Three of the bishops of Kazakhstan — Tomash Peta, Metropolitan Archbishop of the archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana, Jan Pawel Lenga, Archbishop-Bishop emeritus of Karaganda, and Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of the archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana — have issued a joint statement imploring prayer that Pope Francis will “confirm the unchanging praxis of the Church with regard to the truth of the indissolubility of marriage.”
The statement, issued on January 18th, the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, is much more than a solicitation to storm heaven. The bishops document their concerns with “published norms” for the “application and interpretations” of Amoris Laetitia “whereby the divorced who have attempted civil marriage with a new partner, notwithstanding the sacramental bond by which they are joined to their legitimate spouse, are admitted to the sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist without fulfilling the duty, established by God, of ceasing to violate the bond of their existing sacramental marriage.”
The bishops assert that “Pastors of the Church who tolerate or authorize, even in individual or exceptional cases, the reception of the sacrament of the Eucharist by the divorced and so-called “remarried,” without their being clothed in the ‘wedding garment,’… are complicit in this way with a continual offense against the sacramental bond of marriage, the nuptial bond between Christ and the Church and the nuptial bond between Christ and the individual soul who receives his Eucharistic Body.”
Making mention of particular churches that have issued pastoral guidelines for the implementation of Amoris Laetitia along such lines, the bishop say that such guidelines “contradict the universal tradition of the Catholic Church, which by means of an uninterrupted Petrine Ministry of the Sovereign Pontiffs has always been faithfully kept, without any shadow of doubt or of ambiguity, either in its doctrine or its praxis, in that which concerns the indissolubility of marriage.”
In a series of specific rebuttals, the bishops identify the ways in which the “pastoral guidelines contradict moreover in practice” certain “truths and doctrines that the Catholic Church has continually taught as being sure.” In this theological analysis, drawn from sacred scripture, the writings of the saints, popes, and doctors of the Church, the authors assert, in part [emphasis added]:
- “To believe in the indissolubility of marriage and to contradict it by one’s own actions while at the same time considering oneself even being free from grave sin and calming one’s conscience by trusting in God’s mercy alone, represents a self-deception…”
- “The observance of the Commandments of God and in particular of the indissolubility of marriage cannot be presented as a fuller expression of an ideal towards which one should strive in accordance with the criterion of the good which is possible or achievable. It is rather the case of an obligation which God himself has unequivocally commanded, the non-observance of which, in accordance with his Word, carries the penalty of eternal damnation. “
- “God gives to every man assistance in the observance of his Commandments, when such a request is properly made, as the Church has infallibly taught: “God does not command that which is impossible, but in commanding he exhorts you to do that which you are able, and to ask for that which you cannot do, and so he assists you that you might be able to do it” (Council of Trent, session 6, chapter 11) and “and if someone says that even for the man who has been justified and established in grace the commandments of God are impossible to observe: let him be anathema” (Council of Trent, session 6, canon 18.)”
- “The sexual act outside of a valid marriage, and in particular adultery, is always objectively gravely sinful and no circumstance and no reason can render it admissible or pleasing in the sight of God.”
- “A valid marriage of the baptized is a sacrament of the Church and of its nature has a public character. A subjective judgment of the conscience in relation to the invalidity of one’s own marriage, in contrast to the corresponding definitive judgment of an ecclesiastical tribunal, cannot bring consequences for sacramental discipline, since the sacramental discipline always has a public character.”
- “A practice which permits to those who have a civil divorce, the so called “remarried,” to receive the sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist, notwithstanding their intention to continue to violate the Sixth Commandment and their sacramental bond of matrimony in the future, would be contrary to Divine truth and alien to the perennial sense of the Catholic Church, to the proven custom, received and faithfully kept from the time of the Apostles…“
- “An authentic accompaniment of persons who find themselves in an objective state of grave sin and on a corresponding journey of pastoral discernment cannot fail to announce to such people, in all charity, the complete will of God, in such a way that they repent wholeheartedly of their sinful actions of living more uxorio with a person who is not their legitimate spouse.”
