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Papal Promises and Maneuvers: the Revelations of Cardinals Sistach and Meisner

Many of our readers might already be aware that in spite of his own exhortations in favor of open-hearted dialogue, Pope Francis himself was responsible for steering some of the discussions during the two family synods, especially with regard to the question of divorced and “remarried” couples. The most prominent example of these kinds of papal maneuvers is what Archbishop Bruno Forte had revealed less than a year after the 2015 Synod of Bishops on the Family, in May of 2016. Steve Skojec then reported, as follows:

Archbishop Forte has in fact revealed a “behind the scenes” [moment] from the Synod: “If we speak explicitly about communion for the divorced and remarried,” said Archbishop Forte, reporting a joke of Pope Francis, “you do not know what a terrible mess we will make. So we won’t speak plainly, do it in a way that the premises are there, then I will draw out the conclusions.” [emphasis added]

Archbishop Bruno Forte is of course also the same man who is said to have written the highly controversial mid-term report of the 2014 Synod on the Family which had stressed the “positive aspects” of homosexual relationships. It is also worthwhile here to remember Edward Pentin’s own book The Rigging of a Vatican Synod?

Here we would like to introduce for your consideration two more important disclosures which were published some time ago, but which we believe merit further reflection. The first of these comes from Cardinal Lluís Martínez Sistach, the retired Bishop of Barcelona. Sistach had been appointed by Pope Francis to participate in both the 2014 and the 2015 Synods on the Family. In February of 2017, in an article in L’Osservatore Romano, Sistach supportively discussed Amoris Laetitia and gave his thoughts on how to put it into practice. It was within this context that the Spanish cardinal mentioned a conversation he had had with Pope Francis during the 2015 Synod — including a discussion of divorced and “remarried” couples. In this conversation, the pope gave Sistach the recommendation not to talk so much about their possible access to the Sacraments, but, rather to talk about their “integration” in more general and somewhat abstract terms (perhaps, so as not to disquiet the synod fathers). Cardinal Sistach recounted the occasion as follows:

This greater potential “integration” [sic] of the divorced and “remarried” includes different forms, which could extend to the celebration of the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist. Remember that this new orientation during the Synod – to talk about greater “integration” rather than about receiving absolution and the Eucharist – was introduced in the synodal assembly in mid-October 2015. After the coffee break, as I walked back into the classroom, I had the privilege to converse with the Pope, who told me it was better to talk about integration. I immediately prepared a proposal with this new orientation with respect to the content of paragraph number 85 of the final document that we were looking at in groups, and I distributed it to my friends (cardinals) in the different groups. In my own linguistic [Spanish-speaking] group, in sets of three we prepared a new proposal speaking of “integration”, and within the group three similar proposals were formulated, then from all three together we prepared one formulation, which was approved by the group and was then included in the final document, and therefore our work [that day] became part of the final draft of Amoris Laetitia. I think it was a very positive change in orientation; rather than focusing on the ability of our brothers and sisters to be able to go to confession and receive Holy Communion, we agreed to talk about greater “integration” in the Christian community. And we know that in order for greater integration to be achieved, it takes an accompaniment and discernment which are the instruments of this integration. [emphasis added]

This revelation gives us yet another glimpse at the way in which Pope Francis tried to convey his own clear intent, and thereby to steer the discussions at the Synod in the direction he wished. He had applied this same method ahead of the second family synod when, in December of 2014, he gave an interview to the Argentine newspaper La Nacion. He then said:

In the case of divorcees who have remarried, we posed the question, what do we do with them? What door can we allow them to open? This was a pastoral concern: will we allow them to go to Communion? Communion alone is no solution. The solution is integration [sic – not conversion?]. [emphasis added]

What followed is not speculation, but history. The papal letter of approval – later, in September of 2016, to be sent to the Argentine bishops of the Buenos Aires region with regard to their admittance of divorced and “remarried” couples to the Sacraments – has made it clear by now what was in Pope Francis’ mind all along. And it seems he also made use of the collaboration of Cardinal Sistach to calm concerns during the 2015 synod itself.

