the dioceses. We should even review the consolidated practice of the Roman dicasteries, where doctors, jurists, experts from various disciplines collaborate without exercising any sacramental power. Just think of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints: the scientific commission is made up of medical specialists who evaluate the alleged miracles according to strictly clinical criteria. No one has ever found it necessary to replace them with clergy without clinical training, just because they are tidy. The Church has never worked like this, not even in the most delicate areas.

The risk, so, it is not the "feminization" of the Curia, but the clericalization of every ecclesial function, as if Holy Orders were a requirement for any administrative or consultative responsibility. Is this, paradoxically, contradicts precisely the criticism directed elsewhere at "clericalism". Recent history offers eloquent examples. Saint John Paul II chose him as Director of the Press Office of the Holy See Joaquín Navarro-Valls, psychiatrist and lay doctor, not because he was tidy - he wasn't - but because of his great competence, Balance, communicative intelligence. Father then succeeded him Federico Lombardi S.J., He was also chosen for his high personal and professional qualities. In both cases, the criterion was not the sacramental degree, but suitability for function.

«The episcopal munus cannot be improvised», Certainly, but neither does it improperly extend to functions that do not ontologically belong to it. Defending the sacramentality of the episcopate does not mean transforming every ecclesial collaboration into an appendix of the Holy Orders. Means, on the contrary, preserve the distinctions that theological tradition and Church law have always been able to maintain.

The debate cannot concern the "feminization" of the Curia, nor the obsession with quotas, nor an alleged surrender to sociological modernity. The real point is something else: the quality of discernment and fidelity to the theological structure of the Church. If a woman exercises an administrative role legitimately conferred by the Roman Pontiff, the sacramentality of the episcopate has not been affected. If a religious participates in a consultative process, the ontology of the gift. If a layperson offers a technical opinion, the hierarchy has not been desacralized. The Sacrament of Orders is not a cover for every organizational function, it is the root of the apostolic mission. Confusing the root with every leaf of the institutional tree is not a defense of tradition: it is theological approximation for amateurs.

The most serious risk is not the presence of women in ministries, but the ideological use of theology to transform every administrative choice into an ontological crisis. It's the habit of reading everything as subversion. It is the inability to distinguish between cooperation and substitution, between consultation and ownership, between sacramental structure and juridical organization. And then there is a detail that deserves to be said with sober clarity: one cannot thunder against the "ideology of women" while systematically remaining silent on other power dynamics that pass through much more structured ecclesiastical environments, branched and influential. Selective indignation is not doctrinal rigor: it is a controversial choice. And when severity is exercised only in one direction, becomes suspicious. The Church does not need fears disguised as theology but competence, responsibility, truth and inner freedom. It needs well-educated appointments and solid information. It needs men and women who serve, not of identity narratives that fuel permanent conflicts.

Therefore, if the criterion is competence, this itself must be demonstrated. If the criterion is law, everything should be read anyway, not for fragments and extrapolations. If the criterion is theology, this cannot be reduced to slogans. The sacramentality of ecclesial authority is not in question, but neither is it an argument to be brandished against every form of lay cooperation, otherwise we end up defending the hierarchy so rigidly as to transform it into a grotesque caricature. And the Church is not a caricatural phenomenon, even if some reduce it to a parody. It is a sacramental reality that lives in history, with legal structures, personal responsibilities and concrete decisions. The rest belongs more to the controversy of some blogs than to law or theology.

In this blog there is also anonymity as a moral posture, which deserves sober observation. The harshest criticism — with accusations of incompetence, of authoritarianism, of ideological management — come from subjects who systematically choose anonymity, which may even have legitimate reasons in particular circumstances. But when you make such heavy judgments about people and institutions, remain structurally anonymous while demanding transparency from others, while anonymous complaints and gossip are stigmatized, creates an evident moral asymmetry, not without gravity. Also because Catholic theology is not built on insinuations; canon law is not based on unverifiable impressions; and moral authority requires precise assumptions of responsibility which often require courage, sometimes even real heroism. Criticizing is legitimate; delegitimizing without exposing yourself is much less so. In fact, when the seriousness of sacramentality is invoked, it would be coherent to also invoke the seriousness of personal responsibility, almost absent from the columns of a blog that, setting itself up as a permanent tribunal, However, he systematically avoids taking on the responsibility of appearing as a party. The rest, when a theological or legal argument does not stand up to a full reading of the sources, no invective is needed to refute it: it is sufficient to trace it back to the sources themselves, because sometimes, serious and scientific comparison with them, is already in itself the most severe of replies.

From the island of Patmos, 15 February 2026

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DONNE, LAW, AND THEOLOGY USED AS SLOGANS BY THE BLOG I CAN'T BE SILENT

When a theological or juridical argument cannot withstand an integral reading of the sources, no invective is needed to refute it: it is enough to bring it back to the sources themselves, because at times the very confrontation with them is already, in itself, the most severe of replies.

— Theology and canon law —

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A necessary premise is in order. The blog I can not remain silent has never enjoyed particular esteem among the Fathers who edit this journal. Not out of prejudice, but out of method. Our mission is not to fuel polemics, but to recall theological and juridical truth whenever it is presented in an imprecise, approximate, or ideologically slanted manner. The problem is not criticism — which in the Church is legitimate and at times necessary — but the quality of criticism. When ecclesiological and canonical texts are circulated with peremptory tones, selective citations, and arguments that seem solid only so long as they are not subjected to verification, it becomes our duty to intervene. Not so much for specialists, who possess the tools to discern, as for those priests acting in good faith and for those Catholic faithful who are not adequately prepared, and who risk taking as rigorous analysis what often proves to be a rhetorical and emotive construction rather than a theological and juridical one.

The most recent article, “Women who evaluate bishops? The results of this tokenism are plain for all to see” (see here), is an emblematic example of this approach. In more than one place the text borders on invective; and in its juridical and theological citations, its authenticity at times resembles that of a zircon presented as a pure diamond: brilliant on the surface, yet lacking the structural consistency that only rigorous analysis can provide. For this reason — and for this reason alone — it is fitting to enter into the substance of the matter.

“The power of governance: an unresolved knot” constitutes the article’s main argument, solemn in form and yet fragile in substance. It is claimed that the power of governance, being sacramentally rooted in sacred Orders, cannot be “normalized” nor exercised according to administrative logics that involve non-ordained members of the faithful. The appeal to Benedict XVI — particularly to the catechesis on the governing office of 26 May 2010 — is suggestive, but markedly selective, and above all theologically imprecise. Not because of academic subtleties, but because of an evident confusion between the sacramental titularity of the gift and juridical cooperation in the exercise of authority.

The text employs correct formulas — “sacramental structure,” “sacred origin of authority,” “bond with the Sacrament of Orders” — but isolates them from the overall context of Catholic doctrine, turning them into apologetic slogans by means of selective extrapolations. The result is an argument that appears compact only so long as it is not subjected to an integral reading of the sources. It is true: the hierarchy in the Church has a “sacred origin”; ecclesial authority does not arise from a sociological investiture; the governing office is not reducible to corporate leadership. Yet from these premises there follows nothing of what the article claims to prove.

The Code of Canon Law is exceedingly clear: can. 129 §1 states that those who have received sacred Orders are capable of the power of governance. But §2, which follows immediately — and here lies the point that is systematically ignored — adds that “lay members of the Christian faithful can cooperate in the exercise of this power according to the norm of law.” And to cooperate does not mean to usurp, substitute oneself, or exercise the episcopal gift; rather, it means to participate — according to modalities determined by the Church’s legal order — in the concrete exercise of functions that are not sacramental in nature, but administrative, consultative, investigative, and managerial. Denying this principle would require one coherently to maintain that: lay members of ecclesiastical tribunals exercise a surrogate episcopate; lay experts who intervened in Ecumenical Councils participated sacramentally in the the task of teaching; every administrative function of the Roman Curia would require episcopal consecration, turning ecclesial organization into a monolithic apparatus exclusively sacramental. It is quickly said: such a conclusion is not only not required by Catholic theology; it distorts the fundamental distinction between sacramental titularity and juridical cooperation.

Following the logic of the article’s authors, one should then appoint at least a titular bishop to oversee the parking areas of the Vatican City State, lest a mere administrative official exercise an authority “insufficiently sacramental” in matters of blue lines and parking discs — perhaps with suitable references to sacramental dogmatics. To be clear: the absurdity is not the irony, but the premise. Benedict XVI, in recalling the “sacred origin” of ecclesial authority, never maintained that every act of governance in the Church coincides ontologically with the exercise of sacred Orders. The distinction between the power of the order and the power of government is classical in Catholic theology and finds in canon law a clear and systematic formulation. The sacramental origin of the episcopate does not eliminate the institutional and juridical dimension of ecclesial governance: it grounds it and structures it. To confuse these levels is to mistake the root for the branches. Authority arises sacramentally; its concrete administration is articulated through juridical forms. The two dimensions are not alternatives, but complementary.

When it is claimed that an administrative appointment “shifts the center of gravity from sacred Orders to papal appointment,” a false dilemma is constructed. The Roman Pontiff does not create the sacramentality of the episcopate by an administrative act; yet he can legitimately confer non-sacramental offices of governance upon those who have not received Orders, provided that what is at stake is not the proper exercise of the episcopal gift. To reduce everything to the category of “sacred origin” in order to deny every form of lay cooperation is not the defense of theology: it is a rhetorical construction that adopts the language of doctrine to support an identitarian position. All this is advanced — and this is a fact that cannot be ignored — by authors who systematically choose anonymity, while not hesitating to label as “ignorant,” “incompetent,” “illiterate,” or even “wandering clerics cast out of their dioceses” persons who have acquired preparation and competence through decades of serious study and ongoing formation. The moral authority of criticism is not strengthened by invective, least of all by anonymity.

The section devoted to the “female gaze” presents itself as a critique of ideology. Yet, paradoxically, it ends up constructing a specular and inverted ideology. It is asserted that the idea of a peculiarly female “gaze” would be empty, sentimentalistic, identitarian. However, in order to demolish this thesis, the very same schema it would refute is employed: women are attributed an emotional, unstable disposition, incapable of objective discernment. The stereotype is not overcome; it is reversed. The argument thus slips from a legitimate concern about the risk of personalist criteria into a generalized judgment about an alleged female inclination to sentimentalism. This is not a theological passage, nor a canonical argument, nor even a sound sociological analysis: it is a rhetorical device.

If there truly existed an intrinsically unreliable “female criterion” in discernment, one would then have to conclude — consistently — that women could not be judges in ecclesiastical tribunals, nor professors of moral theology, nor competent to exercise consultative functions in canonical matters, nor capable of directing complex administrative offices. But the Church has never taught anything of the sort. Canon 228 §1 is unequivocal: suitably qualified lay persons are capable of assuming ecclesiastical offices and functions for which they are competent. The criterion is not gender, but suitability. The law is clear; it becomes less so only when read in fragments or bent to a thesis rooted in prejudice. To attribute to women a natural inclination to emotional judgment is, in polemical guise, to reproduce the very stereotyped anthropology one claims to combat. One passes from the myth of the “naturally welcoming mother” to the myth of the “naturally impressionable woman.” The sign changes; the structure does not.

At this point a question arises spontaneously — and it need not be shouted, only posed calmly: why does critical attention focus almost exclusively on women? Why does one not read, with the same vehemence, an analysis of male power dynamics which for decades have produced clientelism, mutual protection, ideological factions, and networks of influence not always transparent?

Against Sister Raffaella Petrini, now Governor of the Vatican City State — a title traditionally in use, although juridically it is a presidency — the columns of that blog directed not only criticism but outright personal invective.

The recent history of the Curia has not been marked by an excess of a “female gaze,” but rather by dynamics of belonging — at times very compact, at times surprisingly indulgent toward well-known internal fragilities — provided they are situated within the right relational network. When one thunders against the female presence as a destabilizing factor, yet remains silent about far more structured and deeply rooted systems of protection, criticism inevitably loses credibility. Not because women’s presence is untouchable — no ecclesial function is — but because selective indignation is always a sign. To stigmatize with impetuosity the femininity of those who are women by nature and by grace, while at the same time overlooking certain “male” behaviors that have nothing evangelically virile about them, is not doctrinal rigor; it is polemical asymmetry.

Another point requires clarity: the consultative process for the selection of bishops — governed by cann. 377 and 378 — does not confer sacramental power upon any consultor. It does not grant the episcopal gift. It does not turn an opinion into an act of governance. Consultation is an investigative instrument, not the exercise of the governing office. When a lay person — man or woman — offers an opinion, he does not exercise sacramental jurisdiction; he contributes to an informational process. The decision remains with the Apostolic See.

To claim that the mere presence of women in a consultative body compromises the sacramentality of the episcopate is to confuse distinct levels of the Church’s legal order. This is conceptual confusion, not defense of doctrine. The real problem, if any, is not the consultors’ gender but the quality of the criteria. If certain appointments prove questionable, the issue is not whether the person who offered an opinion was male or female, but: what information was gathered? By what method? With what verification? With what assumption of final responsibility? To reduce everything to an identitarian opposition — “female gaze” versus “sacramental governance” — not only oversimplifies reality; it deforms it. The Church does not need symbolic quotas. Yet she also does not need selective indignations, ready to activate against certain profiles and surprisingly silent about other power dynamics far more consolidated, even when they emerge publicly and scandalously.

The difference between an ideological presence and a competent presence does not pass through gender. It passes through suitability, formation, ecclesial maturity, and the capacity for discernment. If one truly wishes to avoid tokenism, then the criterion must be competence — always, for men and for women. Otherwise one ends up combating one ideology by constructing another, with the only difference that this time polemics assume the guise of a theologically selective nostalgia.

The resounding question, “Do we want competent bishops or the approval of the media?” constructs a contrast as suggestive as it is artificial. No canonical norm provides that bishops are chosen in order to obtain media consensus. Canon 378 §1 indicates very concrete requirements: sound faith, good morals, piety, zeal for souls, wisdom, prudence, human virtues, good reputation, at least thirty-five years of age, five years of priesthood, a doctorate or licentiate in sacred disciplines — or at least true expertise in them. The parameter is objective suitability, not journalistic approval. To claim that recent appointments would be guided by a media obsession may be an opinion; to transform it into a total interpretive key, however, becomes a self-sufficient narrative: every unwelcomed choice is explained as capitulation to the media; every disliked profile as the fruit of “tokenism.”

It is a rhetorically effective mechanism, but a fragile one. If the criterion were truly the applause of the “common folk,” how does one explain that many appointments have been contested precisely by the media? How does one explain that not a few episcopal choices have generated critical reactions even in secular circles? The argument works only so long as it remains unproven; once subjected to verification, it loses consistency and reveals itself without objective foundation. The real problem — and it is a serious one — is not media approval. It is the quality of the information gathered in the consultative process. And it is here that the discussion ought to concentrate. The procedure envisaged by can. 377 §§2–3 is articulated: common and secret consultation among bishops; gathering of qualified opinions; possible listening to priests and laity; transmission of a well-documented dossier to the Apostolic See. The system is not built to replace episcopal judgment with media judgment. It is built to broaden knowledge of the candidate. The investigation does not remove responsibility from the Apostolic See; it qualifies it.

If certain appointments prove unhappy, the problem is not the presence of laity or women in the consultative process. The problem, if anything, is the quality of evaluations, the solidity of information, the verification of reports and — at times when Scripture would speak of “lean years” — also the objective difficulty of finding candidates of particular depth and worth. Here a significant detail emerges. The article denounces emotional, impressionistic, identitarian criteria. Yet in doing so it employs equally impressionistic categories: “disaster,” “a state of despair,” “power games,” “unlivable dynamics.” Strong terms, but lacking detailed documentation. One criticizes the subjectivity of others while resorting to one’s own. If the issue is the quality of appointments, the discussion must remain objective. Otherwise it remains within the sphere of polemical impression.

Another rhetorical question is encapsulated in the slogan, “The gift is not improvised,” along with an appeal to the need to distinguish “between theology and selective use of law.” This is the article’s most theologically demanding portion, devoted to the episcopal gift. Here utmost clarity is required. The the task of teaching, to sanctify and govern is proper to the episcopate (cf. can. 375). No one contests this. No recent reform has attributed the episcopal gift to non-ordained persons. No woman exercises the episcopal gift. Today no lay person, man or woman, governs a diocese by virtue of sacramental power. When, in past epochs, distortions occurred in diocesan governance — with absent titulars, sometimes never resident, and administrations in fact delegated to relatives or trusted persons according to logics of nepotism — these were historical abuses which the Tridentine reform corrected precisely in order to restore ecclesial governance to its authentic pastoral form. To evoke such scenarios today as though they were re-proposable is to superimpose radically different historical planes, wholly out of place.

The real question is another: who may cooperate in the investigative and administrative processes that precede or accompany the exercise of the gift? The answer of the law is already given. This is not an innovation of the current pontificate nor of the preceding one. Canon 129 §2 provides that lay members of the faithful may cooperate in the exercise of the power of governance according to the law; can. 228 recognizes that suitably qualified laity may assume ecclesiastical offices; can. 377 §3 explicitly envisages consultation also of priests and laity in the process of episcopal appointment. The fundamental distinction is between the sacramental titularity of the gift and functional cooperation in the exercise of authority. To confuse the two is to turn an administrative question into an ontological one. And this is not the defense of theology, but an alteration of its categories.

If only those who participate sacramentally in the gift were permitted to contribute to discernment about a candidate, one would coherently have to exclude: lay academics consulted for their theological competence; non-ordained canonists; lay members of disciplinary commissions; economic experts in dioceses. One would even have to revise the consolidated practice of Roman dicasteries, where physicians, jurists, and experts in various disciplines collaborate without exercising any sacramental authority. Consider the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints: its scientific commission is composed of specialist physicians who evaluate alleged miracles according to rigorously clinical criteria. No one has ever thought it necessary to replace them with clerics lacking clinical training simply because they are ordained. The Church has never functioned in this way, not even in the most delicate spheres.

The risk, therefore, is not the “feminization” of the Curia, but the clericalization of every ecclesial function, as though sacred Orders were required for any administrative or consultative responsibility. And this, paradoxically, contradicts precisely the critique elsewhere directed against “clericalism.” Recent history offers eloquent examples. Saint John Paul II chose Joaquín Navarro-Valls, a layman and psychiatrist, as Director of the Holy See Press Office — not because he was ordained (he was not), but because of great competence, balance, and communicative intelligence. He was later succeeded by Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J., likewise chosen for personal and professional qualities. In both cases the criterion was not sacramental rank, but suitability for the function.

The episcopal gift is not improvised, certainly. Yet neither is it improperly extended to functions that do not belong to it ontologically. To defend the sacramentality of the episcopate does not mean to turn every ecclesial collaboration into an appendage of sacred Orders. It means, on the contrary, to safeguard the distinctions that theological tradition and the Church’s law have always known how to maintain.

The debate cannot concern the “feminization” of the Curia, nor an obsession with quotas, nor an alleged capitulation to sociological modernity. The true point is another: the quality of discernment and fidelity to the Church’s theological structure. If a woman exercises an administrative office legitimately conferred by the Roman Pontiff, the sacramentality of the episcopate has not been compromised. If a religious sister participates in a consultative process, the ontology of the gift has not been altered. If a lay person offers technical advice, the hierarchy has not been desacralized. The Sacrament of Orders is not a covering for every organizational function; it is the root of the apostolic mission. To confuse the root with every leaf of the institutional tree is not the defense of tradition: it is theological approximation by amateurs.

The more serious risk is not the female presence in dicasteries. It is the ideological use of theology to turn every administrative decision into an ontological crisis. It is the habit of reading everything as subversion. It is the inability to distinguish between cooperation and substitution, between consultation and titularity, between sacramental structure and juridical organization. And there is also a detail that must be stated with sober clarity: one cannot thunder against the “ideology of woman” while systematically remaining silent about other dynamics of power that traverse ecclesial environments far more structured, ramified, and influential. Selective indignation is not doctrinal rigor; it is a polemical choice. And when severity is exercised in only one direction, it becomes suspect. The Church does not need fears disguised as theology, but competence, responsibility, truth, and interior freedom. She needs well-prepared appointments and solid information. She needs men and women who serve, not identitarian narratives that nourish permanent conflicts.

If, then, the criterion is competence, that competence must itself be shown. If the criterion is law, the law must be read in its entirety, not by fragments and extrapolations. If the criterion is theology, theology cannot be reduced to slogans. The sacramentality of ecclesial authority is not in question, but neither is it an argument to be brandished against every form of lay cooperation; otherwise one ends up defending the hierarchy so rigidly as to turn it into a grotesque caricature. And the Church is not a caricatural phenomenon, even if some reduce her to parody. She is a sacramental reality living in history, with juridical structures, personal responsibilities, and concrete decisions. The rest belongs more to the polemics of certain anonymous blogs than to law or theology.

In this blog, moreover, anonymity functions as a moral posture that deserves a sober observation. The harshest critiques — with accusations of incompetence, authoritarianism, ideological governance — come from persons who systematically choose anonymity, which may in certain circumstances even have legitimate reasons. But when one formulates judgments so heavy against persons and institutions, remaining structurally anonymous while demanding transparency from others, while stigmatizing anonymous denunciations and gossip, creates an evident moral asymmetry, not without gravity. For Catholic theology is not built on insinuations; canon law is not founded on unverifiable impressions; and moral authority requires precise assumptions of responsibility which not infrequently demand courage, at times even true heroism. Criticism is legitimate; delegitimizing others without exposing oneself is far less so. When one invokes the seriousness of sacramentality, it would be coherent to invoke also the seriousness of personal responsibility — almost wholly absent from the columns of a blog which, setting itself up as a permanent tribunal, systematically avoids assuming the responsibility of appearing as a party. Moreover, when a theological or juridical argument cannot withstand an integral reading of the sources, no invective is needed to refute it: it is enough to bring it back to the sources themselves, because at times the very confrontation with them is already, in itself, the most severe of replies.

From the Isle of Patmos, 15 February 2026

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WOMEN, LAW AND THEOLOGY REDUCED TO SLOGAN BY THE BLOG SILERE NON POSSUM

When a theological or legal argument does not withstand the full reading of the sources, no invective is needed to refute it: just refer it back to the sources themselves, because sometimes the contrast with them constitutes in itself the most severe of replies.

theology and canon law

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A necessary premise is imposed. The blog I can not remain silent has never aroused particular appreciation among the Fathers editors of this magazine. Not because of prejudice, but by method. Our mission is not to fuel controversies, but to refer to theological and legal truth when it is presented imprecisely, approximate or ideologically oriented. The problem is not criticism — which in the Church is legitimate and sometimes necessary —, but the quality of the criticism. When texts of an ecclesiological and canonistic nature are disseminated with peremptory tones, selective citations and arguments that appear solid only as long as they are not subjected to verification, it is necessary to intervene. Not so much for the specialists, who possess the instruments to discern, as for those priests of good faith and for those Catholic faithful not adequately prepared, that run the risk of assuming as rigorous analysis what often turns out to be a rhetorical and emotional construction rather than a theological and legal one..

The last article «Women who evaluate bishops? The results of this tokenism are visible to all. (see here) represents an emblematic example of this approach. At several points the text borders on invective.; in legal and theological quotes, besides, authenticity sometimes appears similar to that of a zircon presented as a pure diamond: shiny on the surface, but lacking the structural consistency that only a rigorous analysis can guarantee. For this reason - and only for this reason - it is advisable to go into the background.

«The power of government, an unresolved knot constitutes the supporting argument of the article, as solemn in form as fragile in substance. It is stated that the power of government, being sacramentally rooted in the sacred Order, It cannot be “normalized” or exercised according to administrative logic that involves non-ordained faithful.. The reference to Benedict XVI — in particular to the catechesis on the governing office the 26 May 2010 — is suggestive, but markedly selective. Y, above all, theologically imprecise. Not for academic subtlety, but because of an evident confusion between the sacramental ownership of the gift and legal cooperation in the exercise of power.

The text uses correct formulas — «sacramental structure», "sacred origin of authority", «link with the Sacrament of Orders» —, but it isolates them from the global context of Catholic doctrine, transforming them into apologetic slogans through selective extrapolations. The result is an argument that appears compact only when it is not subjected to a full reading of the sources.. It's true: The hierarchy in the Church has a “sacred origin”; ecclesiastical authority is not born from a sociological investiture; he governing office It is not comparable to business leadership. But from these premises it does not follow at all what the article aims to demonstrate..

The Code of Canon Law is extremely clear: the c. 129 §1 states that those who have received Holy Orders are qualified for the power of government. But §2, which immediately follows - and here is the point systematically ignored - establishes that "the lay faithful can cooperate in the exercise of said power, according to the law. And cooperating does not mean usurping, replace or exercise the episcopal office, but participate, according to modalities determined by the ecclesial order, in the concrete exercise of functions that are not sacramental in nature, but administrative, consultative, training, management. Denying this principle, it would be necessary to coherently maintain that: The lay members of the ecclesiastical courts exercise a de facto episcopate; The lay experts who participated in the ecumenical Councils participated sacramentally in the the task of teaching; Every administrative function of the Curia requires episcopal ordination, until transforming the ecclesial organization into a kind of monolithic exclusively sacramental apparatus. It's easy to say: Such a conclusion is not only not required by Catholic theology., but rather misrepresents his fundamental distinction between sacramental ownership and legal cooperation.

Following the logic of the anonymous authors of the article, At least one titular bishop would then have to be appointed to manage the parking lots of the Vatican City State., in order to prevent a simple administrative official from exercising a power that is “not sufficiently sacramental” in matters of regulated zones and time zones — perhaps with appropriate references to sacramental dogmatics —. Well understood: the absurd is not the irony, but the premise. Benedict XVI, by remembering the "sacred origin" of ecclesial authority, He never maintained that every act of government in the Church ontologically coincides with the exercise of Sacred Orders.. The distinction between the power of the order and the power of government It is classic in Catholic theology and finds a clear and systematic formulation in canon law.. The sacramental origin of the episcopate does not eliminate the institutional and legal dimension of ecclesial government: the foundation and the structure. Confusing these levels means confusing the root with the branches.. Authority is born sacramentally; its specific administration is articulated, instead, according to legal forms. The two dimensions are not alternatives, but complementary.

When it is stated that an administrative appointment "shifts the center of gravity from the Holy Orders to the papal appointment", a false dilemma is created. The Roman Pontiff does not create the sacramentality of the episcopate through an administrative act; but can legitimately confer non-sacramental governmental duties on those who have not received Orders., as long as it is not the exercise of the episcopal office. Reducing everything to the category of "sacred origin" to deny all forms of lay cooperation is not a defense of theology: It is a rhetorical construction that assumes the language of doctrine to sustain an identity position.. All of this expressed — and it is a fact that cannot be ignored — by authors who systematically choose anonymity., while they do not hesitate to describe them as "ignorant", “incompetent”, "illiterates" or even "errant clerics expelled from their dioceses" to people who have acquired preparation and competence over decades of serious study and ongoing formation. The moral authority of criticism is not reinforced by invective, and even less with anonymity.

The section dedicated to the "female gaze" It is presented as a critique of ideology. But, paradoxically, ends up building a mirror and inverse ideology. It is stated that the idea of ​​a feminine "peculiar gaze" would be an empty thesis, sentimentalist, identity. However, To demolish this thesis, we resort to the same scheme that we would like to refute.: an emotional predisposition is attributed to women, unstable, incapable of objective discernment. The stereotype is not overcome: it is turned around. The argument thus slips from a legitimate perplexity about the risk of personalistic criteria to a generalized judgment about the alleged feminine inclination to sentimentalism.. It is not a theological passage. It is not a canonical argument. It is not even a founded sociological analysis: It's a rhetorical device.. If there really existed an intrinsically unreliable "feminine criterion" in discernment, It would then be necessary to conclude – coherently – that women cannot be judges in ecclesiastical courts., nor teachers of moral theology, nor authorized to exercise consultative functions at the canonical level or to direct complex administrative offices. But the Church has never taught anything like that.. The c. 228 §1 is unambiguous: Suitable lay people are capable of assuming ecclesiastical offices and assignments for which they are capable.. The criterion is not gender, but the suitability. The law is clear; It is less so when it is read in fragments or adheres to a thesis based on prejudice.. Attributing to women a natural inclination to emotional judgment is equivalent, indeed, to re-propose — in a polemical way — the same stereotypical anthropology that they declare they want to combat. We move from the myth of the “naturally welcoming mother” to the myth of the “naturally impressionable woman.”. change the sign, not the structure. At this point, a question arises spontaneously — and does not need to be shouted, but posed calmly—: Why is critical attention focused almost exclusively on women?? Why not read, with the same vehemence, an analysis of the male power dynamics that for decades have produced clientelism, cross protections, ideological cliques and influence networks not always clean?

Contra la hermana Raffaella Petrini, today Governor of Vatican City State — title traditionally in use, although legally it is a presidency —, From the columns of that blog not only criticism was directed, but real personal invectives.

The recent history of the Curia has not been marked by an excess of the “female gaze”, but rather crossed by logics of belonging, sometimes very compact, sometimes surprisingly forgiving of well-known internal frailties, as long as they were located in the appropriate relational network. When there is thunder against the female presence as a destabilizing factor, but is silent about much more structured and deep-rooted protection systems, criticism inevitably loses credibility. Not because the presence of women is untouchable — no ecclesial function is —, but because the selectivity of indignation is always an indication. Vigorously stigmatize the femininity of someone who is a woman by nature and by grace., and at the same time ignore certain “masculine” behaviors that have nothing evangelically virile about them., It is not doctrinal rigor.: It is a controversial asymmetry.

Another point deserves clarity: the consultation process for the election of bishops — disciplined by the ccs. 377 and 378 — does not attribute sacramental power to any consultant. It does not confer the episcopal office. Does not convert an opinion into an act of government. Consultation is an instrument of instruction, non-exercise governing office. When a layman — man or woman — expresses an opinion, does not exercise sacramental jurisdiction: contributes to an information process. The decision corresponds to the Apostolic See.

Maintain that the simple presence of women in a consultative body it compromises the sacramentality of the episcopate means confusing different levels of the ecclesial order. It's a conceptual confusion, not a defense of the doctrine. The real problem, if it exists, It is not the genre of consultants. It is the quality of the criteria. If some designations are debatable, The question is not to establish whether the person who issued an opinion was a man or a woman., but to wonder: What information has been collected? With what method? With what verification? With what assumption of final responsibility? Reducing everything to an identity contrast — “feminine gaze” versus “sacramental government” — not only oversimplifies reality, but it deforms it. The Church does not need symbolic fees. But it doesn't need selective indignation either., ready to activate on some profiles and surprisingly silent on other much more consolidated power dynamics, even when they emerge publicly and scandalously .