Following their analysis, the bishops state that
Only the voice of the Supreme Pastor of the Church can definitively impede a situation where in the future, the Church of our time is described with the following expression: “All the world groaned and noticed with amazement that it has in practice accepted divorce” (ingenuit totus orbis et divortium in praxi se accepisse miratus est), evoking an analogous saying by which St Jerome described the Arian crisis.
Given this very real danger and the widespread plague of divorce within the life of the Church, which is implicitly legitimized by the mentioned norms and applications of the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia; given that the aforementioned norms and guidelines from some particular churches as a result of today’s global culture are in the public domain; given, furthermore, the ineffectiveness of numerous appeals made privately and in a discreet manner to Pope Francis both by many faithful and by some Shepherds of the Church, we are forced to make this urgent appeal to prayer. As successors of the Apostles, we are also moved by the obligation of raising our voices when the most sacred things of the Church and the matter of eternal salvation of souls are in question.
[…]
Considering that the admission of the divorced and so-called “remarried” to the sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist, without requiring of them the obligation to live in continence, constitutes a danger for the faith and for the salvation of souls and furthermore constitutes an offense to the holy will of God; furthermore, taking into consideration that such pastoral practice can never be the expression of mercy, of the “via caritatis” or of the maternal sense of the Church towards souls that are sinning, we make with profound pastoral solicitude this urgent appeal to prayer that Pope Francis may revoke in an unequivocal manner the aforementioned pastoral guidelines which are already introduced in several particular churches. Such an act of the Visible Head of the Church would comfort the shepherds and the faithful of the Church, according to the mandate which Christ, the Supreme Shepherd of souls, has given to the Apostle Peter, and through him to all his successors: “Confirm your brethren!” (Luke 22:32).
Further, the bishops insist:
We make this appeal to prayer conscious that our failure to do so would have been a serious omission. Christ, the Truth and the Supreme Shepherd, will judge us when He appears. We ask Him, with humility and confidence, to reward all the shepherds and all the sheep with the imperishable crown of glory (cf. 1 Pet. 5:4).
In the spirit of faith and with filial and devout affection we raise our prayer for Pope Francis:
“Oremus pro Pontifice nostro Francisco: Dominus conservet eum, et vivificet eum, et beatum faciat eum in terra, et non tradat eum in animam inimicorum eius. Tu es Petrus, et super hanc petram aedificabo Ecclesiam Meam, et portae inferi non praevalebunt adversus eam.”
The translation of this prayer, drawn in part from Matthew 16:18, is as follows: “Let us pray for our Pope Francis: May the Lord preserve him and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies. Thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
The bishops urge:
As a concrete means we recommend to recite every day this ancient prayer of the Church or a part of the holy rosary in the intention that Pope Francis may revoke in an unequivocal manner those pastoral guidelines, which permit the divorced and so-called “remarried” to receive the sacraments of Penance and Eucharist without asking them to fulfill the obligation of a life in continence.
You may read the entire document here. (PDF Link) We encourage you to share it with as many people as possible.
I’m in.
May Praise and Glory be given to God for these holy shepherds of the Lord. This is how a Catholic Bishop should speak, not with ambiguity or equivocation, but with the force of Authority and the clarity of Divine Truth which comes from the Lord Jesus Christ.
May Pope Francis be enlightened by the Divine Truth which they speak and come out of the darkness of his terrible error which is tearing Holy Church asunder. If he refuses then may he soon cease from office and let another who is worthy of the Lord take his place. Amen.
“And they that are learned among the people shall teach many: and they shall fall by the sword, and by fire, and by captivity, and by spoil for many days. And when they shall have fallen they shall be relieved with a small help: and many shall be joined to them deceitfully. And some of the learned shall fall, that they may be tried, and may be chosen, and made white even to the appointed time, because yet there shall be another time.” – Daniel 11:33-35 –
Thank God for those faithful clerics who would educate and sustain us in the Catholic Faith. For there shall come ‘another time’.
