Sidebar
Browse Our Articles & Podcasts

German Bishops’ Website Comments on the New John Paul II Institute

Image: Secretariat of the German Bishops’ Conference in Bonn. (Source)

Yesterday, when the news broke about the arguably revolutionary remodeling of the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family, Edward Pentin – the National Catholic Register‘s Rome Correspondent – revealed a possible German involvement in this new push for a rapid innovation. Pentin wrote:

Meanwhile, the Register has learned via reliable sources that members of the German episcopate have recently grown frustrated with the pace of Francis’ reform and have been exerting pressure on the Pope to step up the pace — hence today’s motu proprio, and Magnum Principium, issued last week on liturgical translations. More importantly, they are said to be anxious that the reforms won’t be reversed by a future pope and so want them, as far as possible, set in stone, possibly by means of an Apostolic Constitution. [emphasis added]

In light of this important revelation – which goes along with the dominant role German prelates had played during the two deeply troubling 2014 and 2015 Synods of Bishops on the Family in Rome – it is worth reporting on an article that has appeared today on the official website of the German Bishops’ Conference, Katholisch.de, and which is written by the website’s editor-in-chief, Thomas Jansen. This 20 September article discusses this new papal initiative – namely, the remodeling of the John Paul II Institute – in light of Amoris Laetitia and a “moral-theological paradigm shift” (recalling the Neo-Kantian Professor, Thomas Kuhn’s influential concept).

The article’s title already speaks for itself: “A Thinktank for Amoris Laetitia” (“Ein Thinktank für ‘Amoris Laetitia‘”). And the subtitle indicates clearly what this new reform is about:

The ‘Institute John Paul II for Studies on Marriage and the Family’ was known as a stronghold of resistance against Francis’ agenda of mercy. Now the pope dissolved it and founded a new one.

As Jansen further explains, “Pope Francis erases […] a stronghold of his critics in matters of marriage and the family.” When summing up the new motu proprio which establishes the new Institute, and after mentioning the pope’s praise for the former Institute, the author says: “Nevertheless, Francis does not conceal the fact that the previous orientation of the Institute was for him too conservative.” Here, Jansen refers to Pope Francis’ warning not to limit oneself to “forms and models of the past.” In order to highlight this fact, Jansen mentions that two professors (Don Juan José Pérez-Soba and Professor Stephan Kampowski) of the old John Paul II Institute had presented, just before the first Family Synod in 2014, a book which proposes to refute the “Kasper proposal” with regard to the “remarried” divorcees. (Cardinal George Pell, who was present at that 2014 book presentation, then said: “We must work to avoid a repetition of what happened after the promulgation of Humanae Vitae in 1968,” according to the Boston Pilot.)

Moreover, Jansen points out that this motu proprio had been prepared by previous steps such as the replacement of the Institute’s leadership. For example, in August of 2016, Monsignor Livio Melina, its president, had been replaced by Msgr. Pierangelo Sequeri, and Cardinal Vicar Agostino Vallini, its grand chancellor, had been replaced by Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia.

As the Katholisch.de article points out, the new Institute “has to respond to the challenges of the time and has also to help families in difficult situations.” Here the article now reveals what is part of the reform agenda:

With regard to the content, the new foundation [of the Institute] should have a broader orientation. Critics had reproached the old Institute for being too much fixated upon the topics of procreation and contraception. Paglia has now announced that the new Institute will deal also with the relationship between the generations – a theme close to the heart of the pope – as well as with the effects of the economy upon the family and ecological themes.

This quote seems to indicate that Steve Skojec, in his own 19 September analysis of this new papal reform, was essentially right, namely: that this new Institute is aiming at picking up the revolutionary discussion that is to be found in the “majority report” of the Pontifical Commission on Birth Control that had been stalled with the 1968 promulgation of Humanae Vitae.

The last paragraph of Thomas Jansen’s article might also give us an indication that Edward Pentin’s report about the German (even neo-Kantian) influence upon this new papal decision is indeed close to reality:

Behind the new decree of the pope clearly stands the insight that the papal document Amoris Laetitia is not sufficient in order to help along the breakthrough of his moral-theological paradigm shift in the Catholic Church. The new Institute should deepen the intention of Amoris Laetitia on the height of the current scientific discussion, Paglia explained. With its world-wide branches and its international contacts, the Institute can take here a leading role. In the German-speaking world,  it barely influenced the moral-theological debate [in the past]. In Latin America and many developing countries, however, this institution has strongly influenced a generation of clergymen. [emphasis added]

125 thoughts on “German Bishops’ Website Comments on the New John Paul II Institute”

  1. And if I and the few remaining faithful Catholics in Germany stop paying Kirchensteuer to these evil bastards they will excommunicate us.

