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The Return of the Sankt Gallen “Mafia” – And The Loyal Opposition

Image: St. Gallen Cathedral. 

Just before tomorrow’s consistory in Rome where Pope Francis will come together with the Cardinals of the Catholic Church in order to elevate his new Cardinals, it seems that the brewing conflict which started in February 2014 with Cardinal Walter Kasper’s speech at the earlier Consistory is now coming to a head. As Steve Skojec has recently reminded us, it was at that time that 85% of the cardinals who then spoke up had rejected the “Kasper prosposal” which finally wants to admit “remarried” divorcees to Holy Communion.

In this context, the Four Cardinals Letter written against the papal document Amoris Laetitia is of importance because it summarizes again the opposition of the faithful Cardinals to some of the current papal deviations from Catholic doctrine. It is important to remember, too, that this conflict which now seems to come to a head likely started already at the 2005 Conclave, when no other than one of the signatories of the Four Cardinals Letter, Cardinal Joachim Meisner himself, tried to fight the progressive “Sankt Gallen Group” of Cardinals which was trying to stop then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger from being elected pope.

Among the prelates named as part of this conspiracy were Cardinal Godfried Daneels; Cardinal Walter Kasper; Cardinal Karl Lehmann; and the late Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini. All of those mentioned who are still living have had a role to play in the synods or in the promotion of the permissive approach to Holy Communion for the “remarried” that has followed from them. And it appears that this was one of their agendas in the intended manipulation of the conclave since they first began interfering over a decade ago.

There are two important German sources that can help us understand this larger background. First, Paul Badde, the German journalist and Rome Correspondent, had published some time ago two important interviews where he elaborated on the Sankt Gallen Group and the important role of Cardinal Meisner in the more conservative resistance against the Sankt Gallen Group’s attempt to get one of their own progressive candidates elected – or at least to keep Ratzinger from being elected as the new pope. The other source is Julius Müller-Meiningen, also a German Vatican expert.

Paul Badde says the following concerning the Sankt Gallen Group (which includes Cardinal Walter Kasper and Danneels) and Cardinal Meisner’s own role in fighting them back in 2005:

I knew that from a very reliable source, who had told me that they [the Cardinals belonging to the Sankt Gallen Group] were trying to have Jesuit Cardinal [Carlo] Martini elected, the popular archbishop from Milan. It’s true, also Cardinal Bergoglio from Buenos Aires was considered “papabile,” but wasn’t mentioned in that context. And [I learned] that they tried everything to prevent the election of Joseph Ratzinger. In the first photo after Benedict’s election, however, in the Sala Ducale, beside the Sistine Chapel, standing next to the new pope, a meter away, was Cardinal Joachim Meisner [then archbishop of Cologne] on his right side — with then another vacant meter [space] on the right of Cardinal Meisner. It looked as if nobody would dare to come close to Cardinal Meisner, as if he were still glowing — as after an enormous fight.

Badde said elsewhere about Cardinal Meisner’s role:

It is no secret that [Cardinal] Meisner at the time [of the 2005 Conclave] was the most passionate opponent of this group [of Sankt Gallen] in general, and of Cardinal Danneels in particular.

Badde himself had heard before the 2015 Conclave that there was a group of cardinals intent on preventing Ratzinger’s election. He says:

Well, I’ve been told that, on April 5 — only three days after Karol Wojtyla’s death! — a group of cardinals had gathered secretly to prevent the election of Joseph Ratzinger, the right hand of the Polish Pope for decades.

One important part of the agenda of the Sankt Gallen Group – named after the place in Switzerland where they used to meet regularly in order to discuss Church matters – was the goal of attaining the admittance of “remarried” divorcees to Holy Communion. That is one reason why they tried to prevent Ratzinger’s election.