Yes! ‘Another time’ approaches indeed. Amen
May more be as courageous as these men.. God help us against this evil. They are shaking the gates. God help us!
Dear Fr. RP,
This is today’s Gospel for the Feast of St. Athanasius and St. Cyril of Alexandria on the Ukrainian Greek Catholic calendar (I kid you not):
Mark 10: 11-16:
And he saith to them: Whosoever shall put away his wife and marry another, committeth adultery against her. [12] And if the wife shall put away her husband, and be married to another, she committeth adultery. [13] And they brought to him young children, that he might touch them. And the disciples rebuked them that brought them. [14] Whom when Jesus saw, he was much displeased, and saith to them: Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of God. [15] Amen I say to you, whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, shall not enter into it.
[16] And embracing them, and laying his hands upon them, he blessed them.
Providence!!!
In Christ the King,
Margaret
I must thank all at OnePeterFive for making these excellent, clear and holy statements available to us.
i have been printing some of them, as when such learned AND holy men speak, it really is something that sticks to the soul, but does not always come out as well in my own speech. You never know, when we, as laity, will be asked by our fellow parishioners, family, and even priests to give an explanation, a reason for our defense of the faith.
God bless you all here.
ps Donated today
Now these are *real* pastors. Get ready for the schism. Get to know faithful priests now.
EO, I’m getting ready for a miracle.
The foxes control the henhouse. This man has embraced heresy his whole career. Good for these Bishops, but it’s time to face reality for a change. He is not going to change. Besides, it not just about marriage. It’s the whole modernist heresy and this is just the foot in the door.
Dear Parrish, It’s a share frustration but God can convert anyone and everyone. Saint Augustine wrote about the conversion of Saint Paul we are not sure as to why he was converted but for me it was the prayers of those martyred and the Apostles.
Glory to God in the highest!
And peace to men of good will. ?
Tomorrow is the ancient feast of the Chair of St. Peter. Will the good bishops of Kazakhstan be sending out emmissaries to the formerly Catholic churches seeking allies in the fight against a heretic usurper of the Papacy? The ancient prayer is perfectly valid to pray for a valid canonically elected pope, but to pray for a heretic usurper?
Sounds like blasphemy to me.
He’s Pope until he isn’t. And even if, by some chance, Francis isn’t actually pope I’m sure Our Lord will redirect the prayers as needed. The only Catholic approach is to hope in Our Lord for Francis to correct the errors in the Church, especially if he be the source, and to effect this through prayer, especially those delivered through the Rosary of Our Blessed Mother.
Are you actually accusing these Bishops of Blasphemy and therefore through their encouraging others to pray the prayer they recommend of promoting Blasphemy?
I’m going to just remind you here of the comment policy:
https://onepeterfive.wpengine.com/comment-policy/
The ancient prayer on behalf of a sitting Pontiff is right and just, if that person in fact holds the office of Pope. I certainly don’t believe we should stop praying for Pope Francis. But I don’t believe we can pray for this man to be a better pope if he is a heretic freemason. He has a conflict of interest and that is why I consider such a prayer to have the feel of blasphemy. He is pope under false pretences. I believe we need to pray that Pope Francis abjure his heresy, admit any criminal associations and leave the Vatican. If we do not take some initiative to do more than pray for him, that is, make efforts similar to those made by Sts. Bernard and Norbert, then we will have to answer for our inaction. I applaud the efforts of the Bishops of Kazakhstan, the more attention paid to this problem, all the better, as far as I’m concerned, but if prayer and pleading are the limits of what is done then it won’t be enough.