Let us now turn to the second revelation. In the case of another cardinal – this time Cardinal Joachim Meisner – Pope Francis applied the same method of calming down and re-orienting a troubled prelate. As was revealed by Cardinal Meisner himself – even before the 2014 Synod on the Family – Pope Francis had assured Meisner that he [the pope] was a “son of the Church” and that, should there arise any doubt about a teaching concerning divorced and “remarried” couples, he surely would consult with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. As Cardinal Meisner then, in December of 2013, told the German radio station Deutschlandfunk in an interview:

When I last visited with Pope Francis, I was able to speak very freely with the Holy Father about all kinds of things. And I also told him that, in his teaching in the form of interviews and short speeches, some questions do indeed remain open which should really be better explained for those who are uninformed. The pope looked at me with big eyes and asked me to give an example. And my answer was then that, during his flight back from Rio to Rome, he was asked about the problem of the divorced and remarried couples. And that is when the pope responded and very simply said: the divorced may go to Holy Communion, the divorced and remarried not. In the Orthodox Church [however], one may marry two times. So far his statement. And then he spoke about mercy which – according to my words, this is how I told him – in our country [Germany] it is always being interpreted as a replacement for all kinds of failures of men. And the pope responded then very energetically that he is, after all, a son of the Catholic Church and that he does not say anything different from what the Church teaches. And mercy has to be identical with the truth, otherwise it does not deserve the name mercy. And additionally, he then said explicitly, if there are any remaining open theological questions, then the important Congregation for the Faith is there to clarify and to formulate that [matter] in detail. [emphasis added]

Being of good faith, the dear cardinal good-heartedly and trustingly added his own comments in that 2013 German interview:

That is to say, the Congregation [for the Faith], you always have to remember, […] still has the first place. And one may not simply declare its Prefect [Cardinal Gerhard Müller] to be a private man, simply because he had been once the member of a bishops’ conference.

Cardinal Meisner was later to lose that trust however, which came to light when he, together with another three cardinals, issued five dubia concerning Amoris Laetitia. Moreover, as we all know rather well, under Pope Francis, the influence of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has been progressively minimized, and the pope himself did not even pass on to Cardinal Gerhard Müller the full final version of Amoris Laetitia for the cardinal’s final review before its publication and papal promulgation. And Cardinal Müller has now been altogether removed from his former office.

Does anyone have any doubts why we have lost so much trust in the papal promises and in his tendentious maneuvers?

Andrew Guernsey contributed to this report. 

83 thoughts on “Papal Promises and Maneuvers: the Revelations of Cardinals Sistach and Meisner”

  1. Cardinals and bishops also had access to their mobile phones during the synods and were able to send out text messages to friends. “We all know who is really pulling the strings.” was what one delegate sent out – and he didn’t mean Baldisseri. I guess Francis kept his promise to his divorced and remarried niece and saw it come to fruition at the hands of the Buenos Aires bishops. Rodrigo Borgia redivivus.

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  2. As he has always done, Bergoglio speaks out of both sides of his mouth. His latest orthodox diatribe on the Eucharist and importance on the ‘Sacrifice of the Mass’ without ‘interruption by cell phone pictures, etc’ is bound to be followed by his crazy off the wall non Catholic rantings……always has in the past……get ready for it..

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  3. “Does anyone have any doubts why we have lost so much trust in the papal promises and in his tendentious maneuvers?”

    Not one.

    “Integration”, “Accompaniment”, “Discernment”, “Dialogue” = The foundational building blocks for the Neo-edifice of the Pseudo-Magesterium which we have seen being built upon the ambiguities of Vatican 2 that have been left without clarification.

    And that is exactly what is being formed, a new Magesterium spawned in ambiguity and now further clarified in heresy.

    Many have noted how the new paradigm always involves “proving” doctrines by reference to V2 documents, interpreted “just so” with previous texts rarely drawn-upon.

