Benedict XVI’s much awaited letter to the Irish people came out and our response is: It is time for the French Revolution at the Vatican: Benedict XVI must resign, Cardinal Bernard Law et al must resign …Shut-down the Vatican http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2010/03/it-is-time-for-french-revolution-at.html
Catholics can emulate Jews [who hunted down Nazi officers] by hunting down pedophile priests’ officers Benedict XVI & Bishops into the World Court http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html
It is quite a coincidence that we would chose the Pied Piper of Hamelin, Germany, to laconically illustrate John Allen of All things Catholic (formerly The Word from Rome) in NCR because it is a German story and John Allen is attempting to save Benedict XVI when he was German Cardinal RATzinger who personally covered-up a German pedophile priest Fr. Hullermann see Timeline of Benedict XVI’s personal cover-up of a German pedophile priest when he was Archbishop of Munich, Germany http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2010/03/timeline-of-benedict-xvis-personal.html.
Photo of Pied Pier For those who are not familiar with the famous story, you can read about The Pied Piper of Hamelin in Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pied_Piper_of_Hamelin or watch the short Walt Disney’s movie in YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4xE8wwigWM
John L Allen in his book "Benedict XVI" at p130 quoted Cardinal Ratzinger in a 1979 homily to justify the penalties he imposed on Fr Hans Küng: "The Christian believer is a simple person: bishops should protect the faith of these little people against the power of intellectuals." Well, in this post, we are going to show to intellectuals John Allen and powerful Cardinal Ratzinger that Catholics are not or no longer “simple persons or little people” (or children of the Pied Piper) who will follow blindly All things Catholic and NCR and John Allen the Pied Piper of Benedict XVI and Vatican deceits and lies.
The main differences between John Allen and the Pied Piper are that John Allen is being paid well by the Vatican trillion dollar Bank and his pipe is his All Things Catholic column in NCR, and he can afford to sit all day playing with words and with his keyboard since he is paid well six-digits more than any other Catholic reporter on earth.
John Allen is Benedict XVI’s premier Pied Piper attracting thousands of Catholics in his All Things Catholic on NCR into the Papal Cave of Deceit and Lies. His article “Will Ratzinger's past trump Benedict's present?” March 17, 2010 is a Catholic atomic bomb of deceit and lies. Let us give you proofs by showing you the first paragraph’s deceit and lies and by giving you five articles below to support our claims, btw, the third, fourth and fifth article cite John Allen’s own writing in 2005. Fortunately, many of the proofs of John Allen’s deceit and lies are from his own writings, just like Benedict XVI and John Paul II, the proofs of their own papal deceits and lies are also in their own writings and speeches.
See Pope Benedict NEVER defended children abused by priests during his lifetime of 82 years – proofs are in the books written by him and about him http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2010/02/pope-benedict-never-defended-children.html
Benedict approved a decree attesting to John Paul's heroic virtues but he is "brought to nothing" by St. Paul http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2009/12/benedict-approved-decree-attesting-to.html
The first paragraph of John Allen is as follows.
« Gino Burresi may sound like the name of a shortstop from the '50s, but among Vatican insiders, it marks a watershed in the sexual abuse crisis. For those with eyes to see, the fall from grace of Burresi, a charismatic Italian priest and founder of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, shortly after the election of Pope Benedict XVI, was taken as a signal that the days of lethargy and cover-up were over. »
The first problem with John Allen is that he is a master of words and a manufacturer of words (like John Paul II was a manufacturer of saints) and to prove him wrong, one has to spend a lot of time dissecting his style and words which is a waste of time. (He is like those Internet fraud, they are difficult to catch). But we will do it for the first paragraph and you will see that this is the pattern in all his other works. Again, we do all these time-consuming weblogs (and honestly it is disgusting to be writing about John Allen, we don’t read his articles anymore, but we emulate the Jews who also felt disgust when they tried to catch Nazi officers) we do all these for the sake of the hundreds of thousands of victims of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army and to convince Americans, and now the world, not to call John Paul II a ‘saint” see Biggest Vatican stories of the decade: John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army committed Holy ES Eucharist-and-Sodomy of Biblical proportions http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2010/01/biggest-vatican-stories-of-decade-john.html this also points out John Allen’s deceits.
Let’s begin dissecting the Pied Piper of Benedict XVI ⁄ Vatican deceits and lies.
The phrases in the first paragraph of John Allen are qouted individually. Our comments are below each phrase.
“Gino Burresi may sound like the name of a shortstop from the '50s”
Let’s go to the first phrase of John Allen, “Gino Burresi may sound like the name of a shortstop from the '50s”. Who the heck is this guy? Does any journalist or any reader of Abuse Tracker know who Gino Burresi is? Does any victim of pedophile priests know him? The name does not ring a bell, it does not sound American, it does not sound current, and so he must be a foreigner. He is “a shortstop of the 50’s” because no one really knows him in the other half of the 20th century, or during the longest papacy of John Paul II, no one knows him in the USA, google him up and he is not even in the file of SNAP or Bishops Accountability who are the first and foremost trackers of pedophile priests. Gino Burresi is not mentioned in the period of 2002-2010, the height of the 2.2 billion dollars American Church payment to victims of pedophile priests.
So far what John Allen is saying is true that Gino is a shortstop of the 50’s becuase he is old, ancient and unknown. But that is the trick of John Allen; he is a Catholic historian and he can call on his characters at his fingertip and he can mix facts of history to serve his own purpose and agenda which is mostly to cover-up Benedict XVI and John Paul II and, of course, to glorify and empower his invisible employer, the Vatican trillion dollars Bank and whatever they tell him to do. NCR is only his convenient employer, his facade. And whenever the Vatican want John Allen to do something, it is known as “exclusive to NCR” – as you will see in the articles cited below. John Allen and NCR have sold their soul to the wealthy Devil for fame and fortune years ago.
So why is John Allen using (unknown) Gino Burresi as the first person, the first two words, the defining person, and therefore most important person, in Allen’s personal campaign for Benedict XVI in “Will Ratzinger's past trump Benedict's present?” Gino Buressi is from the 50’s; Ratzinger Benedict XVI is 82 years old, they are both related by their old age. So John Allen is using this old man Gino Burresi to save old man Josef Ratzinger who is implicated in the personal cover-up of an old German pedophile priests, Fr. Hullermann.
The deceit and lies of John Allen resides in what he is NOT telling his readers about Gino Buressi. He leaves the ordinary Catholic to simply take his word for it, or to search it out in Google and if she or he does, Allen knows that there are very few articles about Buressi in relation to sex abuse which all lead to John Allen exclusive article on him.
Mother Angelica in her EWTN featured Gino Buressi with Fr. Fox who admired him greatly; see first cited article below. Gino Burresi can mainly be found in only John Allen’s own archive, see third and fourth articles cited below, and in an Italian Vatican reporter, see fifth article below.
“but among Vatican insiders”
Now to John Allen’s next phrase “but among Vatican insiders”: This reveals and identifies himself as the author. This means that if you are not a Vatican insider you don’t know Gino Buressi. John Allen prides himself as the premier Vatican insider. John Allen is a special part of the cultivated ‘Culture of secrecy’ of the Catholic Church. This is one of the biggest problems about John Allen, that he is a Vatican insider and Catholics have to be at his mercy for information in the Vatican. He is, in fact the most exclusive Vaticanista as attested by his book “Opus Dei” because it is the Opus Dei who now controls the Vatican, the Vatican Bank and all appointments of Cardinals and Bishops.
See our earlier posts in the John Paul II Millstone http://jp2m.blogspot.com/ (No it is not the Jesuits nor the pope’s Public Secretary, Federico Lombardi is a puppet dog receiving his daily rations from Private Secretary Georg, see our earlier post with photos - Photos of the out-of-touch with reality pompous life of Benedict XVI at the Vatican http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2010/03/photos-of-out-of-touch-with-reality.html
Even the Vatican veteran Italian writer, Sandro Magister, (chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it) has to go through John Allen for Vatican inside information (see fifth article below). Only John Allen has a free pass to the Vatican and he is paid well for that which the IRS does not know because his $$$ wealth is in the Vatican Bank.