Today I start day 1 of the Novena for the families of the world. Given all the scandal done by Pope Francis with Amoris Laetitia fasting and prayer are definitely in order. I hope to survive the Black Fast for today, but I’ll eat 2 cloves of garlic after sundown as is my custom. Holy Jesus Infant of Prague and Mary Help of Christians pray for us.
Today is the ancient feast of the Chair of St. Peter. I just came back from a Novus Ordo Mass, the 9:00 at Holy Family in Newark, DE. Since this is a NO mass no mention was made of the feast of the Chair of St. Peter. It was transfered to February 22nd which was the traditional feast of the Chair of St. Peter at Antioch. I realise it is controversial, but I will admit that when I go to Communion I pray, Please Jesus let me know if you are here present because if you are, I worship and adore you, but if you are not, please forgive me for worshipping mere bread. Now why would I go out of my way to go to a Novus Ordo Mass If I doubt Jesus Real Presence? The answer is that I DO NOT doubt that Jesus can be REALLY and TRULY present in a valid mass. But then that is the question under present Catholic Church circumstances, is it not?
At least twice if not more often I have submitted a rendition of the deaths of Pius X, the white Pope and Father Wernz, the Black Pope, which occurred within 24 hours of each other. An attempted infiltration of the Papacy by Freemasons was uncovered by Msgr. Jouin during the conclave of 1903. Given the history of and changes to the conclave rules through the Apostolic Constitution of Pius X it is very likely that the death/murder of Pius X was the fulcrum of the masonic infiltration of the papacy. The rest of the history of the papacy in the 20th century, as they say, is derivative, a history of infiltrator freemasons with one likely exception.
Pope Honorius II died in 1130. Due to the dangerous ecclesiatical waters he knew the conclave would face, he set unusual requirements for the next conclave. He restricted the number and named the Cardinals allowed to participate in that conclave. Pope Innocent II was elected at the secret conclave. Two Cardinals did not make it to the secret conclave following the death of Honorius II. One of the Cardinals, held his own conclave with the remaining Cardinals and had himself elected as Anacletus II. He engaged in several heretical practices. Sts. Bernard and Norbert were not amused. They approached the crowned heads of Europe to expel this usurper heretic from the papal throne and support Innocent II. As it turned out St. Bernard’s preaching had a greater effect than Emperor Lothair’s troops. But they both made the point, that a heretic usurper on the Papal throne is not acceptable.
The Truth is not that hard to articulate when its is of your very substance.
Are there other bishops grounded in the Truth that will risk their privilege to stand with Christ?
God reward these men, these priests, who put the Truth of Jesus Christ before their own security.
Dear James,
I needed to hear this today: “The Truth is not that hard to articulate when its is of your very substance” beautiful.
Recall “…even the stones shall shout…”
The hardness of heart presently exhibited rivals granite.
Here’s the advice of your namesake in today’s Epistle:
Epistle: James 1: 1-18
1] James the servant of God, and of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. [2] My brethren, count it all joy, when you shall fall into divers temptations; [3] Knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience. [4] And patience hath a perfect work; that you may be perfect and entire, failing in nothing. [5] But if any of you want wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men abundantly, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
[2] Into divers temptations: The word temptation, in this epistle, is sometimes taken for trials by afflictions or persecutions, as in this place: at other times, it is to be understood, tempting, enticing, or drawing others into sin.
[6] But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, which is moved and carried about by the wind. [7] Therefore let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. [8] A double minded man is inconstant in all his ways. [9] But let the brother of low condition glory in his exaltation: [10] And the rich, in his being low; because as the flower of the grass shall he pass away.
[11] For the sun rose with a burning heat, and parched the grass, and the flower thereof fell off, and the beauty of the shape thereof perished: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. [12] Blessed is the man that endureth temptation; for when he hath been proved, he shall receive a crown of life, which God hath promised to them that love him. [13] Let no man, when he is tempted, say that he is tempted by God. For God is not a tempter of evils, and he tempteth no man. [14] But every man is tempted by his own concupiscence, being drawn away and allured. [15] Then when concupiscence hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin. But sin, when it is completed, begetteth death.
