Pope removes officials seen as responsible for Holocaust-denying bishop row

Could it be the Pope is moving in the direction of realizing how potentially dangerous these so-called "traditionalists" really are. My term for them would be something like the "stiff-necked people" spoken of in the Hebrew Scriptures: interested more in getting things their own way than in preserving the integrity of the Faith.

Nonsense. This move has nothing to do with hanging an 80 year old cardinal out to dry. The move of PCED from CDW to CDF is consistent with the fact that discussions betweween Rome and SSPX will be moving on to the area of doctrine which is perhaps the main obstathe cle to regualarization. There is an obvious progression in the relationship between Rome and the SSPX beginning with the issuance of Summorum Pontificum and followed by the lifting of the excommunications. If the doctrinal discussions go well, God willing, perhaps regularization will come next. We'll see what the so-called Vatican insiders have to say then.

Thanks be to God.

Sorry, I meant to say "the move of PCED to CDF insread of to CDW" rather then "from CDW to CDF."

Thank God. Here's hoping we are finally moving forward.

There is so much hypocrisy in this sad story that it can only reflect very badly on all concerned.
Certainly, first and foremost, on that Colombian archbishop but also on the one who appointed him to the Ecclesia Dei Commission and who set it up, Pope John Paul II and, to be sure, his successor Pope Ratzinger who, as cardinal prefect of the ex-Holy Office, had always worked very hard to appease the Lefebvrites and even celebrated a Tridentine mass for them in full Medieval liturgical garb!

God bless this decision of the Pope. I pray that all those seperated from the Church by formal or informal schism will reconcile in Christ Jesus-God come in the flesh...

Good for Pope Benedict! Now that we know he can fire the cardinals who embarrassed the Church, how about firing some of the bishops who betrayed us by enabling the pedophile priests?

Perl is from Luxembourg.

Cardinal Castrillon-Hoyos is not simply being fired. He is long past the age of retirement (75) and his services have been invaluble to the effort of reconciling the divisions within the church. This move was a long time coming and was being discussed even before the excomunications were lifted. The reason for the move is primarily to normalise other traditionalist, but Catholic, movements in the life of the church rather than giving them their own commision which essentially cuts them of from the normal Catholic Church. Ecclesia Dei was created to help bring all traditionalists back into the church especially the SSPX but now it is proving to be more of a barrier to unity than a help. The Extraordinary form of the Mass is not a tack on to Catholic worship and it is not something that will simply go away. By uniting Ecclesia Dei with the main doctrinal congregation Catholics are shown that if one belongs to the older form of the mass that person does not have a different, dated, or simply tolerated form of beleif, rather their beleif is a respected and acknolweged and encouraged form of the faith. It is in the fullness of Catholic Faith just as any well catechized catholic who would attend the Ordinary Form of the Mass. I think this is a wonderful and charitable move on behalf of the Holy Father.

Learn from the Pope: Thank your staff (of e-mailers) and fire (off another missive) them!

Cardinal Castrillon-Hoyos had his own agenda from the beginning. Further, he never should have been allowed to remain in charge of the "Ecclesia Dei" Commission after he reached the age of 75. The conservative "good old boys" network always comes back to bite the hand that feeds it.

A welcome move.

But what will it mean within the grand scheme of things?

Not much. This pope will continue his reactionary agenda, especially promoting the Tridentine mass and Tridentinizing the Novus Ordo.

Same goal, just a different path.

I see it the other way 'round. Perhaps HH Pope Benedict XVI is using the SSPX to do repairs to the Barque of Peter. I personally can not think of four Bishops more up to the task, than all of them including His Lordship Bishop Williamson. I for one look forward to this as the ship is listing dangerously to the left and most of the people from western democracies have been thrown overboard and lost at sea.

Oh, come ON, John. I know you have to pander to a liberal heterodox audience filled with nutjobs, but Castrillon-Hoyos was 80 years old and Ecclesia Dei had always been meant to roll into the CDF.

What, was C-H supposed to run it alone until he DIED?!?!

This is just a stupid, stupid bit of pandering to your audience disguised as a news piece. You're a better journalist than this.

Get your facts straight!!!

I can hardly believe John Allen wrote this ill-researched piece! Please note the following:

1. The transfer of the PCED to the CDF was announced months ago, by the time of the lifting of the excommunications... This is nothing new, and the new Motu follows what most writers and bloggers had anticipated... nothing new here.

2. Cardinal Castrillon is, erm, 80, and, erm, as any informed Vaticanist should know, erm, this is the true age limit for all Holy See high ranking prelates... again, this was anticipated, previously announced, and nothing new. This is far from a "removal" or a "dismissal". Gosh...

3. Mgr. Pearl is Luxemburgois, not Italian.

4. Card. Castrillon gave a recent interview in which he expressed that 2 of his 3 objectives for the PCED were fulfilled: Summorum Pontificum and the lifting of the sanctions. The third one, a canonical structure for the SSPX, was not.