The difference between an ideological presence and a competent presence It doesn't go by gender. Go through suitability, training, ecclesial maturity, the ability to discern. If you really want to avoid tokenism, the criterion must be competence. Always. For men and for women. Otherwise, you end up fighting an ideology by building another, with the only difference that this time the controversy assumes the face of a theologically selective nostalgia..

The high-sounding request: «Do we want competent bishops or the approval of the media?» builds a contrast as suggestive as it is artificial. No canonical norm foresees that bishops are elected to obtain media consensus. The c. 378 §1 indicates very specific requirements: complete faith, good habits, piety, zeal for souls, wisdom, prudence, human virtues, good reputation, at least thirty-five years of age, five years of priesthood, doctorate or license in sacred disciplines or, at least, real expertise in them. The parameter is objective suitability, not journalistic pleasure. Stating that the recent appointments would be guided by a media obsession may be an opinion; converting it into a total interpretive key becomes, however, a self-contained narrative: any non-shared choice is explained as a transfer to the media; any profile not appreciated as a result of “tokenism”.

It is an effective rhetorical device, but fragile. If the criterion were really the applause of the “plain people”, How do you explain that many designations have been contested precisely by the media?? How can we explain that many episcopal elections have also provoked critical reactions in the secular world?? The argument works only as long as it remains unproven.; subjected to verification, loses consistency and is revealed to lack objective foundation. The real problem — and it is a serious problem — is not media approval. It is the quality of the information collected in the consultation process. And this is where the discourse should focus. The procedure provided for by the c. 377 §2-3 is articulated: common and secret consultation between the bishops; collection of qualified opinions; possible listening to priests and lay people; transmission of a detailed picture to the Apostolic See. The system is not built to replace episcopal judgment with media judgment. It is built to expand the candidate's knowledge. The instruction does not remove responsibility from the Apostolic See: qualifies her.

If some appointments turn out to be unhappy, the problem is not the presence of lay people or women in the consultative process. The problem, in your case, is the quality of the evaluations, the solidity of the information, the verification of the signs and — in times that Scripture would call “lean times” — also the objective difficulty of finding profiles of particular relevance and value. And here a significant detail emerges. The article denounces emotional criteria, impressionists, identities. But, when doing it, uses equally impressionistic categories: "disaster", “state of despair”, “power games”, “unlivable dynamics”. Strong terms, but lacking detailed documentation. The subjectivity of others is criticized by resorting to one's own subjectivity. If the problem is the quality of the designations, the discussion must remain objective. Otherwise, remains in the sphere of controversial printing.

Another effect question is the one enclosed in the slogan: "He gift "it is not improvised", with reference to the need to distinguish "between theology and selective use of law". It is the most theologically demanding part of the article, dedicated to episcopal office. And this is where extreme clarity is required.. The the task of teaching, to sanctify and govern It is typical of the episcopate (cf.. (c). 375). Nobody disputes it. No recent reform has attributed the episcopal office to unordered subjects. No woman exercises episcopal office. Today no layman, man or woman, governs a diocese by virtue of sacramental power. When, in times past, distortions occurred in the management of the dioceses — with absent holders, sometimes never residents, and de facto administrations delegated to relatives or fiduciaries according to the logic of nepotism — these were historical abuses that the Tridentine reform corrected precisely to redirect ecclesial government to its authentic and pastoral form.. Evoking similar scenarios today as if they were reproducible means superimposing radically different and totally out of place historical plans..

The real issue is another: Who can cooperate in the instruction and administrative processes that precede or accompany the exercise of the gift? The answer of the law has already been given. It is not an innovation of the current pontificate or the previous one.. The c. 129 §2 provides that the lay faithful can cooperate in the exercise of the power of government according to law; the c. 228 recognizes suitable lay people the possibility of assuming ecclesiastical offices; the c. 377 §3 explicitly contemplates consultation also with priests and lay people in the process of episcopal appointment. The fundamental distinction is between sacramental ownership of the gift and functional cooperation in the exercise of power. Confusing both dimensions means transforming an administrative question into an ontological question.. And this is not a defense of theology, but alteration of their categories.

If only those who participate sacramentally in gift would be allowed to contribute to the discernment of a candidate, should be coherently excluded: lay academics consulted for their theological competence; unordained canonists; lay members of disciplinary commissions; economic experts in the dioceses. It would even be necessary to review the consolidated praxis of the Roman dicasteries, where doctors, jurists, experts from various disciplines collaborate without exercising any sacramental power. Just think of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints: The scientific commission is made up of specialist doctors who evaluate the alleged miracles according to rigorously clinical criteria.. No one has ever considered it necessary to replace them with ecclesiastics without clinical training, just because they are ordered. The Church has never worked like this, not even in the most delicate areas.

The risk, therefore, It is not the “feminization” of the Curia, but the clericalization of every ecclesial function, as if Holy Order were a requirement for any administrative or consultative responsibility. and this, paradoxically, precisely contradicts the criticism directed elsewhere at “clericalism”. Recent history offers eloquent examples. Saint John Paul II elected Joaquín Navarro-Valls as Director of the Press Office of the Holy See, psychiatrist and lay doctor, not because it was ordered—it wasn't—, but because of great competition, balance and communicative intelligence. He was later succeeded by Father Federico Lombardi S.J., equally chosen for personal and professional qualities. In both cases, the criterion was not the sacramental degree, but the suitability for the function.

The episcopal office it is not improvised, certainly. But neither does it improperly extend to functions that do not ontologically belong to it.. Defending the sacramentality of the episcopate does not mean transforming all ecclesial collaboration into an appendix of the Sacred Orders. Means, on the contrary, guard the distinctions that theological tradition and the law of the Church have always known how to maintain.

The debate cannot be about the “feminization” of the Curia, nor about the obsession with quotas, nor about an alleged cession to sociological modernity. The real point is another: the quality of discernment and fidelity to the theological structure of the Church. If a woman exercises an administrative position legitimately conferred by the Roman Pontiff, the sacramentality of the episcopate has not been injured. If a nun participates in a consultative process, the ontology of the gift. If a layman offers a technical opinion, the hierarchy has not been desacralized. The Sacrament of Orders is not a cover for any organizational function. It is the root of the apostolic mission. Confusing the root with each leaf of the institutional tree is not a defense of tradition: It is a superficial theological approach.

The most serious risk is not the female presence in the dicasteries. It is the ideological use of theology to transform every administrative choice into an ontological crisis. It is the habit of reading everything as subversion. It is the inability to distinguish between cooperation and substitution, between consultation and ownership, between sacramental structure and legal organization. And there is also a detail that deserves to be said with sober clarity.: You cannot thunder against the “ideology of women” while systematically remaining silent about other power dynamics that cross much more structured ecclesiastical environments., branched and influential. Selective indignation is not doctrinal rigor: It is a controversial option. And when severity is exerted only in one direction, becomes suspicious. The Church does not need fears disguised as theology, but competition, responsibility, truth and inner freedom. You need well-educated appointments and solid information. Needs men and women who serve, no identity narratives that fuel permanent conflicts.

And, well, the criterion is competition, this must be demonstrated. If the criterion is the right, This should be read in its entirety., not by fragments and extrapolations. If the criterion is theology, this cannot be reduced to a slogan. The sacramentality of ecclesial authority is not in dispute, but it is not an argument to brandish against all forms of secular cooperation either.; otherwise, hierarchy ends up being defended in such a rigid way that it is transformed into a grotesque caricature. And the Church is not a cartoonish phenomenon, although some reduce it to a parody. It is a sacramental reality that lives in history, with legal structures, personal responsibilities and specific decisions. The rest belongs more to the controversy of certain anonymous blogs than to law or theology..

In this blog there is also anonymity as a moral position, which deserves sober observation. The harshest criticism — with accusations of incompetence, of authoritarianism, of ideological management — come from subjects who systematically choose anonymity, which may even have legitimate reasons in certain circumstances. But when such serious judgments are made about people and institutions, remain structurally anonymous while demanding transparency from others, while anonymous complaints and gossip are stigmatized, creates an obvious moral asymmetry, not without seriousness. Also because Catholic theology is not built on insinuations; Canon law is not based on unverifiable impressions; and moral authority requires precise assumptions of responsibility that often require courage., sometimes even true heroism. Criticizing is legitimate; delegitimizing without exposing oneself is much less so. When, indeed, the seriousness of sacramentality is invoked, it would be coherent to also invoke the seriousness of personal responsibility, almost absent in the columns of a blog that, establishing itself as a permanent court, However, he systematically avoids assuming the responsibility of appearing as a party. Otherwise, when a theological or legal argument does not stand up to the full reading of the sources, no invective is needed to refute it: just refer it back to the sources themselves, because sometimes the contrast with them constitutes in itself the most severe of replies.

From the Island of Patmos, 15 February 2026

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The Fathers of the Island of Patmos

Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández and the Brotherhood of St. Pius X: the non-negotiable point of communion – Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández and the Society of Saint Pius: the non-negotiable point of communion – Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández and the Fraternity of Saint Pius: the non-negotiable point of communion – Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández and the Society of Saint Pius X: The non-negotiable point of ecclesial community

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CARDINAL VICTOR MANUEL FERNANDEZ AND THE BROTHERHOOD OF ST. PIUS X: THE NON-NEGOTIABLE POINT OF COMMUNION

The theological-canonical note on the recent meeting between the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius

— Theology and canon law —

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The statement released on the meeting held on 12 February 2026 between the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández and the Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius, Rev. Davide Pagliarani (cf.. communicated in pdf), offers food for reflection not so much on a diplomatic level, as well as on the theological and ecclesiological one.

The tone of the text is deliberately short and sober, even benevolent. There is talk of a "cordial and sincere" meeting, of a «specifically theological dialogue path», of "very precise methodology", of clarification regarding the difference between an act of faith and "religious obedience of the mind and will" and on the different degrees of adhesion required by the texts of the Second Vatican Council. However, beneath the formal and friendly surface, serious issues emerge, now old and unresolved.

Let's start with a canonical analysis of the "state of necessity" invoked. The most delicate point remains the threat - already publicly aired - to proceed with new episcopal ordinations in the absence of a pontifical mandate, justified by an alleged "state of necessity" expressed in these terms:

«Last Monday, 2 February, the Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius, that is, the consecration of bishops, will take place on Wednesday 1st July. The ceremony will be held here in Écône, on the famous Prato delle Ordinazioni, in the same place where, the 30 June 1988, Archbishop Lefebvre consecrated four bishops. It will be a historic event, but it is important to fully understand its scope and meaning. The unusual aspect of this ceremony is that, for the moment, did not receive the authorization of Pope Leo XIV. We sincerely hope that the Holy Father allows these consecrations. We must pray for this intention" (cf.. SSPX Actuality, who).

And here we need extreme clarity, because the Code of Canon Law is unambiguous:

«Let no Bishop consecrate any Bishop, if it does not first consist of the pontifical mandate" (can. 1013 CIC); «the Bishop who consecrates someone Bishop without pontifical mandate and whoever receives the consecration from him incur excommunication automatic reserved to the Apostolic See" (can. 1382 CIC; currently can. 1382 §1 after the reform of 2021).

The statement from Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez correctly recalls the can. 331 the A The Eternal Shepherd the First Vatican Council, reiterating full power, supreme, universal and immediate of the Roman Pontiff. This is not a disciplinary detail, but of a constitutive principle of Catholic ecclesiology.

The “state of necessity” argument it was used already in 1988 to justify the episcopal consecrations carried out by Bishop Marcel Lefebvre. But a state of necessity, in a canonical sense, it is not a subjective category, nor an ideological perception of crisis. The Code of Canon Law precisely regulates the causes of non-imputability or mitigation of the sentence (cann. 1323–1324 CIC), among which necessity figures, which must however be substantially real and objective, thus outlining a situation so serious as to force action to avoid imminent and not otherwise avoidable damage. Personal judgment regarding an alleged ecclesial crisis is not sufficient; there must be a real impossibility of resorting to the ordinary means of government and communion with the Apostolic See. Moreover, the necessity cannot be self-certified by the agent in an arbitrary or ideological way, but it must respond to objective criteria verifiable in the ecclesial system.

The history of the 20th century offers several concrete examples: in Eastern European countries under the Soviet regime, with bishops jailed or deported and communications cut off; in Maoist China, during the harshest phases of religious persecution, when the Church operated clandestinely and contact with Rome was physically impossible; in some areas of the former Yugoslavia during the Balkan conflicts, in conditions of total isolation and grave danger. In these contexts it was an objective physical and legal impossibility.

The difference with the current ecclesial situation is evident. Today there is no regime persecution that prevents communion with Rome, nor a forced interruption of institutional channels. In contexts in which the Fraternity invokes the state of necessity, the Church enjoys freedom of expression and action, maintains diplomatic relations with states and operates publicly. Any conflict is of a doctrinal or interpretative nature, not of material impossibility.

In this way, expand the notion of necessity to the extent of including subjective theological dissent means emptying the canonical institution of its proper meaning. And this is particularly paradoxical in environments that claim a rigorous Thomistic formation: precisely the authentic scholastic tradition demands conceptual precision and distinction of levels, not the extensive and ideological use of legal categories.

Then compare the current ecclesial situation to the Arian crisis - as is sometimes insinuated by certain circles - means forcing history and ecclesiology. During the Arian crisis the very divinity of the Incarnate Word was discussed; today no Trinitarian or Christological dogma is denied by the universal Magisterium. The claim to present himself as a new Athanasius of Alexandria presupposes that Rome has become Arian: statement that, if taken seriously, it logically leads to formal schism and before it to juridical-theological ridicule. This is precisely because the argument of the state of necessity, applied to the unilateral decision to ordain bishops against the explicit will of the Roman Pontiff, it is so non-existent on a juridical and ecclesiological level that it appears to lack the minimum criteria of seriousness. Also because the need, against the other, it cannot be self-certified by whoever intends to carry out the act.

The statement signals a central theological point: the distinction between an act of faith (divine and catholic faith) and "religious respect of the mind and will" (cf. The light, 25) Before proceeding, it is appropriate to clarify these two concepts. With divine and catholic faith means the full and irrevocable assent that the believer gives to the truths revealed by God and proposed as such definitively by the Church: for example the Trinity, the Incarnation, the divinity of Christ. To knowingly deny one of these truths is to break communion in faith. The "religious respect of the mind and will", instead, concerns those teachings that the Magisterium proposes in an authentic way, although not with a dogmatic definition. In these cases it is not an act of faith in the strict sense, but of real membership, loyal and respectful, founded on trust in the assistance of the Holy Spirit to the Magisterium of the Church. It is not an optional opinion that anyone can accept or reject at will, but neither does it equate to an irreformable definition. The Prefect here, with evident grace, it effectively invites the Fraternity to return to the fold of classical Catholic theology, remembering that not all teachings of the Magisterium require the same degree of assent; but neither is it permissible to treat conciliar texts as freely contestable theological opinions. All this even in the face of reductive interpretations that continue to qualify Vatican II as a "only pastoral" council, almost as if it were an assembly of lower rank than previous ecumenical councils. Such a reading, as well as being theologically imprecise, ends up emptying the very authority of the conciliar Magisterium of content.

The Vatican, while not defining new dogmas with a solemn formula, it is an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. His teachings require, according to their nature and formulation, at least that religious respect which is not mere private opinion but real adherence, even if not definitive. It is legitimate to critically discuss some drifts of the post-conciliar period; but such phenomena cannot be identified with the Council as such. Already in the seventies, from the chair of the Pontifical Lateran University, Antonio Piolanti - an authoritative exponent of the Roman School - warned against confusing the Second Vatican Council with the "para-council": these are distinct realities. Nonetheless, before these elementary theological evidences, the tones of the Fraternity are unfortunately as follows:

«It is possible that the Holy See will tell us: “All right, we authorize you to consecrate bishops, but on condition that you accept two things: the first is the Second Vatican Council; and the second is the New Mass. Then, Yes, we will allow you to perform consecrations”. How we should react? It's simple. We would rather die than become modernists. We would rather die than renounce the full Catholic faith. We would rather die than replace the Mass of Saint Pius V with the Mass of Paul VI" (cf.. SSPX Actuality, who).

The Dicastery's request is not to "believe as dogma" every single conciliar expression, but to recognize its ecclesial authority according to the hierarchy of truths and degrees of assent. In other words: study what is disputed, understand theological categories, avoid ideological readings, but also recognize the seriousness of the interlocutor. The Catholic theological tradition has never been built on the caricature of the adversary, but rather on the rigorous analysis of his theses and the reasoned refutation of his errors. You can deeply disagree with a position, even judging it theologically erroneous, without thereby denying the other intelligence, scientific culture or competence. The authority of a thesis does not depend on the personal delegitimation of those who support it, but by the solidity of the arguments. Only in this climate is authentic theological dialogue possible. Is this, be clear: it is not a principle of academic courtesy, but the very method of great scholasticism. Just think about the structure of questions of St. Thomas Aquinas, who precisely states the objections in their strongest form before proposing his own response (I answer). The truth, in the Catholic tradition, you don't assert yourself by eliminating your opponent, but overcoming the arguments on the level of reason and faith.

On behalf of the Superiors of the Fraternity of Saint Pius, the systematic delegitimization of the interlocutor, together with the blackmail tone already used, it does not remain at the level of controversy, but it directly affects the ecclesiological question. The most serious fact is not so much the threat itself, as much as the modality. Dire, in essence, to the Roman Pontiff: “If you don't give us your approval, we will proceed anyway", constitutes improper pressure on the supreme authority of the Church. In canon law, requesting a warrant is an act of obedience; the threat to act without a mandate is an act of defiance. Papal power cannot be transformed into a bureaucratic obstacle that can be circumvented in the name of a superior awareness of the crisis. Ecclesial communion is non-negotiable. It is not a political table where a share of episcopal autonomy is negotiated.

This statement shows a Holy See that does not close, but invites dialogue as an opportunity for truth. Does not sanction immediately, but he proposes a path. It does not impose formulas, but asks for doctrinal clarification. It is difficult not to see in this attitude of Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández a form of ecclesial patience combined with a spirit of great institutional nobility. The proposal to highlight "the minimum necessary for full communion" is already a methodological concession: we start from the essentials, it does not give complete consensus on everything. However, the suspension of episcopal ordinations is placed as a preliminary condition. And rightly so, because you can't have a conversation with a gun on the table, as if the exercise of authority had to bow to preventive pressure.

Finally, there is a structural element which deserves to be said without acrimony but with lucid realism. Some ecclesial movements, to exist and consolidate, they need a permanent enemy. Their identity is structured in the clash: modernist Rome, the traitorous Council, the ambiguous Pope, the hostile world... If this state of continuous tension were to cease, their raison d'être would also disappear. The logic of conflict is a real element of identity. Without conflict, the identity dissolves or normalizes. But the Church does not live on structural antagonisms; lives in hierarchical communion.

If the Fraternity really desires full communion, will have to decide whether it wants to be an ecclesial reality or a permanent opposition with ecclesial semblance. The difference is not semantic: it is truly ontological. True tradition is not polemical self-preservation, but living continuity in obedience. And obedience, in Catholic ecclesiology, it's not servility, but participation in the very form of the Church wanted by Christ.

From the island of Patmos, 13 February 2026

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CARDINAL VÍCTOR MANUEL FERNÁNDEZ AND THE SOCIETY OF SAINT PIUS: THE NON-NEGOTIABLE POINT OF COMMUNION

A Theological-Canonical Note on the Recent Meeting between the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X

— Theology and canon law —

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The communiqué issued regarding the meeting held on 12 February 2026 between the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, and the Superior General of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X, Rev. Davide Pagliarani (here), offers grounds for reflection not so much on the diplomatic level as on the theological and ecclesiological one.

The tone of the text is deliberately brief and sober, even benevolent. It speaks of a “cordial and sincere” meeting, of a “specifically theological dialogue,” of a “precise methodology,” and of clarification concerning the distinction between the act of faith and the “religious submission of mind and will,” as well as the different degrees of assent required by the texts of the Second Vatican Council. Yet beneath this formally courteous surface, serious issues emerge — long-standing and unresolved.

Let us begin with a canonical analysis of the invoked “state of necessity.” The most delicate point remains the threat — already publicly announced — to proceed with new episcopal ordinations without a pontifical mandate, justified by an alleged “state of necessity,” expressed in the following terms:

“Last Monday, 2 February, the Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X announced that episcopal consecrations — that is, the consecration of bishops — will take place on Wednesday, 1 July. The ceremony will be held here in Écône, on the famous Field of Ordinations, in the same place where, on 30 June 1988, Archbishop Lefebvre consecrated four bishops. It will be a historic event, but it is important to understand fully its scope and meaning. The unusual aspect of this ceremony is that, for the moment, it has not received authorization from Pope Leo XIV. We sincerely hope that the Holy Father will permit these consecrations. We must pray for this intention” (cf. SSPX News, here).

Here absolute clarity is required, because the Code of Canon Law is unequivocal:

“No Bishop is permitted to consecrate anyone as Bishop unless it is first evident that there is a pontifical mandate” (can. 1013 CIC); “A Bishop who consecrates someone a Bishop without a pontifical mandate, and the person who receives the consecration from him, incur a late sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See" (can. 1382 CIC; currently can. 1382 §1 following the 2021 reform).

The communiqué of Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández rightly recalls canon 331 and the constitution The Eternal Shepherd of the First Vatican Council, reaffirming the full, supreme, universal, and immediate authority of the Roman Pontiff. This is not a disciplinary detail, but a constitutive principle of Catholic ecclesiology.

The argument of a “state of necessity” was already used in 1988 to justify the episcopal consecrations carried out by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. Yet a state of necessity, in canonical terms, is not a subjective category nor an ideological perception of crisis. The Code of Canon Law precisely regulates the causes of non-imputability or mitigation of penalty (cc. 1323–1324 CIC), among which necessity is included. Such necessity, however, must be genuinely real and objective, delineating a situation so grave as to compel action in order to avert imminent harm that cannot otherwise be avoided. A personal judgment concerning an alleged ecclesial crisis is insufficient; what is required is a real impossibility of recourse to the ordinary means of governance and communion with the Apostolic See. Moreover, necessity cannot be self-certified by the agent in an arbitrary or ideological manner; it must correspond to objective criteria verifiable within the ecclesial juridical order.

The history of the twentieth century offers concrete examples: in Eastern European countries under Soviet regimes, where bishops were imprisoned or deported and communications interrupted; in Maoist China, during the harshest phases of religious persecution, when the Church operated clandestinely and contact with Rome was materially impossible; and in certain areas of the former Yugoslavia during the Balkan conflicts, under conditions of total isolation and grave danger. In such contexts there existed an objective physical and juridical impossibility.

The difference with the present ecclesial situation is evident. Today there is no regime persecution preventing communion with Rome, nor any forced interruption of institutional channels. In the contexts in which the Society invokes a state of necessity, the Church enjoys freedom of expression and action, maintains diplomatic relations with states, and operates publicly. The conflict, if any, is doctrinal or interpretative in nature, not one of material impossibility.

To extend the notion of necessity in this way so as to include subjective theological dissent is to empty the canonical institute of its proper meaning. This appears particularly paradoxical in environments that claim rigorous Thomistic formation: authentic scholastic tradition demands conceptual precision and distinction of levels, not the expansive and ideological use of juridical categories.

To compare the current ecclesial situation to the Arian crisis — as some circles occasionally suggest — is to distort both history and ecclesiology. During the Arian crisis the very divinity of the Incarnate Word was at stake; today no Trinitarian or Christological dogma is denied by the universal Magisterium. To present oneself as a new Athanasius of Alexandria presupposes that Rome has become Arian — an assertion which, if taken seriously, leads logically to formal schism and, prior to that, to juridical and theological absurdity. The argument of necessity, applied to the unilateral decision to ordain bishops against the explicit will of the Roman Pontiff, is so unfounded in law and ecclesiology as to appear devoid of minimum seriousness. Necessity, moreover, cannot be self-certified by the one who intends to perform the act.

The communiqué highlights a central theological point: the distinction between the act of faith (divine and catholic faith) and the “religious submission of mind and will” (cf. The light, 25). Before proceeding, it is useful to clarify these concepts. Divine faith and Catholic refers to the full and irrevocable assent given to truths revealed by God and definitively proposed as such by the Church — for example, the Trinity, the Incarnation, and the divinity of Christ. To deny such a truth knowingly is to break communion in the faith.

The “religious submission of mind and will,” on the other hand, concerns teachings authentically proposed by the Magisterium, though not defined in a dogmatic manner. In such cases one does not make an act of faith in the strict sense, but rather gives a real, loyal, and respectful adherence, grounded in trust in the assistance of the Holy Spirit to the Church’s Magisterium. It is not an optional opinion to be accepted or rejected at will, yet neither does it constitute an irreformable definition.

The Prefect thus gently invites the Society to re-enter the classical framework of Catholic theology, recalling that not all teachings of the Magisterium require the same degree of assent; yet it is equally illegitimate to treat conciliar texts as freely contestable theological opinions. Interpretations that continue to describe Vatican II as a “merely pastoral” council, as though it were somehow inferior in rank to previous ecumenical councils, are reductive. Such a reading is theologically imprecise and ultimately empties conciliar authority of its content.

Vatican II, though it did not define new dogmas with solemn formulae, is an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Its teachings require, according to their nature and formulation, at least that religious submission which is not a mere private opinion but a real adherence, albeit non-definitive. It is legitimate to discuss critically certain post-conciliar developments; but such phenomena cannot be identified with the Council itself.

Already in the 1970s, from his chair at the Pontifical Lateran University, Antonio Piolanti — an authoritative representative of the Roman School — warned against confusing the Second Vatican Council with the “para-council”: they are distinct realities. Nevertheless, in the face of these elementary theological clarifications, the tone adopted by the Society is unfortunately the following:

“It is possible that the Holy See may tell us: ‘All right, we authorize you to consecrate bishops, but on condition that you accept two things: the first is the Second Vatican Council; and the second is the New Mass. And then, yes, we will allow you to carry out consecrations.’ How should we react? It is simple. We would rather die than become modernists. We would rather die than renounce the full Catholic faith. We would rather die than replace the Mass of Saint Pius V with the Mass of Paul VI” (cf. SSPX News, here).

The request of the Dicastery is not to “believe as dogma” every single conciliar expression, but to recognize its ecclesial authority according to the hierarchy of truths and the degrees of assent. In other words: to study what one contests, to understand the theological categories involved, to avoid ideological readings, but also to acknowledge the seriousness of one’s interlocutor. Catholic theological tradition has never been built upon caricaturing one’s opponent, but upon rigorous analysis of his theses and reasoned refutation of his errors. One may profoundly dissent from a position, even judge it theologically erroneous, without thereby denying the other’s intelligence, culture, or scholarly competence. The authority of a thesis does not depend upon the personal delegitimization of the one who proposes it, but upon the solidity of its arguments. Only in such a climate is authentic theological dialogue possible. And this, it should be clear, is not a matter of academic courtesy, but the very method of the great scholastic tradition. One need only consider the structure of the questions of Saint Thomas Aquinas, who presents objections in their strongest form before offering his own response (I answer). In Catholic tradition, truth is not affirmed by eliminating one’s opponent, but by surpassing his arguments on the plane of reason and faith.

On the part of the Superiors of the Society of Saint Pius X, the systematic delegitimization of the interlocutor, together with the previously adopted tone of ultimatum, does not remain on the level of polemics but directly affects the ecclesiological question. The most serious element is not so much the threat itself as the manner in which it is expressed. To say, in substance, to the Roman Pontiff: “If you do not grant us authorization, we shall proceed nonetheless,” constitutes an improper pressure upon the supreme authority of the Church. In canon law, the request for a mandate is an act of obedience; the threat to act without it is an act of defiance. One cannot transform pontifical authority into a bureaucratic obstacle to be bypassed in the name of a higher perception of crisis. Ecclesial communion is not negotiable. It is not a political table at which a quota of episcopal autonomy is bargained.

This communiqué shows a Holy See that does not close doors but invites dialogue as an occasion of truth. It does not immediately impose sanctions but proposes a path. It does not impose formulas but asks for doctrinal clarification. It is difficult not to see in the attitude of Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández a form of ecclesial patience united to notable institutional nobility. The proposal to identify “the minimum necessary for full communion” already constitutes a methodological concession: one begins with what is essential, not with total agreement on every point. Nevertheless, the suspension of episcopal ordinations is set as a preliminary condition — and rightly so — for one cannot conduct dialogue with a gun on the table, as though the exercise of authority were to bend before preventive pressure.

There is finally a structural element that deserves to be stated without acrimony but with lucid realism. Certain ecclesial movements, in order to exist and consolidate themselves, require a permanent enemy. Their identity is structured around conflict: modernist Rome, the betraying Council, the ambiguous Pope, the hostile world. Were this constant tension to disappear, their very raison d’être would weaken. The logic of conflict becomes an identity-forming principle. Without conflict, identity dissolves or normalizes. But the Church does not live by structural antagonisms; she lives by hierarchical communion.

If the Society truly desires full communion, it must decide whether it wishes to be an ecclesial reality or a permanent opposition bearing ecclesial semblance. The difference is not semantic; it is ontological. True tradition is not polemical self-preservation, but living continuity in obedience. And obedience, in Catholic ecclesiology, is not servility, but participation in the very form of the Church willed by Christ.

From the Island of Patmos, 13 February 2026

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CARDINAL VÍCTOR MANUEL FERNÁNDEZ AND THE FRATERNITY OF SAN PÍO: THE NON-NEGOTIABLE POINT OF THE COMMONION

Theological-canonical note on the recent meeting between the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius

theology and canon law

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The statement released about the meeting held on 12 February 2026 between the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, and the Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Pius, Rev. Davide Pagliarani (here), offers food for reflection not so much on the diplomatic level as on the theological and ecclesiological level..

The tone of the text is deliberately brief and sober., even benevolent. There is talk of a "cordial and sincere" meeting, of a "specifically theological dialogue", of a "very precise methodology", and the clarification about the distinction between the act of faith and the "religious gift of the mind and will", as well as the different degrees of adhesion required by the texts of the Second Vatican Council. However, beneath this formal and cordial surface, serious issues emerge, old and still unresolved.

Let us begin with a canonical analysis of the "state of necessity" invoked. The most delicate point remains the threat — already publicly announced — of proceeding to new episcopal ordinations without a pontifical mandate., justified by a supposed "state of necessity", expressed in the following terms:

«Last Monday, 2 February, The Superior General of the Society of Saint Pius X announced that episcopal consecrations, that is to say, the consecration of bishops, will take place on Wednesday 1 of July. The ceremony will take place here in Écône, in the famous Prado de las Ordinaciones, in the same place where, he 30 June 1988, Archbishop Lefebvre consecrated four bishops. It will be a historic event, but it is important to fully understand its scope and significance. The unusual aspect of this ceremony is that, for now, has not received authorization from Pope Leo XIV. We sincerely hope that the Holy Father allows these consecrations. We must pray for this intention." (cf. SSPX Present, here).

