Francis accepts ‘Donna’ Wuerl’s resignation

Wuerl to Francis the Most Humble

‘Donna’ Wuerl, “Yes, and I said that. I made errors of judgment when we were dealing with all those cases before the Dallas Charter. Some of those errors in judgment were based on professional psychological evaluations, some of the errors were based on moving too slowly as we tried to find some verification of the allegations. Those were all judgmental errors, and I certainly regret them. I think it is also worth noting that all those priests who were faced with allegations in my time there, if there was any substantiation for them they were removed from any ministry that would put them in contact with young people. I think what we can say is that a careful reading of the [Pennsylvania grand jury] report and the Diocese of Pittsburgh’s response, which the Pennsylvania Supreme Court allowed to be attached to the grand jury report, shows that I acted in a very responsible way to remove predator priests. What is important now is to be able to move beyond the questions of doubt, fallibility and not concentrating on myself but helping this church to get to a new place.”

Francis the Most Humble to Wuerl

Francis, “Your nobility has led you not to choose the way of defense. Of this, I am proud and thank you. In this way, you make clear the intent to put God’s project first, before any kind of personal project, including what could be considered as for the good of the church. Your renunciation is a sign of your availability and docility to the Spirit who continues to act in the church.”

‘Donna’ Wuerl on Viganò

‘Donna’ Wuerl, “In my read of that testimony, particularly the part that touches me, it is not faithful to the facts. There can be reasons for that, and I think Cardinal Ouellet is touching on what may be the primary one. In his testimony, Archbishop Viganò clearly says that there were secret sanctions in some form. But he also says himself that he never communicated them to me. Yet this should have been his duty. I find it difficult to accept his version that he holds me responsible for implementing something he never passed on or his gratuitous insult that I must be a liar when I say that I never received these secret sanctions. Certainly I would never have guessed that there were sanctions against Cardinal McCarrick from all the times I encountered him at receptions and events hosted by Archbishop Viganò at the Apostolic Nunciature. The gap between what he says and what he did and his easy calumny call into question for me the real intent and purpose of his letter.  I think there’s something radically wrong with any document that doesn’t provide proof for accusations of that gravity.”

The key word being “allegation”

‘Donna’ Wuerl, “I have clarified over and over again that during the 12 years that I served as archbishop of Washington no one ever brought me any allegation of misconduct, sexual misconduct by Cardinal McCarrick.”

Now all that’s left is for Francis to choose another kosher 
member of the Gay Lobby™ to replace Wuerl!

The outgoing president of the The Gay Mafia Mutual Admiration Society™ 
hands over the membership roster to the new president.

Benedict XVI resigned because ‘the greatest show on earth’ must go on

Related:

• Francis is cold caller while Benedict prefers to write

• Francis' Enabler

• Does Cardinal Bertone have a crystal ball with which he can predict the future?

• Fr. Benedict has a message for Francis

• Have Ann Barnhardt and Eric Gajewski been listening to Benedict XVI???

• Benedict XVI further clarifies why he resigned...

• Benedict XVI the traditional... modernist

• Is Benedict XVI still in touch with John Paul II?

• Benedict XVI is in great health!

Benedict XVI further clarifies why he resigned...

It was jet-lag!

A new one for the history books!

Today, the Italian daily newspaper, la Repubblica, published an interview of Benedict XVI conducted by Elio Guerriero — “Troppo stanco, così ho lasciato il ministero petrino”.  This interview is an excerpt from the soon to be published book, Servitore di Dio e dell'umanità, La biografia di Benedetto XVI (Servant of God and humanity, The Biography of Benedict XVI).  In this interview the question of Benedict XVI’s resignation comes up and the particulars surrounding his decision. In his own words Fr. Benedict says,

“In particular, the date for World Youth Day had already been set, which was to take place in the summer of 2013 in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. Now, in this regard, I had two very specific beliefs. After the experience of the trip to Mexico and Cuba, I no longer felt I would be able to take such a demanding journey. In addition to this, the setup of World Youth Day given by John Paul II made the physical presence of the Pope essential. We did not consider using a television feed or using some other technological means. This also was another issue that made the resignation a duty for me.  Finally, I had certain trust that even without my presence the year of faith would still go well.  Faith, in fact, is a grace, a generous gift of God to believers.  I had, therefore, the firm belief that my successor, as well as and then happened, he would equally bring it to fruition as the Lord desired, the initiative started (launched) by me. ”

Later in the interview’s follow-up question, Emeritus Benedict expands on the answer as if it wasn’t already comprehensible, 

“Above all [after the Mexico/Cuba trip] I realized was no longer able to face a future in transoceanic flights because of the problem of jet-lag.  Of course I also discussed this issue with my personal doctor, Prof. Patrizio Polisca, MD.  Thus it became clear that I wouldn't be able to attend World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro in the summer of 2013, because I would not be able to endure the jet-lag.  From then on I had to decide in a relatively short period of time on the date of my resignation.”

Well ladies and gentlemen, we have yet another first from Joseph Ratzinger!  He resigned from his papal office because he couldn’t “endure the jet-lag.”  What happened to picking up your cross and offering it up for Our Lord?  Or better yet, why not cancel the trip?  (And all future World Youth Days!)  From his conduct one would think Benedict XVI was answerable to someone other than God.

So, the spectacle of World Youth Day must go on.






It’s not like Joseph Ratzinger has ever followed Catholic tradition in anything he did.  In fact, he has a history of bizarre statements and actions.

Fr. Karl Rahner and Fr. Joseph Ratzinger at the Second Vatican Council

exhibiting the strange behavior of dressing like laymen in coat and ties.

The papal revolution must go on!