So listen, folks, to reach the Vatican, Catholics have to pass by John Allen first, “exclusive to NCR”. This is pretty pathetic. No wonder the first pedophile priests report in 1985 of Tom Doyle never reached the Vatican’s attention. The Opus Dei controlled the papacy of John Paul II, the CDF, Cardinal Ratzinger, and John Allen was the Pied Piper who alone had direct inside contact in order to write his column “The Word from Rome”. Catholics are indeed pathetic to depend on John Allen for first hand papal news when he is paid 6 digits by the trillion dollars Vatican Bank. They are being manipulated by Opus Dei Vatican hidden agendas - all the time.
“it marks a watershed in the sexual abuse crisis”
Now get this, Gino Burresi is the “mark” and the “watershed” in the “sexual abuse crisis”. Note that John Allen cannot get himself to say “pedophile priests” in this article because Opus Dei prohibits him to do so, believe it or not, the sacerdotal is the most sacred institution to the Opus Dei and they are the highest breed in the Opus Dei elite hierarchy. They are called The Priestly Society of the Holy Cross…and “pedophile priestly society” does not sound too good, does it?
So John Allen uses “sexual abuse crisis” without saying “clergy” or “pedophile priests”. Sexual abuse crisis by whom exactly, aliens from space? This style of writing is to support the Vatican’s claim that sexual abuse is done by other sectors of society.
John Allen goes to deploy the deceitful word “watershed” for the (implied) drought in the Catholic Church brought about by the “sexual abuse crisis”. He will be using and coming back to this allegory in future articles. But for now, this is one of his biggest deceits and lies in that he implies that because of Gino Burresi, the drought has ended in the Catholic Church, that there is water in the oasis. So amidst the eruptions in Europe of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army, John Allen is quieting down his Catholic readers that really, “all is fine, this crisis over…there is water in the desert”. What a serpent Master of Words, deceitful and cunning, and very disgusting!
“For those with eyes to see”
John Allen borrows from one of Christ’s saying: Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe…” Here he calls on his readers to use their eyes and see what is happening to Gino Burresi. He is a Pied Piper par excellence as he knows which button to press on Catholics.
So he craftily goes from “among Vatican insiders” (himself) to “those with eyes to see” (Catholics and his readers) and cunningly combines them both together. John Allen knows how to hook and keep Catholics hooked to him.
Here he’s saying, “You guys, use your eyes, see Gino Burresi, and stop looking elsewhere. I am telling you. I am the only Vatican insider. He is enough as a role model for all clergy abuse who got axed. So what other clergy abuse are you all talking about, it is over. It ended with Gino Burresi.”
“the fall from grace of Burresi”
This is the biggest lie of John Allen in this article. The “fall from grace” of Burresi is NOT about sex abuse. It is about seven religious matters not related at all to sex abuse.
John Allen makes it look like Burresi is the poster boy of clergy sexual abuse who got caught. He continues on in a very tricky way in the second paragraph which is very misleadingly and deceitful:
« Burresi, 73 at the time, was barred from public ministry in May 2005, just one month after the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to the church's top job. While the decree cited abuses of confession and spiritual direction, Vatican sources were clear that accusations of sexual abuse involving Burresi and seminarians, dating to the 1970s and '80s, were a principal motive for the action against him. »
What is alarming is that the exclusive news of this “fall from grace of Burresi” and “Vatican sources” is John Allen himself alone. See the third, fourth and fifth articles below. Unity Publishing which initiated and worked on the downfall of Burresi since 1984 was totally dependent and cited John Allen’s NCR report: “A 20-page report from the tribunal, a separate document from the decree, was obtained by NCR. It cites seven offences by Burresi”.
The Vatican gives exclusive rights, “obtained by NCR”, to John Allen alone.
Even the San Francisco Faith which chronicled Archbishop Levada’s official acts had to cite NCR and be at the mercy of John Allen: “Among his first acts as prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Levada signed a decree removing the head of a religious order from active ministry, said the July 22 National Catholic Reporter…The charges against Father Burresi which have resulted in this year's decree, however, do not primarily concern sexual misconduct but violations of the seal of the confessional.” http://www.sffaith.com/ed/news/2005news/0509news.htm
Sandro Magister of Chiesa.espresso Italy’s most veteran Vatican reporter also had to depend on John Allen’s NCR Vatican document and (was forced to) corroborate with Allen that Burresi’s discharge was sexual abuse related in his article entitled “The First Sentence from Prefect Levada Makes the Legion Tremble”. See the fifth article cited below.
These four articles cited below (the main sources about Gino Burresi’s fall from grace) prove that John Allen evidently is given exclusive control of the Vatican’s important documents “exclusive to NCR”. John Allen is part of the “Wall of Secrecy” and “Culture of Secrecy” of the Vatican and that is why he could dare call his column from Rome “The Word From Rome”. And Zenit.org is “The World seen from Rome”. Both are partners in the “Wall of Secrecy” of the Vatican and both controls the deceits and lies about the papacy and the trillion dollar Vatican Bank.
So John Allen is the sole Pied Piper and his flute is “Made in Opus Dei” see our other postings about him
-----Opus Dei Fr. Mcloskey http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html
----- Biggest Vatican stories of the decade: John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army committed Holy ES Eucharist-and-Sodomy of Biblical proportions http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2010/01/biggest-vatican-stories-of-decade-john.html
----- Catholic websites & Benedict XVI's spiritual penance versus Secular government’s justice of monetary compensation & jail time http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html
----- American litigation against Benedict XVI-Cardinal Ratzinger the head of a Global Web of Childhood Sexual Abuse http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2010/02/american-litigation-against-benedict.html
Things Benedict XVI must do as proofs of his penance for the Irish victims of pedophile priests http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2010/02/things-benedict-xvi-must-do-as-proofs.html
Cardinal Ratzinger had no concern for children, he was busy making other theologians “fall from grace” like silencing Jesuits like Jon Sobrino see
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20061126_notification-sobrino_en.html Notification on the works of Jon Sobrino
“a charismatic Italian priest and founder of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary”
John Allen does not tell the details about Burresi because if he does, readers would discover his deceptions that he did not “fall from grace” because of sexual abuse. Burresi’s case is special, like Marcial Maciel Degollado of the Legion of Christ, in that it has been brought directly to the Vatican by his many enemies. One of the things that caused Burresi downfall was that the Vatican Bank could not control directly his money as they could with the annual 100 million euro of Padre Pio see second article below “Padre Pio Shrine Fever: Could it fatal?”
The lies and deceits by John Allen are in what he is not telling us that these are the seven reasons why Burresi was axed by Benedict XVI. Sure he was charismatic, so what, there are many charismatic priests out there. It is all these details that John Allen want kept secret because they do not pertain at all to sexual abuse by the priest Gino Burresi. John Allen wrote July 22, 2005 in The Word from Rome, in the first sentence: “Sexual misconduct, however, is not the primary charge”.
In fact, it was never part of the official sentencing against Burresi. These were the charges against Burresi: The report lists the accusations against the priest: violation of the seal of the confession, the illegitimate use against the penitent of confidential information revealed during confession, defamation, violation of the right to privacy, incitement to disobedience against superiors, false mysticism, and claims of apparitions, visions, and supernatural messages.
Direct quotes from fourth article cited below:
By John L. Allen Jr.
The Word from Rome
July 22, 2005
http://www.unitypublishing.com/Apparitions/GinoGone.htm
Sexual misconduct, however, is not the primary charge. On May 10, 2002, a tribunal within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith concluded a penal process against Burresi that had been launched in 1997, five years after his split with the Oblates.
The process resulted in a decree signed by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and his secretary Tarcisio Bertone, today the cardinal of Genoa. That decree, similar to the one issued on May 27, was never applied because the criminal process on which it was based had been annulled by a 10-year statute of limitations in canon law.
A 20-page report from the tribunal, a separate document from the decree, was obtained by NCR. It cites
seven offenses by Burresi:
Direct violation of the seal of the confessional;
Indirect violation of the seal of the confessional;
Soliciting the violation of the seal of the confessional;
Illegitimate use of knowledge acquired in the confessional to the detriment of the penitent;
Illegitimate injury to one's good name and violation of the right of personal privacy;
Soliciting aversion and disobedience against superiors;
Pseudo-mysticism, as well as asserted apparitions, visions and messages attributed to supernatural origins.
