Today, 28 April, the Austrian Catholic website Kath.net has published an important report written by a Maltese Knight about a recent audience with Cardinal Raymond Burke in which the (“de facto suspended“) Cardinal Patron revealed much of the background of the current crisis in the Order. Burke, who has not spoken publicly on the matter himself, revealed in this audience information pertinent to tomorrow’s scheduled election of a new Grand Master of the Order Malta — information that some within the order have now apparently leaked in the hopes of forestalling the Order from being led in the wrong direction.
As Kath.net reports, Fra’ Matthew Festing is now in Rome, but has been “coldly received” and he also was told to hand over his own diplomatic passport which had been issued by his order.
Since the Kath.net report is somewhat lengthy, I will concentrate for now on the most important parts of this new revelations. Kath.net itself has good connections with people within the Order of Malta, and has repeatedly revealed important information about the current crisis. Importantly, it also has already received a cease-and-desist order for their reporting on the financial dealings of Albrecht von Boeselager, the current (and re-instated) Grand Chancellor.
First of all, Kath.net published today a screenshot of the pope’s own 1 December 2016 letter to Cardinal Burke in which he insists that the moral problems with regard to the distribution of condoms and contraceptives has to be addressed within the Order. Since we reported on this letter already, I will proceed to the next point.
Kath.net then also published the above-mentioned report about a meeting with Cardinal Burke which now has been already widely distributed within the German branch of the Order of Malta, and which was written by Josef von Beverfoerde, himself a (married) Knight of the Order of Malta. Since there is an English version of parts of that text already available, I will quote from this report, if possible. Otherwise, I will use my own translation. Von Beverfoerde met Cardinal Burke at the beginning of March 2017 and wrote down this report with Cardinal Burke’s approval and with the explicit disclaimer that it is representing Burke’s own positions, not von Beverfoerde’s. The report was not intended for the public, but is now being widely circulated since it was revealed this week.
Cardinal Burke himself, at the end of the report, is quoted as having said about the current development of the Maltese crisis:
I find it profoundly saddening that the grave scandal of the distribution of contraceptives and the advancing secularization of the Order which this immoral action represents are now minimized and, effectively, forgotten. All of the many press conferences, interviews and other interventions through the media on the part of the Order, in the time since the reinstatement of the Grand Chancellor, make no reference to the grave scandal and acknowledge no responsibility on the part of the Grand Chancellor for such scandal. From my view, I fear that the obscuring of this scandalous situation at the root of the recent difficulties in the Order is not a good augury for the renewal of the Order, according to its long, noble, and thoroughly Catholic tradition. [emphasis added]
When speaking about the course of events, Cardinal Burke makes it clear that Albrecht von Boeselager was involved in the immoral distribution of condoms and contraceptives and that a report by the Order itself about these matters was approved by Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:
The Cardinal Patron [Burke] told him [Festing] that the whole thing must come to an immediate end and those responsible could no longer enjoy the Order’s confidence. Finally, the Grand Master set up an investigative commission, which presented its first report in January 2016. That report presents the gravity and extent of the distribution of contraceptives by the Order.
The report of the investigation was submitted to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for examination. On 12 March 2016, its prefect, Cardinal Gerhard Muller, wrote a letter to the Grand Master in which he confirmed the investigation’s report with the words: “The proposal of the above-mentioned report is consistent with the doctrine and practice of the Church.” Among other conclusions, the report clearly shows that the Grand Chancellor, Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager, who had been Grand Hospitaller for the previous 25 years, had accepted the morally reprehensible practices and had deliberately avoided informing the Sovereign Council and Grand Master about them. [emphasis added]
What Cardinal Burke made clear in this private conversation with von Beverfoerde is that he encouraged Fra’ Festing to take steps to make von Boeselager accountable for his actions, but that he himself did not ask von Boeselager to resign since it was not in the field of his authority as Cardinal Patron:
The responsibility of the Grand Chancellor [von Boeselager] was evident since the appearance of the investigation report. The Grand Master therefore informed Cardinal Burke that he had asked the Grand Chancellor to resign, but that he had refused. During the following months, the Grand Master told the Cardinal of his further attempts to convince the Grand Chancellor of his responsibility to resign. As he is the Cardinal Patron responsible for the spiritual constitution of the Order, Burke encouraged the Grand Master in this sense so that the scandal surrounding the distribution of contraceptives and abortifacients would not progress unimpeded, leading to further moral confusion and aberrations within the Order. [emphasis added]
When Burke then met, on 10 November 2016, with Pope Francis, the pope was supportive of Cardinal Burke and Fra’ Festing’s approach. Cardinal Burke is quoted as having said to von Beverfoerde:
“Pope Francis expressed profound concern and dismay about the practice of distributing contraceptives by any work of the Order. He urged me [Burke] to collaborate diligently with the Grand Master to make certain that all such practices cease and that those in highest authority who had approved of them be appropriately disciplined.”
