“He who, when tempted, makes the Sign of the Cross with devotion, makes Hell tremble and Heaven rejoice."
St. Jean Vianney
Source: https://x.com/sitsio/status/2084595863377019377?s=46&t=IydJ-X8H6c0NM044nYKQ0w
“Several senior Vatican officials in Leo’s closest group of advisors told The Pillar that Leo’s informal and progressive relaxation of the application of Traditionis custodes will not stop.
“‘It’s not a liturgical issue, but an issue of communion. If you’re in communion with the Church, we should allow for reasonable accommodation for different charismas and styles, including those who are more traditional, and I think that’s the trend now,’ one official told The Pillar.”
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Is Pope Leo maintaining a TLM ‘gray area’?
Last month’s illicit SSPX consecrations and subsequent excommunications raised expectations that Pope Leo might soon act to expand the celebration of the TLM in communities that are in union with Rome.
But more than a month later, that expected papal action has not come.
St. Thomas Aquinas said that the absence of feeling is not the absence of God.
you pray and feel nothing.
you ask and receive no answer.
you do everything right and the silence persists.
then you think you've been forgotten, or that God is ignoring you.
like the little child who tugs at his father's shirt during a work call, but he's too busy.
St. Thomas would respond that God is not an object of the senses.
He is not what you feel, what you see, what you manage to grasp in the moment of prayer.
He is the foundation of everything that exists.
and the foundation doesn't vanish when you don't perceive it.
the sun doesn't disappear because it's cloudy.
it's you who can't see it.
the noblest faith is not the one that stirs emotions.
it's the one that persists, despite the silence.
the one that continues even without an answer.
the one that stays on its knees even without feeling anything.
God is there all the time
@fiamaetc
“Children are to obey their parents, not if their parents are holy and right, in everything but sin. Wives are to submit to their husbands, not because they're holy, not because they're right, but because God has given them that position — again, in everything but sin. Religious are to obey their superiors, whether their superior is right or holier than them, or no matter what it is, they are to obey in everything.
“And Christ's sheep, which is us, every one of us is to obey the successor of Peter, whether we know for sure he is, whether we agree with him, whether we can point out definite heresy. If he's the Pope, then we obey in everything but sin. We don't come against him. So that's where I left it yesterday, and my heart was completely converted."
Video: https://youtu.be/jDmxkXCbMok
Leo XIV has returned to the Vatican after a month-long vacation in Castel Gandolfo, and a series of important decisions await him. They aren’t all urgent matters, but what he decides in each of them will tell us a lot about how the pope intends to shape his pontificate.
These decisions will be subjected to the severe scrutiny of many, starting with those in the Vatican who championed Pope Francis’s decisions and refuse to backtrack.
The risk is that the pope will find himself, in the near future, facing a crossfire over the nominations and organization of the Roman Curia. You may even hear some chatter – some of it from persons highly placed – about abandonment or betrayal of Pope Francis’s curial reform project as expressed in his 2022 Apostolic Constitution, Praedicate Evangelium.
So, what are these decisions?
First of all, several dicastery heads have already reached retirement age and will need to be replaced.
They are: the prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro; the prefect of the Dicastery for Divine Worship, Cardinal Arthur Roche; the prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch; and the prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family, and Life, Cardinal Kevin Farrell.
In November, Cardinal Lazzaro You, prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy, will also turn 75.
So far, Leo XIV has operated consistently in all the dicasteries where he has been called to carry out generational replacements. The only exception is the Dicastery for Communication, where he has chosen Montse Alvarado, olim COO of EWTN, who, starting in November, will be called upon to oversee the complex machinery of Vatican communications.
For the rest, there were no major surprises, nor even any disruptive decisions. Leo XIV kept a fairly low profile, and this works for all major issues.
Voices have whispered about another possible change, this one to the Secretary of State.
It bears mention in this regard that the current Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, has thus far enjoyed the Pope’s absolute trust and is a little more than three years away from 75. The pope, however, may indeed want someone of his very own choice to lead the Secretariat of State.
There’s already considerable speculation about who the new Secretary of State will be, but little is being said about what Cardinal Parolin might do. At 72, any new assignment would be incomplete, even with an extension until he turns 77, because there wouldn’t be time for reforms and action.
There is, however, the possibility that Cardinal Parolin could replace Cardinal Fernando Filoni, now in his eighties, as Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher. The position would have an international and diplomatic profile and would be an ideal transition to retirement.
Furthermore, it would avoid appointing Cardinal Parolin to a position where he would be unable to complete his five-year term.
The Holy See, in fact, always prefers that prelates who can complete their first five-year term be appointed to senior positions, so that they can work with peace of mind.
Some say that Cardinal Parolin could be replaced by Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican’s current Secretary for Relations with States. But this is unlikely, given that Gallagher is already 73 and would therefore serve only two years before retiring.
This is a time for speculation.
There is growing talk of Bishop Erik Varden as the new prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity. There is talk of Cardinal Mauro Gambetti being transferred from his position as Archpriest of St. Peter’s to that of Bishop of Chieti. There is also talk of Bishop Guido Marini being appointed as the new Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica.
More: https://x.com/andygag/status/2084155268829417500?s=46&t=IydJ-X8H6c0NM044nYKQ0w