Sources told NCR that the charges of violating the confessional stemmed from Burresi's practice of encouraging penitents to repeat their confessions for purposes of transcription, and if they declined, sometimes making his own notes, with names included.
The report also mentions that in 1989 a commission of cardinals was created to examine accusations against Burresi, including "homosexuality."
(See the entire article below)
“shortly after the election of Pope Benedict XVI”
This is a lie, a big lie, in that it implies that Benedict XVI had a ‘short time’ and then acted decisively after he browsed through Gino Burresi’s dossier when it fact it has been brought to his attention more than 20 years ago, since 1988 when he was already Prefect of the CDF – see third article below.
The 7 reasons why Benedict XVI clamped down Gino Burresi are all about other supernatural matters which Ratzinger liked to delve on. Children were never a priority for Ratzigner as Prefect to CDF. Look at the list of theologians he silenced, the Jesuits Jacque Dupuis and Jon Sobrino among them -- see the list in Beware! Benedict XVI-Cardinal Ratzinger and his allies can be violent http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2010/03/benedict-xvi-cardinal-ratzinger-and-his.html Benedict XVI is a cold-blooded despot who cares only to maintain the Vatican bank and the Vatican Palace and he is completely out of touch-with-reality as shown in these photos =http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2010/03/photos-of-out-of-touch-with-reality.html
“was taken as a signal that the days of lethargy and cover-up were over”
John Allen pumps helium for Benedict XVI the Papal Humpty Dumpty, here in effect he is saying that ‘since he became Pope, Benedict XVI has stopped Burresi and therefore he has stopped ALL clergy sexual abuse, that is enough, so shut up, people’.
If there is such a period of “days of lethargy and cover-up” it has to be the 26 years papacy of John Paul II the Great which John Allen covered so closely because he was living in Rome at that time and his column in NCR was “The Word from Rome”. This period supports our claim that John Paul II covered-up his own John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army, Fr. Maciel Dellgado being the most famous of them all.
John Allen makes it look like Benedict XVI has ‘once and for all’ ended the days of lethargy and cover-up days of sexual abuse. This is utterly false. The cover-ups were at their height during the longest tenure of Cardinal Ratzinger in the CDF when John Paul II was pope, the cover-ups by our own Boston criminal-Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston and Cardinal Mahony of Los Angeles and the other Bishops in the USA continue up to today, and Benedict XVI NEVER did anything about them. So John Allen is a liar par excellence with this first paragraph, and you can see his pattern throughout the rest of the article and in all his writings.
John Allen cites only these two famous founders as role model of sexual abusers in his article, but these are not ordinary men and their victims were not ordinary men either. They committed other crimes against the Church; Maciel plagiarized his spiritual book, fathered children out of wedlock as a priest, et cetera. Both famous men have many other enemies besides their victims of pedophilia.
Burresi’s case was sent directly to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith long before Ratzinger came along. His religious enemies were many and his sexual victims knew where to keep sending his files to the Vatican, just like the case of Fr. Maciel of the Legion of Christ went directly to the Vatican. These are only two and they are the most famous cases among the tens of thousands of cases of pedophile priests who are covered up by Cardinals Bernard law, Cardinal Mahony, and Cardinals and Bishops in USA, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, name it.
Unity Publishing has been fighting this man, Gino Burresi, since 1984 see the third and fourth articles below. In the third and fourth articles cited below, the irony is Unity Publishing said: “Pope Benedict XVI is not going to waste time showing that he has no tolerance for homosexual and pedophile priests…. Maybe now the same vindication will come to the Legionaries, Medjugorje and the liberal bishops who hide pedophiles, like Mahony.”
Unity Publishing was mistaken because two weeks ago, Benedict XVI’s personal usher is a GAY man who ran a Vatican GAY prostitution ring see Jon Stewart features HOLY SH*T Benedict XVI personal cover-up of German paedo priest & his personal usher GAY prostitution ring at the Vatican http://pope-ratz.blogspot.com/2010/03/jon-stewart-features-holy-sht-benedict.html. As for Mahony, that was Unity Publishing wishful thinking alongside Cardinal Bernard Law.
Unity Publishing together with other enemies ran after Gino Burresi since 1984. A year later, in 1985, Tom Doyle went to the Vatican to present his findings of priest pedophilia in New Orleans. But his appeal fell on deaf ears, on the Wall of silence of the Vatican. He was never given a hearing like Unity Publishing. During his tenure as Prefect of CDF, the 6,000 pedophile priests in the USA were never taken into consideration by Cardinal Ratzinger. Only Buressi and Fr. Maciel caught the attention of Benedict XVI because their victims were as smart and perhaps as wealthy, like Unity Publishing.
No American victim personally went directly to the CDF to get those pedophile priests removed. They never even told their parents or their spouses because they were too ashamed or too depressed to reveal it to anyone. Many committed suicide or were drug addicts to bury their shame. Bishops Accountability and SNAP help brought some pedophile priests to secular justice and the American Church have paid 2,.2 billion dollars. John Allen does not mention any one of them because the victims did not have the resources like the victims of Burresi and Maciel had. So for Allen to use Burresi as a role model that Ratzinger now Benedict XVI did his job well is a blatant lie and outrageous deceit.
So now you see, the cunning pattern of John Allen the Pied Piper of Benedict XVI’s deceit and lies at the Vatican, paid for by the Opus Dei Vatican trillion dollar Bank.
Imagine how long this post is, and it is only for the first paragraph of John Allen’s article, “Will Ratzinger's past trump Benedict's present?” We could go on and write a book to show all his deceits and lies in this one article alone but that won’t be necessary. You readers are intelligent and smart enough. We hope that you readers will stop following his All Things Catholic and NCR and stop following his Pied Piper tune altogether. We no longer read his columns except if we see by chance the first paragraph in Abuse Tracker.
This painstaking post is dedicated to the hundreds of thousands of victims of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army, may his name John Paul II the Great be anathema in our beloved city of Boston, the first epicentre of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests Army, in the USA, in Ireland, in Germany, in Switzerland, in Austria, in Australia, in Mexico, and around the world!
First article: from EWTNFATHER ROBERT J. FOX
http://www.excerptsofinri.com/frfox-ewtn.html
by John Janaro
http://www.ewtn.net/library/PRIESTS/FOX.TXT
It was during that same Holy Year tour in 1975 that Fr. Fox met a man who was to have an important influence on his more recent activities. Gino Burresi of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary-possessor of the miraculous charism of the stigmata (the wounds of Christ)--greeted Fr. Fox and some of his pilgrims at San Vittorino, Italy. The two men found a deep spiritual rapport. Fr. Fox visited then-Brother Gino several times over the next few years. He was inspired by Br. Gino's intensity of life, his singular dedication to the Gospel, and the dramatic physical character of his witness of suffering. As this inspiration developed, Fr. Fox conceived the notion of writing a book on Br. Gino's life in order to communicate his witness and charism to a wider audience.
< now in its second edition (which includes the ordination of Gino Burresi to the priesthood), has strengthened the faith of many who have read it, and has drawn some of these into the religious life.
The book on Fr. Gino, as well as the constant work with youth, brought about for Fr. Fox an increasing involvement with vocations. Many young men looked up to him as a strong defender of truth as well as a man of evangelical compassion and zeal. His preaching and writing had placed the desire for the priesthood within the hearts of many of these young en, who often sought him out for guidance.
<"For he has regarded the lowliness of his handmaid"> (Lk. 1:48). In time Fr. Fox grew well and regained his speech. He wrote a new book, True Devotion, in which he enriches the spirituality of St. Louis de Montfort by casting it in the context of devotion to the Immaculate Heart, a devotion that has become the very core and substance of his own life. In 1985 he came to St. Mary of Mercy parish in Alexandria, where he is building a shrine to Our Lady of Fatima in a spot that is very near to the center of the North American continent. Here Fr. Fox will host the first Marian Congress in America in September of 1987. The Bishop of Leiria-Fatima will visit the United States for the first time to attend the Congress and dedicate the new shrine. He will also crown the replica statue with a crown like that on the original statue at Fatima.