    Reply
        • When you die, if properly prepared, you eventually go to heaven, funeral Mass (offered by a corrupt Church) or no.

          What you believe, and resisting offering material support to evil, is more important. I remember a story about the Japanese Catholics of Nagasaki, who persisted during a couple of centuries of isolation, baptizing, catechizing, and marrying. When the new missionaries came in the 19th century, they found the lay Catholics waiting for them.

          Following Jesus was not promised to be easy.

          Reply
          • The only way to get out of the church tax system is to publicly declare to the town hall, and to my employer, that ) are no longer Catholic. This I will not do.

          • You are Catholic, how’s the boy. The problem is that many of the men who are running the Catholic Church in Germany and elsewhere are no longer Catholic. You aren’t leaving and have not left the Church. The Church has left you.

          • Is it possible, that you may switch to one of the several eastern Churches which are in full communion with Rome? Essentially, that would result in you being Catholic, in union, with a different (more solemn) rite, and sidestepping materially supporting the heterodox local German’s Bishop’s conference.

            An example would be the Maronite Church, which has been in union with The Catholic Church since the 12th century.

    • You would be “excommunicated” by Bishops who themselves would be excommunicated?
      Why would this be a problem? Seriously! I say stop paying. Starve the monster to death.
      That’s what I’ve done. I will not contribute one red cent. They have Soros and the US government.

      Reply
        • What about the SSPX? Are they not strong in Germany?

          P.S. I do pity you and those in your position in Germany. The German church seems in an extraordinary position. It seems Erastian – more so even than the Church of England here in England.

          Reply
          • Some of the Traditionalist priests will travel and will help to set up and staff Missions. It doesn’t hurt to ask. Are there others in your parish who feel as you do? Perhaps several families can join together. Obviously, you know your situation and these ideas may not be options. But the answer is always “No” if one hasn’t made one’s needs/ wants/ requests known. Yes, it is very difficult to try and witness to God-fearing Evangelical friends who see the evil Francis & Friends embody and embrace. I can’t blame them; I don’t want anything to do with evil either.

          • Susan the whole parish is pickled. They have no concept, none whatsoever, of the crisis in the Church today. The only ones who are aware are the Polish priests who are in charge and they are completely overwhelmed with 10 (yes TEN) parishes to look after.

          • Ten parishes. Try as they might, how can any priest perform their duties as priest under those conditions? Actually, I do understand about entire parishes being “pickled” and having no concept whatsoever of the crisis in the Church today. Ignorance is bliss until it isn’t.

          • Well it is not really the Sate telling the Church what to do. When Germany was unified the old way of the Church supporting herself was lost, basically by the State getting control of all her lands. To compensate GermChurch and LuherSect, the state levied a tax on its citizens to be paid back to the Church. But in agreeing to this deal, GermChurch basically whored herself out to the State and now is too drunk on her idolatries to find her way back. They employ over 500,000 people, more even than Mercedes Benz, and since there are probably not even that many faithful Catholics in all of Germany, you find that many of the employees of GermChurch are not even Catholic, and certainly not practising Catholic.
            Having said all that, while the landscape is barren, there are a few faithful ones and we find each other out. The hardest part though is trying to witness to my God-fearing Evangelical (not Lutheran) friends. They see the fiasco which is Bergoglio and his GermChurhc cronies and want nothing to do with them.

          • The thing that most influences true seekers ( Evangelical or otherwise ) is Truth. You must ask them their foundations for truth. They most likely will attest the Bible …. ask them where the Bible came from…. especially the New Testament which they and Catholics both hold to … why? Who approved those books.. the Church, the one Holy Catholic Church. (I recommend you getting free cd’s from the website biblechristiansociety. com) My prayers????????????????????????

          • The way you describe that reminds me of the Great Harlot, Mystery Babylon the Great, in the Apocalypse. “Drunk on the blood of the martyrs.”

