Back in May, we shared a report from veteran Vatican journalist Marco Tosatti, who had gotten wind of an alleged Vatican commission formed to study — and possibly to revisit — the teachings on contraception found in Humanae Vitae. Within a month’s time, the existence of this commission was confirmed by Professor Roberto de Mattei in a piece for Corrispondenza Romana.
De Mattei cited the words of Msgr. Marengo himself — the man who had been identified as the leader of this new commission on Humanae Vitae — and they were troubling indeed. They indicated that he favors an approach to the question of contraception that is reminiscent of the way Amoris Laetitia dealt with communion for the “remarried”.
In a more recent article in the same Newspaper (Vatican Insider, March 23rd 2017) with the significant title, Humane Vitae and Amoris laetitia, Monsignor Marengo asks if: “the polemical game – the pill yes – the pill no, like today’s – Communion to the divorced yes – Communion to the divorced no – is only an appearance of discomfort and strain, [which is] much more decisive in the fabric of ecclesial life.”
Marengo, in turn, cited the pope in this context, quoting Francis as speaking of an “excessive idealization, above all when we have reawakened trust in grace” that “has not made marriage more attractive and desirable, but quite the opposite.”
As I said in my commentary at the time:
[T]he key takeaway here is that just like we’ve been told over and over again that Christian marriage is an all-but-unattainable ideal, so if you messed up, no big, enjoy your adultery and by the way, here’s some Holy Communion, this is a mapping of that same “you’re never going to live this so why even try” ethos onto the question of contraception.
Interestingly, months later, certain media outlets have begun pushing back against the idea of this commission, relegating reports like ours to the realm of conspiracy theory. Cindy Wooden of Catholic News Service had a story yesterday in which she confirmed that “Four theologians specializing in marriage and family life are studying Vatican archival material with a view of telling the whole story of how and why Blessed Paul VI wrote his encyclical ‘Humanae Vitae’ on married love.”
Wooden continues:
Msgr. Gilfredo Marengo, leader of the group and a professor of theological anthropology at Rome’s Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, spoke to Vatican Radio about the study July 25, the 49th anniversary of the encyclical’s publication.
Some bloggers, writing in the spring about the study group, alarmingly presented it as an initiative of Pope Francis to change the encyclical’s teaching against the use of artificial contraception.
Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, chancellor of the John Paul II Institute, categorically denied the bloggers’ reports.
In reply to an email, Msgr. Marengo told Catholic News Service July 26 that the study “is a work of historical-critical investigation without any aim other than reconstructing as well as possible the whole process of composing the encyclical.”
“Anyone who imagined any other aim should have simply done their work and verified their sources,” he said.
Interestingly, Archbishop Paglia had also denied that such a commission even existed — and, according to Luciano Moia of Avvenire, that Msgr. Marengo was even associated with it. (More on that in a moment.)
Inés San Martín, the intrepid Vatican correspondent for Crux, takes a more sarcastic tone in her piece today entitled, “No, Virginia, there’s no ‘secret commission’ on Humanae Vitae“. The executive summary at the top of her commentary tells you most of what you need to know:
Rumors of late, circulated by mostly conservative blogs, have suggested that Pope Francis and Italian Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia have created a secret commission to reevaluate the teaching of ‘Humanae Vitae,’ Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical on birth control. As it turns out, establishing the truth of the matter is even easier than generating the conspiracy theory in the first place.
San Martín continues:
Paglia has denied that any such commission exists. Speaking recently with Argentine journalist Andrés Beltramo Álvarez, Paglia said, “There’s no commission, that’s all been made up.”
This interview was published online on July 13 in the Spanish Alfa y Omega. Paglia himself provided a translation into English via Twitter.
Yet on Tuesday, Vatican Radio published a separate interview with Father Gilfredo Marengo, a professor of theological anthropology at the St. John Paul II institute in Rome. Responding to questions, he said he leads a “research group” on Humane Vitae.
That raised some eyebrows, since Marengo is precisely the man the rumors had identified as leader of the alleged “reinterpreting-the-document” commission. So, I picked up the phone, called the John Paul II Pontifical Institute, and asked to speak with him.
He wasn’t there, but the person on the other side of the line happily gave me his email. I wrote, and not ten minutes later I had a response.
