The musings and meandering thoughts of a crotchety old man as he observes life in the world and in a small, rural town in South East Nebraska. My Pledge-Nulla dies sine linea-Not a day with out a line.
Stand Alone Pages on 'Musings of an Old Curmudgeon'
The Remnant has begun a petition to stop the Youth Synod. How many of Uncle Ted's pals will be cruising it looking for fresh meat? #StopTheSynod2018!
Please sign the petition. Here is a petition to Francis to accept Wuerl's resignation, offered when he turned 75, three years ago. Please sign the petition. And here's one asking him to hold all the Bishops accountable. Please sign the petition.
What an absolutely great idea! As the Brits might say, it's quite smashing! The link is going in my sidebar under its own heading! Check it out! Maybe if we'd had this 30 or 40 years ago, some of the problems might have been avoided. From LifeSiteNews
August 31, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) — LifeSiteNews launched a new website today dedicated to providing U.S. Catholics with evidence of whether their bishop is faithful or unfaithful to perennial Church teaching.
Faithful Shepherds helps hold American bishops accountable by providing years, sometimes decades, of past tweets, public speeches, sermons, actions, pastoral letters, and diocesan guidelines.
For each of the nine issues, bishops are given one of four rankings:
Faithful to Church teaching
Not faithful to Church teaching
Unclear whether they are faithful to Church teaching
Not enough evidence has been collected for this bishop on this issue
LifeSiteNews co-founder John-Henry Westen commented that Faithful Shepherds is “extremely important for the life of the Church in the 21st century.”
“While the average Catholic may know who their bishop is, chances are they don't know his positions on the most important issues in the Church,” said Westen.
“Has he taken a strong stance on Amoris Laetitia or the sex abuse crisis? Does he honor Our Lord by refusing Communion to pro-abortion politicians,” he added.
Westen said that while news organizations report on what bishops say and do, there wasn’t until now a “one-stop database that provides American Catholics with easily-accessible, documented proof of what their bishops truly believe.”
“Actions speak louder than words, and that’s where Faithful Shepherds comes in,” he said.
One unique feature of Faithful Shepherds is the ability for visitors to send a postcard directly to the bishop of their choosing.
If the bishop has a track record of upholding Church teaching, the postcard thanks him for his efforts and encourages him to remain strong in the fight to defend the faith.
If the bishop dissents from long-held Church teaching, the postcard encourages him to stop endangering souls and to be faithful to the magisterium.
If the bishop has made ambiguous or equivocal statements about a particular issue, the postcard calls on him to clearly and courageously make known the teachings of the Church.
Although more than 750 pieces of evidence on many of the more than 250 bishops in the United States have already been uploaded to the site, Faithful Shepherds will be continually adding more information to its database.
Faithful Shepherds encourages lay Catholics to take an active role in defending Church teaching and submit proof of what their bishops are doing and saying in their dioceses.
Visitors to Faithful Shepherds can easily locate their bishop’s page — which features the bishop’s contact information, education history, and other personalized data — by typing his first or last name or his diocese in the site’s main search bar. Visitors can also search for a bishop according to a particular issue and filter results alphabetically or according to the bishop’s faithfulness to Church teaching.
Stephen Kokx, project manager for Faithful Shepherds, has been working on the site for the last ten months.
“Faithful Shepherds informs Catholics about which bishops are liberal and follow the trends of the modern world, and which are faithful to Christ. It may well save souls,” he said.
“The laity are going to play a role in all this, which is crucial at this point in Church history. Not only are they going to be the ones holding their bishop’s feet to the fire, they are going to help build up the Faithful Shepherds database,” he added.
Kokx said that the laity are “on the ground” and know what’s going on in their diocese.
“Many things take place behind the scenes at the local level that aren’t reported on by the media but are known by parishioners,” he said.
Bruce Sabalaskey, one of the site’s programmers, said he wished Faithful Shepherdshad been around when he was growing up decades ago.
“I think to myself just how different the Church would be today if something like this was up and running before, during, and after Vatican II. My hope is that Faithful Shepherds will help save the Church from falling even further into the crisis it’s already in.”
