News Item: : To Speak Freely
(Category: Torch of The Faith News)
Posted by admin
Tuesday 21 March 2017 - 12:37:15

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Background Update

On 3rd January, 2017, I posted an article here entitled, Georg Ganswein - Who Art Thou? In that article, I reflected on several key themes relating to Archbishop Georg Ganswein.

These included:-

1. The fact that, in the year following Pope Benedict's abdication, he merrily took a central part in the ''Inter-religious prayers for world peace'' in the Vatican Gardens at Pentecost 2014; in spite of the fact that this act represented a radical departure from both the Church's Magisterial teaching and Ganswein's own previous reputation for theological orthodoxy in the days of Benedict XVI.

2. The fact that Ganswein continues to act in his long-held role as personal aide to the uniquely titled Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI; whilst at the same time remaining so closely associated with Pope Francis.

It seems highly unusual for one man to act as both Pope Benedict's personal secretary and as Pope Francis' Prefect of the Papal Household, at one and the same time.
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3. That previous point seems even more unusual, when one also considers that Pope Francis is vigorously reversing so many of Pope Benedict's long-held policies; such as the latter's pursuit of a hermeneutic of continuity, a reform of the reform, and the upholding of the Church's constant Tradition, which precludes adulterers from reception of the Holy Eucharist.

Indeed, in this key area, and numerous others, Francis can be seen to be attempting not only a reversal of Pope Benedict's policies, but of the very teaching of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as this has been handed on through 2,000 years of Sacred Scripture and Tradition.

4. Again, these above points are made still more strange when one reflects on the fact that Archbishop Ganswein himself acknowledged, in an address given by him at the Pontifical Gregorian University in May 2016, that the Conclave of 2005 had been the ''outcome of a battle'' between a so-called ''St. Gallen Group'' - described by one of its own shadowy figures, Cardinal Godfried Danneels, as a ''St. Gallen mafia'' - and the ''Ratzingerians''.

Given the fact that Ganswein described Ratzinger's famous ''Dictatorship of Relativism'' sermon as the background to this struggle, how can he now be so happy to serve so closely in both camps?

Does this not represent a conflict of interests?

And why does nobody else seem to be asking any of this?

5. In the last year, Archbishop Ganswein has caused much confusion by speaking and acting in ways which appear to represent major departures from orthodox Catholicism.

I speak of:-

A). His suggestion at the Pontifical Gregorian University in May 2016, that Pope Benedict had somehow ''profoundly and lastingly'' transformed the papacy when he abdicated in 2013.

B). His subsequent claim that this had come about because Benedict had not abandoned the papal ministry, but had somehow helped to build a communal ministry. In words that were as illogical as they were heretical, Ganswein suggested that there were not two popes, but rather an expanded ministry including an active and a contemplative member.

C) Ganswein even went so far as to summarize various reactions to the Benedict-Francis ''ministry'' in a decidely relativistic manner. And so, he spoke of some who saw this as revolutionary; others who saw it as consistent with the Gospel; still others who discerned a ''secularized papacy''; and finally those who now recognized a ''demythologized papacy''.

D). On Christmas Day, 2016, Archbishop Ganswein gave an interview with the Austrian ORF channel, in which he presented the false Fideistic notion - contradicted by the Church's Magisterium in the First Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution Dei Filius - that it is somehow not possible to know the existence of God from natural reason alone.

Actually, the principles involved in this matter are so foundational, that the First Vatican Council pronounced an anathama sit! on those who deny the capacity of natural reason to discern the existence of God.

E). I have already discussed on three separate occasions the unusual sight of Archbishop Ganswein appearing to give diamond-shaped hand-signals to Pope Benedict - hand-signs that the latter himself then echoed - at the 35:20 mark on the video of Pope Benedict's 65th anniversay celebrations last summer.

That was an event made particularly unusual by Pope Benedict's strangely un-Ratzingerian words to Pope Francis, which read: ''Thank you Holy Father - your goodness - from the first day of your election, every day of my life here moves me interiorly, brings me inwardly more than the Vatican Gardens... Your goodness is the place where I live and feel protected.''

Even the most casual observer must surely ask: Protected from what exactly?

In light of Pope Benedict's famous ''pray that I may not flee for fear of the wolves'' line, that unreal sounding statement still gives me the creeps whenever I think of it.

F). On 13th October, 2016, the very day of Our Lady of Fatima, Archbishop Ganswein and Pope Francis joyfully received a giant copy of Martin Luther's heretical 95 theses at the Vatican. Seconds prior to this travesty, Ganswein was seen to make the diamond hand-sign towards those approaching with the theses... 

Under Pressure    
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I've not had chance until now to properly read, reflect and comment on Archbishop Luigi Negri's bombshell interview with the Italian Rimini 2.0 earlier this month.

By now, it is old news to mention that His Grace had said that he had visited Pope Benedict XVI as a friend a number of times since 2013; and that he believed the Pontiff had stood down as a result of ''tremendous pressure''.

Specifically, Archbishop Negri stated: ''I am certain that the truth will emerge one day showing grave liability both inside and outside the Vatican.''

Perhaps predictably, the Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi was brought out of his retirement from the Holy See Press Office to refute these claims. In his refutation, Lombardi went so far as to criticise Archbishop Negri for giving an ''odd demonstration of friendship by triumphantly contradicting'' the official words given by Pope Benedict XVI at his abdication.

