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Pope Francis Cancels Meetings With Curia in Wake of Four Cardinals Letter

In a story reported by Deacon Nick Donnelly on the UK website of EWTN (the site is now down; there’s no saying if this is a traffic issue or some sort of denial of service attack) it has been revealed that Pope Francis will skip the usual days of meetings with the curia in anticipation of this Saturday’s consistory:

In an unprecedented development in the post Vatican II Church Pope Francis has cancelled his meeting with the world’s cardinals at the consistory he convoked to take place on Saturday 19th November. The Holy Father’s surprise decision follows the unusual step he has taken not to respond to the dubia — the five questions — submitted to him by senior cardinals to clarify confusion arising from his post-synodal exhortation, Amoris Laetitia.

A consistory is a formal meeting of the college of cardinals convoked and chaired by the pope that are usually conducted in secret, though can be held in public. The Code of Canon Law sets out the purposes of consistories:

Can. 353 §1 Cardinals assist the Supreme Pastor of the Church in collegial fashion particularly in Consistories, in which they are gathered by order of the Roman Pontiff and under his presidency. Consistories are either ordinary or extraordinary.

§2 In an ordinary Consistory all Cardinals, or at least those who are in Rome, are summoned for consultation on certain grave matters of more frequent occurrence, or for the performance of especially solemn acts.

§3 All Cardinals are summoned to an extraordinary Consistory, which takes place when the special needs of the Church and more serious matters suggest it.

§4 Only an ordinary Consistory in which certain solemnities are celebrated, can be public, that is when, in addition to the Cardinals, Prelates, representatives of civil states and other invited persons are admitted.

In the light of this, it appears unusual that having convoked a consistory the pope is not meeting with his college of cardinals to discuss important issues facing the Church.

Marco Tosatti, Italian journalist and Vatican expert, reports Pope Francis’s decision to cancel his meeting with the college of cardinals. He describes it as a “strange Consistory”,  strange because, unlike the other two previous occasions, the Pope will not meet the cardinals in Rome the day before. Tosatti observes that a consistory is a very special event in the life of the Church because it creates new cardinals. It is also a special occasion for the pope to “see gathered around him the College, including those who rarely come ad limina, to receive information, exchange ideas and perceptions, and send messages.” Marco Tosatti gives details of the unconventional programme

This year, there will not be a meeting with all the cardinals. The program provides only for the ceremony of creation of new cardinals in St. Peter’s Basilica, at 11 Saturday, November 19, and the mass the next day. The Saturday afternoon from 16.30 to 18.30 are provided courtesy visits, “di calore” in curial jargon.

Pope Francis used his first consistory to tentatively introduce his plan to change the Church’s teaching on communion for the divorced and civilly “re-married’. He invited Cardinal Kasper — the long-time proponent of radical change in the Church’s perennial teaching — to address his fellow cardinals At the time Marco Tosatti reported that Cardinal Kasper’s addresse caused consternation among the cardinals:

Card. Ruini noted that some 85% percent of cardinals who spoke up after Kasper were against Kasper’s proposals.  He opined of those who said nothing that perhaps they were simply “embarrassed”.

In the light of Pope Francis’s other unprecedented decison not to respond to the cardinals’ concerns about Amoris Laetitia, expressed to him in the traditional form of a dubia, it is being speculated that the Holy Father has cancelled his meeting with the college of cardinals in order to avoid discussing the dubia and his decision about it.

As I mentioned in my post earlier today, Tosatti has speculated that this may very well be a tactic for the pope to avoid having the dubia about AL presented to him in person.

Whatever the case, this weekend’s consistory has certainly taken on an interesting twist.

48 thoughts on “Pope Francis Cancels Meetings With Curia in Wake of Four Cardinals Letter”

    • Your picture provides proof positive that Francis did indeed receive and read the dubia, or as I prefer to call it, the ‘Joy of Confronting Heresy’ letter.

      Reply
      • When a person is under a microscope they need to guard their expressions, or their inside becomes their outside- grimaces don’t convey joy- joy is the byproduct of a virtuous life and comes from the Holy Spirit to those who are obedient to God.

        Reply
  1. This feels like a scene from the Lord of the Rings. And Barnhardt made a very compelling, logic (truth) based attack just recently, too. I wonder how the heretic will counterattack Burke and his bishops. I wonder if the majority of Cardinals are really embarrassed. They ought to be getting scared and angry. I pray this ends very soon with formal removal and a repair of the attempt to split the papacy as well.

    Reply
  2. A leopard can’t change its spots. My guess is that initially he may have called the consistory and in it do for Synod 2018 what he had done for Synods 2014/15. dubia [its gonna be a new word] threw a spanner in the works.

    Reply
  3. Why has the Catholic Church become such a bureaucracy, speaking a language that is hard to fathom, and confusing at best?
    Jesus had no earthly trappings, no grand edifices, no rings and things, he was just a human being doing the divine will of his Father. All this pomp, show and photo ops is not of the Lord!
    I am getting sick of it all – pomp and show on the outside, rot and decay on the inside.