And this is exactly why the Catholic blogosphere must keep up the pressure! #FrancisMust Resign! # WuerlMustGo! The Den of Perverts needs to be rooted out of the Church! We can't rest until real action is taken! From The Eponymous Flower
Parolin: There is "unrest" in the Vatican
The Vatican is full of sadness and unrest.The Viganò dossier shakes the current pontificate and the next storms are already gathering together.
(Rome) In the Vatican, the dossier of the former Apostolic Nuncio Carlo Maria Viganò is obviously irritating.It is recognizable by contradictory reactions.Obviously, there is no real strategy on how to deal with it.The minimalist counter-strategy is: ignore and sit out.A strategy that is not lacking in explosiveness, because in the past, sexual abuse allegations have often been addressed in the same way.
Pope not distressed, Avvenire
First, the Italian news agency ANSA reported on Monday night that Pope Francis was "saddened" by the dossier, but not thinking of resigning.A resignation request had been linked by Archbishop Viganò with the publication of the dossier.ANSA did not name a specific source but merely "collaborator" of the Pope.There is, however, no reasonable doubt that the information was not from the immediate circle of the Pope and that their publication was intentional at that time. On Tuesday, however, two journalists very close to the Pope reported the opposite in Avvenire, the daily newspaper of the Italian Episcopal Conference:
"Pope Francis is not sad about the Viganò letter".
And further:
"The personages over of Francis's reaction to the dossier of the former nuncio demanding his resignation were denied."
As in earlier moments of this pontificate, one source of the Vatican denied another, and the same immediately. According to Avvenire , "the Pope works as usual".An assertion to the contrary of "a press agency" was described by the bishops' newspaper as "machination" and "vulgarity."Even Avvenire noted only "credible Vatican sources", but no specific names. Regardless, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke responded to journalist questions with a sneaky counter-question:
"Did the Pope seem sad on Sunday evening on the plane?I ask you …"
So much for the aspect of papal affliction.On the more explosive aspect, Avenire did not deny the ANSA report on Curial Archbishop Viganò's demand for resignation.That the pope does not think of resignation corresponds to the facts. Aldo Maria Valli, long-time Vaticanist of the RAI, who supports his colleague Marco Tosatti on the Viganò dossier, published an interview on Tuesday with Nuncio Viganò.He defended himself against harsh criticism from the papal circle, which cast doubt on his motivations and credibility.
"I'm not acting for revenge.I just want the truth to come to light."
In the interview, Viganò said even more:
"I was talking because corruption has now reached the top of the Church hierarchy.Turning to the journalists, why do not they ask what has become of the document box that - we all saw it - was handed over to Pope Francis by Pope Benedict on Castel Gandolfo?Was everything in vain?"
In fact, filming in March 2013 showed how the recently retired Benedict XVI.at the first meeting with Pope Francis he handed over a whole box of documents to him.At that time, the Vatican media attached great importance to showing a harmonious relationship between the two church leaders, which is why masses of pictures were distributed by both popes.It was not announced what the two discussed. Yesterday, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin spoke on the Viganò dossier.
"The pope is calm," the headline of Vatican Insider in direct speech, but "in the Vatican sorrow and unrest prevails." The Cardinal Secretary of State thus ironed out the conflicting reports of the previous day.It grieves, but it is not the Pope who is sad, but employees in the Vatican.The dossier of the former nuncio in the USA had caused "great pain", but not Francis, according to Parolin, but "with the collaborators of Francis". The Cardinal endeavored to give the impression that everything was going its usual course.The conversation with Vatican Insider took place on the outset of a reception in one of the courtyards of the Vatican Museums with "typical Mexican food and Mexican music". If one reads the statements Parolin more accurately, they do not quite say what the title claims.Literally, the Secretary of State said:
"I have seen a statement from the Vatican press office saying that the pope is calm.What I have seen (these days I was traveling with him to Ireland and beyond), he seems calm."
