It's interesting that the video in "Pope Francis Commissions . . .," a comment was made about the blessing of homosexual relationships. The comment was that it seemed that the Anglican Church's blessing ceremony and Fiducia Supplicans release seemed to be done "in tandem." It was also noted that the rationales seemed as if Pope Francis and Abp Welby were exchanging notes.
This "commissioning" seems to have stirred up all the sides in the Church and in the Anglican Communion.
And, look at how the Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury recently celebrated Anglican worship in the sanctuary of a Roman Catholic sanctuary in the Vatican City State/Rome. Now, Anglican prayer services were offered in this recent/past week in Rome within a RC sanctuary. These are bizarre times.
The head of the African Bishops Conferences, Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of Kinshasa, Congo, went to Rome and obtained a statement exempting the entire African continent from this recent change in Catholic doctrine and practice.
It's interesting for the forceful way Cardinal Abongo made his presence known when he went to Rome.
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The pope’s private secretary was informed by the cardinal, who said he went straight from the airport to Francis’ residence at the Vatican guesthouse, saying, “Tell him that I have arrived, I am in the house, and I am there only until Thursday evening, and I want to meet him before leaving because that’s what I came for.” Ambongo arrived (sic) to Francis the same day.
A subsequent article, which I failed to copy and attach here, said that Cardinal Abongo obtained a signed document exempting the whole of Africa from Fiducia Supplicans. It said that he and Cardinal Fernandez sat and had each word approved by Pope Francis to that effect.
How does that work? How does one portion of the Church obtain an exemption to a papal document while the rest of us are called to obey it?
I had a thought a minute ago. (Doesn't come often.) The Holy Father is trying to separate the idea of "approval,"" permission," and "support" from his attempt to redefine "blessing." But these three are already attached in our common language surrounding this word.
When my son-in-law asked me if I would object to his marrying my daughter, he specifically asked for my "blessing." How did that not include those three concepts?
" . . . on December 24, Bishop Martin Mtumbuka of Karonga Diocese in Malawi called upon the people of God in his Episcopal See to “forget and ignore this controversial and apparently blasphemous declaration in its entirety.”
The good bishop makes a very strong statement. I wonder if he will get the Bishop Strickland treatment.
This is a worsening situation that may just dissolve into a status quo unless a voice that cannot be dismissed comes forth. Those who remain diplomatically neutral are just the lukewarm of Revelation 3:16. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold, not hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth.
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silence means consent proverbial saying, late 14th century; translation of a Latin tag, ‘qui tacet consentire videtur [he who is silent seems to consent]’, said to have been spoken by Thomas More (1478–1535) when asked at his trial why he was silent on being asked to acknowledge the king's supremacy over the Church. The principle is not accepted in modern English law.
Unfortunately, dialogue with the Coptic Orthodox Church [copticorthodox.church] is now a (potential) casualty of Fiducia supplicans. Seems like the Vatican now has to determine whether it wants unity with groups like Anglicans and Scandinavian Lutherans or with the Eastern Churches. It cannot be with both.
Here is a synopsis of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church held recently. It is worth the read to take the above-mentioned link for the full statement on the LGBTQ issue. It is unequivocable. Thank you, San Nicolas for this update. I noticed the consultation with the other Churches of the Oriental Orthodox communion. This is troubling because it means the Armenians, Syriac Orthodox, the Malankara and Malabar Churches, and possibly the Ethiopians. It could not be worse because these Churches have been in dialogue with our brethren in the Orthodox Churches with which the Catholic Church shares the Chalcedonian definitions. I wonder when the next shoe will drop.
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On March 7, 2024, at 11 AM, the Holy Synod of the Coptic Orthodox Church, led by H.H. Pope Tawadros II, and with the attendance of 110 of the current 133 members, held the General Meeting at the LOGOS Center of the Papal Residence in St. Bishoy’s Monastery – Wadi El-Natrun, Egypt.