        • For one thing you would not get a Catholic funeral.
          For another they will not confirm your kids.

          And there are other reasons.

          So what you’re saying is the German Episcopate is practicing simony on a grand scale?

          Reply
          • Morally speaking, it is simony. Technically it is (probably) not.
            In order to get out of the Church tax, you have to declare to the town hall that you are no longer Catholic. Even if you say “I Profess the Catholic Faith but am no longer Catholic, purely for tax purposes”, GermChurch will view that as apostasy and say “no Sacraments for you!!”
            The scandal is that GermChurch offers no way to get out of the church tax system without a declaration of “apostasy”. Bear in mind that most of the non-practising German Catholics don’t mind paying the tax, as it does do a lot of good re hospitals, schools, Kindergartens all the rest. As long as this is the case, the situation will not change until there are not enough tax-paying Catholics to finance the high life of the Bishops.

    • How long do you reckon the Kirchensteuer will survive when both the Lutheran and Catholic churches are visibly dying? Maybe until 2035? By that time the pre-VAT2 generation will be gone and the few remaining born before 1965 will be too feeble to carry on the remnant of church life. No government will continue to defend an obsolete tax, except to channel it into secular welfare work.

      Reply
      • The thing is, it is the State that collects the Kirchensteuer and gives it to GermChurch (or LutherSect, as the case may be).
        The State will be happy to continue this for as long as possible, as the only long-term alternative is to raise the tax rate across the board, which obviously will not be popular with the electorate.
        But GermChurch has a huge property portfolio as well, so a property crash would hit it hard and hasten its demise.
        One way or another it cannot last.

        Reply
        • True… so stand now! It is my opinion ( backed by tons of prophesy) that we are in the end times. Stay faithful, do not be deceived …. holdfast to HisTruth and His Blessed Mother!!!!

          Reply
        • I really feel for you. Its a right pickle to be sure. From what you are saying, by refusing to apostatize the tax is more or less a persecution even though they do use part of it for relatively good purposes. I really feel bad for German Catholics.

          Reply
    • I must encourage you, and I know how hard this will be, but we MUST stand for the Truth of the Holy Catholic Church and suffer for Christ by doing so. Unless we stand up and oppose, no one will. We have been abandoned by too many in authority and know the Truth of 2,000 years of Magesterial teaching!!! We will NOT abandon the Truth of this teaching no matter what! God knows the times we live and will bless us in doing so. Just as our dear st Athanasius did and was also excommunicated…. ask for his intercession !!!! This is a battle and satan is in this. Hold fast to His Truth which can’t be changed by themire whims of man influenced by satan intheselast days. Our Lord Jesus Christ in His most Sacred Heart and our Lady in her Immaculate Heart will blast through this evil and bring us victory. We may need to suffer in this battle but we will win. ( THIS our dear Pope BenedictXVI said most recently) Remain faithful and strong!!!!!!

      Reply
      • Your post was the most excellent! We are on this earth only for a short time; to work toward our own salvation and that of others through the grace of God, and to help one another carry their burdens. Your encouragement to hold fast to the Magisterium is exactly what we all need to hear, often and loudly. Thank you!

        Reply
      • I certainly appreciate the encouragement but standing for the Truth precludes going into the town hall and declaring “I am no longer Catholic´.”

        Reply
    • While virtually all 1P5 contributors would want to stop paying the Kirchensteuer in a heartbeat if resident in Germany, the actions required to do so and their serious consequences outweigh the sense of satisfaction that would result from knowing that you were no longer propping up a de facto apostate part of the Church. But the fact of the matter is all posters who pay taxes in their respective countries of residence are in an identical and arguably worse position if we consider that a proportion of our taxes undoubtedly finances abortions, contraception, promotion of homosexuality, transgenderism etc courtesy of various government programmes. Short of declaring a tax strike and becoming a self-sufficient troglodyte, it is impossible to extricate ourselves completely from the Belly of the Beast. We can only pray for the strength to lead lives as holy as possible in this Vale of Tears with the light and help of God’s grace.

      Reply
  2. Ha. Ya gotta laugh. They are truly desperate. Here they are running around undoing 2,000 years of Church teaching and thinking they can prevent another pope from changing things back! The unraveling of FrancisChurch is going to be very quick.

