The "case" of the Franciscans of the Immaculate
- Roberto de Mattei
looks like an episode of extreme gravity, bound to have consequences within the Church perhaps not foreseen by those who recklessly put them in this place.
The Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life (known as the Congregation for Religious) with its Decree of 11 July 2013, signed by the Cardinal Prefect João Braz de Aviz and Archbishop Secretary José Rodriguez Carballo, OFM, has ousted the top of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, entrusting the government of the institute to an "apostolic commissioner," the father Fidenzio Volpi, cappuccino.
To "secure" the decree, card. João Braz de Aviz, is equipped with an endorsement “ex auditu”, by Pope Francis, who takes away any possibility of an appeal to the Apostolic Signatura by the Friars. The reason for this conviction, which has its origin in a complaint to the Congregation for the Religious by a group of dissident monks, remain mysterious. From the Decree of the Congregation and the letter sent to the Franciscans on July 22 by the new Commissioner, the only accusations seem to be those of little "thinking with the Church" and excessive attachment to the ancient Roman Rite.
In reality we are faced with a manifest injustice against the Franciscans of the Immaculate. This religious institute founded by the Fathers Stefano Maria Manelli and Gabriele Maria Pellettieri, is one of the most flourishing which the Chuirch boasts of for the number of vocations, the authenticity of the spiritual life, fidelity to orthodoxy and to the Roman authorities. In the situation of anarchy liturgical, theological and moral, in which we find ourselves today, the Franciscans of the Immaculate should be taken as a model of religious life. The Pope often refers to the need for a religious life more simple and sober.
The Franciscans of the Immaculate stand out for its austerity and evangelical poverty which, since their founding, they have lived with their Franciscan charism. It happens however that in the name of the Pope, the Congregation for Religious emoves the governing of the community , to transmit it to a minority of friars. It is to these rebels, progressives, to which the neo-Commissioner will lean to "normalize" the Institute, or to lead it to disaster in which up to now it had escaped because of its faithfulness to the laws of the Church and the Magisterium.
But now the evil is rewarded and the good punished. Not surprisingly, while exercising an iron fist against the Franciscans of the Immaculate the same Cardinal hopes that there will be understandinging and dialogue with the heretical and schismatic American Sisters. Those religious preach and practice the theories of gender, and therefore, with them there is dialogue. The Franciscans of the Immaculate preach and practice chastity and penance and and with them therefore there is no possibility of understanding. This is the sad conclusion inevitably for a dispassionate observer.
One of the charges against them is to be too attached to the traditional Mass, but the accusation is specious, because the Franciscans of the Immaculate are, as they say, "bi-ritualists".They celebrate the New Mass, and the ancient as it is granted to them by the ecclesiastical laws in force. Faced with an unjust order, one can imagine that some of them will not give up celebrating the traditional Mass, and would do well to resist on this point, because it will be a gesture not of rebellion but of obedience. Favors and privileges in favor of the traditional Mass have not been repealed and have a higher legal force then that of the Decree of a Congregation, and even the intentions of the Pope i.e if you do not express a clear legal act.
Cardinal Braz de Aviz seems to ignore the existence of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificumotu of 7 July 2007, its implementing decree, the Instruction Universae Ecclesiae of 30 April 2011, and the Ecclesia Dei commission, attached to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.The Congregation for Religious today invades their field.
What is the intention of the supreme ecclesiastical authority? Supersede the Ecclesia Dei and to repeal the motu proprio of Benedict XVI? It is explicit, because the consequences can be learned. And if not, why put in place a decree unnecessarily provocative towards the Catholic world which refers to the Tradition of the Church? This world is undergoing great expansion, especially among young people, and this is perhaps the main reason for the hostility to which it is subject today.
Finally, the Decree constitutes an abuse of power that concerns not only the Franciscans of the Immaculate and those who are improperly defined traditionalists, but every Catholic. It is indeed an alarming symptom of the loss of legal certainty that is taking place today within the Church. Indeed, the Church is a visible society, in which there is the "power of the law and the law" (Pius XII, Address Dans notre souhait of 15 July 1950). The law is what defines right and wrong, as explained by the canonists, "The power in the Church must be right, and what is required from the Church itself, which determines the purposes and limits of the Hierarchy. Not every act of the sacred pastors, due to the fact that they come from them, is right "(Carlos J. Errazuriz, Law and Justice in the Church, Giuffre, Milan 2008, p. 157).
When legal certainty is not there, then the will of the stronger prevails. It often happens in society, it can occur in the Church, when it prevails over the human dimension of the supernatural. But if there is legal certainty, there is no mis conduct . Otherwise everything is left to the whims of the individual or groups of power, and the strength with which these lobbies are able to impose their will. The strength, separated from the law, it becomes arrogance and hubris.
The Church, the Mystical Body of Christ, is a legal institution, based on a divine law, of which the men of the Church are the custodians, and not the creators or owners. The Church is not a "soviet", but a building founded by Jesus Christ in which the power of the Pope and the bishops must be exercised according to the laws and traditional forms, all rooted in divine revelation. Today we speak of a Church more democratic and egalitarian, but the power is exercised often in a person, in defiance of the laws and customs of thousands of years. When there are universal laws of the Church, as the bull of Pius V Quo primum (1570), and the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum of Pope Benedict XVI, it is necessary to change them, with a legal equivalent. A law cannot be considered revoked or a previous law, if it is not explicitly repealed with an Act of equal capacity.
To defend justice and truth in the Church, we are confident in the voice of Jurists, among which are some of the eminent cardinals, ordered according to the "Extraordinary" Rite of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate and who know the exemplary life and apostolic zeal of this community. We appeal especially to Pope Francis, to withdraw the measures against the Franciscans of the Immaculate and against their legitimate use of the ancient Roman Rite.
Whatever decision is taken, we can not hide the fact that now that the Church lives today is dramatic. New storms are forming on the horizon and these storms are certainly not raised either by the friars, nor by the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate. Love for the Church, the Catholic Apostolic and Roman has always moved and moves us to take up their defense. May the Madonna, Virgo Fidelis, suggest to the conscience of everyone, in these difficult times the right way to go. -Roberto de Mattei
Translation L.A
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