[16] Do not err, therefore, my dearest brethren. [17] Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration. [18] For of his own will hath he begotten us by the word of truth, that we might be some beginning of his creatures.
Footnote:
[18] Some beginning: That is, a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
Verse 17 is used in the Ambo Prayer at the end of the Divine Liturgy.
?
While it’s good to be thorough, the bishops should issue a condensed version.
Considering the phonebook that AL is, I’d say 5 pages is pretty condensed.
This is a hair standing up on the back of the neck moment. As Saint Padre Pio would say “bring me my weapon” his weapon was his Rosary.
Please see my posts below (you have to scroll down).
Dear Margaret,
I scrolled down and yes it all makes sense. Sadly too much sense when the little ones are rebuked. We have had first hand experience of this, on wards and upwards aye!
This sounds like the perfect basis for a formal correction of the Roman Pontiff to me.
Just as Marriage takes place in the public forum, the judgement of its validity (when disputed) takes place in the public forum, the reception of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ in Holy Communion takes place in the public forum, then when Pontiffs and Prelates teach falsehood and evil in the public forum so justice and charity demand that they should be formally corrected in the public forum.
And if they are to avoid the anathemas of the perennial extrinsic Magisterium, then their repentance should be evidenced in the public forum.
Rome experienced an earthquake this morning” 5.3 magnitude #quake near L’Aquila at 10.26am. @Pontifex giving weekly general audience at the time. 5th tremor felt in Rome since August”@EdwardPentin. An answer to Luther stamp & non response to Dubia I would venture. Perhaps more quakes to follow?
The good Lord might not be too happy with the Vatican’s stance on dividing Israel or with a two state solution and an embassy for a Palestinian “nation” that is not a nation. There is much, I imagine, to be answered for. And ironically, I had a message in my inbox that went along the lines of “God doesn’t judge or punish with calamities/ natural disasters — that’s an outdated and wrong idea of religion.” It’s all grace and forgiveness and mercy; no repentance and no reform needed!
Justice comes before charity. – pope john xxiii.
The good Lord might not be happy at seeing the Eucharist desecrated either.
Bravo! Bellisimo!
An extremely powerful and articulate document grounded in both scripture and in tradition while at the same time issued in charity.
Is it not a joyous occasion when those who are pledged to Christ stand up for Christ? Does it not embolden you to be willing to do the same?
Please, loyal bishops, continue to fight the good fight! Christ is always at your side, as are many who truly believe.
I wonder what “silence” means? How many bishops and cardinals have chosen sides — light or darkness — in this matter? How many more have remained silent? It once meant that “silence” could be equated with “agreement”. But I’m not so sure anymore. Silence certainly did not mean agreement with the “status quo” and “mainstream” in respect to the elections in the United States. When all is said and done, I think every Catholic (lay and clergy) will be forced to choose with whom one will stand. I am going to have to look at a map to find “Kazakhstan”.
These men sound like Catholic shepherds. And this statement sounds like a true exercise of sentire cum ecclesia.
“[T]he bishop [sic] say that such guidelines “contradict the universal tradition of the Catholic Church, which by means of an uninterrupted Petrine Ministry of the Sovereign Pontiffs has always been faithfully kept, without any shadow of doubt or of ambiguity, either in its doctrine or its praxis, . . . “
And, yet, I wonder how many other post-conciliar issues there to which that same statement could not be applied . . . :-
Amen. And thank you Bishops of Kazakhstan for your courage and fidelity to the Truth. May God bless you and His work being accomplished through you.
Every Bishop, pastor and priest will have to declare publicly their own position because of the courage of those of their brothers who already done so publicly. And we shall ultimately expect to see Pope Benedict XVI clarify for the benefit of the Church, so paramount is this issue.