So Parolin did not want to confirm this serenity.Next he said:
"The Pope is a great mercy, even in the face of such things that, of course, cause so much sadness and unrest.But he has an ability to be very serene."
The Cardinal Secretary of State did not want to comment on the case of Archbishop Viganò:
"Compared to such things it is only possible to express the pain, great pain.I hope that we all work in search of truth and justice, that these are the points of reference of our actions and not others.Of course, the matter is by no means alarming."
In response to explicit demand from Vatican Insider, the Secretary of State refused to comment on the contents of the Viganò dossier:
"It's better not to go into details about these things.I repeat what the Pope said: Read it yourself and form your judgment.The text speaks for itself. "
Voices surrounding the allegations, they are very "alarming." The refusal to even attempt to refute them raises new questions. With this sentence cited by Parolin, formulated on the return flight on Sunday evening from Ireland, Francis once more followed his strategy of avoiding unpleasant questions by a non-response. The fact that the Cardinal Secretary of State has also repeated this sentence confirms how much the bomb of the Viganò dossier shakes the current pontificate. The counter-strategy is to ignore and it sit out. Ironically, this is the strategy that has been too often used by the Church to respond to sexual abuse allegations.
Meanwhile, the next storm is already brewing.Archbishop Viganò accuses Francis of having been informed of Cardinal McCarrick's depravity and yet remaining silent.Meanwhile, Francis is accused of having said nothing on Nicaragua.It is about a similar case: a gay double life and sexual relations of a bishop with his own seminarians and subordinates. The signs are pointing to storm, and it seems to be the "homo-heresy" that shakes up this pontificate.
I'm not a bit surprised! The best way to get in Francis's good graces is to be a pervert or an enabler of perverts (or a heretic)! From Gloria.tv Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez ordered on January 31, 2013 that his predecessor, pro-gay Cardinal Roger Mahony, “will no longer have any administrative or public duties”.
The given reason was Mahony’s role in the homosexual abuse cover-up. Mahony had excused himself for his “failure” to protect young men.
Five years later, on January 13, 2018, Pope Francis appointed Mahony as his special envoy at the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the diocese of Scranton (March 4).
Just more evidence of the strong arm, bully boy, dictatorial governing style that gets Francis called the Dictator Pope! From Gloria.tv The pro-gay AmericaMagazine.org (August 30), which is published by the Jesuits, asked Cardinal Marc Ouellet whether he did discuss the sanctions against Cardinal McCarrick in November 2011 with whistle-blower Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò.
On August 22, 2018, during the World Meeting of Families in Dublin, Ireland, where James Martin was a featured speaker, a number of Catholic LGBT activists from different countries, held a press conference to announce this initiative and to launch the corresponding website: Equal Future 2018. According to a reportfrom New Ways Ministry:
At the press conference, four young Catholic LGBT people told parts of their personal journeys growing up LGBT and Catholic.
One of the young people was Xorje Olivares, a gay journalist from New York City and a member of the Catholic LGBT ministry Out at St. Paul which is funded and overseen by the Paulist Fathers.
At the press conference, he stated:
I’ve come to accept the fact that being gay is a choice, but God’s, not mine.
According to the Equal Future web-site:
Catholic Church leaders need to consider the role that the church’s teaching on LGBT has had in giving children and young people the feeling that being LGBT would be a misfortune or a disappointment.
The campaign calls on the Synod to consider the damage done as a consequence of the Church’s teaching on LGBT, and to reconsider the teaching itself.
On July 16, 2017, James Martin, S.J., addressed Out at St. Paul, located at St. Paul the Apostle Parish in New York City. He had previously spoken to the group on March 2, 2017. On several occasions, Martin has recommended both the Parish and Out at St. Paul (see video interview, and a Facebook live discussion.) Following his July appearance at Out at St Paul, to publicize his book, “Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter Into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity,” Martin posted pictures to his Facebook account from the event and thanked the following:
Thanks to Fr. Gil Martinez, CSP, the pastor; Xorje Olivares and everyone at “Out at St. Paul’s,” the LGBT outreach group at the parish; and everyone who came to the “Building a Bridge” event tonight.