More on Benedict’s resignation:

• Francis' Enabler

• Francis is cold caller while Benedict prefers to write

• Does Cardinal Bertone have a crystal ball with which he can predict the future?

• Fr. Benedict has a message for Francis

• Have Ann Barnhardt and Eric Gajewski been listening to Benedict XVI???

Coming soon to Italian bookstores.

the halcyon days of Talmudic Jewish - Catholic relations

Rabbi Burton Visotzky on the 

Resignation of Pope Benedict XVI

Do you miss kosher Benedict XVI yet?

Selfie Sunday #8 (a special guest appearance)

This Sunday we have a special treat! Benedict XVI demonstrates that the self-absorbed humbleness of Francis is nothing more than a reverse hermeneutic of continuity.  Enjoy these two selfies of the fashionable but still a modernist, Benedict XVI.  He looked in good health when he recently performed the Novus Ordo Missae at his conference and he looks great in these selfies.  So why did he resign?

the hermeneutic of continuity

Do you remember what happened on the first anniversary of the announcement of Benedict XVI's intention to resign from the papacy?  Archbishop Georg Gänswein gave an interview in which he related the following,

Do the Pope and the Pope emeritus interact frequently?

There is an excellent relationship. The ways in which they interact are various. They telephone, they write, they meet, they eat together. Pope Francis has been a guest for lunch in the monastery several times. Once, after Christmas, the Pope emeritus was also in Santa Marta.

The are some who contrast them.

It is a favorite game, especially for some journalists. Which does not please me. I have the grace of living with one and working with the other. And I can thus allow myself to say that I know both very well. I do not see them as opposed, but as complementary. It is obvious that the style, the gestures, and even the form of government of Pope Francis are different from those of Pope Benedict. But an opposition cannot be established only based on this. Doing things in a different way does not mean doing them in an opposite way. One must always have in mind that which the Pope emeritus wrote to professor Hans Küng and repeated to Andrea Tornielli, when he expressed "identity of views and heartfelt friendship" regarding Pope Francis.

Also in the liturgy the sensibilities are different.

That is true, this is an objective fact, and it is not an offense to say so. But even in this case, I repeat, doing things in a different way does not mean doing them in an opposite way.

Radio Cristiandad posted two videos, in their post LA IGLESIA DE BENEDICTO XVI Y LA DE FRANCISCO, which demonstrate how the Novus Ordo religion looks under Francis  and how it looked under Benedict XVI. 

This is the Novus Ordo church with Benedict XVI (Germany)

This is the Novus Ordo church with Francis (Argentina)

Can you spot the difference?

Francis is cold caller while Benedict prefers to write

(Benedict taking off his zucchetto acknowledging Francis is in charge.)

“There is absolutely no doubt regarding the validity of my resignation from the Petrine ministry.  The only condition for the validity 

of my resignation is the complete freedom of my decision. 

Speculations regarding its validity are simply absurd.”

- Joseph Ratzinger -

Francis calls people out of the blue while his predecessor prefers to write letters.  Having recently written his friend Hans Kung, Benedict took pen to paper in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery and wrote to Italian reporter Andrea Tornielli the other day. Turns out Benedict wanted to put the kibosh on rumors that his resignation wasn't valid.  Is Resignationism dead?  For more on Resignationism see: Italian Journalist Antonio Socci: Ratzinger Resignation "May Not Be Valid"  Andrea Tornelli writes about this letter from Benedict XVI in an article posted today at La Stampa.

- Links to the full article by Andrea Tornielli -

In Italian, Ratzinger: la mia rinuncia è valida, assurdo fare speculazioni

In English, Ratzinger: “My resignation is valid. Speculations are simply absurd”

In Spanish, Ratzinger: mi renuncia es válida; hacer especulaciones es absurdo

 - Some of the more interesting quotes of the letter -

"I do not return to private life, to a life of travel, meetings, receptions, conferences, and so on. I am not abandoning the cross, but remaining in a new way at the side of the crucified Lord. I no longer bear the power of office for the governance of the Church, but in the service 

of prayer I remain, so to speak, in the enclosure of Saint Peter”

“I continue to wear the white cassock and kept the name Benedict for purely practical reasons. At the moment of my resignation there were no other clothes available. In any case, I wear the white cassock in a visibly different way to how the Pope wears it. This is another 
case of completely unfounded speculations being made.”

“I'm grateful to be bound by a great identity of views and a heartfelt friendship with Pope Francis. Today, I see my last and final job to support his pontificate with prayer."  

- from letter to Hans Küng -

“Professor Küng quoted the content of my letter to 

him word for word and correctly.”
- commenting on Hans Küng's interview -

for more on Hans Kung's interview about the letter Benedict XVI wrote him see :  Francis' Enabler

(Francis & Benedict  XVI, two modernist peas in the same pod.)

Francis' Enabler

On 11 February 2013 Benedict XVI announced his intention to resign from the papal office on 28 February 2013.  Later that same day lightning struck St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican City not once but twice!  A sign from God perhaps?  Without the resignation of Benedict XVI, Francis would still be Cardinal Bergoglio in Buenos Aires, obscure to the world which praises him so greatly now.  For those who believe Benedict XVI was forced to resign and opposes the changes Francis is making to the Novus Ordo religion, ahem Fr. Paul Kramer, keep reading.  Not only is Benedict XVI Francis' enabler but he fully supports him.

In a letter written to Hans Kung on 24 January 2014, Benedict XVI wrote,

"Today I see it as my only and last task to support his [Francis'] pontificate in prayer."

and furthermore Hans Kung said,

"[Benedict XVI is] committed to supporting Francis hoping for his every success."