Cardinal Burke also made it clear, once more, that he never claimed Pope Francis ordered the dismissal of von Boeselager:
“During the meeting of December 6, 2016,I [Burke] never claimed to have a mandate from Pope Francis to demand the resignation of the Grand Chancellor and, therefore, I, in my capacity as Cardinal Patronus, never asked him to resign, nor did I do so, claiming that I was speaking for the Holy Father. I made two statements, in the light of the letter of Pope Francis: 1) that it was completely unacceptable to me that an organization, of the high historical and present-day Catholic profile of the Order of Malta, could be engaged in such a scandalous practice over a number of years and yet not hold responsible the senior official who condoned the practice; and 2) that, if the First Report of the Commission of Inquiry is false, as the Grand Chancellor claims that it is, why had he not made a formal correction of the document, especially because it points to his specific responsibility for the scandalous practice.”
According to von Beverfoerde’s report
The Grand Chancellor gave no answer. This did not surprise Cardinal Burke, however, because on at least two occasions, since he had been informed as Cardinal Patron in December 2014 that Malteser International distributed contraceptives and he had insisted on immediately terminating this activity, the Grand Chancellor in the Grand Chancellor[sic], in open conversation with him at the Magistral Palace, had insistently declared to him: “We have to give contraceptives to these poor women, or they will die.” Burke’s last statement at the meeting of the 6th of December was that he saw it as his duty in connection with the Pope’s letter to say that the Holy Father expected the Order to deal with this serious problem. The Holy See should not be compelled to intervene further. [emphasis added]
Cardinal Burke describes in the following how Cardinal Pietro Parolin wrongly claimed in a letter to Fra’ Festing that Burke claimed Pope Francis had demanded the dismissal of von Boeselager. Burke immediately called Parolin in order to correct this claim – which Parolin never double checked with Burke himself – whereupon Parolin merely answered “ that it was an emergency situation.”
Several other aspects which are not to be found in the English version of the von Beverfoerde report, but which are published by Kath.net, might be of interest here. First of all, Cardinal Burke once asked Fra’ Festing why he had accepted to resign right during the audience with Pope Francis on 24 January (without further consultation or reflection), and also why he (Festing) agreed to write down in his letter of resignation that Cardinal Burke had influenced him to ask for the resignation of von Boeselager, even though this was not the case.
To both questions, Fra Festing “only answered that the obedience toward the Holy Father did not give him any other choice,” according to the von Beverfoerde report.
Cardinal Burke also once more showed his grave concern about this strange monetary donation of 120 million Swiss Francs part of which the Order of Malta purportedly had received. Nobody knows of its origins, and the Grand Master had not been even informed about its existence for a long time, according to Burke. In Burke’s eyes, “an independent audit of the situation should be done, for the sake of the good of the Order and for the sake of clearing up all difficult questions concerning this topic.”