Mr. Allen: This is way, way under your usual standard, and just from a technical perspective (forget about ideological items). What happened?

I don't think so.

These two will probably be reincarnated in other positions in or around the Holy See much like Cardinal Bernard Law was some few years back or more recently Cardinal William Levada whose role as an Enabler in knowing about, covering up for and transferring known sexual abusive priests from place to place.

Clericalism is very much alive and well in the church today.

This motu proprio is such good news (the real story, not your dreadful spin in the title.)

Our Holy Father is so clever; by this action he ensures that the doctrinal questions are clarified for the Church as a whole and not within some and more private and limited structure.

What is clarified in terms of doctrine by the Prefect of the CDF (and one could really say by the Holy Father) will be binding as it comes from the very centre of the Church herself, the part of our Church charged with upholding the purity of the faith. No longer a side issue but a central issue. Let the dialogue begin and watch truth in love emerge.

This is absolutely ridiculous! Cardinal Hoyos reached the age of 80. The PCED was designed to be integrated into the CDF long before Bishop Williamson started his nonsense publicly! Once again, NCR proves it is as Roman Catholic as Bishop Williamson!

Why doesn't the Vatican fire Bishops and Cardinals who service pro-choice politicians or, like the Montreal character, sympathize with abortion in certain circumstances?

This is crazy. One nut "thinks" Jews didn't die in a certain oven, and he is not worthy of communion, but we won't do anything about policymakers of death.

This blog proves that even Allen, the most level-headed contributor to this looney-bin of a publication, can go astray from time to time. This move has nothing to do with "punishing" Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos -- he reached the retirement age back in 2004. In addition, it makes the most sense to combine Ecclesia Dei and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. This is a move toward a more integrated Congregation instead of having Ecclesia Dei be a separate and "fuzzy" entity.

What a manipulative article.

He didn't remove Cardinal Hoyos. There was a restructuring of Ecclesia Dei and Cardinal Hoyos was leaving his post anyway.

This yellow journalism from John Allen makes it look like prelates should be removed for not towing the line of anti-Catholic Judaic pressure groups.

John Allen is a disgrace.

The correct term in English for followers of Abp Lefebvre is 'Lefebvrist' corresponding the the French 'Lefebvriste'.

Finally a bit of common sense from the Vatican. The "Lefebvrites" are a right wing European bunch with Nazi sympathies. They protest Vatican II and the popes since, hate the Mass of Paul VI and slam it whenever they have an opportunity. They have willingly separated themselves from the Body of Christ and are therefore just another "protestant" sect. Just excommunicate the whole miserable bunch, jettison them from the church and be done with it. They can link up with other groups like the "Old Catholics" (misery loves company) or with the "Orthodox Catholic Church", "American Orthodox Catholic Church", "American Catholic Church", "Catholic Apostolic Church", etc. All are groups which we seem to have no problems excommunicating, or better yet they can become one of the 100 or so autocephalous catholic churches.

So, the chess pieces more around and around--all protecting the King. Thanks to John Allen and NCR we sometimes get a glimpse of this maze of players, some who are in and some who are out. As in any bureaucracy, the Pentagon comes to mind, the moves of the players, from the top to the bottom, can be endlessly tracked and and speculated about. One can hope prayers are sometimes said--but, again, who are they for?

Good for our Pope. Just like in a large corporation, sometimes decisions are made without the President knowing or consenting to them, this is basically what happened to the Pope. The Cardinal and Monsignor made those decisions and apparently did not consult the Pope, yet the Pope was getting the blame for them. I'm glad he remedied the situation.

Benny and he Jets are nothing but laymen....and the Novus Ordo Church is the false church...............

While it is good Pope removed these guys, he is still responsible. If he don't know or understand the political and theological perspectives of those who he has in key positions - that is his problem. Like the President, his appointees are supposed to reflect his view of the world.

In this case, if he knew their views and kept them on - throwing them overboard was an injustice. These guys were simply carrying out the implied wishes of the Pope.

If he didn't know their views - it was his incompetence, on his part.

Let these two guys go back to the trenches - actual parish work. Maybe they'd learn a little about the church they claim to serve.

If a decision on rescinding an excommunication is based on an error of fact, on the views of the 'excommunicandi' is it a canonically legal or valid decision?
Mihi non videtur

Thank the Heavens. The trickle down effect of Benedict's actions here will not be missed by those who are tempted to go farther than their mission calls for. The idea of being "more Catholic" than the Pope will have to be more careful.
Cardinal Castrillon-Hoyos spoke to a Deacon Convocation at Milwaukee some years ago. His printed words were very sound and conservative. And then he spoke spontaneously at the end of Mass. The cameras were off, the tape re-corders were exhausted and none of us had paper on which to write. Oh, that someone could have captured his talk, because it was far different from his homily. It was the thoughts of a man with vision, looking forward instead of back. Question in my mind has always been which was the real man and which was the person in the Vatican.

