Fr. Z's Blog

UPDATE 1 Dec:

This we now read at Religion Confidencial:

Religión Confidencial publicó el martes una noticia que ponía en boca de monseñor Pio Vito Pinto, decano de la Rota Romana, la afirmación de que los cuatro cardenales que han escrito al Papa “podrían perder el cardenalato”. La frase, tomada de una entrevista realizada por RC en la que monseñor Vito respondía en italiano, no es correcta. Revisada la grabación, se ha comprobado que lo que afirma es que el Papa Francisco no es un Papa de otros tiempos, en los que sí se tomaron ese tipo de medidas, y que no iba a retirarles la dignidad cardenalicia. La noticia está corregida, pero publicamos esta rectificación por si no fuera suficiente.

So now they are saying that Msgr. Pinto did NOT say that the Pope could remove the Four Cardinals from the College.  Instead under a different Pope perhaps that might happen.  HERE

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Originally Published on: Nov 29, 2016 @ 11:33

Via EWTN UK, the head of one of the Church’s high tribunals, the Roman Rota, said a conference in Spain that the Four Cardinals who submitted the Five Dubia about Amoris laetitia Chapter 8 could be stripped of their Cardinalate. The Spanish story is HERE.

«Los cuatro cardenales que han escrito al Papa podrían perder su cardenalato»

(Religión Confidencial) En declaraciones a Religión Confidencial, Pio Vito ha puesto de manifiesto que estos cuatro cardenales, al igual que algunas otras personas dentro de la Iglesia que ponen en duda la reforma del Papa Francisco y su exhortación apostólica Amoris Laetitita, están cuestionando «dos sínodos de obispos sobre el matrimonio y la familia ¡no un sínodo sino dos! Un ordinario y otro extraordinario. No se puede dudar la acción del Espíritu Santo».

Los cardenales Walter Brandmüller, Raymond Burke, Carlo Caffarra y Joachim Meisner preguntaron al Santo Padre algunas dudas de la Amoris Laeitita. El papa Francisco no les respondió y los prelados hicieron pública la carta a través de los medios de comunicación.

«¿Qué Iglesia defienden estos cardenales? El Papa es fiel a la doctrina de Cristo. Lo que han hecho es un escándalo muy grave que incluso podría llevar al Santo Padre a retirarles el capelo cardenalicio como ya ha pasado en algún otro momento de la Iglesia», ha afirmado Pio Vito a este Confidencial.

El decano de la Rota romana matiza: «Lo cual no quiere decir que el Papa les retire su condición de cardenales, pero podría hacerlo».

Durante la conferencia, Pío Vito dejó claro a los asistentes que el Papa no les ha respondido directamente a estos cuatro cardenales, «pero indirectamente les ha dicho que ellos solo ven blanco o negro, cuando en la Iglesia hay matices de colores».

[…]

Of course the Roman Pontiff can take away a red hat… anytime he wants and for any reason he wants.  There would be repercussions, but the Pope is completely free when it comes to members of the College of Cardinals.  Were he to decide that Cardinal X was no longer useful to him as a Cardinal, he could remove him from the College.  Also, he can make any priest or deacon a cardinal on any day of the week.  He doesn’t really have to wait for a consistory.  Were he to do that, there would be repercussions.  But he could do it.

In my humble, such a move of removing hats would be a grave strategic error, not just a tactical error.  In the 20th century one cardinal resigned (and the desire was mutual) under Pius XI.   But to strip cardinals of their hats because they asked questions?  Bad precedent.

We all know what this theoretical suggestion is about.

From EWTN:

Archbishop Pio Vito Pinto, Dean of the Roman Rota, told a conference in Spain that Cardinal Burke and the three cardinals who submitted the dubia to Pope Francis “could lose their Cardinalate” for causing “grave scandal” by making the dubia public. The Dean of the Roman Rota went on to accuse Cardinals Raymond Burke, Carlo Caffarra, Walter Brandmüller and Joachim Meisner of questioning the Holy Spirit. Archbishop Pio Vito Pinto made his astounding accusations during a conference to religious in Spain.

Archbishop Pio Vito’s indictment against the four cardinals, and other people who question Pope Francis and Amoris Laetitia, was that they not only questioned one synod of bishops on marriage and the family, but two synods, about which, “The action of the Holy Spirit can not be doubted.”.

The Dean of the Roman Rota went on to clarify that the Pope did not have to strip the four senior cardinals of their “cardinalate”, but that he could do it. He went on to confirm what many commentators have suspected that Pope Francis’ interview with Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops, was the Holy Father’s indirect response to the cardinals’ dubia:

During the conference, Pius Vito made clear to those present that the Pope did not respond directly to these four cardinals, “but indirectly told them that they only see white or black, when there are shades of color in the Church.”

The Dean of the Roman Rota, the highest canonical court responsible for marriage in the Catholic Church, went on to support Pope Francis’ innovation of allowing divorced and “remarried” to receive Holy Communion. In response to a question asking if it was better to grant divorced and civily remarried couples nullity of marriage so they can marry in the Church before they receive Holy Communion Archbishop Pio Vinto expressed preference for Pope Francis’s “reform”:

Pope Francis’ reform of the matrimonial process wants to reach more people. The percentage of people who ask for marriage annulment is very small. The Pope has said that communion is not only for good Catholics. Francisco says: how to reach the most excluded people? Under the Pope’s reform many people may ask for nullity, but others will not.

[…]

EWTN adds a comment, which you can read there.

I don’t think it will happen.

What sort of strategic error might such a move be?

I am reminded of…

The moderation queue is ON.