Last but not least, Cardinal Burke also revealed, according to this document, the undue and disproportionate influence which Cardinal Parolin exercises over the Order of Malta. Parolin and von Boeselager “are in a close relationship,” according to the report. Von Boeselager himself, the report alleges, had immediately protested when he heard that Pope Francis had appointed Cardinal Burke as the Cardinal Patron of the Order of Malta in 2014. From day one on, von Boeselager made it clear to Cardinal Burke that he has “a direct connection to the Cardinal Secretary [Parolin].” On several occasions, it became clear to Cardinal Burke that Parolin and von Boeselager were working closely together with regard to internal matters of the Order of Malta. The von Beverfoerde report ends with the following statement:
Cardinal Burke over the years had the clear impression that the Cardinal Secretary was – with the help of the Grand Chancellor – closely involved with the matters of the Order, even though Cardinal Parolin never spoke with him, Burke, about the Order and his own service as Cardinal Patron.
The article has been slightly updated.
What a set up! Francis couldn’t care less about the distribution of contraceptives. This was a double cross from the get go. Francis’ letter to Burke was the trap and Burke walked right into it. In Mafia parlance, Raymond “the Saint” Burke got whacked by Jorge “the Humble” Bergoglio. The whole thing is that sordid and corrupt.
What a piece of work this guy Bergoglio truly is. The Vicar of Christ is a corrupt, lying, back-stabbing gangster. This is gangland retribution for the dubia. I want to gag every time I see his grinning mug.
If this were a year ago I’d tell you to not be so flippant concerning the Pope. But I still can’t believe what I am seeing and hearing from him, on a constant basis. Sometimes I wonder if he even believes Hell is real.
I suspect PF knows more about hell then is usual for someone in his position!
I think these times would challenge the faith of St Catherine of Sienna. We must tread very very carefully here.
No, he does not believe in Hell at all. He had made a statement that there is no Hell and souls will be annihilated in to vapor. God forgives me for I am sick and tired of this liar.
Do you have a link you can send me with that statement?
There is some controversy about whether Pope Francis made that statement:
https://remnantnewspaper.com/web/index.php/fetzen-fliegen/item/1611-did-pope-francis-just-deny-the-existence-of-hell
vs
http://www.catholiceducation.org/en/controversy/common-misconceptions/top-ten-myths-about-pope-francis-first-year.html
and
https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2016/11/22/threat-hell-real-not-faithful-god-pope-says/
A Google search for:
does pope francis believe in hell
produces 606,000 hits.
I recall hearing about it as well.
He will soon find out in this the centenary of our Lady of Fatima.
It is very possible he could be a
( the) false prophet given Much Marian prophesy! Could our Blessed Mother be warning us and preparing us? There sadly is a PATTERN in behavior we can not ignore!!!!!! Wake up my dear brothers and sisters in Christ and pray,pray, pray ??????
Actually, the late holy Archbishop Sheen and other saints and mystics have mentioned that there will be a Pope under the control of Satan. Our Lady of Good Success prophesied that there will be a Great Apostasy in the Church and it will start from the ‘Top on down.’ We are witnessing history…..
I think you can take it as read he does not believe in Hell. I see little evidence he believes in God
He is NOT a believer!
I can’t resist, you’ll love this…
http://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/2017/04/papolatria-maxima-francis-statue-given.html
Oh dear!
I thought he expressed great disappointment and dismay that this was happening, that condoms are being distributed..
Totally agree. A clear set up, arranged a long time ago in case Burke ever got out of line. Triple chin Bergoglio is a total fraud, an embarrassment to the Church. Burke has Truth, and therefore the Lord, on his side. If Jorge is so mindful of the poor, why is he so fat? He is obama in a cassock, a new world order Marxist paid for by Soros. Well he wears his badge of dishonor and lives in ignominy. Just resign little boy and run along now.
Is the Catholic Church run by Christians?
A neither unreasonable nor hyperbolic question.
I’m doing my study of the Catechism of the Council of Trent and the section on stealing and lying is absolutely powerful. Wholly appropriate and relevant to the times it seems. The teaching is stark and
rigorous, dare I use that latter word when speaking of a topic involving the Current Occupant of the Vatican who publicly despises it so often.
I personally don’t know what to make of it all other than the Church has been a “mess” since the beginning. Read just today in the book of Acts 20:29-31 where St Paul reminds the people that “ravening wolves” will enter among them. The troubles didn’t start with Vatican 2…they have always been, part and parcel of human nature. Certainly the New Testament is not lacking hard self-accusation and criticism of leadership and others who profess the faith.