Marengo told me that, together with colleagues, he’s part of a research group on Humane Vitae, but it “has nothing to do with ‘reforming the encyclical’.”
[…]
Based on the Marengo interview with Vatican Radio, it would have been easy enough to whip up a piece claiming it proves Paglia was lying, that there really is a secret cabal planning to gut Humanae Vitae, slap on a click-bait headline, and presto: A new Internet sensation is born.
As it turns out, though, picking up the phone to get the actual facts of the situation was just as easy.
[…]
Perhaps the moral of the story is this: If conspiracy theorists would devote the same energy to real reporting as they do to mental gymnastics and connect-the-dots exercises, they might actually know what’s going on once in a while.
For Wooden and San Martín, it seems that the fact that the group not only exists and is headed up by the very people who were claimed to be running it months ago is irrelevant. You see, it’s just a research group! Nothing more. The word “commission” is nowhere to be found! And why would anyone believe that such a group might suggest some changes in pastoral application of HV’s guidelines on contraception? Surely, something as unchangeable as the Catholic teaching on contraception has never been overturned by pastoral guidelines issued as a result of a working group set up to study a matter of established doctrine.
I suppose we’re meant to believe that it’s more plausible that this group has been set up under the guidance of a man who has publicly stated — recently — that he views contraception through the same lens as Communion for the “remarried” simply because he has nothing else to do with his time. It’s not like there’s a priest shortage or anything. “Humanae Vitae: The Untold Story” is obviously a top priority in 2017.
Here I will return to the man who broke this story three months ago: Marco Tosatti (who, I’m fairly certain, has been practicing Vatican journalism for longer than the young Miss San Martín has been alive, in case she’s interested in any pointers of her own). In his post today, he engages in a bit of a “connect-the-dots exercise”, but we’ve decided (with his permission) to reproduce a translation* of it in full below all the same:
There are some things that are pleasing. On 11 May, we wrote that “In the Vatican, good sources tell us that the pontiff is about to nominate — or has even already formed — a secret commission to examine and possibly study changes to the Church’s position on contraception, as it had been settled in 1968 by Paul VI in the encyclical Humanae Vitae. It was the last document of this type signed by Pope Montini, and it was the formalization of what the Second Vatican Council had elaborated on this issue. So far, we have no official confirmation of the existence and composition of this body; but a request for confirmation or denial has been issued to the competent headquarters and so far has not been answered. This could be a signal in itself, in the sense that if the news were completely unfounded, it would not be difficult to say so. ”
A few days later, the US Catholic site OnePeterFive resumed the news, confirming its solidity. And on June 14, prof. Roberto de Mattei, on Corrispondenza Romana, provided some details. De Mattei wrote: “It will be Monsignor Gilfredo Marengo, Professor at the John Paul II Pontifical Institute, [who will act as] the coordinator of the commission nominated by Pope Francis to “re-interpret” the encyclical Humane Vitae by Paul VI, in the light of Amoris laetitia, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the former’s promulgation, which falls next year. The initial rumors of the existence of this commission, still secret, reported by Vatican reporter Marco Tosatti, were of a sound source. We can confirm that there is a commission, made up of Monsignor Pierangelo Sequeri, Head of the John Paul II Pontifical Institute, Professor Philippe Chenaux, Lecturer in Church History at the Lateran Pontifical University and Monsignor Angel Maffeis, Head of the Paul VI Institute in Brescia. The coordinator is Monsignor Gilfredo Marengo, Lecturer in Theological Anthropology at the John Paul II Institute and member of the Steering Committee of the CVII-Center Vatican II Study and Research magazine.”
On 4 July, in the Italian bishops’ newspaper, Avvenire, Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia, President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, released an interview with Luciano Moia. As writes Lorenzo Bertocchi today for La Nuova Bussola Quotidana: “The journalist [Moia], committed to the renewal of moral theology established by Amoris Laetitia, asked the prelate if certain ‘media manipulations’ about a secret commission for the ‘revision’ of Humanae vitae, the encyclical of Pope Paul VI on contraception and human love, corresponded to reality. Not only that; Moia also cited a supposed list of experts and theologians — from Pierangelo Sequeri to Gilfredo Marengo — who would be involved in this project. And then the fateful question: ‘Is there something true in all this?’ ‘Just nothing’, Paglia replied, rather, ‘it is a good time for the Church to help everyone reinvent the force of generativity while the world risks sterility’.”