As Badde put it, Ratzinger spoke clearly about the “dictatorship of relativism” (which he intended to resist), while Pope Francis now follows the doctrinal and psychological line that purportedly “unlocks” new pastoral developments. The themes of the reformers have now often been discussed at the two Family Synods, according to Badde: “There is no more talk about sin.” But, it has come to be, according to Badde, about the very preservation of the “Deposit of Faith.” For, when Cardinal Marx, for example, now says at a Synod Press Conference that “one should not call [active] homosexuals sinners,” Badde adds “then that is not fully Catholic.”

Müller-Meiningen himself described in 2015 in an article for the German newspaper Die Zeit the themes of the Sankt Gallen Group, namely: “sexual morality, the ordination of women, how to deal with remarried divorcees, also about the role of the local churches.” Later, he also adds the theme of synodality. The German journalist also quotes Cardinal Kasper himself as saying: “What Francis [now] tries to implement, is, to a high degree, in accordance with the thoughts which we [the Sankt Gallen Group] had at the time.” As Cardinal Lehmann also recounts, this Sankt Gallen Group was looking “especially for a renewal of the Church similar to, and a further following up to, the Second Vatican Council.”

It seems, according to Müller-Meiningen, that this group – which officially stopped their regular meetings after their lack of success at the 2005 Conclave – effectively brought about Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio’s election in 2013. The author says that the Sankt Gallen Group “played a not unimportant role when Jorge Maria Bergoglio rose to the Seat of Peter.” With reference to two recently published books – one of them a biography of Danneels himself, the other being a biography of Pope Francis – he also says that “the Sankt Gallen Group had an essential influence upon the preparation of the election of Bergoglio.” Müller-Meiningen adds “that they set upon the choice of Bergoglio in order to realize their own agenda in the Conclave of 2005, as well as at the election of 2013.” This German’s witness is important also because he himself is a more openly progressive Catholic journalist who has much sympathy for Pope Francis’ reforms.

As an additional source of information, we may quote here the late Cardinal Carlo Martini himself, an important member of the Sankt Gallen Group. According to the Catholic Herald, Martini made in his last interview, in 2012, the following suggestions with regard of the reform of the Church:

The cardinal [Martini] then goes on to suggest three things that need to be done, and here too there is nothing particularly exceptional in what he has to say: we need to reform our sexual teaching, return to the Bible and return to the sacraments. […] The cardinal mentions the plight of the divorced and remarried. [my emphasis]

Here is what Martini then said, according to a National Catholic Register translation:

Who are the sacraments for? These are the third tool of healing. The sacraments are not an instrument of discipline, but a help for people in their journey and in the weaknesses of their life. Are we carrying the sacraments to the people who need new strength? I think of all the divorced and remarried couples, to extended families. They need special protection. The church upholds the indissolubility of matrimony. It’s a grace when a marriage and a family succeed …

What we thus can gather from these two German sources – as well as from the statements of Cardinal Martini himself – is that the progressive cardinals of the Sankt Gallen Group were able to get their progressive pope elected in 2013. With it, their progressive agenda now is being more and more implemented within the Catholic Church. Those prelates – among them Cardinal Meisner – who still see that this new agenda stands in opposition to Christ’s teaching on Faith and Morals, have now recently spoken up and further resist Pope Francis to his face.

It is now to be hoped that the rest of all the cardinals who had spoken up against the “Kasper proposal” in 2014 – to include, importantly, Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – will use tomorrow as the occasion to resist the reigning pontiff, too, and help him to retract his serious magisterial errors. Before it is too late.

At what cost will Cardinal Müller and the other cardinals choose to remain silent, instead?

75 thoughts on “The Return of the Sankt Gallen “Mafia” – And The Loyal Opposition”

  1. Dr. Hickson,

    One quick correction, in the opening paragraph you put 85% of the Cardinals, when the quotes was 85% of the Cardinals who said anything (then he said the rest may have been too embarrassed to speak.)

    Also, I whole heartedly agree: action needs to occur asap, preferably before the elevation of New Cardinals. PF is ruthless and will probably excommunicate them at any time now. If they are going to act, they need to act soon.