    As my wife who rarely comments on theological issues said when leaving a Traditional Mass one Sunday as she reflected on the comparison between the NO and the TLM: “It really is a different religion”.

    May God Save the Catholic Church.

    Reply
    • CDL CUPICH said today “ABORTION IS A CONTOVERTIAL ISSUE” !!
      Then he said FR James Martin is the foremost evangelizer of the church today,especially for youth!

      Reply
      • Pray for the faithful of his diocese. Every priest worth his weight in that diocese, should decry this statement and tell their parishioners that Martin is a heretical priest.

        Reply
          • I just read an article this evening which says that Cupich is in the running to HEAD UP the USCCB’s Pro-Life Committee!! That CAN’T HAPPEN!! As I understand it, the vote will be next week!

            YIKES! Fr. RP, is there anything we can do to prevent this???

          • No. All you can do is pray, do penance and protest to your Local Bishop and the President of the USCCB. And drink a lot of Maalox.

          • A few years ago Cupich was a candidate to head the USCCB. He was marginalized and shunned. I wonder how many of the bishops who voted him down are still around. The Servant of Satan Bergoglio has done some serious ‘housecleaning.’

          • Is Cupich that horrible ? Wow. Wow.

            Sacramento’s doing okay. The Number of Seminarians have been going down for a few years now.

            From 40-50 to around 23.

        • Of course I agree. Each pastor should instruct his flock in accord with the Catholic Faith and he should also warn them against those who propose error. Unfortunately, many priests in that Diocese are still from the Cardinal Joseph Bernadin era.

          Reply
          • Then my comment was not out of line? Good.
            I appreciate your feedback.
            I am not in the shoes of these priests, but I do hope they will not be bullied by such a corrupt cardinal.

          • Unfortunately, in Chicago they are most likely to be bullied by their parishioners, ‘brother’ priests, the whole heard of auxiliary Bishops and their Cardinal.

          • Frannie George came from Belleville and the seminary there (St. Henry’s). I would classify him as a saint. Saints don’t always know how to handle the devil or even the deep blue sea. You do know that he walked with a limp from something like polio as a child?—Actually, I don’t think that he is “rolling over in his grave”. He fought the good fight and left a rightful legacy. That’s as much as he could do.

          • Bullies, they are. But that is all they are. They cannot harm a good and faithful priest.

            Well, I am going to write the one priest I have had direct contact with, who graciously did an exorcism blessing on a medal of St. Benedict for a loved one; who kindly invited my husband and I to speak with him, over one year ago ; who is beloved by his faithful parishioners, who is under the authority of this Cupich, and whom I saw and heard great concern from his eyes and his voice. And that was well over a year ago!

            Please, if you would, pray for him and the other two priests who may very well be persecuted by this Cupich.

          • Most of them here will support Cupich of their own free will,
            no bullying necessary. Bernardin was very thorough.
            Most “problems” were quickly dealt with. There are still
            murmurings of a satanic cult encompassing 3 Catholic churches here. A satanic triangle as it were. Al Capone had nothing on Bernardin. If fire starts falling from the sky, it would be good if
            it started here. Bernardin also had dealings with Obama, who as a senator here voted to kill babies who survived abortions even though they were existing on their own outside the mother.

            https://www.barnhardt.biz/2014/07/28/the-one-about-the-bernardin-alinsky-obama-nexus/

          • The website ‘brianhehirexposed’ was quite active 6 or 7 years ago but has now gone silent. It’s still up on the web, as is its extensive data base, but the last entry was almost 6 years ago. It was run anonymously by a Boston area priest. The Archdiocese did all it could to find out who he was and I fear they may have succeeded. Hehir was a Bernardin acolyte and Cardinal Sean O’Malley’s right hand man and may still be. Many Catholics in this area think Hehir was running the place. He was an active speaker at homosexual and pro-abortion gatherings for years, but I haven’t seen his name mentioned in some time. Perhaps O’Malley has him stashed under a rock someplace.