Lord knows that I love dick… and He has for quite some time. In fact, it’s been His will for roughly 29 years that I should solely find members of my sex attractive, and engage in physical (and often deeply spiritual) relationships with them in hopes of finding love. Who am I, a God-fearing Catholic, to question that? Jesus said to love my neighbor, and I can’t help that Grindr says the nearest one is 264 feet away.
New Ways Ministry was founded by Sister Jeannine Gramick and Father Robert Nugent. In 1999, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a “Notification,” and both were:
Permanently prohibited from any pastoral work involving homosexual persons…
In 2011, Gramick stated: “But because I know church history, I know change takes centuries. We are planting seeds for change at the upper level of leadership.” She continued: “When we started this work, only 20 percent of Catholics believed in equal rights for gays and lesbians. Now it’s over 73 percent…The church is moving.” In an op-ed for “The Washington Post,” she wrote:
Many Catholics have reflected on the scientific evidence that homosexuality is a natural variant in human sexuality, and understand that lesbian and gay love is as natural as heterosexual love. In forming our consciences, Catholics also consult scripture and our theological tradition. Here, again, there is little firm reason to oppose marriage equality.
The Global Network of Rainbow Catholics (GNRC) is an international coalition of pro-LGBT Catholic groups which aspires to radically change Church teachings with regards to homosexual activity and same-sex marriage. According to the GNRC “Mission, Values and Objectives:”
Our faith calls us to challenge all discriminatory structures and to advance the equality of LGBTI persons. Civil and church law should value and protect their human rights, not diminish or deny them. Any law or practice which oppresses, restricts, punishes or harms LGBTI persons is contrary to the Gospel…We affirm the goodness and holiness of sexuality as a gift from God to help us become closer to our beloved, to the divine, and to ourselves. We recognize that sexuality touches the most vulnerable parts of our identity and needs to be expressed in ways that are generously loving and compassionate.
One of the co-chairs of GNRC is German theologian Michael Brinkschroeder. In a 2017 interview, he said this about current teachings concerning homosexuality and the Church:
Sadly, the official statement is still: “Homosexual acts are a sin.” However, we are in a period of transformation. While the papacy of Benedict XVI can truly be described as an ice age for the cause of lesbians and gays within the church, we see the current developments under Pope Frances as a thaw. This means that there are signs that hint at a change. However, there have been no specific acts or statements that would help gays and lesbians practically in their everyday lives.
The fact that Germany has introduced equal marriage for gays and lesbians will hopefully lead to a change in positions within the church as well.
Asked about his vision of the Catholic Church in 20 years, he said:
My vision for 2037? That the marriage of two women or two men has not only become a holy sacrament, but that it is possible to get the church’s blessing for same-sex marriages. I hope the Catholic Church of the future openly supports and helps lesbians and gays who are seen as a normal part of religious life in many parishes worldwide. That might sound utopian to some, but this is already the case in some countries today.
Brinkschröder is also one of the organizers in the pro-gay activist group “Homosexuelle und Kirche.” The stated “goals” of the group includes:
..the systematic commitment to equality and recognition of LGBT persons within Catholic institutions. Specifically, this means talking to bishops, Catholic associations and Catholic relief organizations to explore and demand the respective opportunities for more equality…Topics will be according to the current considerations: Partnership blessing, Transgender and transsexuals, establishment of full-time pastoral structures in dioceses and support for human rights projects for LGBTs in Southern and Eastern Europe by aid agencies.
In 2016, “Homosexuelle und Kirche” participated in the influential biannual “Catholic Conference Day” which featured several prominent German bishops including Cardinal Reinhard Marx.
James Martinrecorded a video greeting for those attending the 2017 GNRC Assembly, stating: “I salute you…”
From August 10-12, 2018, Quest, a pastoral support group for LGBT Catholics hosted a “conference” at Robert Grosseteste University in Lincoln, England. The featured speakers include James Martin, self-outed gay priest James Alison, and Bishop Peter Doyle of Northampton. In 2012, Quest came out publicly in support of same-sex marriagein the UK:
If, as we believe, all love and fidelity between human beings has its ultimate grounding in God, then Quest sees no inherent reason why the dedication of two human beings, committed in a public act of self-giving and devotion, should not take place in an explicitly religious setting. Indeed, for people of faith, not to include that element in an act of public devotion would be to exclude an essential dimension, the dimension of faith.