Fr. Fox will also launch a new quarterly magazine in January of 1986. The new publication is intended primarily for young people between the ages of 16 and 25, and will use the Fatima message to inspire its readers with greater devotion to the Church and renewed zeal for her mission in the world. Meanwhile Fr. Fox continues his writing, preaching, and spiritual guidance to youth all over the country. And, as always, he remains dedicated to his parish, especially the children, all of whom he continues to teach just as he has in every parish he has ever served.
<"What you have hidden from the learned and the clever you have revealed to merest children"> (Lk. 10:21). Fr. Robert J. Fox "knows the Father" because he enters with childlike simplicity into the mystery of the Trinity. In 1979, Pope John Paul II spoke< with Fr. Fox, and encouraged him to pattern his life after the Sermon on the Mount. The Pope's advice points to the message of the Kingdom of God, fully revealed as the Mystical Body of Christ and lived in union with the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother of that Body, source of the deep and personal union of all its members, and of the members to the Head. This message of unity has been the strength and essence of Fr. Fox's priesthood, its motivation and driving force. With and through Mary, he is present to the Person of Jesus Christ and receives a share in the work of building the Kingdom. In this way Fr. Fox stands as an instrument of God's power, drawing those he encounters into the unity of love that God wills for all men; that unity which is Jesus Christ-the Christ that his soul proclaims, the Christ in whom he rejoices.
This is chapter one of the book, "Fishers of Men," published in 1986 by Trinity Communications.
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Second article
Padre Pio Shrine Fever: Could It Prove Fatal?
Padre Pio
Padre Pio Shrine Fever: Could It Prove Fatal?
http://www.ianpaisley.org/article.asp?ArtKey=padro
________________________________________
British Church Newspaper – 14 October 2005
Dr Clive Gillis
PADRE PIO, now Saint Pio, was born Francesco Forgione, in Pietrelcina near Benevento, on 25 May 1887. He joined the Capuchin monks on 6 January 1903 and was ordained a priest on 10 August 1910.
Pio had deserted from the army and "his spiritual director had him removed to the anonymity of a remote monastery, Our Lady of Grace, at San Giovanni Rotondo (Saint John's Rotunda)," in Southern Italy. There on 20 September 1918 he developed stigmata of his palms "in a violent trance". Fingerless mittens, from which blood ran down his arms as he held up the mass wafer, permanently covered his hands which "remained ... fresh and bleeding," for 50 years until he died on 23 September 1968.
'Devil possessed psychopath'
A fearful Vatican launched a dirty tricks campaign to destroy him in the 60's. The Inquisition kept him under constant surveillance. They dug up Padre Agostino, a former superior, who recalled Pio's "terrible diabolical vision of women dancing naked about the cell where he lay sick". They bugged his confessional and accused him of seducing women and making the stigmata with nitric acid. "The founder of Rome's Catholic University Hospital said the monk was mad, a self mutilating psychopath possessed of the devil who exploited people's credulity. The so called 'odour of sanctity' accompanying his wounds was no more than eau de cologne applied for an indulgent sting of self mortification. The Vatican banned him from taking Mass."
Lying wonders
But lying wonders continued, including being seen by several cardinals behind locked doors kneeling before Pope Pius XI begging not to be exiled to a monastery in the north when he was known to be in San Giovanni Rotondo at the time.
"More ... remarkable ... was his appearance in the air over his hometown (San Giovanni Rotondo) during the Second World War. Allied pilots, based at Bari in southern Italy, were flying sorties into Nazi held territory during a search for a cache of weapons hidden somewhere in the area of San Giovanni Rotondo. In their approach to the town, several pilots reported seeing an apparition in the sky in the form of a monk with upheld hands. They also described some sort of 'force field' that prevented them flying over the target rendering them unable to drop their bombs."
Bernardo Rossini of Aeronautica Italians insists the then American Chief of Air Command flew his squadron personally and saw him. On visiting the San Giovanni Rotondo after the war the American apparently met Padre Pio, immediately recognised him, dropped to his knees and converted. The monk was becoming unstoppable.
Pio canonised
Consequently Pope John Paul II canonised him on June 16, 2002. By then San Giovanni Rotondo had ballooned as a sprawling shrine, its eight million pilgrims and tourists outdoing Lourdes and fast catching up with the worlds most visited shrine, Our Lady of Guadeloupe, in Mexico City.
Ordinary Italians adore Pio. Peeking over the hedge of many a mason's yard, the old staples of whiter than white, life size marbles of Christ and the Virgin Mary, have recently been joined by the short podgy friar in a bizarre trinity. Countless bars, shops and private homes have his image co equal or even in place of the Virgin Mary. Lately he has appeared on cars and long distance lorries, usurping Saint Christopher. And a real barometer of affection is his appearance on the Italian death notice. Within moments of the posting up of a new death in any hamlet curious villagers will appear from nowhere to look. Modern colour printing has allowed the departure from the formerly dour black and white writing with a little vignette of a reddish RC Christ or sky blue, veiled Virgin. Now especially south of Rome, likely as not the vignette will be the trade mark, brown hooded Padre Pio either joining the other two or even solo.
Commercialisation
But this very Italian phenomenon may not easily endure. The over commercialisation of the shrine could spell the death knell of the prosperity of San Giovanni Rotondo leaving the surrounding area despoiled. The town lies in northern Puglia, Italy's heel, in an area of natural beauty covered with beech, oak, yew and pine, called the Gargano peninsula. This outcrop is a green and pleasant spur jutting out into the Adriatic Sea. It is a haven from the scorching summer heat, and it is visible scores of kilometres away from the surrounding flat featureless plain. It is traversed by an ancient pilgrimage track only recently converted into a winding road along the Stignano valley linking San Severo in the west and Monte Saint Angelo in the east with medieval San Giovanni Rotondo en route. San Giovanni Rotondo's latter day sprawl has crept across the hillside, with little sense of planning. It totally dwarfs the historical centre and is only approached via a series of precipitous hairpin bends barely negotiable by coaches.
Natural beauty destroyed
Magazine and colour supplement features of the shrine usually show a collage of easily obtained, dramatic photographs. Because of the steepness of the site, the fantastic new circular church with its vast arched wood interior, colonnaded exterior, and huge bells, are easily shot against the white Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza (the hospital or House for the relief of Suffering) towering up above it and etched against blue sky. Architect of the new circular church Renzo Piano was already world famous before this assignment and his fees must have been astronomical for a church building capable of holding ten thousand people, like St Peters, but with outside space so large that many times that number can participate through a part glass exterior. The monks would have no one else. However the destruction of an area of natural beauty is evident in a distance shot.
Pilgrims 'like ants'
As one approaches closer, huge cranes are everywhere. Countless hotels and apartments are still under constriction. Yet according to the guide 83 hotels and 53 restaurants and pizza houses are already open for business. Like a theme park, there is a white Disneyland type electric train to convey pilgrims around the treacherous slopes. The Hotel Gran Paradiso, supposedly occupying the prime position immediately opposite the grand papal approach to the new church, is stranded in the midst of unfinished work.
Abutting this unfinished grand drive, the canny occupiers of the preexisting I Due Angeli restaurant have clearly decided not to sell. Instead they have knocked an opening to the shrine in their ugly block wall boundary and put a plank across the divide for pilgrims to climb straight in for refreshment. The owner said "they are like ants . . . but only at weekends". Indeed the vast complex seemed sparsely populated on a high summer weekday. And winter will be no time for negotiating those hairpins.
£100 million annually
If the money dries up disaster looms. Press reports of poor management and over commercialisation by the monks caused the Vatican to step in during 2003 and wrest financial control from the local Capuchins. The estimated annual giving by pilgrims is £100 million. Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro Valls stressed that the Capuchins will continue to take care of the sanctuary. The Capuchin's spokesman said, "We feel like we're returning to the dark times that Padre Pio knew, with a decision that seems to us hostile and punitive".
The air of disorganisation, vulgar commercialism and uncompleted facilities suggests money may already have been squandered in a frenzied gold rush, exploiting the shrine fever, which is possibly now faltering. Perhaps that is why we were acted by young people spotting our GB plate "collecting for Padre Pio" with great fervour in unbearable temperatures at a motorway junction 50 kilometres away. A few pilgrims are rejecting all this glitz and seeking authentic Pio magic back at the old church. Metal benches have been put out for the spiritually needy to wait hours, even all night, to see one of the old capuchins who knew Pio well in the hope they can somehow get blessed through an intermediary.
