Editor’s note: The following Kath.net interview with Auxiliary Bishop Marian Eleganti, O.S.B., about the revelations by Archbishop Viganò, the Pope’s silence, and the alleged homosexual network in the Catholic Church was conducted by Roland Noe and published on the Kath.net site yesterday. Bishop Eleganti is Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Chur, Switzerland.
Chur (kath.net/rn, August 30, 2018). “The attempts to rewrite the traditional doctrine that regards homosexual acts as disordered in themselves, and therefore forbids them, are conspicuous. Pope Francis is surrounded by cardinals and advisors who are headed in this direction.” So says the Auxiliary Bishop of Chur and former Jugendbischof of the (Catholic) Episcopal Conference of Switzerland [i.e. the bishop delegated to oversee programs for the pastoral care of young people] in this interview with kath.net.
Kath.net: The World Meeting of Families in Dublin was completely overshadowed by the topic of sexual abuse, and not just because of the revelations by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the former Nuncio in Washington, D.C. Well, the Pope himself would like to say nothing about the accusations. What do you say about this?
Bp. Eleganti: The fact that Pope Francis does not want to say a single word about them is a classic non-denial. Lying, of course, is completely out of the question.
Kath.net: In Dublin in an EWTN interview you demanded an unsparing and independent investigation [Aufklärung = in this context “reconnaissance mission”] into the causes of the sexual abuse crisis and the cover-up, also with respect to the question about a “homosexual subculture” in the Church. One Swiss diocese attacked you in an incredible way in this connection. What do you say about this?
Bp. Eleganti: Anyone familiar with the ecclesiastical structures is not surprised by it. Concerning this matter I have several posts on my FaceBook page that respond to it. James Martin, speaking at the World Meeting of Families, called for the Church to equate homosexuality with heterosexuality to the fullest extent and to admit homosexuals to all ecclesiastical ministries and offices without further ado, although Pope Francis advises against accepting candidates with homosexual inclinations into the seminaries. The scandals and their hidden difficulties show that homosexual clerics, their friends and networks exist and are represented in the structures of the Church even at the highest level, among them certainly many clerics with homosexual inclinations who are living chaste and holy lives. But we hear about the others every day through the coverage of the sexual abuse cases.
Kath.net: In another interview with kath.ch [an online news service affiliated with the Episcopal Conference of Switzerland] you said that framing this issue merely as an issue of the abuse of authority or clericalism is another cover-up. Doesn’t Pope Francis, or at least one part of his entourage, advocate this view?
Bp. Eleganti: The issue is certainly complex. But one element of political correctness is what they consider the absolute dogma that sexual abuse and homosexuality must not be correlated; similarly, the possibility of changing a homosexual orientation must not even be considered or investigated. In contrast to this, paradoxically, gender theory claims that one’s sexual orientation can be chosen freely. Judith Butler, one of the most important pioneers of gender theory, is lesbian. To maintain that clericalism is the sole root of sexual abuse, and not to take into consideration sexual and emotional needs as well, and probably vices too, is from my perspective reductive reasoning and a classic case of denying reality, that is: purely ideological and interest-driven.
Pope Francis stirred up this wasp’s nest with an indiscreet but honest statement on the airplane from Dublin to Rome when he remarked that children with homosexual inclinations can be helped psychiatrically until the age of twenty. His spin doctors therefore immediately censored his statements in the written version of the interview and removed the obsolete word “psychiatry” and explained on Twitter that he was talking here about the general psychological counseling [literally: “accompaniment”] of those children. But obviously Francis was thinking about something else.
Kath.net: Should bishops who demonstrably have covered up cases of sexual abuse resign?
Bp. Eleganti: It is difficult to imagine that they will remain in office.
Kath.net: Is there currently a heated debate, not only in the United States, about a homosexual network in the Catholic Church? Do you consider it real, and are there indications that it is active in German-speaking countries (Switzerland, Germany, Austria)?
Bp. Eleganti: The attempts to rewrite the traditional doctrine that regards homosexual acts as disordered in themselves, and therefore forbids them, are conspicuous. Pope Francis is surrounded by cardinals and advisors who are headed in this direction and openly support James Martin, the most prominent champion for a change in the teaching to date about homosexuality. Some of them were appointed by Pope Francis himself, such as Cupich, Tobin, Farrell. The last-mentioned invited James Martin to Dublin. What happens at the head of the Church is multiplied in her body, and of course in our German-speaking countries, too. Indeed, Cardinal Marx and other German bishops have already speculated in public about blessing homosexual unions.
Kath.net: Thank you for the interview.
(Translated by Michael J. Miller.)
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An honest man…not quite at Romans 1 …but I’ll take it.
It takes guts to speak out, so God bless him for doing also. Why am I put to mind of the Arian Controversy on the 4th Century? Because Martini et al, are Arians if not worse.
Refreshingly and surprisingly unambiguous.
The Vigano allegations ring true.
All but the most obtuse now realize that there has been a movement within the Church to normalize homosexuality, which is clearly a disorder, and to proclaim homosexual fornication is natural when it is clearly an unnatural depravity. In other words, rather than evangelize the world with the ancient truths of Christianity, there are those within the Church who want to accommodate the world’s rejection of God’s plan for human sexuality.