Absolute clarity is required here, because the Code of Canon Law is unequivocal:

«No Bishop consecrates someone as Bishop if the pontifical mandate is not first established» ((c). 1013 CIC); «The Bishop who consecrates someone as Bishop without papal mandate, and whoever receives consecration from him, incur en excommunication latae sententiae reserved a la Sede Apostólica" ((c). 1382 CIC; currently c. 1382 §1 after the reform of 2021).

The statement from Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández correctly remember the canon 331 and the constitution The Eternal Shepherd the First Vatican Council, reaffirming full power, supreme, universal and immediate of the Roman Pontiff. This is not a simple disciplinary detail, but of a constitutive principle of Catholic ecclesiology.

The “state of necessity” argument was already used in 1988 to justify the episcopal consecrations made by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. But a state of necessity, in canonical sense, It is not a subjective category nor an ideological perception of crisis. The Code of Canon Law precisely regulates the causes of non-imputability or mitigation of the penalty (cc. 1323–1324 CIC), among which is precisely the need. However, It must be a real and objective situation, that constitutes a severity such that it requires action to avoid imminent damage and that cannot be avoided in any other way. A personal judgment about an alleged ecclesial crisis is not enough; a real impossibility of resorting to the ordinary means of government and communion with the Apostolic See is required. Besides, the need cannot be self-certified by the person who intends to carry out the act, but must respond to objective, verifiable criteria within the ecclesiastical legal system..

The history of the 20th century offers concrete examples: in Eastern European countries under the Soviet regime, with bishops imprisoned or deported and communications interrupted; in Maoist China, during the harshest phases of religious persecution, when the Church acted clandestinely and contact with Rome was materially impossible; in some areas of the former Yugoslavia during the Balkan conflicts, in conditions of total isolation and serious danger. In such contexts there was an objective physical and legal impossibility.

The difference with the current ecclesial situation is evident. Today there is no regime persecution that prevents communion with Rome, nor forced interruption of institutional channels. In the contexts in which the Fraternity invokes the state of need, The Church enjoys freedom of expression and action, maintains diplomatic relations with States and acts publicly. The eventual conflict is of a doctrinal or interpretative nature, not of material impossibility.

Expanding in this way the notion of necessity Even including subjective theological dissent in it means emptying the canonical institute of its proper meaning.. And this is particularly paradoxical in environments that demand a rigorous Thomistic training.: precisely the authentic scholastic tradition demands conceptual precision and distinction of planes, not the extensive and ideological use of legal categories.

Compare the current ecclesial situation with the Arian crisis — as certain circles sometimes suggest — means forcing history and ecclesiology. During the Arian crisis, the very divinity of the Incarnate Word was under discussion.; Today no Trinitarian or Christological dogma is denied by the universal Magisterium. Trying to present yourself as a new Athanasius of Alexandria presupposes that Rome has become Arian: statement that, taken seriously, logically leads to formal schism and, before it, to the legal-theological absurdity. The argument from the state of necessity, applied to the unilateral decision to ordain bishops against the explicit will of the Roman Pontiff, It is so inconsistent on the legal and ecclesiological level that it lacks the minimum criteria of seriousness. Besides, the need cannot be self-certified by the person who intends to carry out the act.

The statement makes a central theological point: the distinction between the act of faith (divine and catholic faith) and the "religious gift of the mind and will" (cf. The light, 25). Before continuing, It is worth clarifying these two concepts. With fides divine and catholic It is understood as the full and irrevocable assent that the believer gives to the truths revealed by God and proposed as such definitively by the Church.: For example, the Trinity, the incarnation, the divinity of Christ. Consciously denying one of these truths means breaking the communion in faith..

The "religious gift of the mind and will", instead, refers to those teachings that the Magisterium proposes in an authentic way, although not with dogmatic definition. In these cases it is not an act of faith in the strict sense., but of a real adhesion, loyal and respectful, founded on confidence in the assistance of the Holy Spirit to the Magisterium of the Church. It is not an optional opinion that each person can accept or reject at will., but it is not equivalent to an irreformable definition either..

The Prefect thus invites, with evident delicacy, the Fraternity to reinsert itself into the channel of classical Catholic theology, remembering that not all teachings of the Magisterium require the same degree of assent; but it is not legitimate to treat conciliar texts as freely debatable theological opinions either.. All of this even in the face of reductive interpretations that continue to classify Vatican II as a “only pastoral” council., as if it were an assembly of lower rank with respect to previous ecumenical councils. A similar reading, in addition to being theologically imprecise, ends up emptying the very authority of the conciliar Magisterium of content.

Vatican II, although it has not defined new dogmas with a solemn formula, It is an ecumenical Council of the Catholic Church. His teachings demand, according to its nature and formulation, at least that religious gift that is not mere private opinion, but real adhesion, although not defining. It is legitimate to critically discuss some drifts of the post-conciliar period; but such phenomena cannot be identified with the Council as such.. Already in the seventies, from his professorship at the Pontifical Lateran University, Antonio Piolanti — a prominent exponent of the Roman School — warned against confusion between the Second Vatican Council and the “para-council.”: These are different realities.. However, in the face of these elementary theological precisions, The tones of the Brotherhood are unfortunately the following:

«It is possible that the Holy See tells us: "Alright, we authorize you to consecrate bishops, but on the condition that you accept two things: The first is the Second Vatican Council; and the second is the New Mass. And then, Yeah, “We will allow you to carry out consecrations.”. How should we react? It's simple. We would rather die than become modernists. We would rather die than renounce the full Catholic faith. "We would rather die than replace the Mass of Saint Pius V with the Mass of Paul VI." (cf. SSPX Present, here).

The request of the Dicastery does not consist of “believing as dogma” every conciliar expression, but in recognizing its ecclesial authority according to the hierarchy of truths and the degrees of assent. In other words: study what is questioned, understand the theological categories involved, avoid ideological readings, but also recognize the seriousness of the interlocutor. The Catholic theological tradition has never been built on the caricature of the adversary, but about the rigorous analysis of their theses and the argued refutation of their errors. You can deeply disagree with a position, even judging it theologically erroneous, without denying the other intelligence, culture or academic competence. The authority of a thesis does not depend on the personal delegitimization of the person who holds it., but of the solidity of his arguments. Only in this climate is authentic theological dialogue possible. And this – it should be emphasized – is not a principle of mere academic courtesy., but the very method of great scholasticism. Just think about the structure of the questions of Saint Thomas Aquinas, which states the objections in their strongest form before proposing their response (I answer). In the Catholic tradition, the truth is not affirmed by eliminating the adversary, but by overcoming their arguments on the level of reason and faith.

On behalf of the Superiors of the Society of Saint Pius, the systematic delegitimization of the interlocutor, linked to the ultimatum tone previously adopted, does not remain at the level of controversy, but it directly affects the ecclesiological issue. The most serious thing is not so much the threat itself as the modality with which it is formulated.. Say, in substance, to the Roman Pontiff: “If you do not grant us authorization, We will proceed anyway”, constitutes improper pressure on the supreme authority of the Church. In canon law, The request for a command is an act of obedience; the threat to act without it is an act of defiance. Papal power cannot be transformed into a bureaucratic obstacle that must be overcome in the name of a higher awareness of the crisis.. Ecclesial communion is not negotiable. It is not a political table in which a quota of episcopal autonomy is agreed upon..

This statement shows a Holy See that does not close doors, but invites dialogue as an opportunity of truth. Does not sanction immediately, but it proposes a path. Does not impose formulas, but requests doctrinal clarification. It is difficult not to see in this attitude of Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández a form of ecclesial patience united with a notable institutional nobility. The proposal to indicate "the minimum necessary for full communion" already constitutes a methodological concession: be part of the essential, not a comprehensive consensus on everything. However, the suspension of episcopal ordinations is established as a preliminary condition. And rightly so, because you can't talk with a gun on the table, as if the exercise of authority should yield to preventive pressure.

Finally, there is a structural element that deserves to be pointed out without acrimony., but with lucid realism. Some ecclesiastical movements, to exist and consolidate, they need a permanent enemy. Your identity is structured in conflict: modernist Rome, the traitor council, the ambiguous Pope, the hostile world... If that continuous state of tension disappeared, a good part of its reason for being would also disappear. The logic of conflict becomes a true identity element. No conflict, identity is diluted or normalized. But the Church does not live on structural antagonisms; lives in hierarchical communion.

If the Fraternity really desires full communion, must decide if it wants to be an ecclesial reality or a permanent opposition with an ecclesial appearance. The difference is not semantic; It is properly ontological. True tradition is not controversial self-preservation, but living continuity in obedience. and obedience, in Catholic ecclesiology, it is not servility, but participation in the very form of the Church willed by Christ.

From the Island of Patmos, 12 February 2026

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CARDINAL VÍCTOR MANUEL FERNÁNDEZ AND THE PRIESTLY FRATERNITY OF ST. PIUS X: THE NON-NEGOTIABLE POINT OF THE CHURCH COMMUNITY

Theological-canonical note on the recent meeting between the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X

— Theology and canon law

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The notification about the on 12. February 2026 meeting between the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Kardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, and the Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X, Rev. Davide Pagliarani (available here), offers an opportunity for reflection – less on a diplomatic level than on a theological and ecclesiological level.

The tone of the text is deliberately brief and factual, yes, even benevolent. There is talk of a “warm and sincere” encounter, of a “specific theological dialogue”, of a “clear-cut methodology” and of a clarification regarding the distinction between the act of faith and the “religious obedience of the mind and will” and the different degrees of assent, required by the texts of the Second Vatican Council. However, beneath this formal and friendly surface there are serious issues, long-standing and unresolved questions are brought to light.

Let's start with a canonistic analysis of the claimed “state of emergency”. The most sensitive point remains the intention, which has already been publicly announced, to carry out new episcopal ordinations without a papal mandate, justified by an alleged “emergency”, which was described in the following words:

“Last Monday, dem 2. February, announced the Superior General of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X an, that the episcopal ordinations - i.e. the ordination of bishops - take place on Wednesday, dem 1. July, will take place. The ceremony is held here in Écône on the well-known grazing area of ​​the Harriers, in the same place, to Archbishop Lefebvre on 30. June 1988 ordained four bishops. It will be a historic event, but it is important, to fully understand its scope and significance. The unusual aspect of this ceremony is this, that it has not yet received the approval of Pope Leo XIV. We sincerely hope, that the Holy Father will allow these ordinations. We must pray for this matter.” (cf. SSPX Current).

Extreme clarity is required here, because the code of canon law is clear:

“No bishop is allowed to consecrate anyone as a bishop, unless the papal mandate has been established beforehand.” (can. 1013 CIC); “A bishop, who consecrates someone as a bishop without a papal mandate, as well as that one, who receives consecration from him, incur the penalty of excommunication, which is reserved for the Apostolic See" (can. 1382 CIC; currently can. 1382 §1 after the reform of 2021).

Die Mitteilung von Kardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández rightly reminds us of can. 331 as well as the constitution The Eternal Shepherd of the First Vatican Council and thereby reaffirms the full, highest, universal and immediate power of the Roman Pontiff. This is not a mere disciplinary individual determination, but rather a constitutive principle of Catholic ecclesiology.

The “emergency” argument has already been 1988 used, to justify the episcopal ordinations carried out by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. However, an emergency in the canonical sense is neither a subjective category nor an ideologically colored perception of crisis. The Code of Canon Law precisely regulates the grounds for non-attribution or mitigation of punishment (cc. 1323–1324 CIC), among which the state of emergency is also mentioned. However, this must actually be real and objective and represent such a serious situation, that action is necessary, in order to avert imminent damage, which cannot be avoided otherwise. A personal judgment about an alleged church crisis is not enough; what is required is a real impossibility, to have recourse to the ordinary means of leadership and communion with the Apostolic See. In addition, a state of emergency cannot be declared arbitrarily or ideologically by the actor himself, but must be objective, correspond to verifiable criteria within the ecclesiastical legal system.

The story of the 20. Century offers concrete examples of this: in Eastern European countries under Soviet rule, where bishops were imprisoned or deported and communications were disrupted; in Maoist China during the harshest phases of religious persecution, when the church worked underground and contact with Rome was effectively impossible; in certain regions of the former Yugoslavia during the Balkan Wars, under conditions of complete isolation and acute danger. In such contexts there was an objective physical and legal impossibility.

The difference to the current church situation is obvious. Today there is no state persecution, which prevents communion with Rome, and no forced disruption of institutional lines of communication. In the contexts, in which the Brotherhood claims a state of emergency, enjoys the church religions- and freedom of action, maintains diplomatic relations with states and acts publicly. Any conflict is doctrinal or interpretive in nature, but not due to material impossibility.

To expand the concept of emergency in this way, that this includes subjective theological disagreement, means, to empty the canonical institute of its actual meaning. This seems particularly paradoxical in circles, who claim a strict Thomistic training for themselves: The authentic scholastic tradition in particular demands conceptual precision and the distinction between levels, not the extensive and ideological use of legal categories.

The current church situation comparing it with the Arian crisis – as is sometimes suggested in certain circles – means, to distort both history and ecclesiology. In the Arian crisis, the deity of the incarnate Word itself was at issue; Today no Trinitarian or Christological dogma is denied by the universal Magisterium. Presenting yourself as the new Athanasius of Alexandria requires, that Rome had become Arian - a claim, which, taken seriously, logically leads to formal schism and before that to legal-theological absurdity. The argument of the emergency, applied to the unilateral decision, Consecrate bishops against the express will of the Roman Pontiff, is as unsustainable in a legal as in an ecclesiological sense, that it lacks minimal criteria of respectability. In addition, the state of emergency cannot be certified by the person themselves, who intends to carry out the act.

The communication then highlights a central theological point: the distinction between the act of belief (divine and catholic faith) and the “religious obedience of the mind and will” (cf. The light, 25). Before we continue, it is appropriate, to clarify these two terms. Under divine and catholic faith means full and irrevocable consent, which the believer gives to the truths revealed by God and finally presented as such by the Church - such as the Trinity, the incarnation or deity of Christ. To knowingly deny such a truth is to deny it, to break the community of faith.

The “religious obedience of the mind and of the will”, on the other hand, refers to those teachings, which are authentically presented by the Magisterium, although not in the form of a dogmatic definition. In these cases it is not an act of faith in the strict sense, but a real one, loyal and respectful consent, which is based on trust in the assistance of the Holy Spirit towards the Magisterium of the Church. It is not just an optional opinion, which could be accepted or rejected at will, but also not an irreformable definition.

The prefect invites the brotherhood to attend with noticeable reluctance, to place itself once again within the framework of classical Catholic theology. He reminds you of that, that not all teachings of the Magisterium require the same degree of approval; However, it is also not permissible, to treat conciliar texts as freely contestable theological opinions. Interpretations, who continue to describe the Second Vatican Council as “merely pastoral.”, as if it were a meeting of inferior status compared to previous ecumenical councils, are reductionist. Such a reading is not only theologically imprecise, but ultimately empties the authority of the conciliar magisterium itself.

The Second Vatican Council did not have any new dogmas defined in a solemn form, is, however, an ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. According to their nature and formulation, his teachings demand at least that religious obedience, which does not represent a purely private opinion, but a real one, although not definitive agreement. It's legit, to critically discuss certain developments of the post-conciliar period; However, these phenomena should not be identified with the Council as such. As early as the 1970s, Antonio Piolanti — a leading representative of the Roman School — warned against this from his chair at the Pontifical Lateran University, to confuse the Second Vatican Council with the so-called “Para-Council”.: These are different realities. Nevertheless, in view of these elementary theological clarifications, the tone of the Brotherhood is unfortunately as follows:

"It is possible, that the Holy See says to us: ‚Gut, we allow you, to consecrate bishops, under the condition, that you accept two things: firstly, the Second Vatican Council; secondly, the New Mass. Then we will allow you to be ordained.’ How should we react?? It's simple. We would rather die, to become modernists. We would rather die, than to renounce the full Catholic faith. We would rather die, than to replace the Mass of St. Pius V with the Mass of Paul VI.” (cf. SSPX Current).

The demand of the Dicastery is not this, every single conciliar formulation “to be believed as dogma”, but to recognize their ecclesiastical authority according to the hierarchy of truths and the degrees of approval. In other words: to study that, what you question; to understand the theological categories; to avoid ideological readings - and at the same time to recognize the seriousness of the interlocutor. The Catholic theological tradition has never been based on the caricature of the opponent, but rather on the careful analysis of his theses and the argumentative refutation of his errors. You can disagree deeply with a position, even judge them to be theologically erroneous, without the other therefore intelligence, to deny education or scientific competence. The authority of a thesis does not depend on the personal delegitimization of its proponent, but on the viability of their arguments. Only in such a climate is authentic theological dialogue possible. And this, it should be emphasized, is not a question of academic politeness, but the actual procedure of the great scholastic tradition. Just think of the structure questions of Saint Thomas Aquinas, which presents the objections in their strongest form, before giving his answer (I answer) formulated. In the Catholic tradition this does not affirm the truth, that you eliminate the opponent, but by overcoming one's arguments at the level of reason and faith.

From the superiors of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X The systematic delegitimization of the interlocutor, together with the previously adopted tone of ultimatum, does not remain at the level of polemic, but directly touches on the ecclesiological question. The most serious thing is less the threat itself than the manner in which it is delivered. To say this to the Roman Pontiff: “If you don’t give us permission, “We will still act”, represents undue pressure on the Church's highest authority. In canon law, asking for a mandate is an act of obedience; the threat, to act without a mandate, an act of rebellion. You cannot turn papal authority into a bureaucratic obstacle, that is intended to be circumvented in the name of a supposedly higher crisis perception. Church community is non-negotiable. It is not a political negotiating table, at which a measure of episcopal autonomy is negotiated.

This message shows a Holy See, that doesn't close, but invites dialogue as an opportunity for truth. It does not immediately impose sanctions, but suggests a way. It doesn't prescribe any formulas, but asks for doctrinal clarification. It is difficult, It is not possible to recognize in the attitude of Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández a form of ecclesiastical patience combined with remarkable institutional nobility. The suggestion, to name “the minimum requirements for full community”., already represents a methodological concession: You start with the essentials, not with complete agreement on everything. Nevertheless, the suspension of episcopal ordinations is set as a temporary condition - and rightly so -, because you can't have a dialogue, when there is a gun on the table, as if the exercise of authority had to give way to preventative pressure.

Finally, there is a structural element, that without bitterness, but should be expressed with sober clarity. Some church movements require, to exist and consolidate, a permanent opponent. Your identity is formed in conflict: modernist Rome, the treacherous council, the ambiguous pope, the hostile world... If this state of permanent tension were to disappear, their own reason for existence would also falter. The logic of conflict becomes a principle that creates identity. Without conflict, identity dissolves or normalizes. The church, however, does not thrive on structural contradictions, but of hierarchical community.

If the brotherhood really strives for full communion, she has to decide, whether it wants to be a church reality or a permanent opposition with the appearance of a church. The difference is not semantic, but ontological in nature. True tradition is not polemical self-assertion, but living continuity in obedience. And obedience in Catholic ecclesiology is not servilism, but participation in the shape of the church desired by Christ.

From the island of Patmos, 13. February 2026

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With Leo XIV Bishop of Rome, the title of Primate of Italy resurfaces

WITH LEO XIV, BISHOP OF ROME, THE TITLE OF ITALIAN PRIMATE RE-emerges

This definition, remained silent for a long time in official texts, now comes back alive in the voice of the Pontiff as a sign of orientation for the Church and for Italy. After years of mostly universal interpretations of the papacy, Leo XIV wanted to renew the original dimension of his ministry: the Supreme Pontiff is Bishop of Rome and, for this, guide and father of the Churches of Italy.

- ecclesial topicality -

Author Teodoro Beccia

Author
Teodoro Beccia

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Among the words pronounced by the Supreme Pontiff Leo XIV in his recent speech at the Quirinale, the 14 last October, one in particular resonated with theological force and historical intensity: «As Bishop of Rome and Primate of Italy».

This definition, remained silent for a long time in official texts, now comes back alive in the voice of the Pontiff as a sign of orientation for the Church and for Italy. After years of mostly universal interpretations of the papacy, Leo XIV wanted to renew the original dimension of his ministry: the Supreme Pontiff is Bishop of Rome and, for this, guide and father of the Churches of Italy.

The title of Primate of Italy expresses the ecclesiological truth that unites the universal Church to its concrete roots, tracing the primacy of Peter back to the sacramental source and the communion of the local Churches (cf.. The light, 22; The Eternal Shepherd, cap. (II)). In the vision of the Second Vatican Council, the Petrine function is never separated from the episcopal and collegial dimension: the Bishop of Rome, as successor of Peter, exercises a presidency of charity and unity (The light, 23), which is rooted in its own episcopal see. In this sense,, the title of Primate of Italy does not represent a legal privilege, but a theological and ecclesial sign that manifests the intimate connection between the universal primacy of the Roman Pontiff and his paternity over the Churches of Italy. As Saint John Paul II reminds us, the ministry of the Bishop of Rome "is at the service of the unity of faith and communion of the Church" (To be one, 94), and it is precisely from this communion that the national and local dimension of his pastoral concern arises.

In the Catholic hierarchy of the Latin Church, at the beginning of the second millennium, primate bishops are also envisaged, prelates who with that title - only honorific - are in charge of the oldest and most important dioceses of states or territories, without any prerogative (cf.. Pontifical Yearbook, ed. 2024). The Bishop of Rome is the Primate of Italy: ancient title, implemented over the centuries and still in force today, although with different prerogatives that have occurred over time.

Over the centuries other bishops in the Peninsula have had the honorific title of Primate: the Metropolitan Archbishop of Pisa maintains the title of Primate of the islands of Corsica and Sardinia, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Cagliari bears the title of Primate of Sardinia, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Palermo maintains the title of Primate of Sicily, and the Metropolitan Archbishop of Salerno as Primate of the Kingdom of Naples (cf.. Pontifical Yearbook, sez. “Metropolitan and Primate Headquarters”).

The territorial scope referred to by the term Italy was varied: from suburban Italy of the first Christian centuries, to Gothic and Lombard Italy, until the Kingdom of Italy incorporated into the Roman-German Empire, substantially made up of northern Italy and the Papal State. This primacy did not concern the territories of the former patriarchate of Aquileia, nor the territories forming part of Germanic kingdom — the current Trentino-Alto Adige, Trieste and Istria —, later belonged to the Austrian Empire. Today the primacy of Italy is implemented on a territory corresponding to that of the Italian Republic, of the Republic of San Marino and the Vatican City State (cf.. Pontifical Yearbook, ed. 2024, sez. “Primal Headquarters and Territories”).

The notion of "Italy" applied to ecclesiastical jurisdiction it has never had a political value, but an eminently pastoral and symbolic meaning, connected to the unifying function of the Bishop of Rome as a center of communion between the particular Churches of the Peninsula. Since the late ancient era, indeed, the suburbicaria regio designated the territory that, by ancient custom, recognized the direct dependence on the Roman See (cf.. Pontifical Book, vol. I, ed. Duchesne). Over the centuries, while changing civil constituencies and state structures, the spiritual dimension of primacy has remained constant, as an expression of ecclesial unity and the apostolic tradition of the Peninsula.

In the two thousand years of Christianity, the people of the Peninsula and the episcopate itself have constantly looked to the Roman See, both in the ecclesiastical and civil spheres. In 452 the Bishop of Rome, Leone I, at the request of Emperor Valentinian III, he was part of the embassy that went to northern Italy to meet the king of the Huns Attila, in an attempt to dissuade him from proceeding with his advance towards Rome (cf.. Prosper d'Aquitania, Chronicon, to a year 452).

They are the Popes of Rome who, in centuries, support the Municipalities against the imperial powers: the Guelph party - and in particular Charles of Anjou - becomes the instrument of papal power throughout the Peninsula. The Roman Pontiff will appear as the friend of the Municipalities, the protector of Italian liberties, contributing to dissolving the very idea of ​​Empire understood as the holder of full sovereignty, in favor of widespread and multiple sovereignty.

The concept of jurisdiction will be expressed clearly by Bartolo da Sassoferrato (1313-1357): it is not understood only as the power of speaking the law, but above all as the complex of powers necessary for the governance of a system that is not centralized in the hands of a single person or body (cf.. Bartolo of Saxoferrato, Treatise on Jurisdiction, in All works, New York, 1588, vol. IX). In this pluralistic vision of law, the Apostolic See represents the principle of balance and justice among the multiple forms of sovereignty that develop in the Peninsula, placing itself as a guarantor of the order and freedom of Christian communities.

Even in the 19th century, Vincenzo Gioberti proposed the neo-Guelph ideal and a confederation of Italian states under the presidency of the Roman Pontiff, outlining a vision in which the spiritual authority of the Pope should have acted as a principle of moral and political unity of the Peninsula (cf.. V. Gioberti, Of the moral and civil primacy of the Italiansi, Bruxelles 1843, lib. (II), cap. 5). In tune, Antonio Rosmini also recognized the Apostolic See as the foundation of the Christian political order, while distinguishing between spiritual power and temporal power, in a perspective that intended to heal the fracture between Church and nation (cf.. A. Rosmini, The Five Wounds of the Holy Church, Lugano 1848, Part II, cap. 1).

The title of Primate of Italy, in the modern age, he was therefore referring to the Bishop of Rome, ruler of a vast territory and head of a sprawling state, like others, in the Peninsula. The territory of primacy, Consequently, it was not identified with that of a single state, but it overlapped with the plurality of political jurisdictions of the time. If he Concordat of Worms (1122) had attributed to the Popes of Rome the power to confirm the appointment of bishops, in Italy — or rather in Kingdom of Italy, including central-northern Italy —, over the centuries the choice of bishops was agreed with the territorial sovereigns, according to the customs of European states: or through backhoe presentations, the first of which was generally the chosen one, or with a single designation by the prince holding the right of patronage, as also happened for the Kingdom of Sicily (cf.. Bullarium Romanum, t. V, Rome 1739).

The involvement of the state authority often determined a substantial balance between State and Church, in which the recognition of the respective spheres of action allowed the Apostolic See to maintain its influence on episcopal appointments, albeit within the boundaries of the concordats and sovereign privileges.

In the midst of the jurisdictionalist era of the 18th century, Episcopalian claims found no space in the episcopate of the Peninsula, nor the Gallican or Germanic ones, despite some Italian princes trying to comply, if not patronize, such theories (cf.. P. Study Program, Jurisdictionalism in the history of Italian political thought, Bologna 1968). In Tuscany, state interference in religious matters reached its full implementation under Grand Duke Peter Leopold (1765-1790). Animated by sincere religious fervor, the Grand Duke believed he was carrying out a work of true devotion and piety when he worked to combat the abuses of ecclesiastical discipline, superstitions, the corruption and ignorance of the clergy.

At first no protest was raised by the Tuscan episcopate, or because he saw the futility of opposing, or because he approved those measures; maybe even why, in the Tuscan episcopate as in the clergy, there was an antipathy towards religious orders and a form of autonomy from the Holy See was willingly accepted. However, in the general synod of Florence of 1787, all the bishops of the State - except Scipione de' Ricci and two others - rejected these reforms, reaffirming fidelity to communion with the Roman Pontiff and defending the integrity of ecclesiastical tradition (cf.. Proceedings of the Synod of Florence, 1787, arch. the court of Florence).

The Catholic Church has always fought the formation of national churches, since such attempts are in open contrast with the very structure of ecclesial communion and with the ancient canonical discipline. Already the dog. XXXIV day Canons of the Apostles — a collection dating back to the 4th century, around the year 380 — prescribed a fundamental principle of episcopal unity:

It is agreed that the bishop should know the individual nations, because he is considered the first among them, whom they regard as their head and bear nothing more than his consent, than those alone, which parishes [in greco τῇ paroiᾳ] proper and the towns that are under it are competent. But neither should he do anything apart from the conscience of all; for thus there will be unanimity and God is glorified through Christ in the Holy Spirit (“The bishops of each nation must know who among them is the first and consider him as their leader, and do not do anything important without his consent; each will only deal with what concerns their own diocese and the territories that depend on it; but he who is first must also do nothing without the consent of all: thus harmony will reign and God will be glorified through Christ in the Holy Spirit.”)

This rule, of an apostolic flavor and synodal matrix, affirms the principle of unity in collegiality, where primacy is not domination, but communion service. This conception, assumed and deepened in the Catholic tradition, found its full expression in the doctrine of Roman primacy. As Pope Leo XIII teaches:

«the Church of Christ is one by nature, and as one is Christ, so one must be one's body, his faith is one, his doctrine is one, and one his head visible, established by the Redeemer in the person of Peter" (Well known, 9).

As a result, any attempt to found particular churches or national independent from the Apostolic See has always been rejected as contrary to a, holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. The subordination of the episcopal college to the Petrine primacy constitutes in fact the bond of unity that guarantees the catholicity of the Church and preserves the individual particular Churches from the risk of isolation or doctrinal deviation (cf.. The light of the nationm, 22; Christ the Lord, 4).

The title of Primate, attributed to some locations, it was actually a mere honorific, like that of Patriarch conferred on some episcopal sees of the Latin rite (cf.. Code of Canon Law, can. 438). Such dignity, of an exclusively ceremonial nature, it did not carry effective jurisdictional power, nor a direct authority over the other dioceses of a specific ecclesiastical region. The title was intended to honor the age or particular historical relevance of an episcopal seat, according to a practice consolidated in the second millennium.

However, the position is different and above all the prerogatives of the two primate seats of Italy and Hungary, which preserve a singular juridical-ecclesial physiognomy within the Latin Church. According to a centuries-old tradition, the Prince-Primate of Hungary is covered with both ecclesiastical and civil duties. Between these, the privilege of crowning the sovereign — a privilege last exercised on 30 December 1916 for the coronation of King Charles IV of Habsburg by St. E. Mons. János Cernoch, then Archbishop of Esztergom - and to replace him in case of temporary impediment (cf.. Journal of the Holy See, vol. XLIX, 1917).