St Paul reminds us in Chapter 23:5 the passage in Exodus {22:28} that we are not to speak evil of a prince of the people, but in today’s realm, I am having a hard time sorting out who is a prince except for a few who stand out as sheep among those ravening wolves.
As chaotic as things appear to be, keeping hold of that passage from Exodus is good policy of course, but asking questions seems prudent. And I am not joking.
Pray for the Church.
We really need men of God who are in authority to exercise that authority.
It’s all beginning to sound like Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker stuff…
Where there is great Grace and holiness, there will also be the strongest work of the devil to overthrow souls. Those are his great victories.
Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, have mercy on us.
Amen!
And, where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more. The white martyrdom being endured by Cardinal Burke, Fra Mattew Festing; (especially) and no doubt many others will be efficacious for the Church in God’s time, and in ways we cannot foresee. What is most staggering about the arrogance and foolishness of many of those in high places in the Church is their evident belief that the cesspit they have constructed will endure and prosper. They couldn’t be more wrong!
Why did Fra Festing agree to the lie (Bergoglio’s making him sign a document) saying that Cardinal Burke influenced him to dismiss Boeselager?
Agreeing to a lie is a terrible thing yet are we to believe Festing is not culpable, that blind obedience is laudatory?
Am I missing something?
We are all “missing something” because we are not privy to what transpires at the highest levels of the Order of Malta. It is easy for us to form a wholly inaccurate impression of Fra Festing as an isolated, lonely figure who meekly capitulated. I”m sure that there must have been many in the past who, “under obedience” have stated things that were to some extent contrary to the truth. And, I fully expect, some of them are now canonised saints.
I had been supportive of Festing throughout the overthrow of the Order, but as I come to understand more of the details, it appears to me that Festing was/is not only naïve, but foolish, beyond belief. He simply surrendered and let the German and South American thugs win. Based on his “justification” for behaving badly, we must then believe that if the Pope told him to jump off the bridge and kill himself, he would have obediently done so. And the Dubi-a Brothers have pretty much gone to ground as well. Jorge and the Junta are the only ones who know how to fight.
I think Cardinal Burke is doing fine in that regard.
Your comment upvoted many times by me.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us.
The Bakker situation pales in comparison.
I’m Catholic, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to wonder. Us “little” people here really suffer.
Never forget how much Christ loves His little ones.
At the moment, no.
It appears, nowadays, with few exceptions to be run in the temporal world, by freemasons, IMHO.
And what the hell is this supposed to mean…“Parolin and von Boeselager ‘are in a close relationship,’ “???
When the secular press uses the phrase “in a close relationship” it means sexually intimate.
Connivance is to be inferred over intimacy in this case.
Or both.
“Close relationship” could, possibly, mean ‘brotherhood’; as in ‘Brotherhood of Darkness’. We have already had at least two Cardinal Secretaries of State who were Freemasons; Jean Villot and Agostino Casaroli. Was Francis’ instruction to Cdl. Burke to purge the Order of Malta of freemasons a smokescreen? Whenever there is political and financial corruption in high places, including the Church, there is always the possibility of masonic involvement. Therefore, considering also the direct and unscrupulous involvement of the German hierarchy who, by means of ‘filthy lucre’ hold the whip hand, one wonders if masonic elements in the Order of Malta and the Vatican are being shielded from exposure.
The whole root of this sordid business is to be found in the excessive wealth of the failing and morally bankrupt German church and the influence it buys and exercises in Rome
I tend to agree.
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon”-Matthew 6:24-26 ((RSVCE)
Wealth is such a corruptor.
Jesus was a man of simple means – how did the Catholic Church go this route? The early Church fathers were men of faith who laid down their lives for their Master – where did the Church take a wrong turn? Now it is paying heavy price ! The Francis effect.
For something to be regarded as “reformed” it needs to have been “improved and enriched,” not merely staging a crime scene. It appears corruption is in the eye of the beholder. Perhaps Pope Bergoglio needs an eye exam.