Vigano only confirmed what orthodox Catholics knew all along must be true: This unholy movement within the Church comes from the very top and is led by homosexual activists, aka “the lavender mafia.”
Vigano’s allegations are either true or they are not. It should be relatively simple for a reasonable, objective investigation to determine which is the case — unless Bergoglio blocks such an investigation, which will speak volumes; it will amount to a confession of guilt. And remember, is is Vigano who is saying the release of documents will verify his claims, not Bergoglio, who instead of immediately proclaiming his innocence and insisting that Church documents will demonstrate his innocence, made the following statement to the press when questioned about Vigano’s allegations:
John Waters, in an article on the First Things web site, translates Bergoglio’s strange remarks to the press this way:
That seems like a reasonable interpretation.
Waters’ remarks can be read in their entirety here:
FRANCIS AND THE JOURNALISTS
Thank God we still have Bishops willing to speak the truth.
V. Let us pray for Bishop Eleganti and all the bishops, especially the courageous ones.
R. May he and they stand and tend your flock in your strength, O Lord, in your sublime name.
Thank you Bishop Eleganti!
On the silence of not saying a word–at his own trial Thomas More said it all: “…the maxim is ‘qui tacet consentire’. The maxim of the law is ‘silence gives consent.’ If, therefore, you wish to construe what my silence ‘betokened,’ you must construe that I consented, not that I denied” (as recounted in A Man for All Seasons).
If the Holy Spirit picks the pope how did we end up in this situation?
The Holy Spirit through his “permissive will” allows certain people to be elected to positions of responsibility. The Holy Spirit does not handpick the Pope.
The Holy Ghost gave us the pope we deserved!
Think of a brief list of faithless Cardinals, Daneels, Mahoney, Kasper, Martini (R.I.P.), O’Brien, Marx, Schoenburg, Dolan, Tobin, Weurl, McCarrick, I could go on. These princes of the Church make up a significant part of the lead shepherds and none of them really hold the teaching of the Church. So these men, in dress up, in big houses preside over dioceses’, process in and out of Holy Mass blessing ( or waving) to (us) the peasants and all the time, they condescend hope we will continue in the belief that they share the faith.
Cat’s out of the bag fellas, you are two-faced patronising sycophants fluttering around this bad pope – in trying to (frantically) keep things together in your bunker mentality. The cat is out of the bag. You lot have held sway for far too many years, with your duplicitous lives.
Please go away now as your credibility ( and that of your pals in the Jesuit’s) is now at zero.
Almighty God have mercy on us all.
Dear Gerald,
The Holy Spirit guards the Church just like He nurtures and protects your soul, but free will remains, and God the Holy Spirit does not thwart the obstinate that reject God’s love, rather He allows them to go their way, to find out that they need Him if they are to live and survive. The baptized soul is still capable of sinning and a Pope is still capable of human error, he is only infallible in matters of faith and morals, and even though an obstinate ideologue can appear to be changing teaching, the reality is that so far only personal thoughts are being falsely reported as changes in teaching.
God bless,
tom
The Lavender Mafia in the Church has come out of the shadows and has grown much stronger and bolder over the last 100 years or so to the point that they are now ready to alter Catholic teaching on the vile sin of homosexuality.
If the Catholic Church ceases to fully teach the gospel of Christ, Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin Mary will no longer be able to hold back the arm of God’s justice.
We are on very thin ice here and we are rapidly running out of time.
Oh pooh,
If Gods arm of justice did not come down after Roe or the holocaust it will never come down.
Is not the vileness of abortion and the churches minimal response worse than this gay thing?
Hmmmm? He’s not coming.
You’ll see him when you transcend.
God bless.
The Holy Spirit through his “permissive will” allows certain people to be elected to positions of responsibility. The Holy Spirit does not handpick the Pope.
Well, Father Klovenbach did not speak out for nothin’. Klovenbach’s report did not mysteriously disappear for nothin’.
Something tells me this pope may well simply self-destruct, somehow, at some point and sooner rather than later.
Just guessin’, nothing more.
We have a saying in Italy: Chi tace acconsente, or: to be silent is to agree.
The pope has his close support from proponents of fr. Martin, and really it says alot and builds the case for Vigano and the truth…. Fatima prophecy before our eyes?
It’s not just his words, Francis demeanor is “caught in the cookie jar” watching the video it’s clear he knew of abuse and did nothing about it
Interesting. I was one of those who did not want to acknowledge the homosexual tendencies within some in the priesthood as being relevant to the discussion around the tragedy of same sex sexual abuse by priests of young boys. But, this article made me suddenly realize that this is like not acknowledging the heterosexual tendencies within some in the priesthood as being relevant to the discussion around opposite sex sexual abuse by priests of young girls. It isn’t the “inclinations” that are at fault, nor should either be considered immoral in any way at all. The immorality comes from the expression of these inclinations on young, vulnerable people. For me, the concern has always been painting with a broad brush all priests with homosexual or heterosexual tendencies as somehow immoral or at higher risk for abusing the young. As long as we are careful to not judge all by the actions of a few, I support naming the full spectrum of concern.