The following are the decrees and recommendations of the Holy Synod for the March 2024 session:
First: Decrees:
6- After consulting with the sister churches of the Eastern Orthodox family, it was decided to suspend the theological dialogue with the Catholic Church, reevaluate the results achieved by the dialogue from its beginning twenty years ago, and establish new standards and mechanisms for the dialogue to proceed in the future.
Second: Recommendations
3- The Coptic Orthodox Church affirms its firm position of rejecting all forms of homosexual relationships, because they violate the Holy Bible and the law by which God created man as male and female, and the Church considers any blessing of such relations, whatever its type, to be a blessing for sin, and this is unacceptable.
Here is another link to the African response to Fiducia Supplicans. Cardinal Obongo speaks of "a kind of Western imperialism" and "cultural colonization" in reference to this document.
Click the link below to read a news article about the recent official response of the Russian Orthodox Church to the Vatican document "Fiducia Supplicans":
The Lord wondered "will I find faith on earth" at His return. The longer this goes, the farther apart the Apostolic Churches move. So much for the last half century or more of hard work and dialogue that had at it's aim our eventual return to full communion. Seems it has all gone down with this one document.
One thing that stands out to me is that eventual communion will mean that no one makes a statement like this without consultation--a consultation that would have stopped it in its development.
Damage control by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández to the Coptic Orthodox Church. We'll see if the dialogue reopens. I recently watched again the interview with Metropolitan Hilarion and his reaction to Fiducia Supplicans. Seems there was a hint that the Chalcedonian Orthodox may not be on board for any serious dialogue seeking renewed communion.
I just found this article. It seems that the fight over Fiducia Supplicans continues even if the MSM will not report it.
Cardinal Sarah calls African Catholic scholars to ‘take over’ after Western ‘ideological contamination.’
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CV NEWS FEED // In a conference delivered to priests, religious, and lay students of theology in Cameroon, Cardinal Robert Sarah warned the African Catholic academic world against the “diseases” that Western actors are trying to impose worldwide and encouraged African Catholics to “take over” after the collapse of European Christianity.
Sarah, the former prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Divine Worship, delivered the conference titled “The Vocation of a Catholic University in Light of the Teachings of Benedict XVI” at Cameroon’s Saint-Cyprien Theological School in the Diocese of Obala in April. The full conference was published this week in its original French by La Nef (“The Nave”), an independent French Catholic magazine.
During the conference, Sarah extensively quoted Pope Benedict XVI’s writings regarding the true character of a Catholic university. The cardinal explained that “the sense of truth is the cornerstone that must underlie any solid culture. Without the search for truth, there is no foundation. Everything becomes fluid.”
“This is a crucial issue for the future of Africa. I urge you not only to seek the truth but to love it passionately!” he said.
The Guinean cardinal specifically warned African academics to be “wary of being contaminated by the intellectual diseases that the West wishes to impose. The West fears the search for truth. For many Westerners, truth has become an unmentionable term.”
“If you speak of truth,” he said, “you are accused of dogmatism and oppression. But behind these deceptive discourses lies the violence of the dictatorship of relativism, which often masks unspoken financial and material interests.”
“Therefore, it is crucial that your university, which is entirely at the service of truth, be openly and proudly Catholic,” he added.
The connection between faith and culture Sarah also highlighted that “faith and culture are indissolubly linked. Where man seeks God with integrity, culture flourishes, sciences develop, and civilization becomes more refined.”
“European academics have forgotten this,” he noted. “And their voluntary amnesia sterilizes their culture, which now revels in the ugliness of certain contemporary art or questions its most solid foundations through ‘woke’ ideology.”
“Your generation of African academics must take over!” he exhorted:
By studying under God’s gaze, you will highlight the foundations of all authentic civilization: the difference between man and woman, respect for the elderly. You will rid yourselves of the dictatorship of deadly gender theories and the LGBT lobby, which, under the pretext of liberation, seek to impose their delusion.
“Do not be afraid!” the Sarah concluded:
I repeat to you: you will only be able to respond to the demands of truth and justice if you welcome Christ and let Him illuminate your intelligence, your studies, and your life. You will only be able to serve Africa if you open wide the doors of your universities to Christ.
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