    Reply
    • They are indeed desperate and maddened by their own idolatrous lusts. All a future Pope has to do is declare Bergoglio the heretic that he is and all his wicked scheming ends in nought.

      Did you cach how they used the term “set in Stone”.

      THE ONLY THING SET IN STONE IS THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, YOU HERETICAL GLUTTONOUS SODOMITES!

      Reply
      • I think they believe that the college of cardinals is so heavily weighted in their favour, no traditional minded pope can ever be elected again, ‘henceforth and forever more/. Think about that third secret of Fatima guys. Pope shot among the dead bodies of many of his supporters. The entire College could be wiped out in a day. There’s no such word as never where God is concerned. You can’t cheat Him!

        Reply
        • Yes God won’t be mocked. The army of Sennacherib was wiped out by angels on the night before their assault on Jerusalem.

          2 Kings 19:35: “And it came to pass that night, that an angel of the Lord came, and slew in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And when he arose early in the morning, he saw all the bodies of the dead”

          Reply
    • Yeah… it could be undone pretty quick by a future pope saying “We, the successor of St. Peter, declare all constitutions, encyclicals, exhortations, letters, and motu proprios of my predecessor to be henceforth null and void. Any procedural changes required to fulfill Our wish must be completed by [date]. Any who defy this order shall be excommunicated latae sententiae.”

      Reply
  3. Meanwhile the 2016 figures for GermChurch are in. 160,000 adults left the Church, while there were 2,500 adult converts (itself a miracle of grace in this desert).
    According to my rough calculation based on the average wage here, 160,000 defections translates to about 100 – 120 Million Euros in lost Kirchensteuer. Every year.
    And next year there will be a similar number, And in 2019. And in 2020.
    Sodomitical GermChurch is about to implode.

    Reply
    • The Archbishop of Munich may be forced to truely follow the teaching of “Laudato Si” if the church tax income continues to collapse – abandon his chauffeur driven BMW and get on his bike!

      Reply
  4. The new Institute will also deal with the relations between the generations? This should be really interesting, given the artistic inclinations of the boss, Archbishop Paglia. When he was merely Bishop of Terni, he commissioned a mural for the interior of his cathedral. Among other features, it includes naked children surrounded by naked adults…….

    Reply
  5. “the effects of the economy upon the family and ecological themes” —> “You cannot breed like rabbits!” —> “Contraception is the most generous response God is asking in the concrete circumstances…”

    Reply
      • My mom is the 7th of 9 children (2 uncles are now deceased) and my late father was the youngest of 5 children (he was a surprise baby, being 7 years younger than his nearest sibling).
        If both sets of my grandparents had stopped earlier, yours truly wouldn’t be typing this reply today.

        Oh, here’s the real kicker: St. Catherine of Siena was the 24th of 25 children – AND a twin! Her twin sister died after birth and Catherine survived, only to become a Third Order Dominican, a mystic while amongst other things telling the Pope to go back to Rome and eventually became a Doctor of the Church. If her parents had stopped having children we wouldn’t have this great Saint!

        Reply
  6. Don’t the shepherds of the flock in Germany have bigger issues like the fact that they don’t have flocks? What, relativism has worked so well for the German Church that it should be exported?

    You would at least think their fellow atheistic careerist co-conspirators would have a care given the fact that they actually rely on real living Catholics to support their Churches and attend mass: they aren’t living on government handouts so, for instance, when/if the Church collapses in Argentina, the Argentine government won’t keep the lights on and provide food at the bishops palaces. That should be disconcerting to these people because after they lose their flocks and the authority/position of authority which accompanies them, Soros isn’t going to pay for them to continue doing their social work from the lap of luxury.

    Reply
      • But they have no spuernatural faith, so they don’t care about rebuilding the Church. They just want the family business to stay afloat and keep them in fine cars and lavish dining.

        Reply
      • It’s going to be a spectacular moment in world history: we’re going to see if human beings are actually willing to invest more time in an organization that is blatantly telling them that they don’t need it.

        “I hav a goot idea”
        “Vat iz it?”
        “Letz giv z folk mor carrot”
        “But ve already giv zem no schtick, vat vill mor carrot accomplish?”
        “Shut up”

        Kind of destroys the image of German pragmatism and brilliance in methodical thinking.