Two days ago, Vatican Radio hosted an interview with Mgr. Gilfredo Marengo. In that same interview, he says that there is “a research group on the Encyclical, in view of the 50th anniversary”. It also names the members of the group involved in the work: Monsignor Pierangelo Sequeri, head of the Pontifical Institute John Paul II, prof. Philippe Chenaux, professor of Church History at the Pontifical Lateran University and Msgr. Angelo Maffeis, head of the Paolo VI Institute of Brescia. The very names same indicated by prof. But Mattei.
In substance: the news is confirmed, and even a certain secrecy is confirmed as well — let’s call it that — about the existence of this group. So much so that neither the institutional sources that we had contacted in May, without any reply, or Archbishop Paglia, who would have adjusted his denial in a different way, nor our colleague Moia, a specialist in these issues for the bishops’ daily, knew about it. As we said, these are events that give some satisfaction. And they confirm us in our great confidence and respect — with sound, deep reservations — towards official denials.
Why must we constantly play this cat and mouse game with the truth? Why, when we have a Vatican (and collaborators) that can’t be trusted — going so far as to change the wording of published translations and transcripts in a way that gives cover to controversial papal remarks (something John Allen of Crux defended) — should we believe these denials of reports that have been proven to be so close to the mark?
Is it that the “reconstruction” isn’t quite right? Is that enough to justify saying that a thing isn’t true? It’s not a “commission,” it’s a “research group,” so despite the fact that all the other details match up, it’s a conspiracy theory or a fabrication? Certainly, it’s within the realm of possibility that this “research group” will work diligently on a “historical-critical investigation” that will reconstruct “as well as possible the whole process of composing the encyclical.”
But without any other aim? No searching for loopholes? No examination of what possible equivocations Pope Paul VI might have considered before deciding against them? No exploration of Pope Francis’ own deeply troubling statements and gestures regarding the permissibility of contraception? No progress made in working toward the Francis’s belief that “We must always go forward. Always forward!”, and his goal of accomplishing “irreversible reform“?
Mark me down as skeptical.
Earlier today, I posted an excerpt of an essay pertaining to institutions in the secular sphere, and how when lying becomes necessary to maintain the status quo, the organizational goose is cooked. One part stands out:
Truth is power, lies are weakness. All we get now are lies, statistics designed to mislead and phony reassurances that the status quo is stable and permanent. The truth is powerful because it is the core dynamic of solving problems. Lies, gamed statistics and false reassurances are fatal because they doom any sincere efforts to fix what’s broken before the system reaches the point of no return.
The truth also has a name: Jesus Christ. And it is Him whom we serve. The present ecclesiastical system does indeed seem to have reached a point of no return, but Our Lord has guaranteed us that the Church He founded will never succumb to the enemy.
I long for the day when those in power in the Church lose the fear of confronting evil or of telling the whole truth, and instead work courageously to defend Christ’s teachings rather than constantly revisiting them in the hopes of finding a way around them.
*Maike Hickson assisted with this translation.
They are going to come after everything. Now it’s just a case of whether or not they do it in alphabetical order.
All sin is on the table and open for dialogue.
That is the Francis mercy.
What a fraud this is perpetrating on the many, and yet, many willingly embrace this Francis mercy.
Who will be left to tell them the Truth? A priest. It will rest on the shoulders of the greatest of those
in God’s eyes, His priest.
Funny that they didn’t say that Pope (?) Francis and all the Curia, in fact all clerics ..bishops, priests and seminarians at the Vatican , and every parish throughout the world, will have a week long celebration honoring the landmark encyclical, Humanae Vitae’s fiftieth anniversary. ….but I guess it’s a secret.
Who can trust this earthly Church?
i do not.
I do not trust with it my son, whom i am relieved to say, has decided to go to medical school rather than to seminary.
I do not trust with it my own soul, other than that of a holy and humble priest, who now seems to become more “tight lipped” with the onset of our new Francis appointed, immigration loving, social action crusader bishop.
I shall just wait.
I think your last sentence says it cs. We wait out the Bergoglian horror – it won’t last forever. In the meantime we pray and take whatever action can be reasonably expected of us. Your son can consider entering the seminary later – I’ll be praying for his vocation. God Bless you both.