Hungarian primacy it is attributed to the archiepiscopal seat of Esztergom (today Esztergom-Budapest), whose ancient primacy dignity dates back to the 11th century, when King Stephen I obtained from the Pope the foundation of the Hungarian national Church under the direct protection of the Apostolic See. L'Archivescovo di Esztergom, as Primate of Hungary, enjoys a special position over all Catholics present in the State and a power quasi-governmental on bishops and metropolitans, including the metropolis of Hajdúdorog for the Hungarian faithful of the Byzantine rite. There is a primary court near him, always presided over by him, which judges cases in third instance: a privilege founded on an immemorial custom, rather than on an express legal norm (cf.. Code of Canon Law, can. 435; Pontifical YearbookO, sez. “Primary Headquarters”, ed. 2024). He is a Hungarian citizen, resident in the State, and often also holds the position of President of the Hungarian Episcopal Conference, exercising a mediation function between the Apostolic See and the local Church.

Italian primacy, attributed to the Roman See, It has a very particular configuration: its owner, the Bishop of Rome, he can be - and in fact in recent pontificates he has been - a non-Italian citizen. He is sovereign of a foreign state, the Vatican City State, not part of the European Union, and does not belong to the Italian Episcopal Conference, while maintaining direct authority over it. By virtue of his title of Primate of Italy, the Roman Pontiff in fact appoints the President and General Secretary of the Italian Episcopal Conference, as required by the art. 4 §2 of the CEI Statute, which expressly recalls «the particular bond that unites the Church in Italy to the Pope, Bishop of Rome and Primate of Italy" (cf.. Statute of the Italian Episcopal Conference, approved by Paul VI 2 July 1965, updated in 2014).

This singular legal configuration shows how Italian primacy, despite having no autonomous administrative structure, retains a real ecclesiological function, as a visible expression of the organic bond between the universal Church and the Churches of Italy. In this the continuity of the Petrine primacy is manifested in its dual dimension: universal, as a service to the communion of the whole Church, and local, as pastoral paternity exercised on Italian territory (The light, 22–23).

An opening is thus outlined the end of the Church to international and global problems, something which is also found in some paragraphs of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, dedicated to human rights, to international solidarity, to the right to religious freedom of various peoples, to the protection of emigrants and refugees, to the condemnation of totalitarian regimes and the promotion of peace. What is most relevant is the invitation, incitement, of the Church a to complete the good it is not only anchored to the eternal salvation, to the achievement of the otherworldly goal, but also to the contingent, to the immanent needs of man in need of material help.

Based on the claimed primacy and pursuant to art. 26 the Lateran Treaty, the pastoral action of the Pontiff himself takes place in several regions of Italy, through visits to many cities and sanctuaries, carried out without these presenting themselves as trips to foreign countries. The widespread practice of considering the Pope of Rome as the first Bishop of Italy means that Italian events are often present in his speeches or speeches.. He often visits areas of the Peninsula where painful events have occurred, and the presence of the Pope is seen by the populations as dutiful, requested as a sign of comfort and help. It also comes back, in the broad sense of primacy, receiving delegations from Italian state bodies. In this perspective, the figure of the Roman Pontiff as Primate of Italy takes on the value of a sign of communion between the Church and the Nation, in the line of the universal mission that he exercises as successor of Peter. The national dimension of his pastoral concern is not opposed, but rather it integrates, with the Catholic mission of the Apostolic See, because the Pope is also Bishop of Rome, Father of the Churches of Italy and Pastor of the universal Church (Preach the Gospel, art. 2).

The triple dimension of his ministry — diocesan, national and universal — makes that visible the unity of the Church that faith professes and history bears witness to. Thus the title of Primate of Italy, resurfaced in the voice of Leo XIV, it does not appear as a remnant of past honors, but as a living reminder of the spiritual responsibility of the Papacy towards the Italian people, in continuity with his apostolic mission towards all people.

Velletri of Rome, 16 October 2025

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Theological and legal doubts about the legitimate validity of the priestly orders of homosexuals – Theological and legal doubts about the legitimate validity priestly ordinations of homosexuals

(English text after the Italian)

 

Theological and legal doubts about the legitimate validity of the priestly orders of homosexuals

The minimum requirements required for the validity of the sacrament of the order are: the man, the Christian, the believer, therefore the correct perception of the Catholic priesthood. The real problem is not that the personality structured on rooted homosexual tendencies has no requirements to become a priest, Obviously he doesn't have any. The problem is other and more serious: If you miss the priest requirements it becomes, that sacred ordination, In addition to being illegal, It is not that it is also disabled?

- Theology and canonical law -

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There is no aggregation in the world like the Catholic Church where the presence of more or less clear homosexuals is so high, nor is there similar aggregation where homosexuals, together with their narrow associates, they did a blow by entering all the "command rooms", I have been writing it for years (I refer to a old interview of mine 2013 readable WHO).

With the advent of social media Catholic self -styled blogs are proliferated where the customs of the LGBT agenda within the church is claimed, accusing those who complain about the serious problem of the high number of homosexuals within the clergy of being frustrated and repressed unresolved.

The lobby gay ecclesiastical is so powerful Impossible life to those who dared to denounce certain situations, explaining abundantly in advance of the ecclesiastical authorities how things would end. Nor should the virulent armed arm of the powerful be underestimated lobby gay ecclesiastical constituted by gay friendly, the consortium of those who, although not homosexual, protect the members of the Gay pious confraternity for them personal interests, or because moved by great career expectations, aware that gay lobbyists can favor them, or irreparably rubbing them within the diocese or the Roman Curia. Say that at the Holy See, in numerous dioceses, therefore in the universal church, It has come to a level of internal homosexualization that has exceeded all guard limit, It is not a mere imaginative hypothesis but a fact that can only be denied by those who reject the evidence of the facts.

In addition to gay friendly There are those I defined charming men, the danger of which is much higher than that of gay friendly. If in fact i gay friendly lend themselves to support the whims of the lobby gay To make benefits and prebends from it, the charming men they are those who exercise theirs charm male on members of the pious confraternity of gay ecclesiastics, creating around him an army of adorate homosexual serviles ready to act as their armed arm, good as few to attack and bite all together as a pack of hyenas under the impulse or command of theirs charming man. Then, I know charming man He manages to exercise his male seductions on a government man with latent homosexuality who enjoys a certain power within the Church, For example an diocesan bishop or a high prelate of the Roman curia, At that point the ecclesiastical career is guaranteed for him and the damage he will render to others, in particular to the fearsome "rivals" - those who are endowed with those valuable human qualities, morals, theological and pastoral that it charming men It has no - they will shave the inflicted of the white martyrdom.

It charming man, which by its nature is self -centered and ambitious, He defends himself unscrupulous through a connatured vendial-destructive instinct, capable of exercising malice with a method of scientific cruelty towards those who are endowed with that Christological priestly courage that leads them to affirm and remember what is right and what is wrong in the light of the Holy Gospel and the Catholic doctrine. Because the pure hearts, unlike the gay lobbyists, of theirs gay friendly e charming men, do not aim at everything and immediately immmedied, aim for the eternal.

 

The requirements for the validity of the sacraments are minimal, But those minimum requirements must exist

 

Those who practice sacramentary dogmatics know that this specific ground is very delicate, Last but not least because the requirements for the validity of the sacraments are really minimal. Among these lines we will limit ourselves to talking only about the sacrament of the order, Starting from a premise aimed at freeing the field immediately from the disputes of those who thought they could argue that in the texts of sacramentary dogmatic, In those of canon law and in its comments, no express and clear reference is made to those subjects of both sexual and psycho-sexual character to which I will refer in explicit terms. To dispel certain doubts and free the field of equivocal and insistent theological and legal disputes, I will bring attention to an incontrovertible data: until not many decades ago, Everything that directly or indirectly concerned human sex and sexuality had whispered transversely with euphemisms and turns of words in the texts of the magisterium, doctrine and in the Treaties of Catholic Moral, The only talking about certain themes was believed to be what inconvenient. When specialist academic àmbites were addressed themes of Catholic morality linked to human sexuality was resorted to Latin euphemisms, because the same words ordinarily and precisely used in the clinical and scientific lexicon of gynecology, of urology and andrology, they were not deemed convenient within the classrooms of ecclesiastical academies. The same confessors of the time had their own way of expressing themselves, A frasary made of vague indirect implications, taught to young pre -sides since their formation to the priesthood. This "proper" phraser of confessors served to allude without having to resort to unpronounceable terms banned from the ecclesiastical academic sphere as by the confessional, especially from public catechesis addressed to the people of God. This language was also assimilated by the Catholic faithful, In particular, from the penitents that before the confessor expressed themselves for so -called "understood" and "implications" as regards the sexual sphere, the relationships linked to it and everything that was relevant to the violations of the sixth commandment.

I will try to clarify everything with an example: it ran the year 2010 When a ninety -year -old penitent who grew up in that world not far from centuries but of a few decades, During a confession based on his memories of the past he referred to when once, in winter, finding himself alone "... leaving the house unfortunately I slipped". Son on the other era as a man and as a priest, I did not understand and I imagined that being in winter in an area where the snow falls in certain periods, leaving the house had fallen, Perhaps on a slab of ice formed by the snow in a corner not beaten by the sun, or who knows in what other way he slipped and fell. She understood that I had not understood, So he did two other delicate allusions more explicit to make me understand that he had committed a sin of adultery, for which after more than half a century he could not take off the sense of bitterness that had caused her, having always been linked by sincere love to his wife. This is to reiterate that it would not be pertinent or logical to contest that certain exhibitions to which I am clearly resorted to are not contained in an equally clear way in the texts of the magisterium, of the doctrine, of the sacramentary dogmatic, of Catholic morality and the code of canon law.

 

THE ORIGIN LESSON. THE VIRILITY OF mAN approved As an essential element for the Catholic priesthood

 

The catechism of the Catholic Church recites at n. 1577:

«It is validly receiving the sacred ordination exclusively the masculine baptized (“for“)»[1]. The Lord Jesus chose men (“men“) To form the college of twelve apostles[2], and the apostles did the same when they chose the collaborators[3] that they would be succeeded in the ministry[4]. The Bishop's College, with which the presbyters are united in the priesthood, The College of the twelve makes and update and update until the return of Christ. The Church is recognized bound by this choice made by the Lord himself. For this reason, the ordination of women is not possible "[5].

Nobody has a right to receive the sacrament of the order. In fact, no one can attribute this office to himself. It is called by God to it[6]. Whoever believes to recognize the signs of the call of God to the ordered ministry, He must humbly submit his desire to the authority of the Church, to which the responsibility and the right to call someone to receive orders is responsible for. Like every grace, This sacrament can only be received as an immersed gift.

Note that the Latin term Source/Resources It is a male noun of the second declination, With it, man is mainly indicated, the male, adult, Virility linked to male sex. The denial and the antithesis of Source/Resources It is also the term of Latin derivation: evil, word that indicates the deprivation of virility and also deriving from Source/Resources. In ecclesial language, To indicate men suitable for sacred orders, the term of sources try, in use in the church of the first centuries to indicate married men who were suitable to access the diaconate and the presbyterate[7]. With the run of time and the free acceptance of the obligation of celibacy that has its roots from the first apostolic era, In our lexic current this expression is used to indicate ascertained men and as such reliable for the sacred orders. The lack of psycho-physical virility therefore constitutes an insurmountable impediment to the sacred priestly ordination. Impediment known and as such sanctioned since the first centuries of the life of the Church, before which no one has the right to dispense, Given that no ecclesiastical authority can dispense from being a man, which is an essential and fundamental assumption of the ministerial priesthood.

In the year 230 Origen was consecrated priest From Teochtiso di Caesarea and by Alessandro di Jerusalemme, without the approval of the bishop Demetrio, who had canonical jurisdiction over him. Origene, The evangelical pass in which the Lord Jesus refers to the "eunuchi for the kingdom of heaven"[8], If it was evirate. This is the reason why his bishop had never wanted to consecrate him in the priestly order[9]. After that sacred ordination the bishop Demetrio, with the approval of the Supreme Pontiano Pontiff[10], the teaching faculty revokes him and deposed it from the presbyteral order[11] for the irregularity of his sacred ordination, that nothing was declared. It is known that Origen is the only one of the fathers of the church of that rich season not to have been proclaimed saint, Although imprisoned and tortured during the anti -Christian persecutions of Decio; but above all despite having been, For intellectual and speculative qualities, at a level higher than various other philosophers and theologians of that first rich and happy Christian era. The reason for obstacle to its canonization was due to the fact that in its great and precious philosophical-theological speculations it assumed the thought considered today's heretical rehabilitation[12]; The great and insurmountable impediment is all linked to its evolution.

In those early years of the Church life, in which the first great philosophical-theological speculations that preceded and gave life to the conditions and subjects then treated by the first ecumenical council of Nicea were underway in the year 325, It was not uncommon for speculative minds, Also including the Fathers of the Church, they fell into heretical thoughts, from which they then amended, This prevented their canonization or their proclamation in Fathers of the Church.

The Code of Canon Law Recalled a little further on refers in a modest and sweetened way to the fact that it cannot be ordained a priest "who has seriously and maliciously mutilated themselves or another"[13]. From this it is clear that the horrendous self-metaling of Origen was what is considered in itself worse than the heresy which can however be remedied through the recognition of voluntary or involuntary error, But a destroyed physical virility cannot be restored, if not with the use of complex surgical interventions practiced by modern surgery, even if with very uncertain results.

Relevant question: Mental castration It can also be worse than physical evolution, place that physical sexuality, With it the male virility that follows, It is a consequence of all mental, from which sexuality and physical sex cannot ignore, being physical sexuality the consequence of mental sex? It is a question that for years I have given unnecessarily to members of the episcopate, But they never replied.

Through the sacrament of the order The participation in the priesthood of Christ according to the method transmitted by the apostolic succession is conferred. The ministerial priesthood stands out of the common priesthood of the faithful who derives from baptism and confirmation. Both, «Although they differ essentially and not only of degree, However, they are ordered to each other "[14]. It is precisely and specific to the ministerial priesthood to be "a sacramental representation of Jesus Christ chief and pastor"[15]. This allows to exercise the authority of Christ in the pastoral function of preaching and government, as well as operating in persona Christi in the exercise of the sacramental ministry. Having said that, it is clarified that the first two essential conditions for the conferment, therefore for the validity of the sacrament, I am the man and the Christian.

Book IV of the Code of Canon Law, in part I who deals with the sacraments, schematizes the "irregularities and other impediments" to receive the sacrament of the order[16]. A detailed list of obvious elements follows, For example, a madman or an affection from psychic infirmity cannot be ordained a priest, the apostates, heretics and killers, who mutilated seriously and maliciously or another or attempted to take his own life, etc … (cf.. text of the canons, WHO). However, you will have to come to Just yesterday ", or a year 2005, After around the world had been placed in the sacred priestly orders in whole armies of homosexuals in the previous decades, with results revealed over time devastating for the entire universal church, To finally see promulgated by the then Congregation for Catholic Education - competent at the time for seminars, Today he returned to being the dicastery for the clergy, as indeed had always been previously -, Unfortunately, a document remained unheeded in many training houses, in which we speak clearly and precisely About the vocational discernment criteria regarding people with homosexual tendencies in view of their admission to the seminary and sacred orders (see text WHO). In short, After for years and years he went on saying "coming out of the house I slipped", suddenly he took courage by saying without euphemisms that everything is called adultery. In the same way, we proceeded to declare without implicit that a person with clear homosexual tendencies did not require to become a priest, never and in no case.

The real problem It is not that the personality structured on rooted homosexual tendencies has no requirements to become a priest, Obviously he doesn't have any. The problem is other and more serious: If despite the lack of requirements that are fundamental and founding for the priesthood, he becomes priest becomes, that sacred ordination, In addition to being clearly illegal, It is not that by chance it is also disabled?

In addition to the "dead letter" of the different exhortations issued by the Apostolic See about the non -admission to the sacred orders of people with homosexual tendencies, there is worse: In the previous decades - but unfortunately also to this - - the sacred priestly ordinations of subjects with obvious homosexual tendencies has been proceeded, hidden behind the illusory certainty that what mattered was insurance that did not practice homosexuality. Statement made repeatedly and implemented not a few bishops and seminary rectors, that however aware of the evident deficiency of male testosterone by not a few of their seminarians, Although perfectly aware of their homosexual tendencies and aware of the dissolute life that followed to live in the various pauses-vacation outside the seminary, They thought of solving the problem by hiding behind the surreal fig leaf ... "The important thing is that they do not practice homosexuality".

It is enormous error to think that a psychological disorder may safely remain as long as he does not mute himself in physical act, Given that - as I have explained several times in my studies and books - the homosexuality practiced physically is only the tip of theiceberg of mental homosexuality. I also explained and shown that often, reduced homosexuals for self-repression to chastity, in their thinking, Acting and interacting can be much worse and more harmful to the Church of those who practice homosexuality on a physical level, Because these seconds at least show off, resulting at least in part less acidic and bad. Unlike the repressed that tend to be not only acids and bad for their very nature, but evil and cruel. A quel point, When we find ourselves in front of deeply bad people who feel perverse pleasure to hurt others by any means, Starting from the dissemination of false news, or by resorting to complaints based on falsehoods built artfully, We are faced with a problem that evaluate homosexuality, because certain subjects would be such, i.e. evil, even if they were heterosexual, Therefore, regardless of their sexual tendencies.

In the long interviews that in internal hole and in the external hole I had over my years of sacred ministry with homosexuals animated by sincere and profound Christian feelings, the phrase expressed most frequently, In tones at times dramatic imbued with profound inner suffering it was:

"… that beats me, I can not control, As far as I commit myself with all my strength to escape the opportunities ".

Homosexuality, rightly derubricated by the list of "diseases", However, it remains a very profound and complex disorder of human personality. Even if in the opinion of the experts of the New clinical order Today it is no longer cataloged as a disease, thanks to the strong pressures exerted on them by the powerful homosexualist lobby, The fact remains that they exist, even in considerable numbers, homosexuals that do not accept the drives of their libido they defined as "disorder" and "disorder", For this they ask to be helped. And the request for help, often, Already in itself it is a request for treatment that as an answer, however, a help offer deserves, also for what is rightly defined today one non-malattia.

I remember among the many a poignant interview occurred in the sacramental confession with a penitent forty -year -old who told me textual words:

"How come, Today it is even possible to take care of many forms of cancer, serious ones included if taken in time, not instead this "disease" that my soul consumes since I had just 15 year old?».

How the Holy Doctor of the Church teaches us Agostino Bishop of Hippona: "Pain exists" - So it manifests itself - "" only in good natures "[17]. The sexual drives, which with a term that has become taboo today were defined In addition to nature, they are much more controllable than those are not against nature, who tend to be uncontrollable complexity itself, or in any case very difficult to stem. And as, These expressed so far, They are not hypotheses but clinical-scientific de facto data, I ask: As could be left to the direction of our seminars and the religious novice of the rectors, of the trainers and the spiritual fathers who, albeit aware of the homosexual tendencies of many of their seminarians and novices, They thought of solving and closing the problem - with the blessing seal of their bishops and their greater superiors - through a ... "provided they do not practice homosexuality"? The whole, which in itself very serious and wicked, While knowing that these homosexuals would have been placed as "foxes inside a chicken coop" within an ecclesiastical environment of everything in the male? How could they, The bishops perfectly aware of the clear trends of certain seminarians, debut even with cynical spirit jokes - heard from myself and various other witnesses -, type: “You can't all be perfect, There are also elements with factory defect, The important thing is that they do not give scandal. However, the church, It needs manovalanza ". Yup, Then we saw it at the tragic yield of the accounts, What happened when the ambitious "laborers" in great career have done theirs blow inside the church, chasing away beating the good designers engineers and architects from the construction site. These are perhaps the conditions through which a bishop can impose his hands, recite the consecrating prayer and grease a new presturious with the sacred chrism, stating that in the Church ... there is also a need for certain laborers?

 

There is no difference between the simony orders and those that occurred for exchanges of sexual favors and consequent blackmail

 

I witness - and several times I have informed the compensation of the ecclesiastical authorities of the Holy See, with related references and evidence - about cases of Italian bishops who under the blackmail have ordered priests of the obvious homosexuals and that, Although they were aware of their bad moral conduct and the incorrigibility of their nature, If they had not ordered them priests, these would have burst into an unwary scandals, covering their diocese by mud, Given that the first to linger in homosexual practices were their trainers and several presbitals of particular importance of the diocesan presbyterio, While on certain bishops sustaining for a sort of sacred modesty. In the face of everything I asked several times to those in duty and authority: If more reconciles of the Church have declared the sacred priestly ordinations and episcopal consecrations that occurred through simony have not been valid[18], that is, through merchandise of money, The more disabled are sacred ordinations and episcopal consecrations obtained through blackmail, In order to keep the sexual merimonies hidden by virtue of which it was not possible to say no to those priestly orders and episcopal consecrations? It is a bishop without freedom that orders a presturious on blackmail and under constriction, validly administer the sacrament of the order? Or perhaps we must believe that paying in money or blackmailing through the money given, it is illegal thing, therefore as this condemned even by the ecumenical councils of the Church[19], mind instead, pay or blackmail through sexual performance, dates and offers, It is to be considered what everything is legitimate for the sacramental and canonical purposes of the validity of the sacrament of the order? Having said that I ask: The gifts of grace of the Holy Spirit, They can pass and produce effect through such and sacrilegious sinful action? I repeat: These are questions aimed severally and publicly and publicly to the competent ecclesiastical authorities, who have never responded on the theological and legal merit.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church considers simony a serious sin against the first commandment, together with the action of attempting God and sacrilege. According to the current code of canon law, The renunciation of an office made for Simonia, It is not valid and the simoniaca provision of an ecclesiastical office is nothing very right; Canonical penalties are also planned, such as suspension or interdict, Against the simoniaca reception or reception of a sacrament[20].It should then be added that the subjects in question, once they are absurd to the sacred priestly order, Far from subsiding and content themselves they have followed to use their poisons to be inserted in seats of maximum importance within the dioceses, To achieve immersed ecclesiastical academic titles, to become professors of Eresiology In pontifical universities, To become diocesan bishops, apostolic nunci, some cardinals; To be sent without any merit and talent to the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, then ending, not even forty years old, After not even five years of diplomatic service, In the most strategic key places of the Secretariat of State. This is always to reiterate the immense damage that may derive from that principle of self-destruction today in place, placed in place by people who, Like the bishop of which I told forward, they claimed: “You can't all be perfect, There are also elements with factory defect, The important thing is that they do not give scandal ". However, If the Church really needs manovalanza, It should also be remembered that in the promises that we do before the Bishop and the Assembly of the People of God we promise to keep us celibate, So Casti, i.e. renouncing sexual relationships with those wonderful creatures that are women. Or we promise perhaps not to practice homosexuality, If affected by obvious homosexual tendencies? Because in that case, According to the impious logic of certain bishops and their trainers responsible for the care of seminars, It will be good to review the Roman ritual of the sacred orders of the deacons and priests, Also inserting this new form of solemn promise:

"I promise, as homosexual, not to practice homosexuality and to keep me celibate, aware that celibacy involves chastity both with women but above all with men ".

Good, This promise is also inserted into the ritual, If we really want to be consistent. I wrote in my book of my 2010:

Consciousness cannot be put in peace limiting themselves to public and severe proclamations, then if in fact gay priests increased in proportion to the presence of bishops who reason with a latent homosexual psychology. Or to put it raw: some seminarians between the seventies and the eighties capeggiavano inside of the seminars pious confraternity, Today they are bishops, and just become such, first they are surrounded by related parties, placed more and rigor in all the key posts in the diocese, traineeships. And these subjects, that protects and reproduce each other, they ended up creating a tremendously powerful lobbies within the Church[21].

Today we cannot say that there are no clear and precise documents, for instance:

[…] the church, while deeply respecting the people in question, Those who practice homosexuality cannot admit to the seminary and sacred orders, have deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or support the so -called gay culture […][22]

This and other documents are however treated as a dead letter To the point that today, In several seminars more similar to gods Gay village that not to Catholic training houses, a heterosexual would not even dare to approach, I think I explained it clearly in that book of my 2011 above all recalled.

It is superfluous to explain with what pain and a sense of humiliation, During the last thirty years of the history of the Church, has witnessed the climbing at the top of certain well -known homosexuals, clear and evident, many of which today professors of Eresiology In pontifical universities, Consultors and members of dicasteries, employees in the Diplomatic Service of the Holy See, diocesan bishops, Seminary Rectors, Diocesan General Vicars and Subvia to follow …

 

"You will know the truth and the truth will make you free". MANY HOMOSEXUALS LACK OF THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS REQUIRED FOR THE VALIDITY OF THE SACRAMENT OF ORDER, Starting from freedom and truth

 

In the Gospel of the blessed apostle John the verb of God asserts:

“If you stick to my word, you will truly be my disciples; you will know the truth and the truth will set you free"[23].

Before this assertion, which in its way is also a warning, We should seriously question the inseparable bond that runs between truth, freedom and ministerial priesthood. The homosexual, within the ecclesiastical world, it cannot be free, because it cannot be itself. And who is not himself cannot know the truth and become a tool, Believing that it is possible would be like saying that man has the power to change the evil to good and to bring redeemed grace through sin. God alone can change the evil to good, which partially understandable to the human intellect, since this remains in its entirety an inexplicable mystery, enclosed precisely in the great mystery of grace. God can in fact even use a wicked action by Satan, to ensure that the supreme evil made by the prince of darkness can change by his will and for his divine intervention in great good, But man cannot, through one's fragile nature corrupt from original sin, change the supreme evil in great good, nor can, least of all, use an evil action of the devil to change it in an action of good.

Who does not know the truth because to live he must fall into hiding, then in the simply self-defensive lies, it cannot be faithful to the word, Therefore it cannot be a disciple, It can only renew the Luciferian drama of the betrayal of Judah inside the church, all thanks to the sacred imposition of the hands of certain wicked bishops, that in this way prove to be not apostles of Christ but of the the mystery of iniquity.

We know that Christ established him for men and not for the angels. Therefore, the priest, Despite having by mystery of grace a higher dignity than that of the angels of God, It can be a sinner and fall like such in more or less serious sin; it can also commit very serious sins. The fact remains that a sin, however fatal, but still accidental, committed by a sinner priest, In its form and in its profound and intimate substance it is different from those who decide instead of structuring the sacred priestly ministry on the state of sin deriving from a lack of freedom that needs to be defended with perpetual lie, thus not being able to know the truth and therefore be faithful to the word, regardless of one's sin and his human sinner nature. Act in this way and "build" one's "being a priestly" on such evil elements and perverse, It means not having the idea and the basic perception of what the Catholic priesthood really is, then structure the gift of the mystery of grace of the ministerial priesthood of Christ on the mystery of iniquity.

Treating a theme of such delicacy, We must look good from falling even involuntaryly in the errors that were typical of the donatist heresy, condemned by the Council of Carthage in the year 411. The donatists claimed that the sacraments administered by priests made unworthy by their state of sin were not valid. This heretical thought did not disappear in the fifth century, so much so that the Angelic Doctor dedicate to it 90 questions In part III of the theological sum. My question does not even ask the validity of the sacraments celebrated and administered by unworthy priests and sinners, whose validity is dogmatically and canonically out of the question. The question I intend to raise on the theological level and on the canonical one is whether the sacrament of the sacred order, received by certain particular subjects in certain particular conditions, it is really valid, Given that the sacraments require for their validity of the minimum requirements. And if these minimum requirements, in part or in the totality they were actually absent? In this case we can speak of valid priestly consecration through the sacrament of the order? O, said with a new use of the example shortly before: Why, After the sacred ordination of the famous Evarato Origen, The legitimate ecclesiastical authority has banned it from the sacred orders, while the same ecclesiastical authority, In the centuries to take place, instead covered, protected, pampered and carried out in the best way an army of mental evaded? Simple, because ecclesiastical authority has never stopped to reflect on the fact that Origen, before reaching the extreme gesture of physical self-training, For some time now he had previously moved mentally. So that, its physical castration, It is only the consequence of a mental castration accrued and occurred previously.

I repeat that the question that I put are not the sacraments, undoubtedly valid, even if celebrated and administered by unworthy priests and sinners, but the objective validity in the full substance of the sacrament of the order received by some priests without those minimum requirements required for its validity, Starting from the fundamentals of the faith. Therefore, With all due respect to those who follow to play with the fire pretending that the dogmatic problem does not exist, The sad experience he had with the large army of homosexual ecclesiastics that prevides the Church, especially at the highest levels of the hierarchy, confirms me how high it is, sometimes in the frightening proportion of 7 his 10, The number of people with clear homosexual tendencies that are undoubtedly lacking in some or all the minimum requirements required for the validity of the sacrament of the order; fundamental requirements that are precisely man, the Christian, the believer, therefore the correct substantial and formal perception of the Catholic priesthood by both the deleted and the ordinated. Or someone can perhaps deny it?

Most of these subjects They are in fact clearly heretics and proud diffusers of evils of the mold mostly pro-Filito-Luitrano, or as my Polish confrere has defined them - darius oko - affected by homoeresia:

L 'omoeresia It is a refusal of the magisterium of the Catholic Church on homosexuality. The supporters of’omoeresia do not accept that the homosexual tendency is a personality disorder. Question that homosexual acts are against natural law. The defenders of’homoeresia I am in favor of the priesthood for gays. L’omoeresia It is an ecclesiastical version of’homosexualism (cf.. WHO)

Now I will center on these two elements: The man and the believer as a fundamental and essential assumption of the sacrament of the order, therefore the absence of heresy and the full awareness of the true substantial and formal nature of the Catholic priesthood. It is obvious that a clear homosexual, of those "Beetly" ordered over the last decades, several times defined as "... it is only a little effeminate, But because it is a sensitive soul ... a mystical ... ", In fact, they are prevented from receiving the sacred order, Because the rooted homosexual tendency is to be considered pursuant to Can. 1040 A perpetual impediment - the so -called irregularity to receive orders - in the face of which no bishop and no ecclesiastical authority can grant dispensation, because this would be as if the congregation for the causes of the saints decided to dispense a candidate for canonization from holiness, what that, nowadays …

Let's say that a candidate for the sacred orders tends to give in to the sin of lust In addition to nature, fully aware of sin, Mindful of being in error and for this reason ready to seek the grace and forgiveness of God, Feeling later in the same sin, If anything, even worse than before, but returning to look for grace and forgiveness again, aware of sin and evil. First of all, A subject of this kind shows that he is endowed with a Christian consciousness, therefore of the sense of good and evil. Of course, A wise trainer and a pious confessor can evaluate how appropriate it is to bring to the sacred order a sinner who cannot correct himself; One could evaluate the opportunity to advise him that in the face of any impossibility of controlling himself, It would be advisable to wait, before being entered into the sacred priestly order. However, regardless of his sin and gravity of the same, It remains peaceful that that man is above all a man who likes women, a believer with moral consciousness capable of discerning good from evil, aware of what the Catholic priesthood is and what it involves and requires. And when he, unable to exercise brakes and controls on itself, will linger at the vice of lust In addition to nature, will be aware of evil, of the error and the fact that this does not comply with the priestly state of life.