Fr Gino Burresi
Perhaps the Vatican is regretting not crushing Pio when it had the chance. Certainly one of the first acts of Benedict XV1's new Chief Inquisitor, Archbishop William Joseph Levada of San Francisco, following his appointment on May 16th 2005, was to destroy "Padre Pio wanabee" Fr Gino Burresi. This mystic, stigmatic, miracle working priest from near Rome "left the Oblates of the Virgin Mary in 1992 amid a bitter internal dispute and founded a new order, the Congregation of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Currently the Servants number some 150 members". Amazingly, new boy Inquisitor Levada managed to get the decree out by the 27th May.
Amongst other things, the Inquisitors found Burresi guilty of "pseudo mysticism, as well as asserted apparitions, visions and messages attributed to supernatural origins". God's Rotweiler, Benedict XVI, had already tried to nail him in 2002 on sexual charges and failed. The leaked Vatican decree shows the determined Benedict to be behind the lightening verdict. The ruling "stipulates that in an audience given by Benedict XVI to Amato (Inquisition secretary) on May 27, the pope confirmed the decree in forma specifica, meaning that he made its conclusions his own, and that no appeal is possible". Burresi's alleged activities paint the picture of an out and out charlatan, beneath contempt. But so was Pio once.
Third article
Gino Case Reveals Vatican Corruption
By Richard Salbato
http://www.unitypublishing.com/Apparitions/GinoDetails.htm
History
Fr. Burresi, who is now 73 years old, was until 1992 a member of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, an order founded in 1816 by Italian priest Bruno Lanteri. A man with a great devotion to the revelations of Fatima, Burresi became a priest at a relatively advanced age, in 1983, but even before this he had gained great fame as a mystic and spiritual director, as well as for the stigmata and visions.
In a small way, his popularity resembled that of Fr. Pio of Pietrelcina. And not really in too small a way: hundreds of persons from Italy and beyond came to him every day seeking comfort, including high-ranking prelates, politicians, and ambassadors. From the faraway Philippines, then-president Corazon Aquino sent one of his messengers to have a rosary blessed by this man in the odor of sanctity.
His headquarters were in the countryside below Tivoli, just outside of Rome, in the area of San Vittorino, where there stands today a Marian shrine in the form of a cone made of glass and cement. It was built with the contributions from devotees. "Brother Gino," as everyone called him, initially received his visitors in a small structure made of wood and sheetmetal, but the congregation of the Oblates replaced this with an international seminary. Because Fr. Burresi was also a great magnet for vocations to the religious life.
First Accusations 1988
This was until May of 1988, when first two and then five more of his young followers put an end to the enchantment. They told the superiors of the congregation that on a number of occasions the priest had lured them to his room and abused them sexually. When they were set down in writing, their accounts were a mixture of fascination and self-blame. For example:
"Fr. Gino was kissing me, and at the same time he was saying wonderful, holy things: 'Let yourself be touched by God. Loving is not a sin.' I was confused and paralyzed. I knew that he was a stigmatist, someone who had direct contact with the Virgin Mary. So I felt that I was wrong, that he could not be like I thought he was, because if he had been that way God would not have chosen him as his minister on earth. I said to myself: Look at how evil and rotten I am, I see malice even in the affectionate embraces of a saint."
After they assessed the accusations, the superiors of the Oblates took immediate action. On June 6, 1988, they put Fr. Burresi on a flight to Vienna, and transferred him to the monastery of Loretto in Austria. The next day the superior general of the order, Julio Cura of Argentina, sent the dossier of the accusation to the prefect of the Vatican congregation for religious, who at the time was cardinal Jérôme Hamer.
Note: I was in San Vittorino at the time and interviewed the boys and the order of nuns under his control. I was also there when the American boys were sent back to Boston to get away from the influence of the Italian boys that continued to support and defend Gino. Later one of these boys became my best friend and one of the boys mothers has worked with me for now going on 20 years. I have seen the long term harm this has done to them.
Vatican Corruption
But the secretary of that congregation at the time was Vincenzo Fagiolo, a future cardinal, who sympathized with the accused. "He came to me often for confession," Fr. Burresi quickly revealed. He, in the meantime, had already left behind the borders of Austria and had come back into Italy, to Montignoso di Gambassi Terme, in the diocese of Volterra in the region of Tuscany. He resides there to this day.
The fact is that the Vatican put under investigation both Fr. Burresi and the superiors of the Oblates, appointing as inspector Marcel Gendrot, a member of the Company of Mary. After an investigation lasting two months, Gendrot concluded in favor of Fr. Burresi's return to San Vittorino, and wrote a note reprimanding the superiors of the order.
The superiors then appealed to pope John Paul II. Their appeal, dated November 22, 1988, fills three pages. It lists the accusations: consummated homosexual acts with numerous young men, kidnapping for sexual purposes, violation of the seal of the sacrament of confession. It rebukes the inspector, Gendrot, for covering up the investigation. It asks the pope to take the responsibility for the case away from Hamer and Fagiolo, and to give it instead to the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at that time, Joseph Ratzinger, or to a special commission.
The reply came on the following January 3: appeal denied. And not just that. Fr. Cura and the other superiors of the Oblates were dismissed from their positions of authority.
Gendrot was promoted from inspector to commissioner for the order. The case remained in the hands of Hamer and Fagiolo. The only concession made was a supplementary investigation entrusted to three cardinals who have since died: Giuseppe Caprio, Opilio Rossi, and Luigi Dadaglio. They listened to only one of the seven initial accusing witnesses (in the end there were eleven of these). One year later, in February of 1990, they concluded by permitting Fr. Burresi to stay where he was, in Montignoso, and to continue his work there, with the sole stipulation that he could no longer work with young men pursuing vocations.
Gino Founds Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
But Fr. Gino took initiative on his own. In 1992 he left the Oblates and founded a new congregation, the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, with branches for both men and women. Today the order counts 150 members. We know for sure that Gino became a priest without ever going to a seminary and his ordination violated several Canons of the Church. We suspect that the new priests of his order have also violated the Canons regarding the formation of seminarians and the formation of priests before ordination. To this day there are at least two priests from Gino's order and eight nuns living in Fatima and another group in Canada.
Originally I have a good relationship with them until I gave one of them the report I did on Gino in 1988. They have not talked with my since. Here in Fatima there is another violation of the Canons in that a very expensive and large gated house is here holding only two priests and it is directly across the drive way from another expensive house for the nuns.
Ratzinger Re-opens the Case
Five years later, however, in 1997, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith opened another investigation on him. The case was concluded on May 10, 2002, with a decree signed by Ratzinger and by the secretary of the dicastery at the time, Tarcisio Bertone, who today is the cardinal archbishop of Genoa.
The sentence takes into consideration the fact that the accusations were made past the statute of limitations, so it neither condemns nor punishes Fr. Gino Burresi. But the 20-page report accompanying the decree – which is also in the possession of the "National Catholic Reporter" – contains passages worth citing. It was signed by the four prelates charged with carrying out the investigation, headed by Velasio De Paolis, who today is a bishop and the secretary of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Segnatura.
The report lists the accusations against the priest: violation of the seal of the confession, the illegitimate use against the penitent of confidential information revealed during confession, defamation, violation of the right to privacy, incitement to disobedience against superiors, false mysticism, and claims of apparitions, visions, and supernatural messages.
Stop the Abuse
It admits that the statute of limitations has passed on the matters contained in the accusations. But it nonetheless asks the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to provide for administrative sanctions against Fr. Gino Burresi. For this reason:
"It should not be forgotten that during this process some [of Fr. Gino’s followers] said that the accused ‘would come out of it triumphant, more esteemed than ever, and thus without any shadow, indeed more glorious than before’. [They said] ‘that the secretariat of state defends Fr. Gino, thus victory is assured.’ If no new limitation is applied to his ministerial liberty simply due to the fact that the proven offenses have been prescribed [by the statute of limitations], probably the sentence of this court will be used as an instrument of propaganda in favor of the accused. He will be able to continue to do harm to those psychologically weak persons who place themselves under his spiritual direction."