Nothing would give me greater happiness than to have my son become a priest.
And yet, as a mother, I have prayed for his protection.
Perhaps for now, this is God’s answer?
Patience in all things. It is in God’s hands.
Thank you for your prayers. And God bless you too.
yes, we have in our diocese a M.D.who is now a priest.
I used to PRAY that my Grandson would some day enter the seminary and become a Priest for Christ in His Church. Now? I PRAY he doesn’t.
There’s a good chance he would have been sodomized by his rector and fellow seminarians.
But… there are good seminaries out there. God does not abandon His people.
“I long for the day when those in power in the Church lose the fear of confronting evil or of telling the whole truth…”
The shepherds are afraid of the wolves and have no qualms watching the sheep being eaten and the pastures turned to fields of blood.
The love of many has indeed grown cold.
Boy, true that!!!!!!!
Basically this:
“We’re studying the history of HV because we have no idea how in the hell Paul VI ever got there. It wasn’t suppose to go that way. But fear not, once we understand that, we’ll also understand (1) where he went wrong, and (2) how to ‘correct’ it.”
Exactly – this is the “Historico-critical” method down to a tee. Start with a premise you don’t like then use the “historico-critical” method to prove that in fact the author meant to say the exact opposite of what he only appears to say on the face of it. I have yet to see an “historico-critical” analysis which supports what Christians have always and everywhere believed.
I posted this over at LSN. In a manner it also fits here too:
I think it’s a good time to recall The Oath Against Modernism which St Pope Pius X introduced on September 1, 1910. (To be sworn to by all clergy, pastors, confessors, preachers, religious superiors, and professors in philosophical-theological seminaries): http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Pius10/p10moath.htm
Of course we know. It all began with the fight at Vatican II over contraception when several cardinals proposed to Pope Paul that the Church should accept it. This intense fight eventually led to the promulgation of Humanae Vitae, whereby the pope clinched it, forever.
Let’s hope they DON’T “correct” it.
Astute summary of their aims and goals.
Paglia issuing outright denials??? The same Paglia who commissioned and features in a homoerotic mural in his former cathedral??? Why should we not have the fullest confidence in this paragon of Christian virtue? I am certain that he is totally trustworthy and we can believe everything he says.
Absolutely!!! The ‘King’ of orthodoxy himself!!!!
To Fr. Gilfredo: We have to see Amoris Laetitia through the lens of the encyclical Humane Vitae, not vice-versa, and the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Humanae Vitae’s promulgation would be a good time to do this. Don’t forget, Humane Vitae’s principal statement forbidding artificial contraception is a dogmatic one, which means Catholics [including the pope] have no moral right to dismiss, challenge, or “reinterpret” it. Either accept it, or rue it!
“They had to pass ‘Amoris Laetitia’ before we knew what’s in it.” -Nancy Bergoglio Pelosi
Few things are more certainly true than that which has been denied by a pope, cardinal, bishop, monsignor, secretary, or janitor in the Vatican. Or by just “the Vatican.”
From today’s reading at Mass:
“Mount Sinai was all wrapped in smoke,
for the LORD came down upon it in fire.
The smoke rose from it as though from a furnace,
and the whole mountain trembled violently.
The trumpet blast grew louder and louder, while Moses was speaking
and God answering him with thunder.”
For a moment, let us pretend Moses is Francis, Mount Sinai is the Vatican, the Smoke hearkens to some long-ago words by Paul VI. Who might the Chief Protagonist be in this thought experiment?
“We must always go forward! Always forward!” FORWARD! and its use as a slogan has been an essential part of marxist rhetoric since at least the 1930’s
Today’s LifeSiteNews carries an article by Pete Baklinski: Clergy are the ‘main obstacle’ to Pope Francis’ agenda: Vatican newspaper. It quotes at length Fr. Giulio Cirignano, Scripture scholar at the Theological faculty of Central Italy. What most appalls is the obvious fact that Fr. Cirignano is speaking Bergoglio’s mind for him and, since the “Vatican newspaper is L’Osservatore Romano, with Bergolio’s full knowledge and ‘blessing’.
Father Mirango himself used the word “reconstruction” when discussing the document. When one reconstructs something are they not rebuilding it?