When I read this, my mind recalled the Holy See Press Office's rapid denial last spring of Benedict XVI's other close friend, Fr. Ingo Dollinger; whose public claims about the Third Secret of Fatima having not been fully released by the Vatican were swiftly denied by a statement purporting to be from Pope Benedict. That official statement raised many eyebrows for not bearing Benedict's signature, lacking evidence of his usual style of writing and expressing a brusque dismissal of Benedict's long-term friend.

Thinking of these examples of brusqueness against Benedict's loyal old friends, and some of the sophistries employed by Lombardi during the Synods of '14 and '15, also brought to my mind a scene from C.S. Lewis' book, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Like all good children's fiction, it expresses truths that can be greatly appreciated by adults too. 
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Jim Broadbent portrays the eccentric Professor Digory Kirke in the movie adaptation of C.S. Lewis' classic, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.

The scene I speak of is the time when young Susan and Peter Pevensie go to visit Professor Digory Kirke, because they are concerned that their little sister is going mad, by insisting on the reality of her visit to Narnia. Their fears are deepened by the dishonesty of their brother Edmund, who has been there with Lucy, but denies this as merely an example of make-believe.

The professor surprises them by viewing the outlandish story not as an example of insanity, but as a lesson in logic. He asks them, ''If you will excuse me for asking the question, does your experience lead you to regard your brother or your sister as the more reliable. I mean, which is the more truthful?''

Developing his theme, the Professor continues, ''Why don't they teach logic at these schools? There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she does not tell lies and it is obvious that she is not mad. For the moment then and unless any further evidence turns up, we must assume that she is telling the truth.''

Of course, this episode of childhood story-telling misses out the other logical possibility that Lucy might have merely been mistaken. Still, it presents us with the key question: In the experience of recent years, has the Holy See's Press Office demonstrated itself to be a more clear and reliable source of information on matters like Fatima, the Synods of '14 and '15, and the evolving reasons for Benedict's abdication; or have the good Archbishop Negri and Fr. Ingo Dollinger? The answer to that question was given still more weight last week when, as revealed to the English-speaking world by the good Dr. Maike Hickson at 1 Peter 5, a respected hatmaker and public defender of the Church from Austria, a gentleman called Gottfried Kiniger, came forward to back up Fr. Dollinger's earlier claims on the Third Secret of Fatima.

Free Speech

In any case, all of the above has been a preparation for discussing something that I read earlier today at Crux. I speak of an interview which has been given to them by Archbishop Ganswein; and which so clearly fits in with the ''Go back to sleep, all is serene with Benedict'' genre that it particularly caught my attention.

For the most part the interview plays out like so many that have gone before: we are told that Benedict still says his daily Mass, prays his daily Rosary and takes his routine walk in the gardens.

I suppose my question here is: if all this is true, then why do we keep having to be told about it every few months, or every time someone starts raising tricky questions?

Then there is a little piece about him reading L'Osservatore Romano, which I took as a subtle implanting of the message that Benedict is aware of all Francis' revolutionary changes but, hey, he's fine with all that. Then there is a bit about the many visitors; which I again took as a clever way of saying that Benedict receives many visitors, and no-one else has claimed that he has been under any kind of pressure. At this point, many would likely just lose interest and turn to other things. In fact, to tell the truth, I was about to myself... 

However, towards the end of the article, I was suddenly alerted by the following statement by Archbishop Ganswein about Benedict's daily Masses in his place of retreat: ''We pay attention to what he preaches, because he speaks freely.''

Now, to my eyes, that just seems a bit too clever.

If you look at that phrase again, you will see that it can bear the meaning that Benedict speaks freely on the subjects of his sermons; but given what is said above, it can also be read as another, not-so, subtle message to implant the idea that Benedict is free and not under any kind of pressure.

Put another way: who speaks like this about anyone else? For instance, I do not need to ever say that ''so and so speaks freely'' because nobody thinks otherwise.

However, there are plenty of people out there wondering whether or not Benedict speaks and acts freely; including most recently his good friend Archbishop Negri!

Of course, even if Ganswein is trying to implant the message that Benedict speaks freely, that might only be a clarification that he, in fact, does!

Then again, when Pope Francis made his new cardinals late last year, I wondered here if it was not ''an overplaying of the hand'' for him to be seen to get Benedict's blessing on them all.

I asked this because Francis had: cancelled the regular meeting with all the cardinals in a manner that allowed him to avoid facing the Dubia in public; just appointed some radical dissenters from Catholic moral teaching to become key cardinals in the Church; and had gone out specially with his new crop of cardinals to perform a closely choreographed video routine of himself, Archbishop Ganswein and all the new cardinals happily meeting - and being blessed by - Papa Benedict in his private chapel.

Francis was certainly keen to get Benedict's blessing filmed and broadcast out from a very controlled environment - one from which the Dubia cardinals, and indeed the majority of other cardinals, were kept absent by the cancellation of the regular meeting of all cardinals with the pope.
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Given all that has been said in this article, I can only ask once again: Is it possible that these words of Archbishop Ganswein - on the theme of Benedict ''speaking freely'' - might represent another overplaying of the hand?      



This news item is from Torch of The Faith
( http://www.torchofthefaith.com/news.php?extend.1588 )