When one is dealing with people who are so predominantly homosexual that they will be in serious personal and perhaps social trouble unless they attain a steady partnership within their homosexual lives, one can recommend them to seek such a partnership and one accepts this relationship as the best they can do in their present situation.
The Human Rights Campaign is a pro-gay marriage LGBT advocacy group which seeks to pressure the Catholic Church into changing it’s teachings on homosexuality. On their website is a downloadable brochurespecifically aimed at Catholics; Jeannine Gramick is extensively quoted:
“Historically, the Christian church has changed how it views sexuality but only officially after the change first occurred at the bottom, among the people. As a community, when we listen to each other’s stories, and feel for each other, we’ll experience a change of attitude.” She sees new hope in the attitudes professed by Pope Francis. “Francis says don’t obsess on cultural issues. He asks us to be obsessed with loving people, with supporting people, with having compassion. That’s the first step.”
Could it be....Gustavo Raffi, Grand Master of the atheistic, anti-Catholic, revolutionary Grand Orient of Italy and Servant of Satan? I'm sure he is 'a very interesting and influential Italian gentleman' and 'a very influential man in Rome'. From Vox Cantoris
Originally published on April 28, 2016, it is good to see that this information has finally come to light by more prominent writers.
Given the explosive Testimony of Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, this self-incrimination by McCarrick reveals as much about Pope Francis and what was owed to McCarrick for "talking him up."
According to Viganò, without McCarrick, there would be no Bishop McElroy, or no Cardinals Tobin, Farrell or Cupich.
Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, former Archbishop of Washington during a talk at Villanova University gave the following recollection of a conversation with an "influential" Roman during the period before the Conclave which elected Jorge Bergoglio as Bishop of Rome.
18:20 Just before we went into the general conversations when everybody can talk, a very interesting and influential Italian gentleman came to ask if he could come and see me, so I said “sure.”
He came to see me at the Seminary, at the American College where I was staying; and we sat down. He is a very brilliant man, a very influential man in Rome and we talked about a number of things. He had a favour to ask me when I get back to the United States, but then he asked,
“What about Bergoglio?”
I was surprised at the question, I said, “what about him.”
He said, “Does he have a chance?”
I said, “I don’t think so, because no one has mentioned his name, he hasn’t been in anybody’s mind, I don’t think it’s on anybody’s mind to vote for him.”
He said, “He could do it you know.”
I said, “What could he do?”
He said, “He could reform the Church, if we gave him five years,he could put us back on target. “
“Well, he’s 76.”
“Yeah, in five years, if he had five years. The Lord working through Bergoglio in five years could make the Church over again.”
I said, “That’s an interesting thing.”
“I know you’re his friend.”
“Well, I hope I’m his friend.”
He said, “Talk him up.”
That was the first that I heard from people that Bergoglio would be a possibility in this election.
(...)
I hope that the new, that the one who is elected Pope, will be someone who, if he is not himself a Latin American, would at least have a very strong interest in Latin America”. “Was that part of it? Who knows? What is it my friend said? “Push Bergoglio”? Did he say it to a lot of people? I don’t know.”
Consider this then.
Gustavo Raffi, Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy
"With the election of Pope Francis nothing will ever be the same again. With Pope Francis, nothing will be more as it was before. It is a clear choice of fraternity for a Church of dialogue, which is not contaminated by the logic and temptations of temporal power"
“A man of the poor far away from the Curia. Fraternity and the desire to dialogue were his first concrete words. Perhaps nothing in the Church will be as it was before. Our hope is that the pontificate of Francis, the Pope who 'comes from the end of the world' can mark the return to the Church-Word instead of the Church-Institution, promoting an open dialogue with the contemporary world, with believers and non-believers, following the springtime of Vatican II."