Having for several years confessor of numerous priests, I also found myself in front of confreres who had had relationships with women in violation of their sacred promises; as I found myself in front of others that, In a more serious and dangerous way they had a stable relationship with a woman. Both the one and the other lived everything with great discomfort, sense of guilt and full awareness of one's sin, in particular the latter, Those who had the so -called "fixed lover". And I can't hide that several of these priests, for impersenable mystery of grace, while living in a state of mortal sin, In the exercise of their sacred ministry they were authentic models of priestly pity, Given the soul and heart to the best treatments of the people of God, as well as effective and precious tools of divine grace.

The person's speech with homosexual tendencies are different structured on an already rooted personality, to which the element of heresy is inevitably joined, or of the homoeresia. The homosexual aware of being such, determined to remain such, who sees the Church if the quiet refuge and the priestly order as a means of making quick career, First of all, it shows that you have a deeply spoiled consciousness, an inability to distinguish good from evil, rejecting the moral teachings of the Catholic Church a priori, of his doctrine and his magisterium; To all this he unites - as I said in the previous lines - that lack of sincerity deriving from the impossibility to be himself that he will force him to live in the lie and in the deception throughout his life. Add to this that many of these homosexuals, Far from feeling in fatal sin, intimately I am really convinced that they are not theirs in error, but the Church, judged by them guilty to indicate as evil what is in truth for them well, convinced that what the Church defines as illegal and illegitimate, since highly sinful for the eternal health of the soul, especially for the soul of a priest, In reality it is neither illegal nor illegitimate or sinful, but it is good and beautiful.

I met priests with homosexual tendencies evident that they did not hesitate to reject documents and exhortations of the Church on this matter containing the relative convictions to certain disorders, or to manipulate them in a really pathetic way; I have heard trainers of different seminars say that homosexuality cannot constitute impediment to the priesthood; I even felt priests to define homosexuality and its practice as "a natural variant of human sexuality", But above all I heard them launch fires and flames on sexual morality to say "retriva" and "repressive" carried out by the magisterium of the Church.

The culmination of aberration However, it consists of those who write and affirm that certain tendencies and sexual practices would concern "the sphere of private life of priests" (!?). To these subjects, Someone of whom he pigeons to be even a superfine canonist, I asked if far from being private affairs, Certain sexual practices of the clerics were not by chance enclosed in the very serious criminal case of carnal sacrilege. Obviously no answer was given. Above all, I asked if he and his associates really believed that a priest, In the "private life" - admitted that a priest may have a private life based on moral disorder -, could practice oral coitus, be sodomized by another man and then say in public shortly after: "Here is the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world". It was before this question as dramatic as realistic that came, instead of response, An unusual reaction and all typical of gay gay: point in the heart and unable to formulate a reasonable reply the subject in question sent a delusional letter of rare violence against me to my bishop and to all members of the presbyité which I belong, complaining about my language, according to him vulgar, After calling me "serious psychiatric case" as well as "obsessed with homosexuals".

Events of this kind They touched in different ways but similar priests and theologians that we dealt with the serious phenomenon of ecclesiastical gay lobby: My Polish confrere dariusz oko, SUPPLY-EXPLARY OF THE German priest Wolfgang F. Rothe of the Archdiocese of München, was convicted of 2021 by the German Court of Cologne to a fine of 4.800 euro and a 120 days of imprisonment for having defined gay priests "cancerous ulcer" and "army of parasites inside the church" (cf.. chronicle WHO). The case has become political, Poland made itself felt and some Polish politicians did not fail to let the German judges know that it was since the years of the Nazi regime that Germany did not condemn a Polish citizen. A similar fate is touched in 2024 to the Swiss priest and theologian Manfred Hauke, publisher of the magazine Theological, guilty of having written that it is necessary to "limit homosexual cricche in the Church", condemned by Bellinzona's Pretura to a penalty of 9.450 Francs. He rejected the measure and asked to go to trial, at the end of which it was acquitted. Meantime, a German court, Shortly afterwards he imposed a penalty of 4.000 Euro following the complaint of a LGBT activist homosexual priest (cf.. chronicle, WHO). Request: What the bishops of these declared and practitioners who denounced their confreres for their confreres have done for “discrimination” e “homophobia”? They kept silent, trembling like rabbits in front of the power of the gaystapo, have been silent. If we think about it, That of these LGBT activists is a typically fascist attitude: "Stroking one to scare it one hundred", So the old fascists acted to spread fear between people. Today we are faced with real "rainbow fascists" hidden behind anti -fascism; violent and aggressive crying victims who complain of racisms and discrimination very often non -existent, In order to pursue freedom of thought and give life to crimes of opinion to condemn anyone who dares not to think that "gay is wonderful".

This is the style and way of acting certain homosexuals who bivaccia between the clergy moved by extraordinary malice. The sad truth is that those who live by their free choice in sexual disorder feeling gratified by the disorder itself, All those vices of the world cannot be cleared within the church and its clergy and its clergy, which for Catholic morality are and remain situations of serious deviation from feeling and Christian living. In a different way but substantially similar, The same character I mentioned above denounced at the Order of Psychologists Father Amedeo Cencini, Canossian presbyter, accusing him of having insulted homosexuals in his articles and conferences. The disciplinary commission examined the application and then said this opinion: "There were no hypotheses of violation of the code of ethics" (cf.. WHO e WHO). However, when someone dares to contradict certain homosexual incactivitis, or it does not give them reason, Here starts to bursts addressed to the professional order accused of defending a homophobic trembling, then accusations to the judiciary, to the magistrates, Accusations to the Italian Republic and so on ... (cf.. WHO e WHO)[24].

Needless to say, But we remember it equally: The damage that these subjects can give to the Church if placed in the priesthood, worse making a career within the clergy and ending up in key positions of government, they are truly incalculable, Because capable of using any unfair and illegal means to take out those who consider dangerous antagonists and irreducible rivals of the powerful and dangerous lobby gay. I know cases of priests to the detriment of which even judicial cases with processes without foundation based on vague clues have been mounted but only on also illications, All with mafia-intimidating style, questioning their reputation and inducing them to waste time and money to defend themselves from bizarre accusations that were then such. And when everything was resolved in a soap bubble, The affected people have not been able to rival anyone, because i clerical gay they hit the use of their serviles "useful idiots", never acting directly, Always behind the interposed person, without ever figuring.

Within the confessional I had to debate with a penitent suffering from Homoerotic drives who tried to contain as much as possible, who told me, upset, that during the sacramental confession a priest had told him:

«Expressing one's homosexuality is not a sin, Because homosexuality is in the order of nature and is a natural variant of human sexuality; And we cannot impose the homosexual to live in chastity, Why preventing a person from expressing his love affectivity would be inhuman ".

The priest in question, In addition to being clearly homosexual, He was also a trainer at a seminar, Professor of theology at a theological study and covered by his "forward -looking" bishop of all the most delicate positions. The question is therefore simple: If the sacred ordination of subjects in whom the requirement of man lacks, of the believer, In addition to the very perception of the Catholic priesthood, it must however be considered valid, In the same way we should consider the sacred orders of subjects valid that support the legitimacy of the Aryan heresy, which in various respects could be less serious than candidates for sacred orders or priests who judge homosexuality as a "natural variant of human sexuality". This is the reason why I believe it can be advanced and support a hypothesis that is anything but unfounded: The sacred orders of these people are disabled as it would be that of a heretic who decisively denies the hyposotic nature of Christ true God and true man and who once admitted in the sacred priestly order will try to spread his heresy as just as just. In one and the other case - it is the herthic Ariano or theHomoeretic - We are faced with an expression of different heresy in form but similar in substance, such as to make such irregularities a perpetual canonical impediment. I therefore repeat that a great sinner can be consecrated in a legitimate and valid way, However, not one who lacks the fundamental requirement of man and the believer and who aims to rise to the priesthood for evil and perverse purposes, Because one account is falling into serious sin, On the other hand, consider what good and just a disordered conduct and aspire to the priesthood for evil and perverse purposes.

While offering to consider disabled orders of subjects of this kind, I do not even open - given the extraordinary delicacy of the topic - the painful chapter about the validity of the episcopal consecrations of those who in a similar way are not men, they are not believers, They do not have the correct perception of the fullness of the Apostolic Priesthood; Not to mention those who, despite being a receptacle for all the worst vices, however, they reached the episcopate through blackmail and psychological terrorism exercised on the ecclesiastical authorities.

THE MYSTERY OF THE GRACE OF GOD, THE SUPPLIES GRACE AND THE SUPPLY THE CHURCH THEY ARE NEITHER A ESCAPE NOR A PANACEA

I believe we can not play on the mystery of the grace of God nor on that great "escapade", or if we prefer Panacea del grace fills he was born in supplies the church, because nothing can make up the grace of God, much less the Church, where the nature of the substance through which and on which the sacramental grace operates completely. Or to put it again with an example: An aged host in which all the matter of bread and a low quality wine and unpleasant taste in which all the matter of wine remains, Through transubstantiation, however, they become undoubtedly, in their metaphysical essence, For the supreme mystery of faith, Body and blood of Christ. But a butter biscuit and an orange drink can never become body and blood of Christ, Because that matter on which the existence of the metaphysical substance depends for divine will from divine will, place that, The precise subjects of bread and wine are transubstantiated, Not any subject of solid foods and liquid drinks.

Where the matter that gives life to the essence of the substance is missing, it can truly make up the grace of God, or it can perhaps make up the Church? And if so, why the father of the church Sant'Agostino would have lost time and precious energies to write and give us the treaty Of nature and grace? Not to mention all the subsequent speculations on the subject made by San Tommaso d'Aquino? Grace operates yes, and always works, but it works on the nature that is there, not on that nature that is not there or that is not defined, why think so, worse support it, it would mean altering and falsifying the very mystery of creation and with it that of redemption.

The mystery of the grace of God transforms, through the work entrusted to our hands, The matter of bread and wine in the body and blood of Christ, while remaining both in the visible form, to the smell and taste the external species of bread and wine, But they become really Christ and really present substantially with his body, his blood, His soul and his divinity. The grace of God, that everything can even, does not transform into metaphysical substance, In the body and blood of Christ, A butter and orange juice biscuit, because God cannot contradict himself, because "This is my bodyHe said it on the bread, ed «This is the cup of my bloodHe said it on wine. And no one can vary these accidental elements on which the metaphysical essence of the substance depends by divine will, If anything, saying ... grace fills, or worse supplies the church, Not to mention certain acid gays that has been mentioned earlier, that pursuant to an exotic ecclesiastical right, everything would like to relegate certain moral disorders to the unquestionable sphere of the private life of the priests (!?). And if in this precise speech I brought as an example the most ineffable of the mysteries donated by Christ God to his Church, l'Eucharist, It is precisely because the priest is the object and Eucharistic subject, and the priest is required In addition to nature A precise form, therefore a precise substance that arises from the mindset of his being for, by 'priestly mind; and the absence of these elements, it cannot be in any way to be suited.

The grace of God only works on what is there, not on what is not there and that there can be no; And this explains it and teaches it clearly the Parable of the Talents[25]. Through the sacred priestly order, an ontological transformation takes place and the priest takes on a new character, which is indelible and eternal. But if a priest is one and a half meter high of stature, The sanctifying and transforming grace of God cannot change it in a high coward 1.90 barefoot. Or better understood: a donkey, in the figurative sense of the term, it can also become a saint, It can also become venerated patron of the priests of the Catholic Church, but it cannot be changed in an Arab stallion, because donkey is and donkey will remain, regardless of what can be the heroicity of its virtues.

Both the hipped and the aquinate clarified without a penalty of misunderstanding the principle that Grace nature perfects but do not supply (Grace does not comply but perfects nature). And when nature is not there, starting from the nature of man, of the virile male, Request for access to the sacred priestly order, What happens, who can never ... make up? The only one who can make up is the man who has put himself in the place of God, if not worse still: instead of Satan.

I would like to conclude with a paradoxical question, But sometimes in the paradox or hyperbole there may be a lot of objectivity. This is the question: In the event that a subject, belonging hidden to a satanic sect, he wanted to become a priest in order to validly consecrate the holy Eucharist then intended for the most evil profanations, thus serving his luciferine congregation, you can, then, Talk about valid ordination? Well, someone wants to explain to me: What a difference there is between a satanist who aspires to the priesthood for evil and sacrilegious purposes and a ho homoeretic that for as many evil and sacrilegious purposes also aspires to the priesthood? I'll explain what difference there is: The Satanist at the Holy Eucharist understood as a real presence of Christ and true really believes it, while in most cases the hhomoeretics In the real presence of Christ alive and true they do not believe in it. The fact that in their speeches of everything speak they are of real presence in their speeches. The mouth of terms are filled as "banquet ... convivio ... feast of joy ... meeting of love …». To the metaphysical language they despised and at the end of transubstantiation defined as an obsolete, they prefer that Lutheran of consubstantiation, With the consequence that their eukaristic celebrations overflowing liturgical abuse and free will of all sorts, they look like Calvinist liturgies, foundation of which it is precisely the denial of the real presence, depicted by Giovanni Calvino right from standing during the words of the Last Supper. E, in doing this, the homoeretic They shy away the word "living and holy sacrifice". Distribute the Eucharist as if they were toy-omigating of zero bread, they do not deal with sacred respect for the sacred vases, do not proceed to their adequate purification, they do not promote the Eucharistic cult in any way. To this is added that many of ours aesthetic ceremonies - Because for thirty years now, finding a heterosexual in the sphere of liturgists is like looking for a needle in a haystack - they also proceeded to abolition of the platforms for the communion of the faithful, but on the other hand they set up the silver plate in their place on which to deposit the Saint Saint Zucchetto red of the bishop, far more important than the collection of Eucharistic fragments. And there is even more: I ascertained that the homoeretic bishops, through theirs homoeretic priests, They are those who teach the people of God who stand up high during Eucharistic prayer, In addition to being the proponents of the elimination of the benches with the kneeling from many churches, Replaced with cinema armchairs, Because to hit the church in the heart and de-doralize it you have to hit the Eucharist above all, Instead of following the clear Paolino warning:

[…] In the name of Jesus every knee folds in the skies, on earth and under the earth; and let every tongue declare that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father[26].

Here is the difference that runs between an satanist and a Homoeretic: The Satanist is a believer, l’Homoeretic no. And who wants to meditate, meditate, but do it soon and well, while the house followed to burn, while the realistic possibility of turning off the fire is increasingly distant, while the church visible it more and more like a great one Gay Village.

From the island of Patmos, 28 July 2025

 

Obtained from a previous article published the 7 July 2016

.

NOTE

[1] CIC can. 1024.

[2] See. MC 3,14-19; LC 6,12-16.

[3] See. 1 TM 3,1-13; 2 TM 1,6; Tt 1,5-9

[4] See. San Clemente Romano, Letter to the Corinthians, 42, 4: SC 167, 168-170 (Funk 1, 152); Ibid., 44, 3: SC 167, 172 (Funk 1, 156)

[5] See. John Paul II, Became. ap. Woman's dignity, 26-27: AAS 80 (1988) 1715-1720; Id., Became. ap. priestly ordination: AAS 86 (1994) 545-548; Congregation for the doctrine of faith, You. Among the most important: AAS 69 (1977) 98-116; Id., Response to doubt about the doctrine of the letter. ap. «Priestly ordination»: AAS 87 (1995) 1114.

[6] See. EB 5,4.

[7] See. Clemente's first letter, 44,2, later taken up by the dogmatic constitution The light n. 20.

[8] See. Mt 19,12: «In fact, there are Eunuchi who were born so from the mother's belly; there are some who have been made eunuchs by men, And there are others who have made themselves eunuchi for the kingdom of heaven ".

[9] See. Johannes Quasten, Patrologia. The first two centuries (II-II). Marietti, 1980.

[10] XVIII ° successor of the Blessed Apostle Peter, pontificate, year old 230-235.

[11] See. Bibliotheca Cod. 118.

[12] Apocatastase. According to Origen, At the end of the time there will be universal redemption and all creatures will be saved, including Satan. Therefore, The penalty to eternal damnation would actually have a purifying and non -definitive character. «We think that the goodness of God, through the mediation of Christ, will bring all the creatures to the same end " (Of principles, I, IV, 1-3).

[13] See. Can. 1040

[14] Vatican Council II, Cost. The light, 19.

[15] John Paul II, Is. AP. I will give you shepherds, 25-III-1992, 15, 4.

[16] See. Cann. 1024-1052.

[17] The nature of the good, 19.

[18] N.d.A. The term simonia derives from the episode narrated in the acts of the Apostles [Acts 8, 9-24] in which Simon Mago, healer, he asked the apostles, upon payment, The thaumaturgical power conferred by the Holy Spirit and therefore was consequently cursed by the blessed Apostle Peter.

[19] N.d.A. Example: The Supreme Urban Pontiff, in the year 1093, It all decreed the Simoniache ordinations except for those of the clerics who were not aware of the simony of their orders. The condemnation of simony is decreed by several councils of the Church, Starting from the Council of Calcedon of the year 451 Until the Council of Trent celebrated in the 16th century.

[20] See. can. 188

[21] See. Ariel S. Levi di Gualdo, And Satan came Trino. Relativism, individualism, disobedience. Analysis on the Third Millennium Church. Ed. Rome, 2011. Reprint: Editions The island of Patmos, Rome, 2019.

[22] Education of the Congregation for Catholic Education About the criteria of vocational discernment regarding people with homosexual tendencies in view of their admission to the seminary and sacred orders the 4 November 2005, approved by the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI the 31 August 2005.

[23] See. GV 8, 32.

[24] See. Francesco Strazza: «Between criticism and insult: I can't silent », Week News, edition of 25 November 2022.

[25] See. Mt 25, 14-30.

[26] In II, 10.

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THEOLOGICAL AND LEGAL DOUBTS ABOUT THE LEGITIMATE VALIDITY PRIESTLY ORDINATIONS OF HOMOSEXUALS

The minimum requirements for the validity of the Sacrament of Holy Orders are: man, Christian, believer, therefore a correct understanding of the Catholic priesthood. The real problem isn’t that a personality structured by deep-rooted homosexual tendencies lacks the qualifications to become a priest. The problem is different and more serious: if priest becomes one without the qualifications, isn’t that sacred ordination, besides being illicit, also invalid?

— Theology and Canon Law —

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There is no other organization in the world like the Catholic Church where the presence of more or less openly homosexuals is so high, nor is there a similar organization where homosexuals, together with their close associates, have staged a coup by infiltrating every “room of command”, as I have been writing for years (I refer you to an old interview of mine from 2013, which can be read HERE, in Italian only).

With the advent of social media, self-styled Catholic blogs have proliferated, claiming the acceptance of the LGBT agenda within the Church, accusing those who lament the serious problem of the high number of homosexuals within the clergy of being frustrated, repressed, and unresolved.

The ecclesiastical gay lobby is so powerful that, if necessary, it can make life impossible for those who dare to report certain situations, explaining to ecclesiastical authorities well in advance how things would end. Nor should we underestimate the virulent armed wing of the powerful ecclesiastical gay lobby, the gay-friendly, a large group of persons those who, despite not being homosexual, protect members of the pious gay fraternity for their own personal interests, or because they are driven by high career expectations, knowing that gay lobbyists can either foster them or irremediably undermine them within dioceses or the Roman Curia. To assert that within the Holy See, in numerous dioceses, and therefore in the universal Church, a level of internal homosexuality has been reached that has exceeded all safety limits is not merely a fanciful hypothesis but a fact that can only be denied by those who reject the evidence.

The charming man, who by nature is self-centered and ambitious, defends himself unscrupulously through an innate vindictive-destructive instinct, capable of exercising malice with methodical, scientific cruelty toward those endowed with that Christological priestly courage that leads them to affirm and remember what is right and what is wrong in the light of the Holy Gospel and Catholic doctrine. Because the pure of heart, unlike gay lobbyists, do not aim for the immediate, but for the eternal.

THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE VALIDITY OF THE SACRAMENTS ARE MINIMUM, BUT THOSE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS MUST EXIST

Those who practice sacramental dogmatical know that this specific field is extremely delicate, not least because the requirements for the validity of the sacraments are truly minimal. In these lines, we will limit ourselves to discussing only the Sacrament of Holy Orders, starting with a premise intended to immediately clear the field from the objections of those who might claim that the texts of sacramental dogmatical, canon law, and their commentaries make no express and clear reference to those matters of a sexual or psychosexual nature to which I will refer explicitly. To dispel certain doubts and clear the field from equivocal and unfounded theological and juridical disputes, I will draw attention to an incontrovertible fact: until a few decades ago, everything directly or indirectly concerning sex and human sexuality was whispered with euphemisms in magisterial texts, doctrine, and treatises on Catholic morality; merely discussing certain topics was considered improper. When issues of Catholic morality related to human sexuality were addressed in academic circles, Latin euphemisms were used, because the same words ordinarily used clearly and precisely in the clinical and scientific lexicon of gynecology, urology, and andrology were not deemed appropriate within the classrooms of ecclesiastical academies. Confessors of the time themselves had their own way of expressing themselves, a vocabulary of vague, indirect implications, taught to young priests from the time they were trained for the priesthood. This “specific” vocabulary of confessors served to allude without resorting to unpronounceable terms banned from ecclesiastical academia and the confessional, especially from public catechesis addressed to the People of God. This language was also assimilated by the Catholic faithful, particularly penitents who, before their confessors, expressed themselves in so-called vague innuendos and “implied” but don’t clear, terms regarding sexual matters, related relationships, and everything pertaining to violations of the Sixth Commandment.

I’ll try to clarify everything with an example: it was the year 2010 when a ninety-year-old penitent who had grown up in that world not centuries distant but a few decades ago, during a confession based on her memories of the past, referred to a time, one winter, when she was alone, «… leaving the house, unfortunately, I slipped». A child of another era, both as a man and as a priest, I didn’t understand, and I imagined that, being in an area where it snows at certain times of the year, she had fallen while leaving the house, perhaps on a sheet of ice formed by the snow in a corner sheltered from the sun, or who knows how else, she slipped and fell. She realized I hadn’t understood, so she made two more delicate, more explicit allusions to make me understand that she had committed the sin of adultery, for which, more than half a century later, she couldn’t shake the bitterness it had caused her, having always been bound by sincere love to her husband. This is to reiterate that it would be neither pertinent nor logical to challenge me on the grounds that certain expositions to which I clearly refer are not equally clearly contained in the texts of the Magisterium, of doctrine, of sacramental dogmatical, of Catholic morality and of the Code of Canon Law.

ORIGEN’S LESSON: THE VIRILITY OF THE “mAN approved” AS AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT FOR THE CATHOLIC PRIESTHOOD

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states at n. 1577:

«Only a baptized man (for) validly receives sacred ordination[1]. The Lord Jesus chose men (men) to form the college of the twelve apostles[2], and the apostles did the same when they chose collaborators[3] to succeed them in their ministry[4]. The college of bishops, with whom the priests are united in the priesthood, makes the college of the twelve an ever-present and ever-active reality until Christ’s return. The Church recognizes herself to be bound by this choice made by the Lord himself. For this reason, the ordination of women is not possible[5]».

No one has a right to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders. In fact, no one can attribute this office to himself. One is called to it by God[6]. Anyone who believes he recognizes the signs of God’s call to the ordained ministry must humbly submit his desire to the authority of the Church, which has the responsibility and the right to call someone to receive Holy Orders. Like every grace, this sacrament can only be received as an unmerited gift.

Note that the Latin term Source/Resources is a masculine noun of the grammatical second declension, primarily referring to man, male, adult, or virility associated with the male sex. The negation and antithesis of “Source/Resources” is the term, also of Latin origin: “evil“, a word indicating the deprivation of virility and also deriving from “Source/Resources“. In ecclesiastical language, the term “sources try” is used to indicate men suitable for holy orders. This term was used in the early Church to indicate married men who were eligible for the diaconate and priesthood[7]. With the passage of time and the free acceptance of the obligation of celibacy, which has its roots in the early apostolic era, in our current lexicon this expression is used to indicate men of proven standing and, as such, reliable for holy orders. Lack of psycho-physical virility therefore constitutes an insurmountable impediment to priestly ordination. This impediment is well-known and established as such since the first centuries of the Church’s existence, and no one has the authority to dispense from it, given that no Ecclesiastical Authority can dispense from being a man, which is an essential and foundational prerequisite of the ministerial priesthood.

In the year 230, Origen was consecrated a priest by Theoctissus of Caesarea and Alexander of Jerusalem, without the approval of Bishop Demetrius, who had canonical jurisdiction over him. Origen, having misunderstood the Gospel passage in which the Lord Jesus refers to the «eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven»[8], had castrated himself. This was the reason why his bishop had never wanted to consecrate Priest[9]. After that sacred ordination, Bishop Demetrius, with the approval of the Supreme Pontiff Pontianus[10], revoked his teaching faculty and deposed him from the presbyteral Order[11] for the irregularity of his sacred ordination, which was declared null. It is known that Origen is the only one among the Church Fathers of that rich period not to have been proclaimed a saint, although imprisoned and tortured during the anti-Christian persecutions of Decius; but above all, despite having been, in intellectual and speculative gifts, far superior to many other philosophers and theologians of that first, rich and happy Christian era. The obstacle to his canonization was not due to the fact that in his great and valuable philosophical-theological speculations he hypothesized the thought of the apokatastasis today considered heretical[12]; the great and insurmountable obstacle is entirely linked to his castration.

In those early years of the Church’s life, during which the first great philosophical and theological speculations were underway, preceding and giving rise to the presuppositions and subjects later addressed by the first Ecumenical Council of Nicaea in 325, it was not uncommon for speculative minds, including the Church Fathers, to fall into heretical thoughts, from which they amended themselves later. This did not prevent either their canonizations or their proclamation as Church Fathers.

The Code of Canon Law cited below refers modestly and toned down to the fact that «one who has gravely and maliciously mutilated himself or another»[13] cannot be ordained a priest. From this it can be deduced that Origen’s horrendous self-mutilation was considered in itself worse than heresy, which can however be healed through the recognition of the voluntary or involuntary error, but a destroyed physical virility cannot be restored, except by resorting to complex surgical interventions performed by modern surgery, even if with very uncertain outcomes.

Pertinent question: can mental castration be even worse than physical castration, given that sexuality, in the case of the male, is expressed in the characteristics of his sex, and these are an essential part of mental sexuality, on which they also depend, due to the information and conditioning that emanate from it? Both, in fact, both physical and mental sexuality, are fused together and form a single part of the person, in this case: the male? This is a question I have been asking members of the episcopate for years, to no avail: they have never responded.

Through the Sacrament of Orders, participation in the priesthood of Christ is conferred according to the modality transmitted by apostolic succession. The ministerial priesthood is distinct from the common priesthood of the faithful, which derives from Baptism and Confirmation. Both, «although they differ essentially and not only in degree, are nevertheless ordered to one another»[14]. It is proper and specific to the ministerial priesthood to be «a sacramental representation of Jesus Christ, Head and Shepherd»[15]. This allows the exercise of Christ’s authority in the pastoral function of preaching and governance, as well as operating “in person Christi” (in the person of Christ) in the exercise of the sacramental ministry. Having said this, it is clear that the first two essential prerequisites for the conferral, and therefore for the validity of the Sacrament, the man being and the Christian.

Book IV of the Code of Canon Law, in Part I, which deals with the Sacraments, outlines the «irregularities and other impediments» to receiving the Sacrament of Orders[16]. A detailed list of obvious elements follows, for example, a madman or someone suffering from mental infirmity, apostates, heretics, and murderers, anyone who has gravely and maliciously mutilated himself or another, or has attempted to take his own life, etc., cannot be ordained a priest. However, we have to wait until “only yesterday”, that is, the year 2005, after entire armies of homosexuals had been admitted into the Holy Order of Priests throughout the world in the preceding decades, with results that proved devastating over time for the entire universal Church, to finally see the promulgation by the then Congregation for Catholic Education ― competent at the time for seminaries, but today the Dicastery for the Clergy has returned to that responsibility, as it had always been before ―, of a document that unfortunately remained a dead letter in many houses of formation, in which there is a clear and precise discussion of the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in view of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders (see text HERE). In short, after many years of claiming «I slipped while leaving the house», suddenly they took courage and declared, without euphemism, that it was all adultery. Similarly, they proceeded to declare, without any euphemism and ambiguity, that a person with obvious homosexual tendencies is not eligible to become a priest, never and under no cases.

The real problem is not that a personality structured by deep-rooted homosexual tendencies lacks the requisites to become a priest. The problem is different and more serious: if, despite lacking the fundamental and foundational requirements for the priesthood, this person becomes priest, isn’t that sacred ordination, besides being clearly illicit, also invalid?

Beyond the “dead letter” of the various exhortations issued by the Apostolic See regarding the non-admission to sacred orders of persons with homosexual tendencies, there is worse: in previous decades — but unfortunately also in the present — priestly ordinations have proceeded without a hitch, concealed behind the illusory certainty that what mattered was the assurance that they did not practice homosexuality. A statement repeatedly made and put into practice by many bishops and seminary rectors, who, although aware of the evident lack of male testosterone among many of their seminarians, and although perfectly aware of their homosexual tendencies and aware of the dissolute life they continued to live during their various vacations outside the seminary, thought they could solve the problem by hiding behind the fig leaf of the surreal… «the important thing is that they don’t practice homosexuality».

It is a huge mistake to think that a psychological disorder can easily persist as long as it does not transform into physical activity, given that — as I have explained many times in my studies and books — physically practiced homosexuality is only the tip of the iceberg of mental homosexuality. I have also explained and demonstrated that often, homosexuals reduced to chastity through self-repression, in their thinking, acting, and interacting, can be much worse and more harmful to the Church than those who practice homosexuality physically, because the latter at least vent their anger, appearing at least somewhat less acid and evil. Unlike the repressed, who by their very nature tend to be not only acis and evil, but cruel. At that point, when we find ourselves faced with profoundly evil people who take perverse pleasure in harming others by any means, starting with the spread of false news, or resorting to complaints based on artfully constructed falsehoods, we are faced with a problem that goes beyond homosexuality, because certain individuals would be such, that is, evil, even if they were heterosexual, regardless of their sexual orientation.

In the long conversations I have had with homosexuals animated by sincere and profound Christian sentiments throughout my years of sacred ministry, the phrase most frequently expressed, at times in dramatic tones imbued with profound inner suffering, was:

«… it’s stronger than me; I can’t control myself, no matter how hard I try to avoid the occasions».