          • Oh my gosh! I didn’t know that. What you said makes me
            even sicker than what’s posted on the website. 🙁

          • In my opinion, Bella Dodd was truthful, yes. I often wonder
            how many of them are in Chicago. I also read somewhere
            that Bernardin’s parents were surprised when he came home from college and announced that he was going into the Priesthood
            as he had never been particularly religious. 🙁

          • Barry O had his first job as a community organizer with an office in the basement of Holy Name Cathedral after being hired by Bernardin after graduating from Columbia. Actually, no one ever attended classes with him. He was a phantom student. While working for the archdiocese, he was matched up with Michelle by Jeremiah Wright. —- Malachi Martin wrote that there was a Satanic episode in South Carolina which linked with a similar one inside the Vatican early in the reign of Paul VI. I was stationed in Charleston, SC at the Naval Base. Bernardin had been a monseignor there during the time of the Satanic moment. He was accused of being involved.—He then went to Cincinnati followed by his assignment in Chicago. According to chaplain contacts at the Citadel Military College, Charleston was the center for devil worship on the East Coast. Really strange string of events in regard to Bernardin to be sure.—–Church Militant and Michael Voris have made a grand case for an active homosexual underground in the Church which has now come out of the catacombs. They are “out and about” and appear to be linked with the devil. Paul VI was quoted as saying that “the smoke of Satan has entered the Vatican”. There is your smoking gun. It appears that is what is contained in the Third Secret which was suppressed by John XXIII and every pope who followed him.

          • Yes, I believe that’s true. Here’s an excerpt from
            Goodbye, Good Men and a statement from a seminarian
            at Mundelein who spoke up to those in charge of the
            seminary.

            You may remember the name of Joseph Kellenyi. He figured in Michael S. Rose’s book Goodbye, Good Men, and in two of Rose’s articles in the NOR (Dec. 2002 and June 2003). Kellenyi, who was once a seminarian at Mundelein in the Chicago area, makes the following statement about a conversation he had with the Rev. John F. Canary, the Rector of Mundelein Seminary, in August 1999: “I told Rev. Canary that I had some problems with the Chicago Diocese. I told him that I perceived that while Cardinal Bernardin had probably lived a celibate life, and may not have abused Steven Cook, that he also was flamingly gay. I said that I perceived that under Bernardin’s regime, Chicago had become like Santa Rosa under Bishop Ziemann. I said that in Santa Rosa, those priests and seminarians not in the bishop’s gay clique were treated unjustly, and that the same was true of Chicago under Bernardin. I said that I perceived that Bernardin fostered and promoted a network of gay priests and bishops, and that they protected each other, covered up each other’s ‘mistakes,’ and promoted one another to positions of responsibility in Chicago and the church at large. I alluded to the fact that Bernardin had appointed Rev. Canary, and that he in turn had appointed the formation faculty. Rev. Canary’s response was ‘Your perception is accurate. The question is what are you going to do about it.’”

          • The only thing that I disagree with in your statement is that “Church” has a capital “C”. It must be remembered that the devil works best in an environment of confusion. Come to think of it. That is what our “royal mentor” appears to be doing. He is fostering confusion and smoke so that he can “pull strings” behind the scenes.

      • “Then he said FR James Martin is the foremost evangelizer of the church today,especially for youth!”

        I am sorry I doubted you. I had to verify it for myself.

        This is simply no-holds-barred diabolical godlessness now. These guys are finished with making any pretense at Catholic truth or even common decency.

        WHO AMONG THE PRELATES IS GOING TO STOP THIS?

        Reply
        • Our Lord will stop it in His time. Our Lady’s Immaculate Heart will be triumphant. We need to stay the course and defend Truth.

          Reply
          • Winslow my friend, sit down and let’s pass around the hot toddies or maybe an Irish coffee or two. It’s not easy to put your trust in the Lord. In fact, it is very tough. Just look at Peter who tried walking on water.

          • Where did I say i didn’t trust the Lord? Fifty years is a blink of God’s eye. I am certain He will prevail. I have no idea when. Do you?