Of interest…
http://www.lepantoinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Malteser02.pdf
The evidence is piling up for the laity to see. Thank you for this link.
It is shocking how lies pervade the Vatican of Francis!
This further confirms my sense that it is the people surrounding Pope Francis who are responsible for what is going on. Parolin is a Free Mason, no doubt. Pope Francis is not. He is surrounded by the wolves as Pope Benedict was, and far less capable of seeing that… Pray for our pope. I pray he will be a martyr one day. I pray he will do more than Pope Benedict did.. Pope Benedict passed the cup to Pope Francis. We ought to pray as the angels did, with many tears and reverence, that he will drink of it.
Why then did Pope Francis demand under the vow of obedience for Festing to resign?
I don’t think we know the answer to this. But it sounds like whoever has control of that slush fund has some very serious and damaging stuff hanging over everyone’s head.
PF is not a mason. You’re kidding me?
n/a
No, he doesn’t seem to be. While they may praise him, that does not mean he’s one of them.
I wish I had such innocent confidence that Pope Francis is not responsible for what’s going on. The evidence, however, seems stacked against him. Pope Benedict I do believe was surrounded by wolves, but Bergoglio, I fear, was one of them.
I don’t doubt he was chosen by FMs because he’s leftist leaning, but everything points to the people around him, not Pope Francis himself. It seems he’s complicit to a degree, but I don’t think he is one of the master planners. I think he gets manipulated far too easily, but he’s not one of them. I think an unseen enemy is far more unnerving then one you can see… and I think that he is blamed for what is orchestrated around him… Just my thoughts. I obviously don’t know with certainty what’s going on in the Vatican.
That’s possible too, even probable. I have a sneaking suspicion that he was elected because of his perceived malleability but he got out of control even for them, hence the reports awhile back that a number of Cardinals of the liberal camp that wanted Francis to retire and be replaced by Cardinal Parolin. Either way, this papacy is disastrous, and it needs to end (according to Our Lord’s timing) and be replaced with a good, orthodox, and holy pope who has no intention of being a world travelling rockstar, but to be the bishop of Rome and pastor of the whole church.
Nonsense.
Praying that SOMEONE ELSE is martyred??? Sick! Insane!
That’s a bit histrionic. I guess I should qualify my statement. if the alternatives were that he join the wolves or run away from the wolves, I hope he squares off with them even if it means he suffer.
The worst part of all of this stuff is how it degrades some folks’ faith in our Lord Jesus and deflects the lost from the life-saving message that the Church offers the world.
The beauty for me is that with each chaotic incident, I have been prompted to dive ever more into study of the teachings of the Catholic faith, often studying the very topic that lies at the heart of the specific crisis.
The truth has a beauty to it that stands in stark contrast to the chaos.
May God be praised.
AMEN!
Cf. Coup de Grâce? With Election Imminent, Has An Ancient Chivalric Order Been Toppled From Within? – http://www.lepantoinstitute.org/knights-of-malta/coup-de-grace-election-imminent-ancient-chivalric-order-toppled-within/ Last paragraph
Who is the real boss at the Vatican??!!!
Our Lord Jesus Christ, as we shall see at some point when He is judges that we have been punished enough for deserting Him and His Church over the last five hundred years. We have filled the poisoned chalice, and we now have to drink it to the dregs.
Right on.
This is such a scandal, yet we probably should be grateful to it for peeling back the cover of this festering mess.
Money and power. These have always motivated men and apparently will often prove to be their god.
Obedience to a man who has proven he is a traitor to the faith. What can that be considered. At what point is one complicit. These are all new questions for us. God, send us a leader. We are exactly like sheep with no shepherd, and wolves are surrounding us.
We need someone with the love of God and the inner resolve to steer the Church founded by Jesus Christ Himself to get it back on track. God please help us all.
Hmm, . . . and, whatever happened to that talk about a “fraternal correction” of the Pope? Ain’t gonna happen, folks! His Eminence, the Cardinal, is not the savior of the Church, for we have only One.
This just gets deeper and deeper and the corruption starts from the top!