Homosexuality, rightly removed from the list of diseases, remains a profound and complex disorder of the human personality. Although, according to the experts of the new clinical order, it can no longer be classified as an illness, thanks to the strong pressure exerted on them by powerful homosexual lobbies, the fact remains that there are, even in considerable numbers, homosexuals who do not accept the urges of their libido, which they themselves define as a «disorder» and «disturbance», and for this reason they seek help. And the request for help is often, in itself, a request for treatment, which in response deserves an offer of help, even for what today is rightly defined as a non-illness.

Among many, I remember a poignant conversation during sacramental confession with a forty-year-old penitent who said to me these exact words:

«How come today it is possible to cure even many forms of cancer, including serious ones if caught early, but not this “disease” that has consumed my soul since I was just 15 years old?».

As the Holy Doctor of the Church, Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, teaches us: «Pain exists» — and therefore manifests itself — «only in good natures»[17].” Sexual impulses, which, with a term now taboo, were defined “In addition to nature“, are much more controllable than those “against nature“, which by their very complexity tend to be uncontrollable, or at least very difficult to contain. And since what has been expressed so far is not hypotheses but clinical-scientific facts, I ask: how could we have left the leadership of our seminaries and religious novitiates in the hands of rectors, formators, and spiritual directors who, although aware of the homosexual tendencies of many of their seminarians and novices, thought they could resolve and close the problem — with the blessing of their bishops and major superiors — through a… «as long as they do not practice homosexuality»? All of this, in itself a very serious and wicked thing, despite knowing that these homosexuals would be placed like “foxes in a henhouse” within an all-male ecclesiastical environment? How could bishops, perfectly aware of the obvious tendencies of some of their seminarians, even debut with cynical quips — overheard by myself and various other witnesses — such as: «Not everyone can be perfect; there are also elements with manufacturing defects; the important thing is that they don’t cause scandal. Besides, the Church also needs men of service». Yes, then we saw in the tragic showdown what happened when the ambitious “men of service” in high gear staged their coup within the Church, chasing talented designers, engineers, and architects away from the construction site with clubs. Are these perhaps the presuppositions through which a bishop can lay hands, recite the consecratory prayer and anoint a new priest with sacred chrism, affirming that in the Church … there is also a need for certain “men of service”?

THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SIMONIACAL ORDINATIONS AND THOSE THAT TAKE PLACE THROUGH THE EXCHANGE OF SEXUAL FAVORS AND THE RESULTING BLACKMAIL

I am a witness ― and have repeatedly informed the competent Ecclesiastical Authorities of the Holy See, with relevant references and evidence ― of cases of Italian bishops who, under pressure, ordained openly homosexuals as priests. Despite being aware of their terrible moral conduct and the incorrigibility of their nature, if they had not ordained them as priests, these would have sparked unspeakable scandals, smearing their dioceses. The first to indulge in homosexual practices were their own formators and several prominent priests of the diocesan presbyterate. I, however, pass over certain bishops out of a sort of sacred modesty. In light of all this, I have repeatedly asked those in charge and with authority: if several Church councils have declared invalid priestly ordinations and episcopal consecrations obtained through simony[18], that is, through the sale of money, how much more invalid are those ordinations and episcopal consecrations obtained through blackmail, in order to conceal the sexual trafficking by virtue of which it was not possible to say no to those priestly ordinations and episcopal consecrations? And does a bishop deprived of freedom who ordains a priest under blackmail and coercion, validly administer the Sacrament of Holy Orders? Or perhaps we must consider only paying money or blackmailing through money given to someone is illicit, and therefore condemned as such even by the Church’s ecumenical councils[19]? The paying or blackmailing through sexual services, whether given or offered, is instead to be considered entirely licit for the sacramental and canonical purposes of the validity of the Sacrament of Holy Orders? Having said this, I ask: can the gifts of grace of the Holy Spirit pass and take effect through such a sacrilegious and sinful action? I repeat: these are questions that have been posed repeatedly officially and publicly to the competent ecclesiastical authorities, who have never responded to their theological and juridical merits.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church considers simony a grave sin against the first commandment, along with tempting God and sacrilege. According to the current Code of Canon Law, the resignation of an office made for simony is invalid, and the simoniac provision of an ecclesiastical office is null ipso iure; canonical sanctions, such as suspension or interdict, are also foreseen against the simoniac conferral or reception of a sacrament[20]. It must also be added that the individuals in question, once raised to the Holy Orders Priesthood, far from being appeased and content, continued to use their poisons to gain positions of the highest importance within the dioceses, to obtain undeserved ecclesiastical academic titles, to become professors of heresiology in pontifical universities, to become diocesan bishops, apostolic messengers, and some cardinals; for be sent without any merit or talent to the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, only to end up, not even forty years old, after less than five years of diplomatic service, in the most strategic key positions in the Secretariat of State. This, again, serves to reiterate the immense damage that can result from the self-destructive principle currently underway, implemented by people who, like the bishop I mentioned earlier, asserted: «Not everyone can be perfect; there are also elements with manufacturing defects; the important thing is that they do not cause scandal». Moreover, if the Church truly needs laborers, it should also be remembered that in the promises we make before the Bishop and the assembly of the People of God, we promise to remain celibate, and therefore chaste, that is, to renounce sexual relations with those wonderful creatures that are women. Or do we perhaps promise not to practice homosexuality, if we have obvious homosexual tendencies? Because in that case, according to the impious logic of certain bishops and their seminarians, it would be wise to revise the Roman Rite of Sacred Ordinations of deacons and priests, possibly also including this new form of solemn promise:

«I promise, as a homosexual, not to practice homosexuality and to remain celibate, aware that celibacy entails chastity both with women and especially with men».

I wrote in a 2010 book:

«One cannot ease one’s conscience by limiting oneself to public and stern proclamations, if in reality the number of gay priests increases in proportion to the presence of bishops who reason with a latent homosexual psychology. Or to put it bluntly: some seminarians who between the 1970s and 1980s led the “pious confraternity” within the seminaries are now bishops, and as soon as they became bishops, they first surrounded themselves with like-minded individuals, consistently and de rigueurly placed in all key positions in the dioceses, including seminaries. And these individuals, who protect and reproduce each other, have ended up creating a powerful power lobby within the Church very diabolical terrible»[21].

Today we cannot say that there are not clear and precise acclesiastical documents on this thema, for example:

«In the light of such teaching, this Dicastery, in accord with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, believes it necessary to state clearly that the Church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question (CF. Catechism of the Catholic Church, typical edition, 1997, n. 2358; cf. also CIC, can. 208 and CCEO, can. 11), cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practise homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called “gay culture” (CF. Congregation for Catholic Education, A memorandum to Bishops seeking advice in matters concerning homosexuality and candidates for admission to Seminary, 9 July 1985; Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Letter, 16 May 2002: Information 38, 2002, 586)»[22].

This and other documents, however, are treated as dead letters, to the point that today, in several seminaries more akin to gay villages than houses of Catholic formation, a heterosexual wouldn’t even dare approach.

It is superfluous to explain with what pain and humiliation, over the last thirty years of Church history, I have witnessed the rise to the top of the ranks of certain well-known, open, and obvious homosexuals, many of whom are now professors of heresiology at pontifical universities, consultants and members of dicasteries, members of the diplomatic service of the Holy See, diocesan bishops, seminary rectors, diocesan vicars general, and so on and so forth…

«THEN YOU WILL KNOW THE TRUTH, AND THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE». MANY HOMOSEXUALS LACK THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS REQUIRED FOR THE VALIDITY OF THE SACRAMENT OF ORDERS, STARTING WITH FREEDOM AND TRUTH.

In the Gospel of the Blessed Apostle John, the Word of God asserts:

«If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free»

Faced with this assertion, which in its own way is also a warning, we should seriously question the inseparable bond between truth, freedom, and the ministerial priesthood. Within the ecclesiastical world, homosexuals cannot be free because they cannot be themselves. And those who are not themselves cannot know the truth and become its instruments. To believe that this is possible would be like affirming that man has the power to turn evil into good and to bring redemptive grace through sin. Only God can turn evil into good, something partially comprehensible to the human intellect, given that this remains in its entirety an inexplicable mystery, enclosed precisely in the great mystery of grace. God can in fact even make use of an impious action of Satan, to ensure that the supreme evil wrought by the Prince of Darkness can be transformed by his will and divine intervention into the supreme good, but man cannot, through his own fragile nature corrupted by original sin, transform the supreme evil into the supreme good, nor can he, even less, make use of an evil action of the Devil to transform it into an action of good.

Those who do not know the truth because, in order to live, they must descend into obscurity, thus into the eternal self-defensive lie, cannot be faithful to the Word and therefore cannot be disciples. They can only renew within the Church the Luciferian drama of Judas’ betrayal, all thanks to the sacred imposition of hands by certain wicked bishops, who thus reveal themselves not to be apostles of Christ but of the the mystery of iniquity.

We know that Christ instituted the Priesthood for men, not for angels. Therefore, the priest, although possessing by the mystery of grace a dignity superior to that of the angels of God, can be a sinner and, as such, fall into more or less grave sin; he can even commit very grave sins. The fact remains that a sin, however mortal, but still accidental, committed by a sinful priest, in its form and in its profound and intimate substance is something different from one who instead decides to structure the sacred priestly ministry on the state of sin resulting from a lack of freedom that must be defended with perpetual lies, thus being unable to know the truth and therefore be faithful to the Word, regardless of his own sin and his own human nature as a sinner. To act in this way and to “build” one’s “priestly being” on such evil and perverse elements means not having the basic idea and perception of what the Catholic priesthood really is, and therefore structuring the gift of the mystery of grace of the ministerial Priesthood of Christ on the the mystery of iniquity.

In dealing with such a delicate thema, one must be careful not to fall, even unintentionally, into the errors typical of the Donatist heresy, condemned by the Council of Carthage in 411. The Donatists maintained that the Sacraments administered by priests rendered unworthy by their state of sin were invalid. This heretical thought did not disappear in the fifth century, so much so that the Angelic Doctor dedicates 90 questions to it in Part III of the Summa Theologica. My question does not even remotely call into question the validity of the Sacraments celebrated and administered by unworthy and sinful priests, whose validity is dogmatically and canonically beyond question. The question I intend to raise on the theological and canonical levels is whether the Sacrament of Holy Orders, received by certain particular subjects in certain particular conditions, is truly valid, given that the Sacraments require certain minimum requirements for their validity. What if these minimum requirements were, in part or in full, the fact absent? In this case, can we speak of a valid priestly consecration through the Sacrament of Orders? Or, to put it another way, using the example cited earlier: why, after the sacred ordination of the famous castrated Origen, did legitimate Ecclesiastical Authority ban him from sacred orders, while the same Ecclesiastical Authority, in the centuries to come, instead covered up, protected, pampered, and nurtured in the best possible way an army of mentally castrated men? Simply, because the Ecclesiastical Authority never stopped to consider the fact that Origen, before resorting to the extreme act of physical self-castration, had already mentally castrated himself for some time. Therefore, his physical castration was merely the consequence of a mental castration that had matured and occurred previously.

I reiterate that the question I am raising is not the Sacraments, which are undoubtedly valid, even if celebrated and administered by unworthy and sinful priests, but the objective validity, in the full substance, of the Sacrament of Holy Orders received by some priests who lack the minimum requirements for its validity, starting with the fundamental requirement of faith. Therefore, with all due respect to those who continue to play with fire by pretending the dogmatic problem does not exist, my sad experience with the large army of homosexual clergymen plaguing the Church, especially at the highest levels of the hierarchy, confirms for me how high, sometimes in the frightening proportion of 7 out of 10, the number of clergy with obvious homosexual tendencies who undoubtedly lack some or all of the minimum requirements for the validity of the Sacrament of Holy Orders is. These fundamental requirements are: the man, the Christian, the believer, therefore the correct substantive and formal perception of the Catholic priesthood on the part of both the ordaining priest and the ordained. Or can anyone perhaps deny it?

The majority of these individuals are, in fact, blatantly heretical and proud propagators of heresies of a mostly pro-Lutheran nature, or, as one of my Polish confrere, Darius Around, called them, afflicted with homesesy:

«Homohelates is a rejection of the Catholic Church’s teaching on homosexuality. Supporters of homoheresy do not accept that homosexual tendencies are a personality disorder. They question whether homosexual acts are against natural law. Defenders of homoheresy favor the priesthood for gays. Homohelates is an ecclesiastical version of homosexuality» (cf. Roman correspondence Agency, On the need to stop homosexual lobbies in the Church, Rome, 08.02.2022).

I will now focus on these two elements: man and the believer as the founding and essential prerequisite of the Sacrament of Orders, therefore the absence of heresy and full awareness of the true substantial and formal nature of the Catholic priesthood. It is obvious that an openly homosexual, one of those “blissfully” ordained in recent decades, repeatedly described as «… only just a little effeminate, but because he has a sensitive soul … a mystic …», is in fact prevented from receiving Holy Orders, because a deep-rooted homosexual tendency is to be considered, pursuant to canon 1040, a perpetual impediment — the so-called irregularity to receive orders — for which no bishop or ecclesiastical authority can grant a dispensation, because that would be as if the Congregation for the Causes of Saints decided to dispense from sainthood a candidate for canonization, something which, these days…

Let us suppose that a candidate for Holy Orders tends to give in to the sin of lust “In addition to nature” (according nature), fully aware of the sin, mindful of his error, and therefore ready to seek God’s grace and forgiveness. He then falls back into the same sin, perhaps even worse than before, but returns to seek grace and forgiveness, aware of sin and evil. First of all, such a person demonstrates a Christian conscience, and therefore a sense of good and evil. Certainly, a wise formator and a pious confessor can evaluate the appropriateness of bringing a sinner who is unable to reform into Holy Orders; one might consider advising him that, faced with the potential inability to control himself, it would be best to wait before being admitted to the Holy Orders of Priesthood. Regardless of his sin and its gravity, however, it remains clear that this man is first and foremost a human being, a believer endowed with a moral conscience, capable of discerning good from evil, aware of what the Catholic priesthood is and what it entails and requires. And when this man, incapable of exercising restraint and self-control, indulges in the vice of lust “Praetrer nature“, he will be aware of the evil, of the error, of the fact that this is not in keeping with the priestly state of life.

Having been confessor to numerous priests for several years, I also found myself confronted by confreres who had had relations with women in violation of their sacred promises; just as I found myself confronted by others who, in a more serious and dangerous manner, had a stable relationship with a woman. Both experienced this with great discomfort, a sense of guilt, and a full awareness of their own sin, particularly those who had so-called “steady woman lovers.” And I cannot deny that several of these priests, by an inscrutable mystery of grace, despite living in a state of mortal sin, were authentic models of priestly piety in the exercise of their sacred ministry, devoted heart and soul to the best care of the People of God, as well as effective and precious instruments of divine grace.

The situation is different for a person with homosexual tendencies in a deeply rooted personality, inevitably compounded by the element of heresy. A homosexual who is aware of his homosexuality and determined to remain so, who chooses the Church as a quiet refuge and the priesthood as a means to advance his career, demonstrates, first and foremost, a profoundly flawed conscience, an inability to distinguish good from evil, and an a priori rejection of the moral teachings of the Catholic Church, its doctrine, and its magisterium. Added to all this — as I mentioned previously — is a lack of sincerity stemming from the inability to be himself, which will force him to live in lies and deception throughout his life. Added to this is the fact that many of these homosexuals, far from feeling themselves to be in mortal sin, are deeply convinced that it is not they who are in error, but the Church, judged by them to be guilty of indicating as evil what for them is truly good, convinced that what the Church defines as illicit and illegitimate, because highly sinful for the eternal salvation of the soul, especially for the soul of a priest, is in reality neither illicit nor illegitimate nor sinful, but rather good and beautiful.

I have known priests with obvious homosexual tendencies who did not hesitate to reject Church documents and exhortations on this matter, containing condemnations of certain disorders, or to manipulate them in truly pathetic ways. I have heard formators from various seminaries affirm that homosexuality cannot constitute an impediment to the priesthood. I have even heard priests define homosexuality and its practice as «a natural variant of human sexuality». But above all, I have heard them hurl rage at the sexual morality they described as «backward» and «repressive» promoted by the Church’s magisterium.

The height of aberration is represented by those who write and affirm that certain sexual tendencies and practices concern «the sphere of the private life of priests» (!?). I asked these individuals — one of whom even pride themselves on being excellent canonists —, whether, far from being private matters, certain sexual practices of clerics were not by chance included in the very serious canonical delicts category of carnal sacrilege. Obviously, no answer was given. Above all, I asked whether really believed that a priest, in his «private life» — assuming that a priest can have a private life marked by moral disorder — could engage in oral sex, be sodomized by another man, and then shortly thereafter say in public: «Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world». This was a question as dramatic as it was realistic. Instead of a response, an unusual reaction arrived, typical of an acid gay man: stung to the quick and unable to formulate a reasonable reply, the person in question sent a delirious letter of rare violence against me to my bishop and to all the members of the presbytery to which I belong, complaining about my language said was vulgar, after having defined me as a «serious psychiatric case» as well as «obsessed with homosexuals».

Incidents of this kind have affected us priests and theologians in different yet similar ways, as we have dealt with the serious phenomenon of the ecclesiastical gay lobby: My Polish Confrere Dariusz Oko, following a complaint filed by German priest Wolfgang F. Rothe of the Archdiocese of Munich, was sentenced in 2021 by the German court in Cologne to a fine of 4,800 euros and 120 days in prison for calling gay priests a «cancerous ulcer» and an «army of parasites within the Church» (cf. Article in italian version, HERE). The case became political, Poland made its voice heard, and some Polish politicians made it clear to the German judges that Germany had not convicted a Polish citizen since the Nazi regime. A similar fate befell Swiss priest and theologian Manfred Hauke, editor of the journal Theological, in 2024. He was found guilty of writing that it was necessary to «limit homosexual cliques in the Church». He was sentenced by the Bellinzona District Court to a fine of 9,450 francs. He rejected the ruling and requested a trial, after which he was acquitted. Meanwhile, a German court shortly thereafter fined him 4,000 euros following a complaint from a homosexual priest and LGBT activist (cf. Article in italian version, HERE). The question is: what did the bishops do with these openly practicing homosexual priests who reported their fellow confreres for discrimination and homophobia? They remained silent, trembling like rabbits before the power of The new Gaystapo. If we think about it, the attitude of these LGBT activists is typically fascist: «hit one to scare a hundred», that’s how the old fascists used to spread fear among the people. Today we are faced with true «rainbow fascists» hiding behind anti-fascism; violent and aggressive, weeping victims who complain of racisms and discriminations that very often doesn’t exist, with the aim of pursuing freedom of thought and of opinion to condemn anyone who dares not think that «gay it’s wonderful».

This is the style and behavior of certain homosexuals who camp among the clergy, driven by extraordinary malice. The sad truth is that those who freely choose to live in sexual disorder, feeling gratified by that very disorder, cannot expect to legitimize within the Church and its clergy all those worldly vices that, according to Catholic morality, constitute and remain serious deviations from Christian sentiment and living. In a different but substantially similar manner, the same individual reported Father Amedeo Cencini, a note Canossian italian priest, to the Order of Psychologists, accusing him of insulting homosexuals in his articles and conferences. The disciplinary commission examined the complaint and then issued this opinion: «No violation of the Code of Ethics was found». But when someone dares to contradict certain acids homosexuals, or doesn’t agree with them, a barrage of insults begins, directed at the professional body, accused of defending a homophobe, followed by accusations against the judiciary, accusations against the Italian Republic, and so on…[23]

It goes without saying, but we must remember it anyway: the damage these individuals can cause to the Church if admitted to the priesthood, or worse, if they advance within the clergy and end up in key government positions, is truly incalculable, because they are capable of using any unfair and illicit means to eliminate those they consider dangerous antagonists and die-hard rivals of the gay lobby. I even know of cases of priests whose legal cases have been fabricated, with baseless trials based not even on vague evidence but only on pure insinuations, Authentic Mafia-Style of Intimidation, casting doubt on their reputation and inducing them to waste time and money defending themselves from bizarre accusations. And when it all dissolved into a soap bubble, those affected were unable to retaliate against anyone, because gay clerics cowardly attack from behind, using their servile “useful idiots” — never directly, always through intermediaries, without ever appearing in the first place.

Inside the confessional, I had to wrestle with a penitent suffering from homoerotic urges, which he was trying to contain as much and as best he could. He told me, shocked, that during sacramental confession, a priest had told him:

«Expressing one’s homosexuality is not a sin, because homosexuality is in the natural order and is a natural variant of human sexuality; and we cannot force a homosexual to live in chastity, because preventing a person from expressing their loving affection would be inhumane».

In either case —whether it be the Arian heretic or the homoheretic — we are faced with an expression of heresy different in form but similar in substance, ad that such an irregularity becomes a canonical perpetual impediment. I reiterate: that a strong sinner can be legitimately and validly consecrated as a priest, but not one who lacks the fundamental requisites of a man and a believer and who aims to to the priesthood for evil and perverse purposes. For it is one thing to fall into grave sin, quite another to consider disorderly conduct as good and just and aspire to the priesthood for evil and perverse purposes.

While I tend to consider the ordinations of such individuals invalid, I will not even open — given the extraordinary sensitivity of the subject — the painful chapter regarding the validity of the episcopal consecrations of those who are similarly not men, not believers, and do not have a correct perception of the fullness of the apostolic priesthood; not to mention those who, despite being the receptacle of all the worst vices, nevertheless reached the episcopate through blackmail and the psychological terrorism exercised on the Ecclesiastical Authorities.

THE MYSTERY OF GOD’S GRACE, THE “SUPPLIES GRACE” AND THE “SUPPLY THE CHURCH” ARE NEITHER A WAY OUT NOR A PANACEA

I believe we cannot play either on the mystery of God’s grace or on that great “loophole” or, if you prefer, panacea, of the “grace fills” (supply the grace) and the “supplies the church” (supply the Church), because nothing can replace God’s grace, much less the Church, where the nature of the substance through which and upon which sacramental grace operates is completely missing. Or to put it another example: an aged host in which all the matter of the bread remains, and a low-quality, unpleasant-tasting wine in which all the matter of the wine remains, nevertheless, through transubstantiation, undoubtedly become, in their metaphysical essence, by the supreme mystery of faith, the Body and Blood of Christ. But a butter biscuit and an orange drink can never become the Body and Blood of Christ, because that matter on which the subsistence of the metaphysical substance depends by divine will is missing, given that what is transubstantiated is the precise matter of bread and wine, not any matter of solid and liquid food and drink.

Where the matter that gives life to the essence of substance is lacking, can God’s grace truly supply it, or can the Church perhaps supply it? And if so, why would the Church Father, St. Augustine, have wasted precious time and energy writing and giving us the treatise “Of nature and grace” (On the grace and the nature)? Not to mention all the subsequent speculations on matter by St. Thomas Aquinas? Grace works, and always works, but it works on existent nature, ot works on nature inexistent, because think whit works on inexistent nature would mean altering and falsifying the very mystery of creation and with it that of redemption.

The mystery of God’s grace transforms, through the work entrusted to our hands, the substance of bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, while retaining the external species of bread and wine in visible form, smell, and taste. These external species, however, become Christ truly and truly present in a substantial way with his Body, his Blood, his Soul, and his Divinity. The grace of God, which is capable of all things, does not transform into the metaphysical substance a butter biscuit and an orange juice in Body and Blood of Christ, because God cannot contradict himself, for «This is my body» (this is my body) was said on the bread, and «This is the cup of my blood» (This is the chalice of my blood) was said on the wine. And no one can change these accidental elements on which the very metaphysical essence of the substance depends by divine will, if anything by affirming … “grace fills“, or worse “supplies the church“, not to mention certain acid gay people mentioned above, who, according according to their personal and eccentric “ecclesiastical law”, would like to relegate all of their moral disorders to the unquestionable sphere of the private life of priests (!?)

God’s grace works only on what exist, not on what isn’t exist and can’t exist; and this is clearly explained and taught in the Parable of the Talents. Through the Holy Priestly Order, an ontological transformation occurs, and the priest takes on a new character, which is indelible and eternal. But if a priest is five feet tall, God’s sanctifying and transforming grace cannot transform him into a barefoot, six-foot-three-foot-tall cuirassier. Or to be more precise: a donkey, in the figurative sense of the term, can also become a Saint, can even become the venerated patron of priests of the Catholic Church, but cannot be transformed into an Arabian stallion, because he will remain a donkey, regardless the his heroic holy virtues. Both Saint Augustine both Saint Thomas clearly clarified the principle that Grace Nature completes but not supply (grace does not replace the nature that isn’t there, but perfects the existent nature). And when nature is absent, starting with the nature of man, of the virile male, required for access to the Holy Order of Priesthood, what happens? Who can ever … supply? The only one who can do so is man, who has put himself in God’s place, or even worse: in Satan’s place.

I would like to conclude with a paradoxical question, but sometimes there can be a great deal of objectivity in paradox or hyperbole. This is the question: if a person, secretly belonging to a Satanic sect, wishes to become a priest for the purpose of validly consecrating the Most Holy Eucharist, destined later to the most impious profanations, thereby serving his Luciferian coven, can we, in that case, speak of a valid ordination? Well, could someone explain to me: what is the difference between a Satanist who aspires to the priesthood for evil and sacrilegious purposes and a homoheretic who also aspires to the priesthood for equally evil and sacrilegious purposes? I’ll explain the difference: a Satanist truly believes in the Most Holy Eucharist as the real presence of the true and living Christ, while in the majority of cases, homoheretics don’t believe in the real presence of the true and living Christ. This is demonstrated by the fact that in their discourse they speak of everything except the Real Presence. They fill their mouths with terms like «… banquet… feast of joy… encounter of love…». Rather than the metaphysical language they despise and the term “transubstantiation” they define as obsolete, they prefer the Lutheran term “consubstantiation.” As a result, their Eucharistic celebrations, brimming with liturgical abuses and free will of every kind, seem like Calvinist liturgies, the very foundation of which is the denial of the Real Presence, depicted by John Calvin precisely by standing during the words of the Last Supper. And in doing so, homosexual heretics eschew the term «living and holy sacrifice». They distribute the Eucharist as if it were free tokens of unleavened bread, they fail to treat the sacred vessels with sacred respect, they fail to proceed with their adequate purification, and they do not promote Eucharistic worship in any way. Added to this is the fact that many of our “fatal womens masters of ceremonies” — because for the last thirty years, finding a heterosexual among liturgists is like looking for a needle in a haystack — have also proceeded to abolish the plates for the Communion of the faithful, but in their place have instituted the silver plate on which to place the bishop’s most holy red skullcap, far more important than the collection of Eucharistic fragments. And there is even more: I have ascertained that the homoheretic bishops, through their homoheretic priests, are those who teach the People of God to stand with their heads held high during the Eucharistic Prayer, as well as being the proponents of the elimination of the pews with kneelers from many churches, replaced with cinema seats, because to strike the Church at its heart and de-sacralize it, one must first strike the Eucharist, rather than following the clear Pauline admonition:

«That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father»[24]

This explains the difference between a Satanist and a homoheretic: the Satanist is a believer, the homoheretic is not. And whoever wants to meditate, let him meditate, but let him do it quickly and well, while the house continues to burn, while the realistic possibility of putting out the fire grows increasingly distant, while the visible Church increasingly resembles a vast Gay Village.

From the Island of Patmos, July 28, 2025

This article is based on a previous article published on July 7, 2016

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NOTE

[1] CF. Codex law canon, can. 1024.

[2] CF. Mk 3,14-19; kc 6,12-16.

[3] CF. 1 TM 3,1-13; 2 TM 1,6; Tt 1,5-9.

[4] CF. St. Clement of Rome, Ad Cor. 42, 4; 44, 3: PG 1, 292-293; 300.

[5] CF. John Paul II, Apostolic Letter. Woman's dignity, 26-27: AAS 80 (1988) 1715-1720; Id., AP. Letter. priestly ordination: AAS 86 (1994) 545-548; Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Dec. Among the most important: AAS 69 (1977) 98-116; Id., Response to the doubt regarding the doctrine of the Apostolic Letter. «Priestly ordination»: AAS 87 (1995) 1114.

[6] CF. EB 5,4.

[7] CF. First Letter of Clement, 44,2, later taken up by the Dogmatic Constitution The light n. 20.

[8] CF. Mt 19, 12: «For there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven».

[9] CF. Johannes Quasten, Patrologia. The first two centuries (II-II). Marietti, 1980.

[10] XVIIIth Successor of the Blessed Apostle Peter, pontificate, years 230-235.

[11] CF. Bibliotheca Cod. 118.

[12] CF. Apocatastasis. According to Origen, at the end of time there will be universal redemption and all creatures will be saved, including Satan. Therefore, the punishment of eternal damnation would actually have a purifying and not definitive nature. «We believe that the goodness of God, through the mediation of Christ, will bring all creatures to the same end» (Of principles, I, IV, 1-3).

[13] CF. Can. 1040.

[14] Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution The light, 19.

[15] John Paul II, AP. Ex. I will give you shepherds, 25 March 1992, 15, 4.

[16] CF. Cann. 1024-1052.

[17] St. Augustine, The nature of good, 19.

[18] The term simony derives from the episode narrated in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 8, 9-24) in which Simon Magus, a healer, asked the Apostles, in exchange for payment, for the thaumaturgical power conferred by the Holy Spirit and was consequently cursed by the Blessed Apostle Peter.

[19] Example: In 1093, the Supreme Pontiff Urban II declared all simoniacal ordinations invalid, except for those of clerics who were unaware of the simony of their ordinations. The condemnation of simony was decreed by various Church ecumenical councils, from the Council of Chalcedon in 451 to the Council of Trent in the 16th century.

[20] CF. can. 188.

[21] CF. Ariel S. Levi di Gualdo, And Satan Became Triune. Relativism, Individualism, Disobedience. An Analysis of the Church of the Third Millennium. Rome, 2011. Reprint: L'isola at Patmos Editions, Rome, 2019. Currently available only in Italian language.

[22] Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in view of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders, 4 November 2005.

[23] CF. Francesco Strazza: «Between criticism and insults: "I can't silent" ", Week News, November 25, 2022 edition (Italian version only).

[24] CF. Phil 2, 10-11.

 

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From the mitred Abbess of Conversano to the Prefect Sister of the Dicastery for Religious

From the submachine gun of Conversano to the prefect of the Dicastery for the religious

The tendency to separate the powers of order and jurisdiction is based on many pontifical provisions of the past, who have endorsed government acts without the power of order, For example, the government of some abbeys from the Middle Ages to modern times, or some bishops who have ruled diocese without being ordered.

– Theology and canon law –

Author Teodoro Beccia

Author
Teodoro Beccia

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The 6 last January, solemnity of the epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ, Sister Simona Brambilla, So far secretary of the Dicastery for institutes of consecrated life and the apostolic life companies, He was appointed prefect of the same Dicastery by the Supreme Pontiff Francesco.