          • Peter set out with his eyes firmly fixed on the Lord. It was only when he took his eyes of Jesus and fixed his attention on the storm that he lost trust and confidence and began to sink beneath the waves. It is the easiest thing in the world in these unprecedentedly difficult times, as the Barque of Peter appears to be on the very brink of capsizing and vanishing beneath the waves, to take our own eyes of the Lord and become fixated upon the horrendous mess and seemingly insurmountable and still increasing difficulties. But we know Who wins, because we have His assurance for it. It won’t be the ship’s rats, who infest the Barque in plague proportions. They are the ones who are destined to sink beneath the waves. As you rightly say; “Don’t know ………. when” but no matter; there is no greater certainty in this world. The Barque of Peter will become more stable, more powerful and more resplendent than she has ever, ever been.

          • My Jesus I trust in you. That doesn’t mean I am doing nothing it means I pray , I trust, I live the gospel and I never cease to defend Truth!! Stay focused on Our Lord and Our Blessed Mother. They are with us. This too will pass .Don’t let the enemy discourage us.

          • As Malachi Martin wrote, it is all in God’s good time. Francis is a “rat” to be sure. Eventually, he will “run out of cheese” and be accountable to someone more powerful than he.

      • Wow and he has put his name forward to lead USCCB Prolife efforts. If he is elected, the USCCB is officially as compromised as the German conference.

        Reply
    • Yes, there is The Real Mass and there is the LIl’ Licit Liturgy and they are entirely different and that was intended because the revolutionary Paul VI required a protestant rite, Lil’ Licit Liturgy, to brainwash the faithful

      Reply
      • It was the odious Anabale Bugnini who required and insisted on a Protestant rite. Paul VI rubber stamped it and inflicted it on the Church.

        Reply
          • He was a basket case. He was told directly by a witness of the deceit of Bugnini and ignored it. You should read his speech introducing the Novus Ordo Mass to the faithful. It’s a study in contradiction; often in the same sentence. Not my favorite pope.

  4. Politics…..pure politics. Backroom deals, corridor conversations, trade-offs, arm-twisting, double-speak, cliques, alliances, disinformation etc. etc………it’s enough to turn one’s stomach. It makes New York politics look like the Women’s Guild.

    The whole effin’ Francis enterprise is riddled with duplicity and dishonesty, right from top to bottom.

    Reply
  5. The Pope said jump, so I immediately jumped. Yes Holy Father!! Yes Holy Father!!!

    Some of these so called bishops are just so sickeningly pathetic in their papolatry and basic intellectual incompetence.

    Reply
  6. I don’t see, from the above article, what the Pope has done that is wrong. I lost confidence in the Popes not at all because of him, but entirely because of JP2 and Paul VI. I see no point in bothering with what these men do. And I certainly see no value in bothering with rumours and gossip, because the sole result of that is to make one lose one´s peace of mind over doubtful matters about which one can do absolutely nothing. To be qute frank, I just wish the Popes would shut up, and confine themselves to the occasional Encyclical, and leave the rest of us alone. I’m sick to deatn of the lot of them. They never ever shut their gobs, and it would be such a nice change if they would put a sock in it for a change.

    I can’t believe I’m alone in thinking this.

    Reply
  7. It is quite evident that the Holy Spirit was not really working during these Synods. It was really a work of the flesh, human intrigue and manipulation. The whole process was rigged by Pope Francis the Destroyer from the very beginning with pre-determined outcomes in mind. The sooner this destructive Papacy is over the better for the Church, all Catholics and the world. Deliver us O Lord!

    Reply
  8. Pope Francis is a master of ambiguity and obfuscation, i.e., a master prevaricator. He has both endangered and corrupted the faith of millions of Catholics. How much longer can his scandalous presence be tolerated by God? Evidently, most Cardinals patience with him seems unlimited.

    Reply
  9. It has been years now since we first lost all trust in the papal promises, lies and tendentious maneuvers. It’s good to be reminded of the facts in this article, if only to keep us on out toes, but, in the end it’s redundant.