        Reply
    • Don’t forget the little “movie” they showed on the facade of St Peter’s some time back. That’s part of their true agenda. I wonder if Bergoloio let Soros wear is mitre once in a while just for laughs.

      Reply
  7. Ya know what? I’m almost at the point of cheering for Team Islam.

    The faithless renegades in Western Europe deserve to be overrun by cutthroat jihadis screaming ….”convert or die!!” Unfortunately, many of the good will be martyred when the ISIS crew gets a full head of steam and Sharia is imposed but at least the faithless trash which is currently running the Church downhill will be purged and the Church will be purified.

    Reply
    • Team Islam has attacked London.
      It has attacked Madrid.
      It has attacked Copenhagen
      It has attacked Berlin
      It has attacked Stockholm
      It has attacked Brussels
      It has attacked Nice
      It has not attacked: ROME
      And the reason is because this is the big prize. This won’t be a bomb going off in the Metro, or a truck running down pedestrians No, this will be an all-out assault on Rome, especially the Vatican.
      And when it happens we will see God’s Hand in it.

      Reply
        • Yeah, the third secret says the bishop in white is killed by bullets and arrows. I interpret that as meaning there will be two parties involved, the assassins who metaphorically use arrows, and the second party that funds and trains them would be the ones with the bullets. So it would be something like ISIS backed by Russia.

          Reply
    • Islam will be one of the Chastisements to purify and separate those who belong to Christ from those who belong to the Devil. (You know, the Devil, also known as Lucifer/ Satan, the fallen angel that apparently many in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church do not believe exists as an actual being.) Sheep and Goats. Wheat and Chaff. It will be bloody and it will be ugly. I truly believe we are witnessing the fulfilment of multiple prophesies.

      Reply
    • I read something indicating Cardinal Burke is getting ready to move soon… it’s unconfirmed, but perhaps October 13th is the date being waited for?

      Reply
      • Yes, but I won’t hold my breath. I mean, can’t Francis just ignore whatever document Burke releases? I hope we won’t have to wait another year until the next step, and given the life expectancy of dubia-signing cardinals it’s kind of worrying.

        Reply
        • Well, as I said, it’s unconfirmed and there’ve been a few false alarms so far so don’t hold your breath. And you’re right, it does depend on what happens after the formal correction that really matters.

          Reply
  8. Finally! As a graduate of the JPII Institute, class of 1991, I am relieved that the newly formed Institute will address the hormonal pollution of chemical contraceptives into out water ways and not worry about pollution of souls.

    Reply
    • Ha.

      With any other medication, the environmental effects, the health effects and side effects, this would already be banned, and Lawyers preparing class action suits. But in America, chemical contraceptives are untouchable.

      Reply
    • What?!!! You must be a “troll” to say what you did! Relieved ???? Oh my, this is why I am suffering… for your soul! Please, You are being deceived and will be held accountable for the souls you council . My concern is mostly is for your soul and those you influence . Rethink, come before the Blessed Body of Christ in the Eucharist and ask Him for the precious Blood of Christ to cleans your soul and unite it to HiS most Sacred Heart and our Lady’s most Immaculate Heart !!!! ( this, I dare you to do sincerely !!!) I will pray????????????????????????

      Reply
    • Perfectly tuned sarcasm, Father. Yes, clean drinking water, absent chemical contraceptive and hormonal pollution, is the most pressing issue we are facing the in world today. I am so glad you understand.

      Reply
        • Seriously? The world is on the edge of WW III, Islam is taking over Europe, global financial collapse and chaos are near at hand and Christ’s Church is falling into apostasy.

          If I have to choose between chemical contraceptive and hormonal pollution in drinking water and nuclear annihilation and radioactive fall-out, my choice is the former and not that latter.

          But that’s just me.

          Reply
  9. What a load of rubbish. The former JPII Institute is not fixated on procreation and contraception. That is just ridiculous. There is a broad emphasis on culture and all matters which pertain to the family and indeed theology in general.

    Its a wrought…there is nothing broader they could add to the choice of papers. They just want to employ proportionalists who can negotiate the moral life away.

    The essential problem we are witnessing is a lack of conversion to Christ.

    Reply
    • You know Maria, I know that a lot of people think that Satan is allegorical but he is not. And I believe Sr. Lucia when said that final battle between Mary and Satan will be over marriage and the family.