Sister Simona Brambilla was secretary of the Dicastery from the 7 October 2023; second woman to hold this assignment after the appointment in 2021 of Sister Alessandra Smerilli to the Dicastery for the service of full human development. The Roman Pontiff has chosen as a pro-prefect of the dicastery Ángel Fernández Artime, 65 year old, Created Cardinal in the Consistor of the 30 September 2023. With this appointment, relaunched in a whale by world printing agencies, The Pope intended to create an unprecedented managerial structure at the Dicastery for the institutes of consecrated life and the apostolic life companies, appointing a prefect nun and a pro-prefect cardinal.

In perfect logical consistency with the actions of the Roman Pontiffice, This choice only follows the furrow marked by the reform of the Roman Curia already present in the Constitution Preach the Gospel, However, it deserves to be clarified from a legal and theological point of view. An initial example can help us introduce the theme and then clarify the problem. Previously, already last 9 January 2023, The pontiff had appointed a new Territorial abbot dell 'Montecassino abbey, headed by the oldest monastic community of the West. Although not consecrated bishop, The abbot Cassinense - or to be precise the Arciabate - receives the nature of the office All the faculties of government of a bishop. Nothing new except for the fact that the pontiff has chosen to promote the office of abbot, Elective by its community in itself, a secular monk not constituted in the sacred order of the presbyterate, then ordered priest only after the abbey appointment.

Without wanting to enter into the merits of the discussion about the opportunity of a papal appointment for a position that More usual provides an election, It is necessary to analyze complementarity, o meno, Between order power and power of jurisdiction. Re -evaluating the ancient theological tradition, Eastern and Western, Vatican II has put the emphasis on the unit of the «Community power», even without wanting to take a position on the ecclesiological value of the distinction between the power of order and that of jurisdiction introduced by the canonistic before the twelfth century. Exist, indeed, theological elements that orient towards a unitary conception of the power, or: The principle of sacramentality of the episcopate referred to in can. 129 § 1 C.J.C.

There are two powers in the church, left by our Lord Jesus Christ, and two hierarchies that derive from it, which cross and overlap in part, but that remain distinct in their attributions and sources. The first of the two is the the power of sanctifying, which is received and exercised through the sacrament of the order in its various degrees (Ministries established, priesthood and episcopate: and Er Bishop means who received episcopal consecration), and which mainly consists in the power to consecrate the Eucharist e, through this and the other sacraments, give grace to souls. Since the source of this power is a sacrament, The direct author is our Lord himself, ex-works operated: The ministers are only the tools. The highest act of this power is the consecration of the body and the blood of Christ. In this, Bishop and priest, they are the same. The power to governing, or power of jurisdiction, which includes in itself the spiritual power to govern and teach (In fact, it is legitimately taught and with authority only to their subjects). If we consider the Church as company, according to classic law, It must have an authority capable of legislating and guiding, as well as punishing and correcting. This power, that our Lord equally owns to the supreme degree, He is transmitted directly by him only to the successor of the Blessed Apostle Peter at the time of the acceptance of the election, and transmitted by him in various ways to the rest of the Church. It has no link in itself with the order power, although generally the two powers convince the same subjects, or even, as for the pope and diocesan bishops, There is a moral obligation to bring together the two powers. In this sense, Bishop is the one who received the power to govern a diocese from the Pope.

This doctrine on the distinction of origin of the two powers It is taught without ambiguity possible in an impressive amount of magisterial documents: last among them the encyclical Mystical body Pius XII (1943), resumed in the following To the Chinese nations (1954) e To the Prince of the Apostles (1958). The bishops govern their diocese in the name of Christ, «That's still when they do, Don't complete their self-jorisunt, However, under the authority of the Roman Pontiff, Despite the ordinary jurisdiction control, Immediately with the same Pope apart» (“However when they do it, they do not do it by right at all, but placed under the due authority of the Roman Pontiff, although they enjoy an ordinary jurisdiction power, Given them immediately by the Pontiff himself ") (DS. 3804). The only one in the world to receive this power of jurisdiction directly from God is the Roman Pontiff, As the Code of Canon Law of the 1917 al can.109:

«Those in ecclesiastical hierarchy collected […] The steps of the power of the order of the ordination; in the highest pontificate, ipsometjure Divine, Fulfilled condition of legal election of the same as acceptance; in the remaining steps of jurisdiction, Canonica Mission» («Those who are counted in the ecclassic hierarchy […] they constitute in the degrees of order power with the sacred ordination; in the supreme pontificate, For the same divine law, completed the conditions of the legitimate election and acceptance of this; In the remaining degrees of the power of jurisdiction, with the canonical mission ").

Not even the Roman Pontiff receives this power from episcopal consecration, but regardless of it. Throughout history there was therefore a broad, complex and sometimes controversial reflection on the relationship between the power of orders, that is received with ordination and that allows you to administer some sacraments - how to preside over the Eucharist - and the power of government, who gives authority on a part of the people of God, like a diocese, a religious order or even a parish. For a long time it was believed that the two powers were distinct and that it was possible to exercise them separately; San Tommaso d'Aquino also shared this position.

As for the Roman Curia, It was believed that all those who carried out their service received their power directly from the Roman Pontiff, which conferred the authority regardless of whether they were ordered or not. This also applied for the cardinals, whose authority derived from the papal creation and not for the sacramental way. This approach has characterized the history of the Church for a long time, so much so that there were cardinals who were not priests, For example the cardinal Giacomo Antonelli, Vatican Secretary of State from 1848 al 1876, had been ordered deacon, but it was not a priest. Further back in time, There were cardinals appointed at a young age who received orders only after a long time, And even Papi who were only diachons at the time of their election to the papal throne.

Some abbots of the past they had not even been ordered priests and ruled an ecclesiastical district, Or there were figures that are at least anachronistic but that responded to this logic, like the elected bishops who ruled diocese without having received the episcopal consecration but only by virtue of their election, this problem to which the Council of Trent will end through the obligation of the residence. Other examples are the so -called machine guns, "Women with the pastoral stick", of which we will mention to follow.

Over time another approach has emerged that dates back to the church of the first millennium: The power of government is closely linked to the sacrament of the sacred order, so it is not possible to exercise one without the other if not within certain limits, which are rather restricted., in 1962, with the motu proprio With the most serious he decided that all cardinals should be ordered bishops

This is the approach of Vatican Council II, who finds himself, eg, in the dogmatic constitution The light to n. 21, in Explanatory note to n. 2, and in the two codes of canon law, the Latin one of the 1983 and the eastern one of the 1990. In the III Chapter (NN. 18-23) and in Note the preliminary It is argued that episcopal consecration is a source of government power and not only of order power, leveraging the sacramentality of the episcopate. For the Council of Trento, indeed, The priesthood conferred by Christ to the apostles and their successors is said to be "power […] to consecrate, offer and administer his body and blood, In addition to putting back and considering sins " (DS 1764); In particular, the bishops "who succeeded in place of the apostles […] are superior to priests, and can administer the sacrament of confirmation, Order the ministers of the Church, and perform many other things " (DS 1768). Here are the effects of the ordination such that they are described to us by the Council of Trento: a power linked to the physical body of Christ and the administration of the sacraments, and absolutely not to the external government of the Church. The light states that episcopal consecration "also confers, with the office to sanctify, offices to teach and govern, which however, by their nature, they cannot be exercised except in hierarchical communion with the boss and with the members of the college ".

Whoever is validly consecrated bishop owns, second The light, both powers; The Supreme Pontiff intervenes only to determine the exercise of government power, not to confer it. In the absence of this intervention of the Pope, We do not know if the exercise of jurisdiction would be disabled or only illegal: the Note the preliminary he says he does not want to enter the matter, even if it can be assumed that it would be only illegal, as for the order power. Moreover, according to the n. 22 The episcopal consecration would also have the entry into the Episcopal College, body that second The light would have the supreme power next to that of the Pope alone: the Note the preliminary specifies that this subject of universal power always exists, but that comes into action only when the Pope calls him. The same number 22 He says that the hierarchical link is also needed to belong to the college, However, it is not clear whether this is a real cause of belonging to the college or a simple condition. The power of government, which beyond the sacramental order, It would be the effect of the sacrament ex works operated, therefore of the Christ directly, as well as belonging to the said college, that despite being the subject of the supreme power When Peter and under Peter, It would remain a subject distinct from Pietro Solo and would receive the power he exercises not from Petro ma of Christ, as it appears clearly from the same Note the preliminary.

Vatican II has authoritatively reiterated that the episcopate is a sacrament and that with the episcopal consecration we become part of the Episcopal College which together with the Pope and under his authority, It is the subject of the supreme power over the whole Church. This thesis is clearly difficult to reconcile with the Dictation of the Vatican I, that condemns

«[…] those who say that this primacy was not given immediately and directly to Blessed Pietro, but to the Church and through this to him as Minister of the Church itself ".

Different thesis from what he then prevailed in The light: Here the subject of the supreme power is one, the college, although it is not excluded that the Pope can act only. The echo of this thesis is also felt in the number 22 Of The light, When it is said that the Pope exerts power to two titles: By virtue of his office and as head of the college. It is therefore admitted that at least in some cases the Pope is only the representative of the college.

This reflection He finds himself in the two reform documents of the Roman Curia who followed the Second Vatican Council: The Constitution Regimines of the universal of Paul VI (1967) the A Pastor Bonus of John Paul II (1988). John Paul II outlined the Curia in congregations and pontifical advice, that in secular terms could be defined as “Ministries with wallet” e “ministries without portfolio”.

Congregations had to be governed by cardinals because they participated in the decisions of the universal Church with the Pope, so, their leaders, They had to have the rank of first councilors of the Pope. Pontifical advice, instead, they could also be guided by archbishops, But in any case by ministers ordered because they had to be in relation to collegiality with the bishop of Rome - that is, the Pope.

Canon law distinguishes the power of government in three categories: the legislative power due to which they are implemented, General decrees and privileges; the executive power that allows to put in place general executive decrees, Singular administrative instructions and acts and on the concession of the competent Legislative Authority General Decrees and Privileges; the judicial power that allows the sentences and the related preparatory documents to be implemented.

In state systems the principle of separation of the powers exists which allows to start again the government functions (parliament, government, courts) so that (Locke-Montesquieu) their exercise is free from mutual influences. In the canonical system there is the principle of the distinction of the powers and therefore of their unity. The three functions are annexed to both universal and particular capital offices. However, alongside them, the canonical system provides for further offices in which people or colleges are titled to which only one of the aforementioned authorities is annexed. The distinction between the power does not aim to limit the exercise of each towards the other but allows to identify acts of a different nature so that the common good of the Church is promoted.

The organization of the Church is based on the principle of the hierarchy of the offices, many of which are not qualifiable as government offices, as it is not endowed di power to govern. When the power of government is annexed to an office, qualifies as ordinary, distinct from that delegate because it is given directly to the person by mandate, without attribution of a specific office.

Ordinary power can be proper or vicar. In the first case it is exercised in “own name” by the owner; It is Vicar if it is exercised by a person who acts on behalf of the owner of the office. Universal level, The offices to which an ordinary power or vicar is annexed are: Roman Pontiff, Episcopal College, The Congregations of the Curia, The Pontifical Council of the Lays, 1 apostolic tribunal. Particularly I am: The diocesan bishops and the leaders of the abbey or territorial prelatures, The Vicars and Apostolic Prefects, apostolic administrators, Personal ordinary (except those for the Anglicans), ordinary of personal prelature, general vicars, episcopal and judicial, pastors; metropoly, particular councils, Episcopal conferences and their permanent advice; The superiors and chapters of the religious institutes and clerical societies of apostolic life of papal law.

The can. 134 §1 attributes the qualification of ordinary to the owners of three different offices: The office that is characterized by the entire power of government (legislative, executive and judicial), Roman Pontiff, Diocesan and equivalent bishops; The office characterized by ordinary Vicar and executive power (general and episcopal vicars of the diocese); Offices attributed to the major superiors of the religious institutes and the apostolic life companies. The same can. 134 §2 attributes the legal qualification of ordinary of the place to the first two types of ordinary. The qualification of ordinary of the place is linked to the territorial character of the ecclesiastical circumscriptions.

Delegated power is distinct from ordinary power because it is entrusted to the person (can 131), as an owner of an office but not as an integral part of it. In this case, the power is limited to the faculties assigned to the person through a delegation mandate. Both the Roman Pontiff and the bishops can, by delegate, expand the faculties of an diocesan bishop or a vicar beyond those acquired by office. Hence the difference between the two authorities. The ordinary one is objective, it exists in itself independently of the person who only has to possess the requirements defined to receive the office; The second depends on the choice of a titular subject who decides to grant a part.

The apostolic constitution Preach the Gospel, with which the Supreme Pontiff Francesco reformed the Curia in 2022, It has substantially devoted from this legal and theological approach. It is no longer distinguished between congregations and pontifical advice, which are all called dicasteries; There is no more difference on who can be the head of the dicastery, A charge that can therefore also be conferred on a lay. However, in presenting the reform of the Curia the 21 March 2022, The then Father Gianfranco Ghirlanda S.J. - Created Cardinal by Somamo Pontiff Francesco in the Constoror of 27 August 2022 - He explained that there were still some dicasteries in which it was appropriate that it was a cardinal to guide them and he pointed out that the "Constitution does not repeal the Code of Canon Law, which establishes that in issues concerning clerics are the clerics to judge ". This is the center of the question: There are offices that can only be exercised for papal appointment or there are offices that, despite the papal appointment, they can only be exercised if you have ordered?

The question emerges when a pro-prefect cardinal supports a prefect nun. The dicastery for institutes of consecrated life and the apostolic life societies has different skills, which are generally government acts that can be exercised without priestly ordination. But the same dicastery, It is often called upon to manage and resolve problems that concern ordered clerics bosomes. It was probably thought that these decisions can be managed, residually, from at least one member who has received the sacred ordination, to be joined to the Prefect. For this the figure of the pro-prefect was created, which, however, seems to be used improperly. The document Preach the Gospel It describes two pro-prefects which are the head of the two sections of the Dicastery for evangelization. This is because the two pro-prefects guide the sections of the dicastery "in place" (that is, pro-) of the pope, which is considered the prefect of the dicastery.

In other cases it has been appointed pro-prefect a prelate who did not yet have the degree to formally cover the charge. For example, When Angelo Sodano was appointed Vatican Secretary of State on December 1st 1990, It was still an archbishop. It was therefore appointed pro-state of state because the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus provided that the Secretary of State was always a cardinal. Sodano maintained the title of Pro-Sangrento di Stato up to the Constoror of the 28 June 1991, When Cardinal was created and formally assumed the title of Secretary of State starting from 1 July 1991.

However, the pro-prefect Ángel Fernández Artime is already a cardinal and does not exercise jurisdiction instead of the Pope. If anything, he works alongside the prefect nun. Its role is more than anything else that of co-prefect, So it remains to be seen if the Holy Father will appoint a secretary for the Dicastery to understand the definitive organization chart. The choice to support an ecclesiastical to the Prefect reflects the Modus Operandi of some religious orders, who have their "brothers" to their guidance (consecrated lay people), but who are appointed alongside figures with sacramental authority. The Supreme Pontiff would therefore have chosen to follow a road already traveled by the religious congregations for the government of the Church. It is not new. Even the Holy Father Francis, eg, intervened in the government crisis of the Order of Malta proper to order as if it were only a religious and monastic entity, Authoritatively imposing the new constitutions in September 2022 and establishing that the Roman Pontiff must confirm the election of the Grand Master.

Also the Council of Cardinals, established by Pope Francis at the beginning of his pontificate in 2013, It resembles the General Council which supports the Government of the Jesuit General. Many of these settings are given by the main legal councilor of the reigning pontiff, Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda, Jesuit too, who personally followed the reform of the Order of Malta and the Reform of the Curia, In addition to various other reforms, like that of the statutes of the legionaries of Christ.

The Holy Father Francis established an innovation in the Roman Curia abandoning the criteria of the government of the Curia in favor rather than those of religious congregations. We are faced with a small revolution, or simply to an improper use of the terms that could cause serious confusion? We know that the position of pro-prefect of the Dicastery for the institutes of consecrated life and the apostolic life companies is not foreseen by the Constitution Preach the Gospel. It has not been specified what the relationship of powers and competences will be between the new prefect and the pro-prefect. However, talk about a subordination relationship with a cardinal who would be the “second capable” of the Prefect does not seem a correct reading.

The distinction between order and jurisdiction It is the result of a reflection, Duration almost a millennium, aimed at solving two fundamental problems: that of the validity of the sacramental acts placed by the ministers, who had broken with ecclesial communion; that of the validity of absolute orders, who prevailed in the practice of the Latin Church despite the prohibition of the Council of Calcedonia. The question did not concern so much the possibility that an excommunicated bishop could be placed at the head of a diocese, but rather that he could continue to administer the sacraments, Until Graziano and i decideisti they did not progressively be able to distinguish two powers in the activity of the ministers: a power of order and a power of jurisdiction, different both for the transmission mode and for their stability and function. And all in all the Constitution Preach the Gospel proceeds precisely on this track of the distinction: Implicitly assumes the option not to consider the sacrament of the order as the origin of the power of jurisdiction, but to attribute it exclusively to missio canonical given by the Roman Pontiff, that would thus confer a delegation of his own powers to anyone who exercises a function of government in the Roman Curia and in the Church, whether or not it is ordered.

The most debated question It seems to be the exercise of the authority of jurisdiction in the extra-subacramental sphere. Outside the sacramental sphere, the code of 1983 seems to consider, at least from the terminological profile, the opportunity to jurisdiction as a power that has its own material content, distinct from that of the the power of the order. The code uses two different terms: the term «capacity» in the sacramental sphere, and that of «power» In the extra-sub-empathy sphere, almost like giving two different meanings to the same power of jurisdiction, one formal and one content, according to whether it operates in the first or second area. As for the reform of the Curia, It seems to present a radical revolution within the system, a sort of underlining of the application regarding the origin of the power of jurisdiction: understand if it is a divine will (immediate) inscribed in the sacrament of the order that bases the powers of sanctifying, teaching and govern or is rather a determination of the Church (mediated) conferred on the successor of Pietro by virtue of his mandate as a universal pastor with the special assistance of the Holy Spirit.

The tendency to separate the powers of order and jurisdiction is based on many pontifical provisions of the past, who have endorsed government acts without the power of order, For example, the government of some abbeys from the Middle Ages to modern times, As in the well -known and famous case of the Badassa di Conversano, defined Monster Apuliae, or some bishops who have ruled diocese without being ordered, or even some licenses granted by the supreme legislator to simple priests to order other priests without being bishops. The list of facts that show how the government power could not intrinsically depend on the order power could be lengthened, but rather from another source, which is then identified with the missio canonical conferred by the Roman Pontiff. The new Constitution would perhaps be beyond the can. 129 §2 C.J.C., That is, it would fully interpret that collaboration of the laity in the exercise of the same power of jurisdiction. Starting from this observation, The core of the matter can lead to what regulates the relationships between the nature of the Church as a divine-human institution and the government structures that allow it to fulfill her mission at the service of the salvation of the world. It can therefore be said that ecclesial communion involves a hierarchical dimension that corresponds to the trinitarian mystery as it is revealed to us. Everything so far said, albeit in an extremely synthetic way, would lead to saying that the power of jurisdiction does not depend exclusively on the power of order.

One thing we can say with abused security: the appointment of a nun to the office of prefect (that, It would remain as a nun subjected to his religious direct superior but, at the same time, hierarchically “superior of his superior”, with concrete risk of short circuit skills) and the contextual appointment of a cardinal to the office of pro-prefect, It does nothing but confirm the stylistic figure to which this pontificate has now accustomed us to 12 years forward: The important thing is to cause and generate processes. Which could also be fascinating, if not for the fact that, like all jurists, We cannot help but consider that the processes, precisely for a matter of justice fairness and respect for the parties, they cannot last forever, Why, sooner or later, one of two:either they reach sentence or are archived.

Velletri of Rome, 19 January 2025

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Father Ariel sued the Holy See and the Order of Dominican Nuns before the European Court of Human Rights: «I am a nun because I feel like one»

FATHER ARIEL SUED THE HOLY SEE AND THE ORDER OF DOMINICAN NUNS BEFORE THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS: «I AM A NUN BECAUSE I FEEL LIKE ONE»

The homophobic outrage of the Mother Prioress: «Reverend Father, it historic mental hospital of Santa Maria della Pietà, which was here, in this area of ​​ours, in Monte Mario, it was permanently closed in January of 2000. While we, like Dominican nuns, we can't do anything for her.".

– Summer lightnesses of the Fathers of the Island of Patmos –

AuthorTeodoro Beccia

Author
Teodoro Beccia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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While Rome was enveloped in a blanket of heat and the thermometer read 40°, our Father Ariel S. Levi di Gualdo presented himself at Monastery of Santissimi Domenico e Sisto in Santa Maria del Rosario, which is located in Rome in the Monte Mario district, to ask the Mother Prioress to begin the novitiate in view of her profession of religious vows as a Dominican nun.

Father Ariel feels like a nun and should be welcomed and respected as such

The Mother Prioress she was initially very delicate and began by saying:

«Reverend Father, in fact it is very hot these days in Rome. So you don't have to worry too much about any actions, completely inconsiderate reactions or, worse, demands, because in some subjects the heat can play really bad tricks, even in the presbyteries".

No way. More determined than ever, he set out to explain that each of us, today, it is not so much what it is or appears to be, but what he feels or perceives himself to be. In this regard he gave the example of the Olympics in France, where one, an Algerian boxer defined as hyperandrogynous (see WHO, WHO) forced an Italian competitor to withdraw from the competition after a few seconds, except being literally massacred (see WHO, WHO, WHO, etc…).

the Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, undoubtedly and unquestionably a woman, as many journalists have explained, before which the Italian competitor Angela Carini withdrew within a few seconds after a single punch received by this woman, undoubtedly and unquestionably a woman

Now impatient the Mother Prioress, among other things, feeling mocked by this priest who seemed truly brain-dead, he blurted out:

«Reverend Father, it historic mental hospital of Santa Maria della Pietà, which was here, in this area of ​​ours, in Monte Mario, it was permanently closed in January of 2000. While we, like Dominican nuns, we can't do anything for her.".

At that point Father Ariel ran shocked and crying to the Dominican Convent of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva to speak with an elderly theologian he trusted, Father Daniel Ols. After listening to it without batting an eyelid, the elderly theologian pretended nothing happened, because as we know, crazy people should never be contradicted. With an excuse he was absent and proceeded to call the 118. Shortly afterwards, a Misericordia ambulance arrived with sirens blaring and two beefy nurses, one of whom was holding a straitjacket. He escaped from the two before they wrapped him up inside that restraint instrument, shortly afterwards he asked for political asylum at the LGBT embassy of Cowkiller of Rome, where a team of lawyers rushed friendly who are currently helping him to sue, on charges of discrimination, the Holy See and the Dominican Nuns at the European Court of Human Rights.

In conclusion: among us Fathers of The Island of Patmos, capable of making fun of ourselves when necessary and the French Olympics transformed into a grotesque Gay Pride under the banner of mockery of Catholicism (see WHO); event in which an attempt was made to make the world of the unreal win at all costs, there is this substantial difference: we joke by deserious what cannot be treated as serious, because it isn't. By contrast, instead, the organizers of certain Olympic-Gaul events want to impose as true and serious at all costs what remains and will always remain surreal and grotesque when tested by facts. Not to mention the danger, because that is all a chapter to be treated separately, indeed, force civil society to accept people not for who they actually are, but for what they feel or say they are in a completely surreal or capricious way, it's dangerous, very dangerous…

We wish a happy summer to our readers.

Velletri of Rome, 2 August 2024

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«Give us today our daily theater». Alessandro Minutella remembers that he is "twice theologian" and "twice graduated", then he announces that he has confessed. Request: who has validly acquitted him?

«GIVE US OUR DAILY THEATER TODAY». ALESSANDRO MINUTELLA REMEMBERS HAVING BEEN «TWICE THEOLOGIST AND TWICE GRADUATED», THEN HE ANNOUNCES THAT HE HAS CONFESSED. REQUEST: WHO HAS VALIDLY ACQUITTED HIM?

Minutella cannot be acquitted or receive any valid absolution unless he has retracted his heresies. E, considering that the crimes committed are reserved to the Apostolic See, anyone who acquits him without his prior public retraction, or at least in front of two witnesses in case of life-threatening danger, he would in turn incur excommunication.

– Theology and canon law –

AuthorTeodoro Beccia

Author
Teodoro Beccia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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In the days gone by he ended up under the fire of Alessandro Minutella - a priest from Palermo excommunicated then resigned from the clerical state - the disciple of the Servant of God the Father Divo Barsotti, the father Serafino Tognetti, "guilty" of having fulfilled his priestly duty by dissuading some people who questioned him from following this subject on the path of serious error. As always happens in these cases he is back in charge with his old mantra:

«I remind our brother Father Tognetti that Don Minutella is a theologian twice, I have two degrees in theology …».

It's time to clarify - obviously without going into the merits of the internal sacramental and extra-sacramental forum - some fundamental points to those simple people not familiar with certain ecclesiastical dynamics:

a) our, although he proclaims himself a dogmatic theologian, it is not so, having never achieved “degrees” in theology at the faculty of theology but in spirituality at the Institute of Spirituality of the Pontifical Gregorian University;

b) between one “degree” in theology (Faculty of Theology) and one in spirituality (Institute of Spirituality) there is the difference between a degree in medicine and one in nursing.

But most of all, it is always appropriate and right to clarify to non-experts that thea “degree in theology” it doesn't really exist as a title in ecclesiastical universities and that our academic titles are as follows:

1) canonical baccalaureate in theology, released later 5 year old, basic qualification equivalent for the State to a university diploma first level or so-called “three-year short degree”;

2) specialist license, released later 2 O 3 year old, a title which, added to the theological baccalaureate, is equivalent for the State to a master's degree diploma;

3) PhD, released after a minimum of at least two years, with which the title of doctor is conferred, equivalent for the State to a PhD, but not always though, it is sometimes recognized as equivalent to a postgraduate master's degree; the doctorate in theology is recognized as equivalent to the doctorate, in canon law, in biblical sciences, in philosophy, in history … however not all those other new branches considered "preparatory" or "marginal", among these spirituality.

Having clarified all it is good to remember that, when proven by the facts, the two vaunted degrees - which are non-existent according to the degrees and qualifications awarded by universities and ecclesiastical universities - were used by us to obtain these extraordinary results:

a) incur excommunication automatic by schism (can. 1364 – § 1);

b) incur automatic under excommunication for heresy (cann. 1364-1365);

(c)) incur sententiae penalties in dismissal from the clerical state with a decree issued personally by the Roman Pontiff, because he alone can inflict this extreme punishment imposed only in very rare and very serious cases.

In the “Saints and Coffee” column of 4 July, Mister I Am-Twice-Theologian (name) I-Have-Two-Bachelors-In-Theology (last name) he announced Urbi et Orbi to have confessed (!?).

Completely legitimate question: who would have acquitted him, perhaps some of his companions in misfortune were also affected by canonical provisions which strictly forbid the small group of priests following him from celebrating the Holy Mass, preach and administer confessions? By now we know his communication technique well: throw an impressive statement among the others, making it seem absolutely natural in the eyes of those who follow him.

Without — as written earlier — enter the field of the sacramental and extra-sacramental internal forum, as well as in the context of the work of the priest who has received his sacramental confession, it is necessary to intervene on some issues which Minutella himself has made and is making widely publicized.

For some years now Mister I Am-Twice-Theologian (name) I-Have-Two-Bachelors-In-Theology (last name), he obsessively cites canons of the Code of Canon Law, making them say what is not written in them, extrapolating and de-contextualizing them from the entire ecclesiastical legal system, as in the case of can 332 § 2, to whom I will soon dedicate an article on the topic of gift he was born in ministry of the Roman Pontiff.

Very clear and precise canon laws, in particular the can. 1331 § 1 of the C.I.C. the 1983 which prohibits the excommunicated:

1º to celebrate the Sacrifice of the Eucharist and the other sacraments;

2º to receive the sacraments;

3º to administer the sacramentals and celebrate other liturgical worship ceremonies;

4º to have any active part in the celebrations enumerated above;

5º to exercise offices or tasks or ministries or ecclesiastical functions;

6º to take government actions.

§ 2. If he excommunicates her sententiae penalties was inflicted or that automatic was declared, the offender:

1º if you want to act against the provisions of § 1, NN. 1-4, must be removed or the liturgical action must be interrupted, unless there is a serious cause to the contrary;

2º invalidates government acts, which pursuant to § 1, n. 6, they are illegal;

3º is prohibited from making use of the privileges granted to him previously;

4º does not acquire salaries held in a purely ecclesiastical capacity;

5º is incapable of holding office, assignments, ministry, functions, rights, privileges and honorific titles.

To an excommunicated person who has not made amends of his crimes against the Church and the deposit of faith it is forbidden to receive the Sacraments and if a bishop or presbyter it is forbidden to administer them. In fact, how the schismatic heretic caused public scandal, in the same way, in the desirable case he wishes to repent and receive the remission of a sin whose absolution is in itself reserved to the Apostolic See (cf.. can. 1354 §2; art. 52 of the Apostolic Constitution Good Pastors), he will equally have to publicly abjure his mistakes. I just know, for real life and death reasons it was not possible to make public statements, in that case the confessor is authorized to absolve also from crimes reserved to the Apostolic See; however, he will have to call two witnesses and have the heretic recant before them, apostate and schismatic before granting him absolution in article died.

In accordance with canon laws, Mister I Am-Twice-Theologian (name) I-Have-Two-Bachelors-In-Theology (last name) he cannot therefore be acquitted or receive any valid absolution unless he has retracted his heresies. E, considering that the crimes committed are reserved to the Apostolic See, anyone who acquits him without his prior public retraction, or at least in front of two witnesses in case of real danger to life, he would in turn incur excommunication automatic (cf.. can 969; can. 1378 §2 n. 2).

This is what canon laws establish, as opposed to the personal ones of Mister I Am-Twice-Theologian (name) I-Have-Two-Bachelors-In-Theology (last name) and his companions in misfortune, including the inventors of amphibological codes.

Velletri of Rome, 4 July 2024

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«But we are legally divorced!». The canonical process of matrimonial nullity: the phase prior to the introduction of the pamphlet and technical consultancy

«BUT WE ARE REGULARLY DIVORCEED!». THE CANONICAL PROCESS OF MARRIAGE NULLITY: THE PHASE PRIOR TO THE INTRODUCTION OF THE LABEL AND TECHNICAL CONSULTANCY

The church, mother and teacher, as well as dispenser of grace and mercy, he never closed the door in my face, yesterday as today. If anything, they are certain Catholics, pass the expression to me: as obtuse as they are stubborn, who close doors in their own faces while in every way they are opened in front of them.