    Reply
  10. I hope this can end the arguments that the confusion that Francis is causing is because of his lack of intelligence. He is an intelligent and cunning man trying to destroy the Church. He understands Church teaching but he rejects it.

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  11. There are no “positive aspects” of homosexualism — it is a sin that cries out the Heaven for vengeance, and it’s practitioners, if they understand Catholic teaching and yet refuse to repent, will end up in hell (1 Cor. 6:9-10). What are the “positive aspects” of that?

    The great deception that so many clergy and laity in the Church believe is that there is a special breed of people — a subspecies of the human race — who “are” homosexuals and transsexuals by nature. But God, who created man in His own image, created them “male and female”; He didn’t create them “LGBT”. That lie comes from the devil, and if we believe it, then we are aligning our minds with the mind of the devil, and no longer with the Mind of Christ (see Matt. 19:4).

    May God deliver us from the diabolical inciter of lust and lies who tempts all of us not only to accept sodomitic perversion, but to celebrate it and even allow our innocent, vulnerable children to be spirtually molested by anti-human LGBT “curricula” in schools:

    “For it is this (sodomy) which violates sobriety, kills modesty, slays chastity. It butchers virginity with the sword of a most filthy contagion. It befouls everything, it stains everything, it pollutes everything, and for itself it permits nothing pure, nothing foreign to filth, nothing clean.”
    – St. Peter Damian (The Book of Gomorrah)

    Reply
    • As to the statement, those who refuse to repent, will end up in hell, an atheist told me that he does not want to go to heaven: “You have to praise God day and night, I cannot think of anything more boring than that, he says. I want to go to hell and shake hands with all my friends”. After challenging him on several errors that struck me about his 2 statements, to absolutely no avail, I realize that he does not just refuse to believe in God, but he mocks the Judeo-Christian God, because He is not the God that satisfies the specs required/desired by the atheist.

      Their arguments are often:
      Why does God do…..?
      Why does God not do…..?
      Why would a good God allow…..?
      Why is God a He and not a she? etc., etc.

      We must die to ourselves to sense and love the God Who Is.

      Reply
    • Homosexuals who call themselves Catholics, and I think it’s at least a 50-50 chance Bergoglio is one of them, cannot possibly believe in God. If they did, they would be doing all they could to rid themselves of that curse and would be condemning it every chance they got. The USCCB is crawling with them. There are signposts in hell reserved for their skulls/

      Reply
      • Dear Winslow,

        We have to pray that clergy who have allowed their imaginations to become polluted with sodomitic indecency will have a conversion experience. We know that God doesn’t want anyone to go to hell, but the devil surely does. So we must pray that the corrupted clergy will be healed of this deception. If even one prominent clerical promoter of Sexual Transhumanism were to be converted, imagine the good that would do to uncover the smoke of Satan in the Church!

        Reply
  12. “Slique” is as slick does. Francis is an Italian con artist. I have a deceased Italian uncle who came from Northern Italy and married my dad’s sister. They had five daughters who were raised in a loving home. My uncle’s dad was a “knife grinder” who ran around this Midwestern city with a cart. I do not know about the monkey.—-His father and his brother went back to visit in Italy and were conscripted into the German Army and forced to go to the Russian front in WWI. They were taken prisoner and served out the war on a Russian estate in the middle of Russia from which there was no escape from slave labor. With the end of the war, they were released and spent six months walking across Russia to get out..—-My uncle was wounded at Anzio and walked with a limp his whole life. He was harsh but fair. You couldn’t put one over on the guy.— Francis is putting one over on us all. After all, he is an Italian who speaks Spanish. I spent six months running around Naples from a Navy cruiser on patrol. I had experiences with plenty of Italian con artists who would put Francis to shame.

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  13. What a strange world we now live in when we cannot trust the Vicar of Christ, the one man on earth we should be able to trust a implicitly… I’ve had a difficult day, and this just further confirms the insanity that is the time we live in. Lord preserve us!

    Reply

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