    Reply
    • PF has deliberately cancelled the customary meeting of existing Cardinals prior to the elevation of the new Cardinals this weekend. Thus he attempts to avoid being challenged by those opposing him, while continuing to maintain his silence in the face of the 4 Cardinals’ request for clarification (as well as all the other requests for clarification).

      According to a Santa Marta source known to journalist Edward Pentin, of the National Catholic Register, the Pope is “boiling with rage” in relation to the challenge by the 4 Cardinals questions, to which the Pope must answer: yes or no.

      As Our Lord Jesus said: “But let your speech be yea, yea: no, no: and that which is over and above these, is of evil.” (Matthew 5:37).

      Clarity has so far not been PF’s characteristic.

      Reply
    • That’s right!

      The Big Four are certainly guilty of the High Crime of Orthodoxy and I wouldn’t be surprised if Pope Francis ex-comm’d them for THAT!

      I guess this whole affair will indicate just how much Mercy the Holy Father intends to dish out.

      Maybe the Big Four should have pulled the trigger sooner. You know, the Year of Mercy is about to run out and Pope Francis might designate 2017 the Year of Retribution!!

      Reply
      • They are rigid, pharasaical, hyocritical, schismatics and heretics,lacking in discernment, according to the Greek Capuchin bishop who came out with a vitriolic letter against them. If all their detractors can come up with are meanspirited ad hominem attacks, then they are the once who are smearing themselves.

        Reply
  2. I read in another place that PF has cancelled the meeting with the Cardinals in Rome for the occasion, which is traditional. If that is the case, it is obvious that he has taken this step to avoid facing up the the letter from the four Cardinals. Cardinal Muller is obviously between a rock and a hard place. What can he do? If he were to resign, that would provoke an even greater problem. Anyone who has read his excellent 800 page Manual of Dogmatic Theology can can find nothing in it against the teaching of the Church.

    Reply
    • His new book, The Message of Hope, points to his being on the side of the Fab Four. He has to stand with Christ as they are doing, otherwise the CC will fall & we already know this will not happen. To-morrow these Cardinals will need our prayerful support.

      Reply
    • I was going to say the same thing myself then noticed you had alerted us to it. Nothing will happen at the meeting tomorrow because Frankenpope has cancelled the meeting!

      Reply
  3. Francis has to go. He is a heretic… No other word for it. His backers are some of the most loathsome weasel word individuals in the Church. Kaspar is creature. Daneels a man who has paganised his country, promotes his friend as pedophile bishop of Brugges. He is a disgrace and he should have gone the way of O’Brien from Scotland who was more noble when his vices were exposed. These me serve Satan.

    Reply
  4. I agree Francis is a heretic. If he is not pope, what if Benedict dies first and Francis live to the present age of Benedict? No pope all these years and he continues to appoint likeminded heretics as Cardinals. What about the validity of the next conclave? For that matter, what about the validity of the next conclave if he died tomorrow with all the invalidly appointed heretics he has installed participating. How do we ever get back on course. By the way, even if he dies while Benedict lives any conclave would be invalid if Benedict is still pope. Please share your thoughts. I fight despair.

    Reply
    • Peace and calm to you. It is not by coincidence that Pope emeritus Benedict is still here with us. By God’s power he is still here. When he speaks on this issue we are now facing (even if he may speak these words on his death bed) the Church will have a clear understanding of the legitimacy( or lack thereof) of AL and Pope Francis’s pontificate. He is the most visible vestige of St JPII. I’m sure pressure is mounting on him to say something. I think the whole Church has been ushered into a game of chess amongst the faithful. In time more Cardinals and bishops will speak on where they stand. I think this timeliness has already been calculated by Cardinal Burke and the rest ( surely it is not by coincidence he and the others go public with the letter a few days before the consistitory). The faithful Cardinals, IMHO, have been planning this for a while. God always leaves a reserve for Himself regardless of who assaults the Church. As Cardinal Arinze once said, “is there ever a situation Christ did not foresee”?