– Theology and canon law –

AuthorTeodoro Beccia

Author
Teodoro Beccia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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As already explained above - but it is worth repeating - we canonists and pastors in the care of souls also find ourselves experiencing situations so disappointing that they often appear disarming, as well as difficult to correct, especially with regards to the canonical processes of matrimonial nullity. Let's try to give an idea: although the concept is easy to understand, it is difficult to make many people understand that marriages "cannot be annulled", they can only be "declared null" when the elements and circumstances exist to declare them as such. Explanation to which one happens to hear a reply: «…cancel… null… but it's the same thing, they're just priest puns!».

Affirm that marriage annulled e marriage declared null they are the same thing hidden behind puns, is equivalent to saying that going to the mountains at two thousand meters above sea level under the glaciers or going to the sea on the beach at a temperature that approaches 40 degrees is the same, because it's always a holiday. Faced with such a statement, anyone would immediately grasp the absurd and illogical element, because sea beaches under the scorching sun and mountain heights under glaciers are two substantially different things. No one has the right to "annul" a sacramental marriage, what the Church can do, if the foreseen circumstances apply, is to declare that marriage, however formally celebrated in compliance with all the external forms required, was lacking in one or more substantial elements that render it invalid, therefore effectively null. A quel point, the competent ecclesiastical tribunal, with a reasoned sentence of nullity he declares that that marriage, even if formally celebrated, essentially and in fact it never existed at all.

«But we are legally divorced!», we have heard it said several times by rather confused Catholics who are not easy to make understand that a Court can dissolve the civil bonds deriving from the marriage contract according to the dictates of the Code of Civil Law, but with that act of divorce the sacramental marriage is not "dissolved".. The Concordat between the then Kingdom of Italy and the Holy See (1929) and the one revised between the Italian Republic and the Holy See (1984) allows religious marriage to produce the related civil effects. The two distinct acts are carried out with a single ceremony: the religious one and the civil one, with the relative transmission of the documents to the Municipality which then transcribes the marriage in its registers for the so-called civil effects.

With the Law of 1 December 1970, n. 898 divorce comes into force in Italy. Four years later, the 12 e 13 May 1974 a repeal referendum took place, promoted by the Christian Democrats, in particular from the area headed by Amintore Fanfani, with which an attempt was made to cancel that Law, but to no avail, because the majority of voters voted against its repeal.

In one of our various private editorial conversations, Father Ariel S.. Levi di Gualdo asked me a stimulating and provocative question which I consider appropriate to make public:

"How come, after the entry into force of that Law in 1970 and after its confirmation given by the Italians with a popular referendum in 1974, Paul VI did not consistently ask for the reform of the Concordat in the part concerning marriage? Hadn't we perhaps just celebrated a great pastoral council, compared several times by Paul VI himself - perhaps with a little excessive emphasis - to the First Council of Nicaea? Is it possible that no one noticed - moreover in years in which there was only talk of pastoral care and where everything seemed to be solely and exclusively pastoral - that precisely on the pastoral and pedagogical level it was now very problematic to make two acts coexist together, the religious one and the civil one, aware that civil legislation was in conflict with religious legislation by virtue of the civil law on divorce? Because we didn't ask ourselves, precisely to avoid pastoral confusion, to return to two completely separate acts: religious marriage in church pertaining only to the Church, civil marriage in the Municipality pertaining only to the State? Or maybe, more simply, we couldn't or didn't want to give up keeping our foot in politics and administration at all costs?».

A seemingly provocative question played on hyperbole, but if understood and read well, More than provocative, it has much that is historical in itself, juridical and pastoral, enough to demand answers. Or perhaps it wasn't the masters of classical scholasticism who, in order to stimulate speculation and reasoning, resorted not only to provocative speeches, but even to deliberately absurd rhetorical figures? Today, however, we are ready to feel hit and offended by anything and everything, if not worse scared of everything and everything, this ancient wisdom risks ending up completely lost, and it is the wisdom of Anselm of Aosta, Alberto Magno, Thomas Aquinas … Pity, because this wisdom, based essentially and indispensably on the critical sense, over the centuries it has generated Holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church, theological schools and solid training criteria for priestly and religious life.

In this article we will focus on it on the phase of the canonical procedure for matrimonial nullity that precedes the introduction of the bill, i.e. the introductory document necessary to start the process itself. Owner of this first phase, pursuant to can. 1674 § 11, it can be both spouses, only one of them, or the promoter of justice, but only "when the nullity has already been disclosed" («When nullity has been published») and the marriage cannot be validated or is not appropriate If the marriage can be validated or not to be expedient»). Incidentally, let us remember that the promoter of justice is a procedural figure who in the canonical system carries out the equivalent functions of a public prosecutor.

Let us therefore pay attention to the cases in which the initiative of the previous phase is taken jointly by the two spouses or by one or two: in agreement with the other spouse or completely independently, in the impossibility of contacting the other or in his indifference or even against his will. The choice to limit attention to this situation is motivated not only by the fact that it is certainly the most common case but because the delicate point of the phase prior to the introduction of the pamphlet is precisely what the person (or those) to which it belongs, may be able to discern when it is appropriate to introduce a cause of nullity and arrive at the definition of such a will with such a degree of precision that it can then be translated into the pamphlet. While the requirements to achieve these goals are easily accessible to the promoter of justice (for its own competence, can. 1435, and for the possibility of having the support of the court structure), they are normally lacking (except in the very exceptional case in which the spouses or one of them are competent in the canonical sphere) in the spouse. Failure to address this difficulty could result in a de facto denial of the very possibility of initiating a nullity case, to the detriment of the right of the faithful to appeal to the ecclesiastical forum which canon deals with. 221 § 1 which recites:

«It is up to the faithful to legitimately claim and defend the rights they enjoy in the Church at the competent ecclesiastical court according to the law».

The evaluations and choices that the spouse is called upon to make, in the phase preceding the libel, moreover, they are particularly relevant and complex to implement and can be summarized as follows:

– retrace your romantic and marital history, with truth (coherence of logical judgment is not enough, think for example of the cases involving the type referred to in can. 1095, 2°-3°) and a certain thirdness, to bring out the problematic points (which are not only those that led to the failure of married life, as the reasons for nullity sometimes pertain to causes that are in themselves extrinsic to the quality of the couple's life);

– acquire an adequately motivated awareness of the impossibility of overcoming the reasons for conflict that have arisen in married life e, in the event that the choice of separation has already been made (or even divorce), compare its coherence with the principles established by the moral teaching of the Church and by canon law (cf.. cann. 1151-1155);

– to verify, in comparison with an expert, one's ability to act as a plaintiff in a nullity case (cf.. can. 1476 e can. 1478);

– to verify, always in comparison with an expert, whether one or more of the problematic issues identified can fall within one of the heads of nullity provided by the canonical system or whether there are no other problematic issues that have escaped the first examination but which emerge from the better knowledge of the law of the Church (for example assistance at a wedding by a minister without valid delegation, can. 1111 e can. 144) or even if there are no elements that do not lead to nullity but open up the possibility of requesting the dissolution of the bond for non-consummation or for favor of faith;

– in the event that there are elements of possible nullity, define them accurately and assign responsibility for them;

– define an organic and orderly reconstruction of the story in which the elements of possible nullity emerge and verify the possibility of adequately proving what is alleged, possibly already acquiring the accessible evidence and indicating those whose acquisition will have to be requested from the court;

– if it hasn't been done yet, involve the other spouse or at least identify the elements for his availability;

– identify the competent ecclesiastical court to contact;

– identify the procedural form to choose: brief process, ordinary process or documentary process;

– in any of the phases considered so far or, if it hasn't been done before, at the conclusion of the previous actions, identify a patron who can assist the spouse as an actor (or the two spouses, if they act together) during the canonical proceedings (unless the party wishes to ask to be authorized to appear in court alone, as foreseen by can. 1481 §3).

All these complex obligations must obviously be satisfied at the time of introduction of the pamphlet. The burdensomeness of the formalities that a spouse must undergo when he intends to ask the Church for verification of the nullity of his marriage is therefore truly remarkable. In this sense, one can ask whether there is not an exaggerated disproportion between the number (unfortunately still very high) of divorces (at least in the Western world) and the very small number of canonical causes of nullity introduced (a number that remains decidedly small even if we also consider the dissolutions). Obviously this aspect must be considered with some caution, without falling into superficial conclusions deduced from the simple numerical disproportion between the two data: consider in this regard that not all marriages (already numerically limited in themselves, for example, the marriage rate in Italy is that of 2,2-2,3 annual weddings per thousand inhabitants: half that of Europe, in turn, however, modest compared to other parts of the world) they are canonical, not all canonical marriages that end in separation or divorce are therefore null and not all those who have contracted a null marriage have an interest in a nullity case, because they do not have the interest or strength to create a new union or because for various reasons they are not interested in an objective judgment on past experience.

Despite such observations, it is a fact that the faithful find themselves in great difficulty when they find themselves evaluating whether it is appropriate to ask for a judgment of nullity on their marriage and this is attested by the numerous responses collected from the episcopal conferences - but also from other ecclesial subjects who were involved in the consultation - on the occasion of the two Synods of Bishops on the family: the extraordinary one of 2014 and the ordinary one of 2015. In particular, the data collected in the consultation highlighted, even before the difficulty in completing all the necessary formalities, a marked and widespread distrust of the faithful towards ecclesiastical tribunals, which leads to the choice to previously refuse its contribution. There are various aspects of this distrust:

– the excessive cost attributed to such proceedings: although for the most part these are much lower costs than other judicial proceedings and some countries have long provided significant forms of economic support, this continues to be the common belief;

– the belief that these are very long and tiring processes (unfortunately in many cases it is not just an impression, although this does not apply to all processes and all locations);

– the impression that these are very cold structures and distant from the experience of the faithful, sometimes strengthened by the fact that the court seat itself is geographically distant (and not all countries have the same ease of travel);

– the psychological difficulty in thinking of entrusting the reinterpretation of one's life to third parties and thought of as potentially disrespectful of the individual (in this the experience of some civil courts sometimes appears prejudicial);

– the conviction (sometimes excessive and out of place) that ecclesiastical tribunals are arbitrary in their actions and ultimately compromised with economic interests.

The malicious judgments just exposed and the operational difficulties previously mentioned ultimately add up to distancing the faithful from ecclesiastical courts and making the path of requesting verification of the nullity of one's marriage appear difficult to many. The work of many lawyers and patrons - including stable patrons in a special way - has been and is undoubtedly of support in overcoming these difficulties, working alongside the faithful and dispelling their doubts and pre-understandings but this is not enough, and because these figures also fall into some of the prejudices mentioned above - ecclesiastical lawyers are often not known or are feared for the fee they can request and which many consider prejudicially exaggerated, although in some countries, like in Italy, There are very specific criteria for limiting expenses in advance (cf.. Gentle Judge Lord Jesus, WE) ―, and because in any case they do not meet the objective of making the uncertain and doubtful faithful available to a judicial reading of their story. It therefore follows the duty to outline some further steps in favor of a freer and more serene approach of the faithful to ecclesiastical judgment, as Benedict XVI already recalled:

«[…] it is a serious obligation to bring the institutional work of the Church in the courts ever closer to the faithful".

The prior consultancy is divided into three possible levels:

  1. Generic information on the progress of the process, costs, timing, competent courts, centers or people appointed to provide preliminary advice, stable patrons and lawyers to turn to for specific advice;
  2. Listening more in depth to the story, with a discussion on moral or spiritual aspects as well, referring more specific advice to designated centers or people;
  3. Prior investigation in which the pastoral investigation collects useful elements for the possible introduction of the case by the spouses or their patron before the competent court. Investigate whether the parties agree to request nullity. Collect all the items, the investigation ends with the libel, to present, I know the case, to the competent court.

Characteristics of the preliminary investigation:

1) have the essential style of listening and accompaniment;

2) help the faithful to understand their concrete situation;

3) help the faithful to retrace their own experience and that of the other spouse, trying to overcome personal beliefs that do not facilitate an as objective reading of the story as possible, thus also helping him to travel the the way of charity indicated by the post-synodal apostolic exhortation (cf.. The joy of love n. 306);

4) to better understand the canonical procedure and the difficulties that the person may encounter in correctly understanding its development;

5) possibly lead to the preparation of the pamphlet, introducing the cause of nullity.

6) It is possible/appropriate for a Court judge to provide a consultancy service? What is referred to the judge can be reported, with the necessary adaptations, to the defender of the bond, to the listener, to the stable patron. As for the lawyer, the possible problem could concern its identification between a professional figure and the one who seems to be "officially" designated to follow the causes of nullity of marriage.

Pastoral investigation proper.

As the art already indicates in a certain sense. 1 RP the preliminary investigation clearly falls within that pastoral concern towards the faithful in difficulty that the diocesan Bishop is called to exercise by virtue of the canon. 383 § 1 (expressly referred to in the art. 1 RP, who however reports the norm to the Bishop in general). This concern is also among the tasks that canon law specifically refers to parish priests in the aforementioned canon. 529 § 1, where the methods of exercising the care of souls are remembered[1]. In this phase major problematic aspects emerge, which make it difficult to imagine a pastoral investigation entrusted to a court judge (even if this raises the question of being able to train more people for a qualified service). For this purpose, since the entry into force of Motu proprio Mild judge of the Lord Jesus with which the Holy Father Francis introduced, for causes of marital nullity, the “short trial” formula, were identified at the time, based on the implementation notes, the figures of the parish priests as the main interlocutors of the investigation prior to the introduction of the process of nullity of canonical marriage. In this regard, it has been established that the path for the procedure for the declaration of nullity of marriage in light of The motion of a gentle-minded Lord Jesus the 15 August 2015, concerning the reform of matrimonial nullity processes envisages two preliminary phases:

  1. After the applicant has contacted and had an initial conversation with the parish priest of residence, the latter asks for an appointment with the legal consultant of the diocesan Tribunal who, the validity of the application has been ascertained but above all the desire to start a nullity process, will prepare the pamphlet to be presented to the Judicial Vicar. To the same consultant, the parties will be able to deliver the information grid previously filled in by the Parish Priest.
  2. The Judicial Vicar, after having examined the situation, will be able to admit the libellus through the form of The process is too short (can. 1683-1687) or, through the form of the ordinary trial[2], direct the judicial proceedings to a collegial court of first instance.

To those who argue «…but we are legally divorced!», as explained so far by the Church, mother and teacher, as well as dispenser of grace and mercy, he never closed the door in my face, yesterday as today. If anything, they are certain Catholics, pass the expression to me: as obtuse as they are stubborn, who close doors in their own faces while in every way they are opened in front of them. Then today, con i social media, which many draw upon as a source of undisputed truth, our ministry has become further complicated, very much! And as has been explained several times in the columns of our Island of Patmos, when the typical Catholic to whom you try in every way to explain, in response he replies to you, or rather he disproves you precisely by affirming: «… it's not like that because I read on the internet that…», at that point the terrible warning that Dante and Virgil read at the gate of Hell risks ringing in our ears:

«Abandon all hope, you who enter».

Velletri of Rome, 18 June 2024

 

 

NOTE

[1] See. Costantino-M. Fabris: Preliminary investigation or pastoral investigation in the motu proprio Mild judge of the Lord Jesus. Regulatory news and problematic profiles, in: The right of the church, XXVIII, 2016, pp. 479-504.

[2] To delve deeper into the matter: Zambon, A, The preliminary investigation and the process of nullity of marriage, Torino, 24 February 2024, Inauguration of the judicial year.

 

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Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater: the institution of the godparent in the Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation

WE DO NOT THROW THE BABY AWAY WITH THE DIRTY WATER: THE INSTITUTE OF THE GODFATHER IN THE SACRAMENTS OF BAPTISM AND CONFIRMATION

Given the current situation, I believe that in pastoral practice, it would be worth making further efforts to restore dignity and value to the figure of the godfather, taking into account its pedagogical function but, even before, of the typically ecclesial connotation of his presence.

– Theology and canon law –

AuthorTeodoro Beccia

Author
Teodoro Beccia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The institution of godparents dates back to the early Church, when the duty to baptize children was imposed, though, presumably, at the beginning the children were introduced directly by their parents. Tertullian refers to the sponsores the guarantee, but the terms used in ancient times are different and very evocative: receivers, pregnant women, fideas, protestants who attend the baptism of children (cf.. Of Baptism, 18, 11, in PL I, 1221). The need for godparents was perhaps correlated with baptism conceived as a new birth, which therefore required new fathers.

In continuity with this line of reflection, later Saint Thomas would recall that the spiritual regeneration brought about by baptism resembles the carnal one and, as in this the child needs a nurse and a pedagogue, so in the spiritual one there is a need for someone to instruct him in faith and Christian life (Summa Th. III, q. 67, a. 7). The institute, or godfather ministry, certainly appears to be related to the catechumenate of adults. Taking into account the situation in which Christians found themselves during the persecution by the Roman Empire, to prevent any intruders from entering the communities, it was required that the candidate for baptism be presented by some known believer, who guaranteed the seriousness of his intentions and accompanied him during the catechumenate and the conferral of the Sacrament, as well as subsequently ensuring their fidelity to the commitment made.

Coming to the present day, priests caring for souls often now find themselves in difficulty when they have to deal with the question of choosing godparents. The cases are very varied. There are parents who, in order not to harm any relative, would like to do without godparents on the occasion of their children's Baptism or Confirmation.. Sometimes we are instead faced with the proposal of godparents who are in an "irregular" situation and who therefore cannot be admitted. Moreover, with the intense migratory phenomenon that characterizes our era, it also happens that a request is made to accept as godfather or godmother faithful belonging to Churches or ecclesial communities not in full communion with the Catholic Church, with the exception of the Orthodox Churches (cf.. can. 685 § 3 of the Eastern Code, Cceo and other).

All this leads to asking some questions: Godparents are really necessary and it makes sense to continue to request their presence, given that their office has often become a "liturgical lie" as some have called it? What is their function? What are the requirements to be admitted to this position?

Godparents are necessary? We try to give an answer to this question through the legislation of the Code of Canon Law, which is about the godfather (or godmother) of baptism according to cann. 872-874 and the godfather (or godmother) of confirmation at cann. 892-893. Let it be the can. 872 that the dog. 892, in reference to the obligation to give the person being baptized or confirmed a godparent, they use the same expression: as much as possible (as far as possible): the rule is not exhaustive or preceptive, as it was not in the previous Code of 1917, but it must not be considered merely optional either.

Regarding Baptism, the reasons for the presence are appropriately indicated in a short but dense passage of the General Introduction of the Rite of Baptism of Infants (cf.. 8) and the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (cf.. 8):

«The godfather expands the family of the person being baptized in a spiritual sense and represents the Church in her role as mother».

Its function, so, it is not only liturgical ― nor can it be reduced to a merely choreographic presence ― but also pedagogical, as the canon recalls. 872 § 1, that, in addition to the task of assisting the adult being baptized and introducing the infant being baptized, calls for cooperation so that the godchild leads a Christian life in conformity with the Sacrament and faithfully fulfills the obligations inherent to it.

An effective description of the godfather's task, in the case of the baptism of an adult, but which suggests criteria of judgment applicable by analogy also to the godparents of newborns, is indicated at no. 43 of the To be noted to the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults:

"The Godfather, chosen by the catechumen for his example, for his talents and his friendship, delegated by the local Christian community and approved by the priest, accompanies the candidate on election day, in the celebration of the sacraments and in mystagogy. It is his task to show the catechumen the practice of the Gospel in individual and social life with friendly familiarity, help him in his doubts and anxieties, bear witness to him and take care of the development of his baptismal life. Chosen even before the "election", when he bears witness to the catechumen before the community; his office retains all its importance even when the neophyte, received the Sacraments, still needs help and support to remain faithful to the promises of Baptism".

Even for Confirmation, what requires the presence of the godfather is not the celebration as such, but the Christian formation of the candidate for confirmation, as the canon recalls. 892, which refers to the dual function of ensuring that the confirmed person behaves as a true witness of Christ and faithfully fulfills the obligations inherent to the same Sacrament (can. 892). Therefore not a mere ornamental appearance next to the candidate for confirmation at the time of the celebration, but a ministry that is founded in the Sacrament and which also asks the godfather for continuity of spiritual presence, as a counselor and guide called to educational responsibility towards a brother, who must express in faith and works the maturity received as a gift and to be acquired existentially.

The indication of the Code it is therefore oriented not by minimal choices, but for a pastoral care to be renewed. Outside of extraordinary cases, the Confirmation godfather must be there (the science, about it, a response from the Congregation for Divine Worship and the discipline of the Sacraments (cf.. Information 11 [1975], pp. 61-62).

The requirements. The can. 874 is responsible for presenting the necessary requirements to be admitted to the office of godfather/godmother at both baptism and confirmation (cf.. can. 893 § 1). Let's limit ourselves here to focusing on just a few points, starting from previous legislation:

1) for both Sacraments, the godfather must have received all three Sacraments of initiation (signifying the intimate union between them), not just the one for whom he acts as godfather;

2) the dog. 893§ 2 remember the opportunity (expedient) that the godfather of confirmation is the same as that of baptism (to underline the profound connection between the two Sacraments), whereas previously this was prohibited;

3) a godfather of the same sex as the person being baptized/confirmed is no longer required;

4) the prohibition on clerics and religious men and women from acting as godfathers and godmothers no longer exists, without express permission from the ordinary or at least the local superior. However, religious institutes could establish their own rules.

5) Regarding age (16 year old), with a particular law the bishop can establish a different one, but also the parish priest or the minister, for just cause, can introduce the exception, taking into account a rather broad criterion but which should never obscure the ecclesiological reason motivating the presence of the godfather.

6) The godfather must be a faithful Catholic. The reason for this apparent "ecumenical restriction" is to be found not only in the danger of indifferentism, from which the Council itself warned (cf.. To nations 15 e Eastern Churches 26), but even more so in the ecclesial value of gift of godfather: from the nature of the matter you cannot represent an ecclesial community with which you are not in full communion, nor even express faith in it. In this perspective, the code provision is consistent with the awareness that the Church has of its own identity, and therefore it is also profoundly ecumenical. That being the case, members of ecclesial communities separate from the Catholic Church are excluded from the role of godparents, who can act as witnesses together with a Catholic godfather.

As for the "Orthodox", united with us by very close bonds (UR 15) the dog. 685 § 3 of the Eastern Code (Cceo) admits that one of their followers can fulfill the role of godfather, but always together with a Catholic godfather. In the baptism of a Catholic, by virtue of the close communion existing between the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches, it is therefore allowed, for a valid reason, admit an Eastern faithful with the role of godfather together with a Catholic godfather (or a godmother), provided that the suitability of the godfather is recognized. However, Christian education will primarily be the responsibility of the Catholic godfather, as it represents the Christian community and is the guarantor of the faith and desire for ecclesial communion of the baptized person and/or his parents (cf.. Vademecum for the Pastoral Care of Catholic Parishes towards non-Catholic Orientals, the, n. 16).

Other requirements too indicated by can. 874 § 1, 3° they are very qualifying to define the profile of the godfather. Dutifully respected, have a profound impact on both the designation of the person, and on the way of understanding the task.

It is up to the particular legislation determine what it means to “lead a life in conformity with faith”: Different environments and situations lead to different determinations. The case history is as broad as ever: we range from the whole range of possibilities relating to those who find themselves in an irregular marital situation, to those who profess atheism and agnosticism; from those dedicated to magical arts to those who are notorious members of a sect, of an association that plots against the Catholic Church (cf.. can. 1374: so for example Freemasonry), or appears to belong to some criminal group (like the Mafia, at N'drangheta, the Camorra or other mafia-type criminal groups).

In the end, against the practice of replacing godparents with parents, without foundation and justification, remember (can 874, § 1,5) that neither father nor mother can act as godparents, for it would be absurd to think of parents as helping themselves as godparents to their children. About the number, the dog. 873 states that only one godfather is enough, while in the case there are two, they must be of different sex. The can. 892, which deals with the godfather of confirmation, instead it prescribes only one godfather or godmother.

The role of the witness: it cannot be forgotten that among the tasks of the godfather there is also that of proving that the Baptism or Confirmation has taken place. Can. refers to this function. 875: it introduces the figure of witness of baptism that, unlike that of the godfather, it is not subject to any conditions and plays a role similar to that of marriage witnesses (cf.. can. 1108 §2) albeit without being, as in this case, ad validity. In order to obtain valid marital consent, ad validity the simultaneous presence of two witnesses is required, the assistant as a qualified witness and the valid consent of the bride and groom. In the case of Baptism or Confirmation, the witness only has the task of certifying the conferral, therefore it is not necessary for the validity of the Sacrament (cf.. cann. 875-877). Consequently, the figure of the witness is not subject to any conditions. The only requirement is that the person chosen as a witness has the use of reason and is capable of testifying.

The possibility is thus offered to deal with some particular situations in which the chosen person could not otherwise hold the role of godparent: thus for example in the case of a believer belonging to a Protestant ecclesial community (cf.. can. 874 §2), or is cohabiting, divorced, remarried or in another irregular marital situation, or declares himself an agnostic or atheist, or has formally and publicly abandoned the Catholic faith through the so-called "banging". This is a solution that can potentially generate ambiguity, misunderstandings and misleading interpretations, it must be adopted with prudence and caution, while, on the other hand, it will be necessary to explain with absolute clarity that the baptism witness is in no way "a kind of godfather", but a completely different figure.

The CEI document We meet Jesus, the 29 June 2014, he claims:

«The regional Episcopal Conferences are asked to discern on the matter and evaluate the pastoral opportunity of supporting - only as witnesses of the sacramental rite - those people indicated by the family who, despite not having prescribed requirements, they always express a positive parental closeness, affective and educational".

A for this purpose they can be found online various pronouncements on the matter. We cite for example the provisions of the Sardinian Episcopal Conference and the Diocese of Aosta. Therefore, as much as possible, it is necessary to give training to GodparentsWitnesses to accompany the Baptized in the choice of Christian life, without prejudice to the freedom of the Witness who cannot be forced to share or embrace this life choice.

The usefulness of the figure of the Witness it is merely legal or responds to the need for certification of the conferment of Baptism or Confirmation. From a pastoral point of view, the document also presents it as a possible solution to meet those situations of incompatibility of the requirements for the role of godparent.

The age of the witness at Baptism or Confirmation it is not specified as in the case of Marriage, where the age of majority is required, or in the case of godparents where the age of the child is required 16 year old. Logically, for the age of the Witness, the evaluation of the Parish Priest or the Diocesan Bishop could be applied as a criterion., as in the case of the Godfathers can. 847 §1 n.2. During the celebration, differently from the Godfather and the Godmother, the Witness must not be given any active participation since their role is solely that of guarantors for the certification of the conferment of the Sacrament. Each diocesan bishop will be able to give further provisions regarding the celebratory context

As regards the registration of the baptismal certificate in the parish register it must be underlined that, in the case of the witness of a Baptism foreseen by can. 874 §2, the name and surname of the witness and the personal details must be noted as required by canon. 877 [5].

The certificate problem. The Code of Canon Law, in the canons dedicated to the godfather of baptism and confirmation, he never mentions the need to produce, from the godfather, or the parish priest, of any type of certificate / certificate / self-certification. We are faced with a case in which the practice has now taken on a meaning Besides the, often linked to the fact that the priest caring for souls does not have full knowledge to establish the admissibility of a person to the office of godfather, because he doesn't know him, comes from another parish, often far away, etc. etc…

“Canonizing” the civil order, we can observe how already in various dioceses and parishes, the "certificate of suitability" has been replaced with a "self-certification of suitability". But let's see what self-certification is: civil law has introduced the possibility of providing the Public Administration and private individuals with a declaration made and signed by a citizen which completely and definitively replaces some administrative certifications. This is why it is also called "substitute declaration". AND, so, a way to avoid bureaucracy and unnecessary waste of time, especially when you choose to self-certify online. According to the law, public offices are obliged to accept self-certification for the required practices. If not, would incur a violation of official duties. The situation is different when it comes to private individuals: whether or not to accept this declaration remains a matter of discretion for them. Therefore, the self-certification has the same legal and administrative value as the certificate or document it replaces. As long as the truth is told: if the data contained in the self-certification turns out to be false, the interested party loses all benefits.

Self-certification, being a declaration made personally by the interested party, it could reveal itself, if implemented in the local legislation of the diocese, a substantial simplification of work for priests caring for souls: the interested party will be able to declare himself the existence of the requirements for access to the office of godfather and commit himself in this sense to the Church directly in front of the parish priest who will have to administer the Sacrament, without requesting a certificate from the parish priest of residence which often the parish priest himself could not issue for the reasons set out above, that is, the impossibility for the priest to be able to certify a situation of which he may not be aware for a whole series of reasons that we know well.

Given the current situation, I believe that in pastoral practice, it would be worth making further efforts to restore dignity and value to the figure of the godfather, taking into account its pedagogical function but, even before, of the typically ecclesial connotation of his presence. We cannot hide the fact that the deviations of the past weigh on the figure of the godfather, but this cannot justify the emotional reaction of those who now consider it useless, nor of those who easily access the convenient solution of not requiring the presence of godparents, because he can't find any suitable ones. If there aren't any, they must be trained, through appropriate paths that enhance this office, which has the characteristics and dignity of a true lay ministry (cf.. The lay 23).

Among the various proposals, there are those who suggest engaging the godparents to keep watch, albeit discreetly, on the education of godchildren, warning the parish priest about deficiencies and deviations, in order to provide, within the scope of possibilities and limits, for a return to goodness. Somebody else, then, believes that they could be given the task of taking care of the godson in the event of an early orphan. Perhaps a reminder of that spiritual kinship that, de facto, comes to be established between godfather and godson, and to which the Code of 1917, recognizing its high sacramental and pastoral value, it connected a marital impediment, today no longer in force in the Latin code but fully understood and implemented as a law on marriage by the Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches.

 

Velletri of Rome, 11 November 2023

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Or if you prefer you can use our
Bank account in the name of:
Editions The island of Patmos

n Agency. 59 From Rome
Iban code:
IT74R0503403259000000301118
For international bank transfers:
Codice SWIFT:
BAPPIT21D21

If you make a bank transfer, send an email to the editorial staff, the bank does not provide your email and we will not be able to send you a thank you message:
isoladipatmos@gmail.com

We thank you for the support you wish to offer to our apostolic service.

The Fathers of the Island of Patmos

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