Vatican Corruption Protected Legionaries of Christ
As a decree issued against the founder of a religious order on the basis of accusations going back decades for sexual abuse carried out against his followers, the decree against Fr. Burresi recalls an analogous case, but one of much greater significance. It, too, is being examined by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: the case of Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legionaries of Christ.
And it is not out of the question that the severity adopted against Fr. Burresi is the prelude to similarly rigorous actions against Fr. Maciel.
The stated support of the secretariat of state for Fr. Gino Burresi – which is referred to in the report – is another of the elements that link his case to that of Fr. Maciel.
In effect, two of the prelates who work in the secretariat of state belong to these orders. Angelo Tognoni is a member of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, founded by Fr. Burresi, and Donal Corry belongs to the Legionaries of Christ, founded by Fr. Maciel.
That's not all. The Legionaries of Christ have for many years had the support of the secretary of state himself, Cardinal Angelo Sodano.
Confirmation of the support of the secretariat of state for the Legionaries' cause came last May 20, shortly after the release on www.chiesa of an article dedicated to the investigation on the Maciel case opened by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Thanks to a fax sent to them without a signature but bearing the stamp of the secretariat of state, the Legionaries of Christ issued a communication that day which stated:
"At this time there is no canonical process underway regarding our founder, Fr Marcial Maciel, LC, nor will one be initiated".
In reality, the fax from the secretary of state was less conclusive about the future. In Italian, it literally read:
"Non vi è nessun procedimento canonico in corso né è previsto per il futuro nei confronti di p. Maciel".
The formula "non è previsto per il futuro" is commonly used in the Vatican to indicate actions that are in the realm of possibility but about which no formal decision has yet been made.
What is certain is that the preliminary investigation in the Maciel case has moved forward since the pseudo-denial of May 20, with the accumulation of more testimonies and documents. And it is on the basis of this investigation that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – not the secretariat of state – will make its decision on the canonical process against the founder of the Legionaries of Christ.
Decree Against Gino
The general secretariat of the Italian bishops' conference (CEI):
"Following the decree handed down on May 27, 2005, by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, notice is hereby given that the following canonical provisions will be applied to Fr. Luigi (Gino) Burresi, of the congregation of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary:
"1 – revocation of the faculty to hear the confessions of any member of the faithful in any place, as provided in canons 966 and 969 of the code of canon law;
"2 – definitive prohibition against carrying out the ministry of spiritual direction for any of the faithful, whether a layperson, a clergyman, or a consecrated religious;
"3 – revocation of the faculty of preaching, as in canons 764 and 765;
"4 – prohibition against celebrating the sacraments and sacramentals in public;
"5 – prohibition against granting interviews, writing in newspapers, pamphlets, periodicals, or on the internet, or participating in radio or television broadcasts on any matter involving Catholic doctrine, morality, or supernatural or mystical phenomena.
"This is made known for the understanding and profit of the faithful."
Practically speaking, the CEI has made it known that Fr. Gino Burresi, founder the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, must leave the ministry and retire to private life.
Among the reasons for the action taken, the decree from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith cites abuses in confession and spiritual direction. But Vatican sources have confirmed that to these reasons must be added the accusations of sexual abuse made against Fr. Gino by some men who were his followers and seminarians during the 1970's and '80's.
The Vatican decree has not been made public. But the American weekly "National Catholic Reporter" obtained a copy of it, and their correspondent John L. Allen gave a report of it in his newsletter "The Word from Rome" on July 22.
The decree against Fr. Gino Burresi is the first to have been issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith during the pontificate of Benedict XVI. And it is the first to bear the signature of its new prefect, former San Francisco Archbishop William J. Levada. It was personally approved by the pope on May 27, when he received in an audience the secretary of the dicastery, archbishop Angelo Amato. The pope's approval "in forma specifica" does not admit appeal.
Let Us Hope Pope Benedict XVI Ends The Corruption
The Burresi case teaches a lesson. It seemed to have been definitively filed away after the favorable sentence handed down on May 10, 2002. But it was reopened, and a much more severe conclusion was reached – with the presiding judge being Ratzinger, who has since become pope.
The article on www.chiesa on the case of the founder of the Legionaries of Christ: > The Legionaries of Christ: Fr. Maciel's Trial Draws Nearer (20.5.2005)
The newsletter by John L. Allen, Rome correspondent of the "National Catholic Reporter," with the news on the Burresi case:
> The Word from Rome, July 22, 2005
Fourth article
Benedict XVI Starts with Brother Gino
Pope Benedict XVI is not going to waste time showing that he has no tolerance for homosexual and pedophile priests. To prove this point he directed Archbishop William Levada, the new prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to remove the highest profile priest in the world from head of his order and from active priesthood. Unity Publishing has been fighting this man (Gino Burresi) since 1984 as can been seen by our report http://www.unitypublishing.com/Apparitions/Geno.html
Here in Fatima, two of Gino's priests work at the Shrine, and up to 10 of his nuns live here and some work here. They have nothing to do with me (will not talk with me at all) because they know what I think of Gino. Although they pretend to be faithful to the Church, Gino used to come into Fatima secretly to visit them (brainwash them) and they will not listen to any reason. Maybe now the same vindication will come to the Legionaries, Medjugorje and the liberal bishops who hide pedophiles, like Mahony.
Taken from National Catholic Reporter's Word From Rome
By John L. Allen Jr.
A recent decree by a Vatican congregation removing the well-known founder of a religious order from active ministry could indicate how Pope Benedict XVI will handle the sexual abuse crisis.
The action also may provide some hint of how the Vatican could handle other high profile cases of a similar nature, including one involving the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, a worldwide religious order.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued the decree May 27 in the case of 73-year-old Italian Fr. Gino Burresi, founder of a religious order called the Congregation of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. The contents of the decree, which drew little public notice, were announced by the Italian bishops' conference on July 19. It specifies that:
Burresi's faculties to hear confessions are revoked;
He is definitively prohibited from providing spiritual direction;
He is barred from preaching, as well as from celebrating the sacraments and sacramentals in public;
He is barred from giving interviews, publishing and taking part in broadcasts that have anything to do with faith, morals, or supernatural phenomena.
The decree, in effect, amounts to removal from public ministry. The only thing left is private celebration of the Mass.
The original Vatican decree, which was not released publicly, but a copy of which was obtained by NCR, was signed by Archbishop William Levada, the new prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as well as Archbishop Angelo Amato, the secretary. It stipulates that in an audience given by Benedict XVI to Amato on May 27, the pope confirmed the decree in forma specifica, meaning that he made its conclusions his own, and that no appeal is possible.
Though the decree cites abuses of confession and spiritual direction, Vatican sources told NCR in mid-July that another motive for the action against Burresi were accusations of sexual abuse with seminarians, dating back to the 1970s and 1980s.
The case has significance for at least three reasons: it's the first such decree under Levada and the new pope; Burresi is a widely known mystic and Fatima devotee sometimes compared by his followers, including groups in the United States and Canada, to the Capuchin mystic and saint Padre Pio; and finally, because it involves action against a widely known founder of a religious community on the basis of decades-old accusations.
This last point, observers say, could potentially have implications for how the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith eventually handles similar cases, such as charges of sexual abuse against Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, the founder of the Legionaries of Christ. Maciel has been accused by a number of former seminarians of sexual abuse. His case is reportedly under investigation by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Until 1992, Burresi was a member of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, an order founded in 1816 by Italian priest Bruno Lanteri. Burresi became a devotee of the Fatima revelations in the 1950s, and was the driving force behind the creation of a Marian sanctuary in San Vittorino, outside Rome. At the time he was a brother; he was not ordained as a priest until 1983. In the 1960s and 1970s, Burresi acquired a worldwide reputation as a mystic.
He was alleged to be able to read souls, to carry the stigmata (the wounds of Christ), to have the "odor of sanctity," and to be able to produce paintings and other artwork miraculously.
Critics later charged that Burresi faked these phenomena, using, for example, rose-scented perfume to produce the odor.