Yes, we are in fact studying Humane Vitae but our motives are perfectly innocent, you must understand and are motivated by nothing more than the curiosity of academic historians. However, as we were researching this material, perfectly innocently of course, we were surprised and maybe even a little astounded and disturbed to come across one particular document….. It really changes the whole story of Humanae Vitae and calls into question…..this important new information….potentially game changing….. (add your cliche of choice) blah, blah, blah. You know how it goes.
The first question which anyone with any critical faculties will ask themselves, is why, of all previous papal encyclicals, they are snooping around this one….and during this dreadful pontificate. The thing that really eats me up is that they think we’re stupid. They think that they can spew any old shtick and we’ll swallow it. They’re playing us for fools.
Exactly right. It’s a bit peeving to me as well that they think we’re just a bunch of idiots who would actually buy into the idea that 2+2=5.
So you’re saying 2 and 2 does not equal 5?? Get out of here.
Any stick is good enough to beat a dog.
Spot on. And why is anyone surprised? Pontifex already told us he supports contraceptive use for eugenic purposes — even those as benign as the fear of zika expsure.
We have come to a place in history where we can’t believe our politicians or the media. Who would have thought that the Truth is having a hard time in the Vatican?God help us all!
It’s not a commission it’s a research group….. I mean a think tank, really a politburo, I mean the council chaired by Screwtape
Hey, remember when all the “conservatives” stared yelling at us for believing things were as bad as they are? How we were all making things up and catastrophizing and being all paranoid and stuff? And remember when they denied it was even happening? And when we said that every time the Vatican issues a denial it means the thing is confirmed, and they all said we were nuts and stuff?
Yeah, that was fun.
Yeah sometimes it’s just too unbelievable, warning signs all along, although there’s always hope those in the Vat would turn back to sanity. Hey what happened to your blog? Used to enjoy that – although you were a bit rude sometimes, and once did you say a swear word?
Shut it down.
I’ll see if I can find you some pearls to clutch.
Yeah always appreciate news/views from the frontline… nobody ever talks about hot topics in the parish cafe.
I was wondering the same thing. I will miss your frank assessment of our new normal. Thank you for all your work and may God bless you.
Because of his charismatic personality, many saw John Paul II as a demigod, a figure that was not quite divine, but was more than just a man. That role, however, is foreign to the concept of the papacy and of Christianity in general. The pope has a very important role, but ultimately he’s just a man, and sometimes a bad one at that.
AMEN! And no one assisted more the creation of his own personality cult than JP II.
In reality, the pope is supposed to be “the servant of the servants of God”. The power to bind and to loose never applied to the Word of God, which stands for all eternity. With respect to contraception, God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply” makes it quite obvious that abortion, contraception and anything else that prevents, terminates or circumvents producing offspring is prohibited. Humanae Vitae merely confirms this obvious reading of Genesis.
🙂 They would still like to make us all out to be the ‘tin foil hat’ people. 🙂
“Universal Church Adopts Canadian “Winnipeg Statement” on Humanae Vitae; Pope Promises Pre-Humous Canonization of Remi de Roo”
“By my apostolic authority, I declare and decree that whether you want to use contraception is a free choice of couples according to their conscience and urge priests to accompany them in their choice to be at peace with God,” the pontiff is reported to have told Eugenio Scalfari. Scalfari reports that the pope “placed his right index finger against his nose” while he said, “Of course, Eugenio, this certainly doesn’t mean we’re changing the doctrine. It remans as an ideal for the heroic.”
HAHAHAHAHA! That’s why we liked your blog so much, Hilary.
I’m not against revisiting documents and teachings if it’s for the sake of strengthening the faith. After all that’s all we do regarding AL, either condemning it or picking out bits of orthodoxy. But a person’s reputation proceeds them as we say in English football – and this revisiting of HV sounds well dodgy. Another class article, thanks for keeping us informed of those dudes in Rome.
Arent we forgetting that in the early 1970’s some episcopal conferences, e.g. Canadian, American, Australian issued statements to their faithful via their clergy along the lines that one could be in “good faith” and contracept. It was outrageous at that time, but through establishing the principle that individual faithful could determine for themselves what was right or wrong for them, was that not what set in place the age of relativism? Cardinal Stafford wrote about 1968 and how the Bishops’ dissent affected the clergy. We know in the time of JP2 and especially under B16, various attempts were made to re-establish the idea of objective truth, but the ordinary pew sitter does not read Vatican documents as a rule. What’s different now is that the same project has been taken up again and extended in every direction. For this reason, it is far worse today.