Just got back from Mass at Ssma. Trinita here in Rome and the mood there at this news is jubilant. Looks, John, like you could stand to return to some of those "most observers" of yours and take another look at the direction they're looking.

What do the SSPX have to do , change , to be in communion with the church? What beliefs and practises do they still hold that are not in communion?

Why is the misogyny of Willaimson, the rogue bishop, the anti-semite, holocaust denier also not addressed by the pope. Willaimson said women should never attend university, only males can, and that women should never wear trousers and other similiar misogynist statements.

Why is the anti-woman beliefs of some SSPX (is it also all SSPX members?) not a red flag too and a requirement to change for full church re-instatement?

John, don't pay attention to the Trads who are sympathetic to the Lefebvrites; this mean bunch are getting nervous and they should be. They are trying to "spin" the news to make it look favorable to their cause. Cardinal Levada was an early opponent of what would become Summorum Pontificum, 2007's "universal indult" for the pre-Conciliar liturgy. Obviously Pope B16 knows this and by appointing Levada he appears to want to "put the brakes on". B16 probably got a laptop, googled them one night and was shocked by what he found!

SSPX and Fr Angles and Williamson have preached pro Hitler garbage for years.Anyone living in st Mary's Kansas and regularly attending the cult sspx there knows this as fact.Fr Hewko as pastor at sspx in Eddystone PA preached from the pulpit how Hitler ,"........saved Catholic art". He started a Commando group there consisting of young boys from the parish who eerily dressed like the Malice in Vichey France during the time Paul Touvier was part of the murderous Nazi group there. Nazi murderer Paul Touvier was discovered hiding in an SSPX monastery in Nice, France in the nineties. Finally arrested tried and convicted as a Nazi murderer . Documentation seized and presented at the trial revealed he was supported by the Knights de Chevalier with a regular stipend for 40 years. The same order to which Bishop Marcel LeFebvre belonged. The Society explains away LeFebvre's consecration as Bishop by a known mason Cardinal Leinart easily because two consecrated LeFebvre a Bishop however, they do not address the fact that same Ordained LeFebvre a priest.
American catholics a woefully ignorant of nazi political affiliations within the church and apparently so were the clerics in the Vatican.one had only to have a son in one of many commando groups at the chapels, and then view the documentary on Hitler Youth on PBS to see and hear the striking resemblance.Perhaps even the SSPX priests ordained in Winona are ignorant to the politics behind their affiliation?

John,

Bad show! Its a good thing your readers don't read Latin because if they did they would see that the inuendo you are suggesting has no basis in the moto proprio Ecclesiae Unitatem.

Hoyos, was head of Ecclesia Dei an organization created primarily to administer the implimentation of the indult granted by the moto proprio of the same name issued July 2nd, 1988. It was also charge with advancing the Ecumenical Dialogue with the Society of S. Pius X, because as Benedict notes, at the time the division seemed primarilly spiritual and liturgical. Since the moto proprio Summorum Pontificum eliminated the need for that indult, and promoted the universal availability of the spirituality and liturgy of the Mass of Bl. John XXIII, it was widely precieved that the Ecclesia Dei was no longer needed and would be done away with eventually.

Hoyos, a friend of the Holy Father was already semi-retired, having served as the Prefect of the Congregation for Clergy until two years ago, and well past the normal retirement age for bishops. Why would you assume then that this move is some sort of reproach against him for a controversy entirely created by your collegues in the media? I mean really, years ago when the Pope and Patriarch of Constantinople mutually lifted excommunications, did anyone really think that the Great Schism was solved?

As it has become clear from the fact that the Pope widely supports the celebration of the Roman Rite in all its forms the liturgical issue is really no longer on the table. This is why the dialogue with our brothers and sisters in Christs, often labled "Lefebrists," rightly now must be moved into the doctrinal arena. The liturgical division with the Lefebrists is more or less solved, what remains, is the doctrinal issues that for some time have been ignored because the intolerant liturgical attitudes of some in the Church has provided a smoke screen to these real issues.

The Church and the Society are slowly moving toward unity in this way, and as a catholic you have a moral obligation given to you by your Savior to pray for that unity! Hoyos has made remarkable contributions to the cause of Christian unity and for that the Church owes him a debt of gratitude. Unless you have some evidence that you have failed to provide to support your interpretation of the simple fact that the dialogue between the Society of S. Pius X has advanced to the doctrinal level, I think you owe the Cardinal an apology for suggesting that his retirement is anything other than a long earned reward.

If anything this is an upgrading of the seriousness of these ecumenical talks moving them from the context of a Pontifical Commission to that of a full Dicastry headed (at least ex officio) by the Pontiff.

In Christ,

Fr. Ron

I do hope that the warm welcome Obama has received from the Pope will serve as a rebuttal and admonishment to all those American bishops and laymen who have denounced Notre University for having honoured the U.S. president recently and realize that they are totally out of line and order, that they have, in fact, excommunicated or placed themselves outside the realms and reaches of the universal Catholic church.

Wishful thinking on your part Yvon Thivierge. It isn't going to happen.