Concerning the Latest Document from Pope Francis and Cardinal Fernández
– Read the Primary Document: “Norms of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith for proceeding in the discernment of alleged supernatural phenomena” [hereafter, Norms of the Dicastery].
– Read a Summary: “Vatican releases new norms on alleged supernatural phenomena” [hereafter, Vatican summary] on the Vatican News website.
| Read Part 1 HERE |
In the first part, we considered the first grave problem with these new norms, namely that Church authority will no longer judge any event to be of supernatural origin.
The Second Grave Problem: Authority in This Matter Is Being Taken Away From the Local Bishop.
“Another new norm involves the explicit involvement of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, which must approve the local bishop’s final decision, and which has the authority to intervene motu proprio at any time.” [Vatican summary]
The Church has always espoused the principle of subsidiarity. This means those closest to any given situation who have the capability to address the situation competently are the ones best suited to deal with it. In other words, in God’s right order, authority and power, right and responsibility, reside at the lowest feasible level.
A local bishop is meant, by God, to be a competent authority because he is a successor of the Apostles! He has juridical authority over his territory and all the powers which come through the Sacrament of Holy Orders. The alleged visionary is a member of his flock. Thus, God gives him the grace to judge alleged supernatural events as authentic or not. In the past, bishops exercised prudence by working in concert with Vatican officials, but responsibility nevertheless rested upon the local ordinary.
Now this authority is being taken away from the bishop. It reduces the nobility of his office even further and runs contrary to how Christ has divinely constituted the episcopal office. Many have lamented that under Pope Francis the bishop has become merely an administrative functionary who carries out “corporate policy” without being allowed to think or exercise his own judgment.
Again, the modernist’s denial of grace raises its ugly head, only this time it denies the grace God directly gives to a bishop. Yet, since the modernist rejects (or minimizes) the effect of the supernatural, he does not rightly consider what the grace of office actually affects. The bishop is not only meant to govern (administrate) his diocese but even more importantly, he is to sanctify and proclaim the Gospel (teach) in his diocese.
Being able to evaluate an alleged supernatural phenomenon is directly linked to his ability to sanctify and rightly teach his flock. If it is authentic, they may receive many graces through increased piety; and if it is false, they may persevere in truth by avoiding it. God often uses private revelations to strengthen doctrines under attack or dogmas being neglected, and the bishop and his flock will prosper spiritually if they heed a supernatural phenomenon he has judged “worthy of belief.”
Just imagine, what if Bishop Juan de Zumárraga had not been able to judge the tilma of St. Juan Diego and the Castilian roses as authentic miracles? Instead of directly carrying out Our Lady of Guadalupe’s request for building a chapel (which was completed within two weeks), he would have had to convey messengers across the ocean to Pope Clement VII. Would any evidence he had supplied been enough to convince a skeptical Curia in Rome? Would the Americas have been evangelized with the speed and potency only possible by prompt obedience to Our Lady?
A Sad Irony
It is terribly ironic how Francis and those hierarchs closest to him incessantly trumpet a Church of listening, dialogue, and of synodality, yet they continue to make moves that centralize absolute power more and more in the hands of a few.
We saw this in Traditionis Custodes, in the stacking of synod attendees and the sudden re-writing of procedural rules for a synod, in the terrible betrayal of the underground Church in China, in the espousal of globalist policies regarding the environment and COVID, in the ignoble ‘sacking’ of Bishops Joseph Strickland (Tyler, Texas) and Daniel Fernández Torres (Arecibo, Puerto Rico), and in the demotion of Cardinal Burke and others who refuse to adhere to Francis’ faithless agenda. These are but a few examples among so many that one could mention. By now, Catholics who wish to remain faithful to Christ should see through the facade of Orwellian double-speak.
I believe these are all steps for setting up the structures necessary for tyrannical absolutist control. Then just a few men in key positions can force all Catholics to go along with how the United Nations, World Health Organization, and global elitists (e.g., World Economic Forum) want to achieve a one world order under an essentially uniform government and uniform religion.