"The Jesuit who is close to the least ones of history," Raffi continues, "has the great opportunity to show the world the face of a Church that must recover the announcement of a new humanity, not the weight of an institution that closes itself off in defense of its own privileges. Bergoglio knows real life and will remember the lesson of one of his favorite theologians, Romano Guardini, for whom the truth of love cannot be stopped.
"The simple cross he wore on his white cassock," concludes the Grand Master of Palazzo Giustiniani, "lets us hope that a Church of the people will re-discover its capacity to dialogue with all men of good will and with Freemasonry, which, as the experience of Latin America teaches us, works for the good and progress of humanity, as shown by Bolivar, Allende and José Martí, to name only a few. This is the 'white smoke' that we expect from the Church of our times."
Pope Francis on "dialogue"
"Dialogue, dialogue, dialogue!" This, he said, is the only way for individuals, families and societies to grow. He said fraternal relations between people and cooperation in building a more just society are not some vague utopia but the fruit of a concerted effort on the part of all, in service of the common good.
This is on the sidebar of the Eponymous Flower. I agree and I incorporate it into the explanations of Musings of an Old Curmudgeon. From The Eponymous Flower This is a polemical Catholic Royalist blog. It will also attempt to provide a window onto various events, situations and personalities not generally or favorably presented to the purview of the general public in the English speaking world. It also hopes to be a bridge for those who wish to cross over, unite and fight for the truth.
Just remember, the Rhine still flows into the Tiber.
My voicemail intro on my phone says, 'If you are not in my phone, your call will not be answered', and the same applies to this blog. If you are not in my blogroll, do not bother commenting with a link to your blog. Your comment will be deleted without the link being checked.
If you think I might be interested in adding you to my blogroll, you may tweet me a link and a request.
Again, satire, but given the truly warped nature of the 'prosperity gospel' heresy, I wouldn't be surprised! From the Babylon Bee
ETHIOPIA—A newly formed charismatic humanitarian organization has made its first supply run into sub-Saharan Africa, dropping several pallets and crates of desperately needed prosperity gospel books into Ethiopia, local media confirmed Wednesday.
The organization’s pilots received visual confirmation of the successful reception of at least five of the drops by villagers in the rural countrysides of the poverty-stricken country, stating that grateful farmers, women, and children tore into the wooden supply crates, quickly distributing the health-and-wealth gospel to those in the most need in the villages.
“Thank you, just thank you so much,” one Ethiopian woman reportedly sobbed as she took a Joyce Meyer book from the stack next to the muddy road on which she walks five miles each day to obtain semi-clean water. “Our prayers our answered!”
“It’s the best thing we could give them to combat their dire situation,” a representative for the humanitarian aid foundation told reporters. “Once they learn that God’s will is for them to be wealthy and healthy, they will begin speaking this new reality out loud, in faith, and their circumstances will immediately change. As long as their faith is strong enough.”
“These people just need to unleash their destinies,” the representative added.
A second supply run is reportedly scheduled for the fall, in which supply helicopters will drop much-needed prayer cloths and vials of oil blessed by Benny Hinn himself.
This satire, but I wonder for how much longer? From the Babylon Bee
PROVIDENCE, RI—Personnel working at the newly formed “Department of Truth” at Brown University dutifully loaded up the official department furnace with a massive pile of science textbooks, curriculum, and educational videos that teach that boys are boys and girls are girls. The order to burn the material came down after transgender activists protested Brown’s recent study suggesting that some teens may identify as transgender partially due to peer pressure. The transgender lobby then discovered that the curriculum in Brown’s biology department still had several references to biological gender “as though it were some kind of scientific fact.” Brown quickly formed its new Department of Truth in response to the protests. “Hold the door Hank, one more batch to go,” a worker was heard calling out to a furnace attendant as he brought in a large pile of outdated PBS documentaries from a few years back. “We still gotta go through last year’s textbooks. I think most of them are getting torched.” After all material that suggested people are born as one of two genders was loaded up into the massive furnace, the large heat-proof door was closed, forever protecting the world from the outdated truth that there are only two objective genders. Setting the furnace to exactly 451 degrees Fahrenheit, workers at the department then reportedly slapped a large red button labeled “BURN” and vaporized the textbooks and other materials out of existence. “It was a pleasure to burn,” one worker said.