      Reply
    • The way I see it is that the Bishops who hold the True Faith (and not the concilior faith) need to hold a council and elect a new Pope. I wish they would do it soon. The concilior church is imploding.

      Reply
  5. I wish I shared your positivity, I do hope you are right and Almighty God will not let papa francis do any more damage.
    Sacred Heart of Jesus, save us from these prelates and save Your Church. Amen

    Reply
  6. Should those whose rank allows them a voice remain silent, we have been indeed abandoned to wolves. The aberrant in doctrine and discipline portray themselves the advocate of the laity and are nothing less than butchers.
    Where is the courage? Where is the fidelity to Christ and His Church?
    Have the mass of these “men” apostatized?
    Have they gone mad?

    Reply
  7. Contrary to popular opinion, the 2013 papal election of Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio (Pope Francis) was not pursuant to Canon Law.

    The 2013 election of Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio (Pope Francis) was pursuant to Universi Dominici Gregis, Apostolic Constitution, On the Vacancy of the Apostolic See and the Election of the Roman Pontiff.

    The 1917 Pio-Benedictine Code of Canon Law, Canon 160, made it clear that the election of the Roman Pontiff is guided solely by Apostolic constitution.

    “The election of the Roman Pontiff is guided solely by the constitution of [Pope] Pius X Vacante Sede Apostolica of December 1904; in other ecclesiastical elections, the prescriptions of the canons that follow are to be observed [as well as] those special ones, if there are any, that are established for individual offices.”

    In this regard The 1983 Johanno-Pauline Code of Canon Law, Canon 349, is consistent with the The 1917 Pio-Benedictine Code of Canon Law. In pertinent part:

    “The cardinals of the Holy Roman Church constitute a special college which provides for the election of the Roman Pontiff according to the norm of special [not canonical] law [Apostolic constitution].”

    On February 22, 1996, Universi Dominici Gregis, Apostolic Constitution, On the Vacancy of the Apostolic See and the Election of the Roman Pontiff, was published by His Holiness John Paul II, Supreme Pontiff. In so doing, Pope John Paul II declared abrogated all Constitutions and Orders issued in this regard by the Roman Pontiffs, and at the same time declared completely null and void anything done by any person, whatever his authority, knowingly or unknowingly, in any way contrary to Universi Dominici Gregis.

    The election of Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio (Pope Francis) was therefore pursuant to Universi Dominici Gregis, Apostolic Constitution, On the Vacancy of the Apostolic See and the Election of the Roman Pontiff, Given in Rome, at Saint Peter’s, on February 22, 1996, by His Holiness John Paul II, Supreme Pontiff.

    It therefore behooves us to understand the relevance of Universi Dominici Gregis before discussing relevant allegations and arguments that focus on the 2013 election of Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio (Pope Francis) .

    Reply
  8. This is more exciting than our Presidential election and more important, too. Let us pray that the orthodox Cardinals be blessed with courage and that the heretical be blessed with humility.

    Reply
  9. Maike Hickson asks, “At what cost will Cardinal Müller and the other cardinals choose to remain silent, instead?”

    We might also ask, “At what cost will they choose to speak out?”

    It appears that anyone who dares to oppose our seemingly kind and tolerant “pope” suffers swift retribution.

    Reply
    • The retribution of the Pope is temporal, the retribution of God is eternal…far better to suffer the wrath of Pope Francis for being faithful to Christ and His Church that to suffer the wrath of God for being unfaithful to Christ and His Church.

      Pray that all the Cardinals, Bishops and Priests come to realize what is at stake: Their Salvation.