      Reply
        • Please do. And tell them to read a book by Father Amorth or listen to Father Gary Thomas lecture (available on You Tube). The Catholic Church didn’t invent nor does it use Satan to scare people. Exorcisms are real and the Church exhausts EVERY avenue before they send an exorcist into spiritual warfare.

          Reply
    • This is just one of the straw-man arguments that Bergolio is so fond of. Creating false problems to justify their arguments is blatantly dripping with Alinsky tactics while ignoring the one predominant issue…the salvation of souls.

      Reply
  10. One of Fr. Martin’s latest ‘talks’ posted in a video on twitter, he rambled on his usual blather, this time about people needing to be able to ‘receive’ Church teaching in order for it to be ‘binding’. Same blather that Cardinal Cupich rambles on about when he claims that ‘conscience trumps ALL’. Anyway, in this latest gayfest of his he happened to mention Humanae Vitae. Saying that Catholics had been able to ‘reconcile’ with H.V. in their own way, but FORMALLY the encyclical still stands, and how ‘sad’ that was that something written ‘so long ago’ had to be ‘grappled with’ in some Catholics, or to that effect. The ‘illustrious’ Fr. Martin appears to be one of the front men setting the stage for a complete revision of Humanae Vitae. The reason, I do believe,that we now see Fr. James Martin everywhere promoting ‘Catholicism according to Fr. Martin’. If you look at the entire picture, you see the strategy. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if behind the scenes they have coined it ‘Bringing Catholic morality into the 21st Century’ or some such nonsense. It truly is all a major agenda for changing Church teaching through the back door. And………..they are moving faster than the speed of light.

    Reply
  11. If they’re serious about institutionalizing A.L – setting the document in doctrinal concrete- the German bishops need to bear down in Francis to task a commission to review and revise those pesky paragraphs in the Catechism. That will draw to their side the low-information pewsitters; then everyone can parrot (regarding their wet cement innovations) “See, it’s in the Catechism”.

    Seriously, it is a necessary (and urgent) next step for their *uses* of A. L can be activated. (Remember, the uses A.L can be put to are , in ways, more important then the document itsslf).

    Reply
    • You are right in concept.

      In praxis, they are already at it.

      As discussed here or on another recent combox, they are padding a False Magesterium with heretical and ambiguous documents most easily interpreted as heretical.

      Which they can then start quoting as “Magesterial”.

      This goes back to the ambiguity of V2, of course, but tho Cardinal Burke has addressed it in symbols {“Evangelii Gaudium is not Magesterial” or whatever specifically he said of the same meaning}, no prelate is bold enough to state the obvious: That the Pope and the heretic bishops are building a case for changed Church teaching by spitting stuff out there and then re-quoting it as having been stated by the Church, later.

      Reply
  12. This pontificate and the power and influence of the heretical German episcopacy cannot end soon enough. Lord save us from these wolves pretending to be shepherds.

    Reply
  13. Critics had reproached the old Institute for being too much fixated upon the topics of procreation and contraception.

    Isn’t that like saying that critics have been too fixated on fighting the disease rather than on alleviating symptom?

    Reply
  14. Bill Clinton once famously said, “It depends on what the meaning of “is” is.” Perhaps the Pope and the German bishops have a similar view of the exactness of language when it comes to the word “mercy”. I sense that, to them, it can mean whatever they need it to mean politically.

    Reply
    • Yes. Whenever I read or hear the words of Bergoglio and his henchmen talking about mercy, I am reminded of Humpty Dumpty speaking to Alice in “Through the Looking Glass”:

      “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean- neither more nor less.”

      And to borrow from yet another English author, I’m waiting for one of Bergoglio’s sycophants to say “Mercy is doubleplusgood.”

      Reply
    • There are at least two widely understood (or widely misunderstood) meanings of mercy. St Thomas Acquires understood mercy to mean sorrow at another person’s misfortune and a desire to help him.
      The more widely used modern application of mercy is when a person seeks a lenient penalty for an offence.
      Pope Francis seems to slide between the two meanings as it suits him. He certainly has been merciful in the way he has treated paedo priests. How this is merciful to victims in the sense St Thomas intended is less clear.

      Reply

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Popular on OnePeterFive

Share to...