Vox Cantoris has taken the time to comment on my posting of The Vortex video, The Vortex—Fr. Rosica’s Secret. His comment is much more in line with what I had understood the case to be. From Vox Cantoris Jovan, Voris is wrong. It had nothing to do with his Superiors. It had everything to do with the heat his main funder, St Joseph Communications was getting, and; Fogler Rubinoff and the Nina Perfetto who suddenly found themselves the subject of global backlash and that the “pro bono” letter to three was going to turn into a million dollar deposition saga which would have included the Cardinal being called. Nobody gets in Fogler’s door without. $20k retainer and Rosica could not find it. So, when they found out that my response was “bring it in baby,” they folded. Voris is talking through his hat.
It seems that Whirly Wuerl, now a/k/a 'Wuerldo' has disappeared. Rumour has it that he's in hiding until Francis can get him out of the country. What's Francis afraid of? That Wuerl might spill the beans on the whole evil Den of Perverts Francis has been coddling? From One Peter Five
It seems that Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, D.C. and heir to Not-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, has disappeared.
Yesterday, both Church Militant and LifeSiteNews reported that Wuerl was in hiding while “final plans for sneaking him out of the country are executed,” according to Michael Voris.
From Claire Chretien at LifeSiteNews:
According to Voris, who says he received this information from reliable sources, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) may open up a RICO case against the Catholic Church. RICO, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, is a 1970 anti-organized crime, anti-racketeering law.
Because Wuerl would be a prime target of such a case, according to Voris, Pope Francis wants him out of the country lest he reveal “all he knows” because any potential DOJ case would lead to the Vatican.
“They are trying to sneak him out of the nation under Vatican diplomatic secrecy,” said Voris, noting Wuerl has backed out of a number of public events after the Pennsylvania news broke, and speculating he may be hiding at a hotel in the nation’s capital. Voris said priests of the archdiocese received a letter from Wuerl saying he was looking forward to seeing them during Labor Day weekend.
Voris elaborated:
Church Militant sources in D.C. confirm that Wuerl has completely gone off the grid — his cell phone has been shut off, he has not been in his private apartment for a number of days, all public appearances have been canceled and he has not even shown up for the weekly private confessions he offers for his priests.
Insiders believe he is holed up in a hotel in the greater D.C. metropolitan area while final plans for sneaking him out of the U.S. are executed.
Following the 2002 Boston Globe revelations of the homosexual clergy child sex abuse scandal there, Cdl. Bernard Law of Boston departed the United States for Rome and never returned to the country, shielding him from any possible prosecution.
Voris did not, however, explain anything about the “reliable sources” that had revealed this information to him. At the time of the Church Militant report, there was no outlet corroborating the story except for the rehash at LSN. Nevertheless, rumors continued, and I saw at least two different people on social media claim that Wuerl is already in Rome.
Today, Catholic journalist (and Cardinal Wuerl’s apparent personal nemesis) George Neumayr wrote:
Later today, D.C.-area priest Fr. Kevin Cusick tweeted:
Rumours in Rome earlier, Wuerl is here but maybe CM is right, that he is hiding, fleeing arrest possible arrest and about to come here. If he is going to be arrested, this will be a tremendous blow to Francis' regime
The fact is, nobody seems to know where Cardinal Wuerl is – though he is, according to a letter sent to the priests of his diocese, supposed to be present with them at an event on Labor Day.
This would be extremely humorous if it weren’t all so serious. Nevertheless, I find myself amused at the absurdity of it all. And while I chose the “Where’s Wuerldo?” approach to this latest bizarre chapter in ecclesiastical leadership, my friend Michael Hichborn of the Lepanto Institute came up with an equally good motif:
Feel free to use either if the Spirit – as Francis might say – moves you.