    Reply
  4. Tosatti’s conjecture doesn’t make sense to me. A dubia is not like a summons that has to be hand delivered in person. Besides that, aren’t all the Cardinals going to be there for the bestowing of the red hat on the new cardinals and the mass the next day?

    Reply
    • A personal presentation of the dubia in front of the College of Cardinals would be rather awkward for Pope Francis, he is trying to avoid being directly confronted in front of the College. Why? Because many of them would simply ask him point blank why he won’t answer these simple question that are meant to clarify the Doctrines of the Church for the assistance of the Faithful.

      And he can’t answer that question without either presenting himself as an obdurate formal heretic, or undermining his own intentions for AL, or giving the appearance of being the biggest A-hole in town.

      Reply
        • Yes. But that has a format that is liturgical and given to monologue, as in PF monologue ad nauseam. It isn’t a dialogue where the others actually speak and PF has to listen.

          Reply
      • Father, it really does not seem possible that any Cardinal would present the Dubia to Francis in this public way, especially as it has already been delivered to him weeks ago. What would be the point?

        Cardinal Burke especially is much too formal and proper to make such a scene. I personally believe Francis is dodging his Cardinals. But there have been Consistories in the past where the pope has not met with the Cardinals as a group. Is this seeing what we want to see?

        Reply
        • No, I cannot believe that this is mere coincidence. And patience has run its course, the fact that the four Cardinals went public with the not just the dubia but the fact that Pope Francis refused to answer them means that they are ready to confront him to his face.

          Reply
  5. Thank God for Steve’s blog! I was looking for where to make a donation, couldn’t find it.
    Could it be that as the Obama/Clinton machine is dead, we are seeing the auto-destruction of Francis’ reign of heresy?

    Reply
  6. Not Pope. Not the Catholic Church. This infighting between these heretics is simply a red herring. By exiling Bergoglio as their sacrificial lamb, the Modernists will create the illusion of restoring the true Church in an attempt to allay the growing rejection of Vatican II and Modernism among their worldwide flock. Many Novus Ordites can be brought back to tradition and true Catholicism because their sincerity craves truth and they hear their Master’s voice stirring their consciences and sense of faith. A true Pope can and will correct these devastating errors. And rally the faithful back into the fold, although many who called themselves Catholic will remain lost in the confusion, doubt and error of Modernism. The Great Apostasy appears to be coming to an end…praise God! Until then, sede vacante. Go back to 1958 and follow the truth from there. You won’t find it in the Novus Ordo Vatican usurped by Modernist heretics with Roncalli’s “election”, nor their “Magisterium” comprised of fellow Modernists…long condemned by the Church and many of her legitimate Popes. The Roman Catholic Church has been in eclipse for 58 years and without valid Popes. The Holy Ghost is unwinding this Judeo-Masonic-Marxist revolution inspired by the Evil One. Simply revisit the Oath to realize what was done by these heretics. The damage has been tremendous and countless souls have been lost. http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius10/p10moath.htm

    Reply
    • Comment policy, rules 6 and 7:

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  7. OT:
    Last night at the prestigious Bambi Awards in Berlin the Pope was presented (not in person) the ‘Millennium’ BAMBI.
    http://www.bambi-awards.com/pope-francis-receives-bambi-award-in-rome/22732

    A long speech was given to pay him tribute and a ‘promotional’ film of Pope Francis and his works was played on a large screen for the audience.
    Not once during the speech or the film was Jesus mentioned; the closest they came was to mention that the Pope was an example of a true Christian (otherwise there was no mention of Christ or Christianity).
    I wondered to myself whether such an award could further the mission of the Catholic church or the divine commission of Christ to go and make disciples of all nations, or simply lead people to Christ.

    I tend to think that the whole thing was not conducive to leading people to Christ, as long as the Pope himself does not clearly give all the glory to Christ for the good deeds he is shown to be doing.

    By the way, the speech given basically focused on the Pope’s commitment to and work for refugees and combating climate change.

    Reply
  8. His is not the reaction of the Vicar of Christ defending Truth and the OTF. It’s the reaction of cowardice one sees from the playground bully who’s finally been punched back….hard by his victim(s). It’s the time honored way of handling all bullies…..punch them back real hard and don’t stop until they surrender.
    PF just blinked. His heresy has been continual from the beginning. But now he has crossed a line with the nonsense in AL. Clear, in your face heresy. This is not going away. Hopefully, more Cardinals will man-up and start acting like their titles…”Princes of the Church”….and all that the color of their “Red Caps” signifies….Defenders of the Faith and Faithful up to and including shedding their own red blood as necessary. Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

    Reply
  9. Questo è quello che si ottiene quando mescoliamo idealisti politici con la Santa Chiesa Cattolica Romana. Religione e politica non lavorano insiemeè ovvio che ci sia un programma politico per le decisioni del Papa Francesco di ritardo.
    I nostri Cadinals desserve essere in grado di svolgere il proprio lavoro come Dio vuole loro di. Ci accingiamo a parlare di questo per un lungo periodo di tempo…
    .

    Reply

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