      Reply
  10. St.Gall, in English, was a companion of St. Columbanus, probably the greatest of the many Irish monks who left their homeland never to return and to evangelize Europe overrun by the Germanic tribes. What would St. Columbanus do in these circumstances. He was fearless and willing to accuse the local bishops and royalty at Luxeil, where he founded his frist monastery. He was convoked by the bishops to a meeting, but instead of going he sent them a letter and wasn’t afraid to tell them about their corruption to their faces. He and his monks were expelled from there and sent back to Ireland, but on the English Channel, their boat was sent by the wind to the eastuary of the Rhine and the pilot, due to superstition, refused to take them any further. They decided to go up river and they finally stopped at what is now St. Gallen, where St. Gall remained with part of the group and founded the famous monastery. This was at the beginning of the VII century, whe Pope Gregory the Great was Pope. In fact, St. Columbanus had correspondence with him. He would have no fear and would face up to anyone Pope or not whom he considered corrupt or in error. Unfortunatley, that great monastery was used by these disloyal conspirators to attempt to prevent Cardinal Ratzinger from becoming Pope and it appears that they had their way with Jorge Mario Bergoglio.

    Reply
  11. It can’t be stressed enough, that what is now being called the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, and the unanimous change of doctrine by Synod Cardinals, was in fact a conspiracy by a handful of dishonest men, who planned this long before they elected their tool, an unsophisticated SJW, Bergoglio. These people have no fear of a just God, no decency, no shame, no faith in God of the Bible at all. To them God is likely an evil demiurg, imposing his rigid rules on… reality, and its element – human mammals. This reality is simply the life of the flesh, the lowest common denominator, which the masons sell to us with threats of marginalization and punishment, should we dare to refuse the deal.

    This move of the sodomite mafia is a perfect opportunity to remind everyone that they are bold liars. Bergoglio wants us to “move forward”, and deny real reality of humanity – we have memory, and there is no progress in becoming Christ-like, without rejecting the flesh, and embracing His Kingdom, which is not of this world.

    They are liars, and they have no respect for us whatsoever.
    Yet I remember what they did, and will never believe anything they are saying (unless they repent and promise to change their evil ways).

    Reply
  12. Could it be that the “I’ Cardinals in the persons of Cardinals Carlo Maria Martini (now late), Godfried Daneels and Angelo Sondano are dictating to the Church by usurping the face and voice of Jesuit Cardinal Bergoglio who, unsuspectingly and unknown to him, became the rallying point for the conspirators.

    This issue is a point of deep seated reflection and a call to prayerful awareness more than it is an arrogant dissemination of classified information.

    On This Day of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and as part of activities marking the eventful celebration of this Feast, I am compelled to quote from the “Secret Files” as a way of drawing the attention of Pope Francis, the Members of the Roman Curia, the College of Bishops and the entire Catholic World to the looming schism, apostasy and heresy that stare the Church on the face.

    Thus:
    “ If in truth there are about three cardinals in the College of Cardinals who have
    been admitted into the World Union (a.k.a 666) and have, therefore, acquired
    the “I” personality, and if in actual fact there is a provision for each member
    of the World Union to communicate his personality – in this case the
    personality of Lucifer – to other nine people of his choice who are occupying
    the rank next to that of the 666 in the gradation of the World Union (whether
    these people belong to Royal Ogboni Fraternity, Raw Ogboni Fraternity, The
    Economist, The Government, The Trinity, CFR, e.t.c. and irrespective of
    the religion, gender or race), there is the likelihood that the College of Bishops has been infiltrated with more than a dozen Satanists. This also applies to
    both the men and women religious with regard to the different religious
    congregations. That a bishop, a religious or a theologian is a progressive or a
    conservatist does not change anything and will not. It is rather about
    conspiracy against Jesus Christ and the faith – the new apostasy. If one
    biblical Judas was able to do as much in the College of Bishops, then think of
    what a dozen of Judas can do in the Church. Yet, the picture in the Separated
    Churches, in Pentecostalism and in other religions like Islam has been
    consciously left in the shadows. This is the reason why many are very skeptical
    about the new Ecumenism and an unevaluated rapid Interfaith co-operation.

    Reply

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