The truth of the matter is that contraception has been practiced by most Catholics for years with the tacit approval of Popes and clergy. Re-interpreting Humane Vitae in the manner of Amoris Laetitia would hardly be news let alone earth-shattering. What is needed is divine intervention to shine a light on all the darkness.
I am really not a fan of Michael Voris’ Church Militant, but there is an important article on that site today about the PROVEN toxicity of artificial birth control, physically, spiritually and psychologically. Deadly in every respect. I happened over there from a link on the Pewsitter site. A psychologist tells the ugly truth about artificial birth control and how it has poisoned our society in every way…….it’s worth the trip over there to read it.
In relation to this, I happened to be listening to our local Catholic radio station several years back, when a former AMA executive spilled the beans about artificial birth control being a ‘CLASS A’ carcinogen. The AMA had of course known about this for a very long time, but of course did everything they could to keep it under wraps. The MONEY you know. And that’s just a part of the physical dangers of this monster called ‘artificial birth control.’ It’s really deadly in every single respect. The ‘culture of death’ starts with the pill.
All so true standtall909. Thank you for the good comment and the heads up on the Pewsittle article. Contraception is deadly in so many ways–especially to one’s soul.
Excellent, excellent comment. Even in the early 70’s , when Bernard Haring came to our parish for a talk he knew the pill acted as an abortifacient because I challenged him on that point. Another,, a Cuban refugee also tried to rebut his support of contraception. There was a five minute break but Fr Haing did not return for the rest of his talk.
And now PF, after all these years , has mentioned Bernard Haring in glowing terms . His meaning is clear HV will be reexamined and modified to mean whatever.
My wife is an internal medicine MD. Every female neurologist she’s ever worked with refuses to take birth control — not for ideological reasons, but because they’ve ALL seen way too many stoke victims in theirs 20s and 30s. That s#!t is poison.
Absolutely it is. And the kicker is, that the AMA has KNOWN that it is for eons.
Well if it is a carcinogen, then it is a case of what goes around comes around. For not wanting life, you end up without life.
Meanwhile, the auxiliary bishop under FrancisFavourite Cardinal Bassetti, attends an event for World Refugee Day in Ponte San Giovanni, a town that a few months ago lost its station master – murdered by African migrants when he tried to break up a fight in the station. The good bishop thinks that such people are an appropriate response to the demographic winter now facing Italy after 40 years of systematic episcopal suppression of Humanae Vitae.
We need a new Catholic drinking game; to be played with hard spirits only. Every time an Italian bishop says we need Islamic migrants in the millions to replace the population of italy, busy extincting themselves through contraception… take a drink while yelling “it’s the end of the world as we know it, and WE FEEL FINE!” https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3b276dd738571c04b7ebc9f3747e258bd3aebb1010c4ccd3ff39e6ff36c4489f.png
Christopher Dawson, in “Dynamics of World History” talks about massive immigration of those who are foreign in race, religion, and culture. There are three scenarios: The immigrants swamp the host culture; the host culture completely absorbs the immigrants; or the two mix happily and a new, richer race, religion, and culture is the result.
Guess which one we are seeing right before our very eyes? Suicide of the West anyone? Those who refuse to read history, and learn its lessons are doomed to repeat its mistakes. Fatal in our case.
If America would stop going after the leaders. some democratically elected ,of predominately Moslem countries in the Middle East and if European countries cut welfare benefits the invasion would end.
Is that guy naked under his chasuble? Sure looks that way.
That this is probable is all you need to know about the Church today. Beyond sad.
A good percentage of the Church today is so void of morality and spirituality that it is spilling over into even the secular media. It’s too big and too widespread for them to hide anymore. The range of emotions the Catholic faithful are going through is something to behold, and I’m afraid we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg. I often wonder if the Dear Lord is protecting us from the entire disaster that is our ‘institutional Church’ because He knows it would be too overwhelming.