Burresi attracted a number of vocations to the Oblates, as well as a larger circle of adherents. One person who came to know Burresi in the 1970s was Fr. Nicholas Gruner, who has gone on to become an ardent champion for the Fatima message, often clashing with church authorities. In September 2001 the Vatican issued a press release stating that Gruner, whose canonical status has long been ambiguous, is suspended a divinis (i.e., barred from performing priestly functions but not removed from the cleric state), and that his activities do not have the support of the Holy See.
Burresi left the Oblates of the Virgin Mary in 1992 amid a bitter internal dispute and founded a new order, the Congregation of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Currently the Servants number some 150 members.
The May 27 decree against Burresi is the culmination of a long ecclesiastical battle. Accusations of sexual misconduct with seminarians first emerged in June 1988, at which time Burresi was removed from San Vittorino and sent first to an Oblate residence in Austria, and then to Tuscany. The Oblates conducted a lengthy investigation. In the end, 11 accusations surfaced, though no canonical process against Burresi was launched. These accusations generally involved sexual contact between Burresi and young adult seminarians, not minors.
Sexual misconduct, however, is not the primary charge. On May 10, 2002, a tribunal within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith concluded a penal process against Burresi that had been launched in 1997, five years after his split with the Oblates. The process resulted in a decree signed by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and his secretary Tarcisio Bertone, today the cardinal of Genoa. That decree, similar to the one issued on May 27, was never applied because the criminal process on which it was based had been annulled by a 10-year statute of limitations in canon law.
A 20-page report from the tribunal, a separate document from the decree, was obtained by NCR. It cites seven offenses by Burresi:
Direct violation of the seal of the confessional;
Indirect violation of the seal of the confessional;
Soliciting the violation of the seal of the confessional;
Illegitimate use of knowledge acquired in the confessional to the detriment of the penitent;
Illegitimate injury to one's good name and violation of the right of personal privacy;
Soliciting aversion and disobedience against superiors;
Pseudo-mysticism, as well as asserted apparitions, visions and messages attributed to supernatural origins.
Sources told NCR that the charges of violating the confessional stemmed from Burresi's practice of encouraging penitents to repeat their confessions for purposes of transcription, and if they declined, sometimes making his own notes, with names included.
The report also mentions that in 1989 a commission of cardinals was created to examine accusations against Burresi, including "homosexuality."
In its conclusion, the report urged the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to take administrative action against Burresi despite the statute of limitations. One concern, the report suggested, was that if no action resulted, Burresi's followers would interpret the investigation as evidence of unfair hostility against him.
"It should not be forgotten that during this process some persons said that the accused 'would come out of it triumphant, more esteemed than ever, and thus without any shadow, indeed more glorious than before,' " the judges wrote.
"[They said] 'that the Secretariat of State defends Fr. Gino, thus victory is assured.' If no new limitation is applied to his ministerial liberty simply due to the fact that the proven offenses have been prescribed [by the statute of limitations], probably the sentence of this court will be used as an instrument of propaganda in favor of the accused. He will be able to continue to do harm to those psychologically weak persons who place themselves under his spiritual direction."
The findings were signed by a four-judge panel. The president of the panel was Velasio De Paolis, now a bishop and secretary of the Apostolic Signatura, the Supreme Court of the Catholic church.
Though the document does not clarify the reference to the Secretariat of State, a member of the Congregation of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the order founded by Burresi, is Fr. Angelo Tognoni, a mid-level official in the Secretariat of State. Tognoni sometimes appears with the pope at the Wednesday General Audience, reading greetings in Italian.
Burresi currently resides in Tuscany. Efforts to reach him for comment were unsuccessful.
Fifth article
chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/.../37078?eng=y
The First Sentence from Prefect Levada Makes the Legion Tremble
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has handed down a stiff sentence against Fr. Gino Burresi. The transgressions? The same ones charged against Fr. Marcial Maciel, founder of the powerful Legionaries of Christ
by Sandro Magister
ROMA, July 28, 2005 – On July 19, the Catholic newspaper "Avvenire" published the following note from the general secretariat of the Italian bishops' conference (CEI):
"Following the decree handed down on May 27, 2005, by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, notice is hereby given that the following canonical provisions will be applied to Fr. Luigi (Gino) Burresi, of the congregation of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary:
"1 – revocation of the faculty to hear the confessions of any member of the faithful in any place, as provided in canons 966 and 969 of the code of canon law;
"2 – definitive prohibition against carrying out the ministry of spiritual direction for any of the faithful, whether a layperson, a clergyman, or a consecrated religious;
"3 – revocation of the faculty of preaching, as in canons 764 and 765;
"4 – prohibition against celebrating the sacraments and sacramentals in public;
"5 – prohibition against granting interviews, writing in newspapers, pamphlets, periodicals, or on the internet, or participating in radio or television broadcasts on any matter involving Catholic doctrine, morality, or supernatural or mystical phenomena.
"This is made known for the understanding and profit of the faithful."
Practically speaking, the CEI has made it known that Fr. Gino Burresi, founder the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, must leave the ministry and retire to private life.
Among the reasons for the action taken, the decree from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith cites abuses in confession and spiritual direction. But Vatican sources have confirmed that to these reasons must be added the accusations of sexual abuse made against Fr. Burresi by some men who were his followers and seminarians during the 1970's and '80's.
The Vatican decree has not been made public. But the American weekly "National Catholic Reporter" obtained a copy of it, and their correspondent John L. Allen gave a report of it in his newsletter "The Word from Rome" on July 22.
The decree against Fr. Burresi is the first to have been issued by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith during the pontificate of Benedict XVI. And it is the first to bear the signature of its new prefect, former San Francisco archbishop William J. Levada (see photo). It was personally approved by the pope on May 27, when he received in an audience the secretary of the dicastery, archbishop Angelo Amato. The pope's approval "in forma specifica" does not admit appeal.
As a decree issued against the founder of a religious order on the basis of accusations going back decades for sexual abuse carried out against his followers, the decree against Fr. Burresi recalls an analogous case, but one of much greater significance. It, too, is being examined by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith: the case of Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado, founder of the Legionaries of Christ.
And it is not out of the question that the severity adopted against Fr. Burresi is the prelude to similarly rigorous actions against Fr. Maciel.
* * *
Fr. Burresi, who is now 73 years old, was until 1992 a member of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, an order founded in 1816 by Italian priest Bruno Lanteri. A man with a great devotion to the revelations of Fatima, Burresi became a priest at a relatively advanced age, in 1983, but even before this he had gained great fame as a mystic and spiritual director, as well as for the stigmata and visions.
In a small way, his popularity resembled that of Fr. Pio of Pietrelcina. And not really in too small a way: hundreds of persons from Italy and beyond came to him every day seeking comfort, including high-ranking prelates, politicians, and ambassadors. From the faraway Philippines, then-president Corazon Aquino sent one of her messengers to have a rosary blessed by this man in the odor of sanctity.
His headquarters were in the countryside below Tivoli, just outside of Rome, in the area of San Vittorino, where there stands today a Marian shrine in the form of a cone made of glass and cement. It was built with the contributions from devotees. "Brother Gino," as everyone called him, initially received his visitors in a small structure made of wood and sheetmetal, but the congregation of the Oblates replaced this with an international seminary. Because Fr. Burresi was also a great magnet for vocations to the religious life.
This was until May of 1988, when first two and then five more of his young followers put an end to the enchantment. They told the superiors of the congregation that on a number of occasions the priest had lured them to his room and abused them sexually. When they were set down in writing, their accounts were a mixture of fascination and self-blame. For example:
"Fr. Gino was kissing me, and at the same time he was saying wonderful, holy things: 'Let yourself be touched by God. Loving is not a sin.' I was confused and paralyzed. I knew that he was a stigmatist, someone who had direct contact with the Virgin Mary. So I felt that I was wrong, that he could not be like I thought he was, because if he had been that way God would not have chosen him as his minister on earth. I said to myself: Look at how evil and rotten I am, I see malice even in the affectionate embraces of a saint."
After they assessed the accusations, the superiors of the Oblates took immediate action. On June 6, 1988, they put Fr. Burresi on a flight to Vienna, and transferred him to the monastery of Loretto in Austria. The next day the superior general of the order, Julio Cura of Argentina, sent the dossier of the accusation to the prefect of the Vatican congregation for religious, who at the time was cardinal Jérôme Hamer.