If they are going to look at the history of the matter they might care to look at the subsequent history: the demographic disaster that is taking over Europe leading to unsustainable levels of immigration, Islamisation, the death of Christian Europe. In my own country Brexit came about as a gut reaction to these events but unfortunately few see or admit the connection with contraception and abortion.
” … the demographic disaster that is taking over Europe leading to unsustainable levels of immigration, Islamisation, the death of Christian Europe.”
You don’t get it Nicolas. They know all this very well. The point is – they want a lot more of all of it.
These things are exactly what they want.
If not, there’s really no other explanation. NOBODY is stupid enough to do this by accident.
This is a plan of the Devil who knows exactly what he wants. To put his plan into operation he uses ‘useful idiots’ who do not understand what it is all about and actually think they are doing good in executing his plans. Do not over-estimate the intelligence of the clergy!
Even though the devil and his minions have been playing gods ever since the Fall, and they’re definitely smarter than us, some people know full well what they’re doing.
These Vatican prelates consciously use mental reservation and obfuscation to accomplish what they couldn’t if they were being honest.
While the real “useful idiots” would be the people such as these reporters who are mobilised to protect them while they accomplish their goals all the while mocking anyone who sees that the king is actually naked.
In the end, the only one who wins is the devil but it takes two to tango.
Fr Marengo has only been at JPII since 2013, so appointed within Pope Francis time. He doesn’t seem to be swinging from the same tree as the other professors and academics at JPII. All of them are more like Stephan Kampowski and Livio Melina.
How did he get in? His interests don’t seem to be focused on the interests followed up by JPII at all. It is a wonderful Institute with extremely loyal teachers. None of them invited to the Synod in fact it seems excluded quite pointedly.
So how did Marengo get in?
Search on lifesitenews and on this site for the radical changes the have happened at the institute. If you don’t know why Marengo was put in then you must not know of the changes.
According to the Institute’s website, Marengo was a professor there since 1991. He was, in effect, an assistant professor from 1991-2001, an associate professor from 2001-2013, and a full professor since 2013.
http://www.istitutogp2.it/public/MARENGO%20Curriculum%20al%202013.pdf (in Italian)
I distinctly remember his teaching courses there in the period from 2006-2010 when I lived in Rome (many of my friends studied at the JPII Institute; I was studying at another pontifical school).
I don’t write this either to defend or accuse anyone, but just so that the information being bandied about in this discussion is accurate.
(I am not the same Maria as the poster of the comment to which I am replying, but was unable to change the name used by Disqus for my postings.)
Gaslighting. We’re not stupid.
This Pope.
This time.
This particular Encyclical.
They really do think we all have lobotomised pygmy brains to think we cannot see through a spot of “antiquarian research”.
Maybe they’re right, given the history of the last sixty years.
How I despise these devils with all my heart! Devils!
My thoughts exactly!!
Back when I was a lapsed Catholic trying to find my way back to the faith, I decided to study the question of contraceptives. It is this one doctrine which cemented my faith in Christ and his Church. There is no reinterpretation needed, it is beautiful just as it is.
Hey, why not baptize pharmaceutical sodomy? We’re all being systematically replaced by the third world, anyway. After all, the white West needs a bit of a browning. Asian, Arab, African, and that Jewish State are diverse enough.
Frankly, Mr. Skojec has no idea what this (supposedly) secret “Research Group” is up to. And, also frankly, it’s none of his business: Their affairs are their own.
For him, then, to stir up all sorts of “questions” and ” why-then’s” and the sort is the kinds of offense against Charity of which I warned him on another matter. In fact, I’ll repeat relevant contents from the CCC:
2478 To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbor’s thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way:
Let’s remember, of course, that Mr. Skojec’s attack is frequently directed, directly or not, at His Holiness, Pope Francis I.
Repent, Mr. Skojec.
You’re adorable. It is my business. It’s all of our business. Well, everyone who cares about the Catholic Faith, so I guess, if your comment is to be believed as sincere, we can exclude you.
Meanwhile, rash judgment? Oh no. Read this:
https://onepeterfive.wpengine.com/pope-francis-really-stand-contraception/
“If the prudence of reserve and decorum dictates silence in some circumstances, in others prudence of an higher order may justify us in speaking our thoughts…Better to be despised for too anxious apprehensions, than ruined by too confident a security.”
-Edmund Burke