But the secretary of that congregation at the time was Vincenzo Fagiolo, a future cardinal, who sympathized with the accused. "He came to me often for confession," Fr. Burresi quickly revealed. He, in the meantime, had already left behind the borders of Austria and had come back into Italy, to Montignoso di Gambassi Terme, in the diocese of Volterra in the region of Tuscany. He resides there to this day.
The fact is that the Vatican put under investigation both Fr. Burresi and the superiors of the Oblates, appointing as inspector Marcel Gendrot, a member of the Company of Mary. After an investigation lasting two months, Gendrot concluded in favor of Fr. Burresi's return to San Vittorino, and wrote a note reprimanding the superiors of the order.
The superiors then appealed to pope John Paul II. Their appeal, dated November 22, 1988, fills three pages. It lists the accusations: consummated homosexual acts with numerous young men, kidnapping for sexual purposes, violation of the seal of the sacrament of confession. It rebukes the inspector, Gendrot, for covering up the investigation. It asks the pope to take the responsibility for the case away from Hamer and Fagiolo, and to give it instead to the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at that time, Joseph Ratzinger, or to a special commission.
The reply came on the following January 3: appeal denied. And not just that. Fr. Cura and the other superiors of the Oblates were dismissed from their positions of authority. Gendrot was promoted from inspector to commissioner for the order. The case remained in the hands of Hamer and Fagiolo. The only concession made was a supplementary investigation entrusted to three cardinals who have since died: Giuseppe Caprio, Opilio Rossi, and Luigi Dadaglio. They listened to only one of the seven initial accusing witnesses (in the end there were eleven of these). One year later, in February of 1990, they concluded by permitting Fr. Burresi to stay where he was, in Montignoso, and to continue his work there, with the sole stipulation that he could no longer work with young men pursuing vocations.
But Fr. Burresi took initiative on his own. In 1992 he left the Oblates and founded a new congregation, the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, with branches for both men and women. Today the order counts 150 members.
Five years later, however, in 1997, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith opened another investigation on him. The case was concluded on May 10, 2002, with a decree signed by Ratzinger and by the secretary of the dicastery at the time, Tarcisio Bertone, who today is the cardinal archbishop of Genoa.
The sentence takes into consideration the fact that the accusations were made past the statute of limitations, so it neither condemns nor punishes Fr. Burresi. But the 20-page report accompanying the decree – which is also in the possession of the "National Catholic Reporter" – contains passages worth citing. It was signed by the four prelates charged with carrying out the investigation, headed by Velasio De Paolis, who today is a bishop and the secretary of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Segnatura.
The report lists the accusations against the priest: violation of the seal of the confession, the illegitimate use against the penitent of confidential information revealed during confession, defamation, violation of the right to privacy, incitement to disobedience against superiors, false mysticism, and claims of apparitions, visions, and supernatural messages.
It admits that the statute of limitations has passed on the matters contained in the accusations. But it nonetheless asks the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to provide for administrative sanctions against Fr. Burresi. For this reason:
"It should not be forgotten that during this process some [of Fr. Burresi’s followers] said that the accused ‘would come out of it triumphant, more esteemed than ever, and thus without any shadow, indeed more glorious than before’. [They said] ‘that the secretariat of state defends Fr. Gino, thus victory is assured.’ If no new limitation is applied to his ministerial liberty simply due to the fact that the proven offenses have been prescribed [by the statute of limitations], probably the sentence of this court will be used as an instrument of propaganda in favor of the accused. He will be able to continue to do harm to those psychologically weak persons who place themselves under his spiritual direction."
* * *
The stated support of the secretariat of state for Fr. Burresi – which is referred to in the report – is another of the elements that link his case to that of Fr. Maciel.
In effect, two of the prelates who work in the secretariat of state belong to these orders. Angelo Tognoni is a member of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, founded by Fr. Burresi, and Donal Corry belongs to the Legionaries of Christ, founded by Fr. Maciel.
That's not all. The Legionaries of Christ have for many years had the support of the secretary of state himself, cardinal Angelo Sodano.
Confirmation of the support of the secretariat of state for the Legionaries' cause came last May 20, shortly after the release on www.chiesa of an article dedicated to the investigation on the Maciel case opened by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Thanks to a fax sent to them without a signature but bearing the stamp of the secretariat of state, the Legionaries of Christ issued a communication that day which stated:
"At this time there is no canonical process underway regarding our founder, Fr Marcial Maciel, LC, nor will one be initiated".
In reality, the fax from the secretary of state was less conclusive about the future. In Italian, it literally read:
"Non vi è nessun procedimento canonico in corso né è previsto per il futuro nei confronti di p. Maciel".
The formula "non è previsto per il futuro" is commonly used in the Vatican to indicate actions that are in the realm of possibility but about which no formal decision has yet been made.
What is certain is that the preliminary investigation in the Maciel case has moved forward since the pseudo-denial of May 20, with the accumulation of more testimonies and documents. And it is on the basis of this investigation that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – not the secretariat of state – will make its decision on the canonical process against the founder of the Legionaries of Christ.
The Burresi case teaches a lesson. It seemed to have been definitively filed away after the favorable sentence handed down on May 10, 2002. But it was reopened, and a much more severe conclusion was reached – with the presiding judge being Ratzinger, who has since become pope.
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The article on www.chiesa on the case of the founder of the Legionaries of Christ:
> The Legionaries of Christ: Fr. Maciel's Trial Draws Nearer (20.5.2005)
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The newsletter by John L. Allen, Rome correspondent of the "National Catholic Reporter," with the news on the Burresi case:
> The Word from Rome, July 22, 2005
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See The John Paul II Millstone. John Allen (defender of the Vatican Trinity,i.e. John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Opus Dei) surreptitiously undermine SNAP's financial campaign http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2009/12/john-allen-defender-of-vatican.html
Compare the CRIMES and their VICTIMS in America
Victims - Attackers - Responsible Leaders
Pearl Harbor - 3,000 victims - 170 planes - Admiral Yamamoto
WTC & 9/11 attacks - 5,000 victims - 19 Muslims - Osama bin Laden
USA Priest Pedophilia - 12,000 victims - 6,000 priests - John Paul II & Benedict XVI & Opus Dei, the new Vatican Trinity
Posted on March 25, 2010 feast of the Annunciation of Mary
Magisterium Benedict VERSUS Holy Mary: Priests' transubstantiation instant reincarnation of Christ VERSUS Mary’s 9 months pregnancy& child birth
http://stella0maris.blogspot.com/2010/01/magisterium-benedict-versus-holy-mary.html
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2 Comments:
At Monday, January 16, 2012, Patrick the American said...
Pedophilia victims can not be healed by money. Bankrupting the Church isn't the answer because the Church needs buildings to prove to future archeologists that it existed and for places to house the blessed sacrament for the faithful to adore Christ directly, and for a reminder to civilization that it came through the Church. your blog is a scorched earth rant of no consequence. you are probably molesting someone right now mindful that the Churches teachings object to your behaviore
At Wednesday, January 18, 2012, Paris Arrow said...
Patrick,
You are a a "treasure hunter" and that is what the Pope and Cardinals do with their diplomatic immunity - hunt for Mammon by using God's name in vain. You are a typical blind Catholic who is interested only in church buildings and the sorcery of the "blessed sacrament". Obviously you have not read our articles especially our new blog http://popecrimes.blogspot.com/
Christ did not care about the Temple of Solomon and all its treasures and the Chamber of Holy of Holies and what the Temple would have “proven to future generations” as you are claiming what the Catholic Churches should be doing. Christ saw the hypocrisy of the Pharisees and he cursed them and today the Opus Dei are the new Pharisees interested only in hoarding money of Catholics and despots.
As for your personal accusation about me, you are a pathetic complicit of criminal-Cardinals like Cardinal Ratzinger and you should remove the word “American” because you are a shame to Americans.
Read our related article:
9/11 victims 3,000. JP2 Army 100,000s. May Day: both Hitler and bin Laden Announced Dead on May 1 on John Paul II Beatification Day B-Day
http://jp2m.blogspot.com/2011/05/911-victims-5000-jp2-army-100000s-may.html
