EDITOR’S NOTE (Nick Stamatakis). This is clearly disturbing news, as Italy, especially after the election of Georgia Meloni, has shown that it has taken a conservative turn and would not allow any further imposition of novelties by the globalists… But Pope Francis is “hell-bent” (sic) on pushing the heretic line and the “woke” agenda. And so is Bartholomew. The end result of their heretic practices will be to lose all true Christians to traditionalist Orthodox denominations, as has been happening in the U.S. in the last two decades with the total “decomposition” of Protestant and Evangelical Churches…
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Vatican approves document allowing gay men to become priests in Italy
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — A provisional document published by the Italian Bishops’ Conference on Friday (Jan. 10) and approved by the Vatican cautiously opens the door for the ordination of openly gay men to the priesthood, while maintaining the normal requirement of chastity.
“In the formative process, when referring to homosexual tendencies, it’s also appropriate not to reduce discernment only to this aspect, but, as for every candidate, to grasp its meaning in the global framework of the young person’s personality,” the document reads, adding that the goal is for the candidate to know himself and find harmony between his human and priestly vocation.
The Vatican department for clergy approved the document, which will be valid for three years. The document was signed by the head of the Italian bishops, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who is considered a close collaborator to Pope Francis.
The document, titled “The Formation of Presbyters in Italian Churches. Guidelines and Rules for Seminaries,” was approved by the Italian bishops who met for their general assembly Nov. 13-16 in Assisi. The episcopacy in Italy, where vocations are at an all-time low, has been pushing the envelope in terms of making the Catholic Church more palatable to modern concerns by suggesting a greater role for women in the formation of priests, a commitment to combating sexual abuse and the acceptance of gay men to the priesthood.
According to the 2005 Vatican instruction by the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education, “while the church deeply respects the people in question, it cannot admit to the seminary or to Holy Orders those who practice homosexuality, have deeply rooted homosexual tendencies or support the so-called gay culture.”
The Italian bishops’ document quotes directly from the Vatican instruction but also suggests that other aspects be taken into account when considering the acceptance of gay candidates to the priesthood. While being openly gay no longer automatically bars a candidate from becoming a priest, such candidates are still held to the same standard of chastity as heterosexual priests are.
In a statement published on Friday, New Ways Ministry, an advocacy group for LGBTQIA Catholics in the U.S., welcomed the document as “a big step forward” in combating discrimination in the church. “This new clarification treats gay candidates in the same way that heterosexual candidates are treated. That type of equal treatment is what the Church should be aiming for in regards to all LGBTQ+ issues,” the statement read.
The possibility of admitting gay men to the priesthood caused a stir in May of last year, when Pope Francis used an anti-gay slur to express his skepticism on the matter in a closed-door meeting with Italian bishops. The Vatican issued an apology, stating that the pope “never meant to offend or express himself with homophobic terms,” but Francis has been ambivalent in the past about gay priests and seminarians.
The pope has strongly criticized the “gay lobby” as a center of power in the Vatican and voiced doubts about gay priests’ adherence to a celibate lifestyle, but he also encouraged a young gay seminarian who asked for his advice in his priestly discernment last June.
Ironically, it was Alexander Pope reflecting upon the evils of Vice who wrote: first we endure, then pity, but then embrace.
Our Country will continue to deteriorate even during Biden’s last days in power, while the Catholic Church and Christianity will do the same under the current Vicar. Leadership, as always, matters.
Just pathetic! We all knew this feckless Pope Francis was disingenuous all along and now
there’s no way in hell Greek Orthodox faithful will tolerate Bartholomew joining up with the deviant Catholic Church.
ANAXIOS
This pope will get us more converts.
But that is their plan exactly! To kick out the Greeks from their own church and replace them with converts…
Same way as they are forcing the Greek people to leave Greece and replacing them with illegal immigrants…
After the Greeks become a minority in their own church, the liturgy will be only in English. And the converts will be a much easier flock to accept the “union” with the heretics…
The converts I know take Orthodoxy way more seriously than the cradle “Greek” Orthodox I grew up with and still interact with. Therefore, I think you are entirely wrong on your assessment of the situation.
How do they know if someone is “gay”?
The short answer: they open their eyes.
Γι’αυτό έχω γράψει πολλές φορές πως
στους κληρικούς ηγέτες πρέπει να
επιβληθεί όριο ηλικίας που θα πρέπει να αποχωρούν.
Όμως ουδέν κακόν αμυγές καλού,
γιατί δίδεται ευκαιρία στους δικούς μας
κληρικούς που εκδίδονται να αλλάξουν
στρατόπεδο και να Ελεύθερες πλέον να
απολαμβάνουν ότι επιθυμεί η ψυχή τους μετά της κουστωδίας των μελών
της απόλαυσης.
Τας θύρας τας θύρας λίγοι γνωρίζουν
γιατί υπάρχει στη θεία λειτουργία. Τα
πρώτα χριστιανικά χρόνια όταν
εσυγκεντρώνονταν στο κρυφό μέρος
φώναζαν τας θύρας τας θύρας για να
μην μπει κανένας αντίθετος.
Σήμερα όπως καταντήσαμε αυτοί που
έχουν τουλάχιστον φιλότιμο στο
άκουσμά του θα πρέπει να σηκώνονται
και να φεύγουν.
Μα αυτό θέλουν καπετάνιε. Θέλουν να φύγουμε και να τους αδειάσουμε τη γωνιά! Μόνον από φωνές και επεισόδια καταλαβαίνουν αυτοί.
Ultimately God is in charge and their plans may fall. Most converts are not going to like the woke agenda either. They converted to Orthodoxy because the wanted to get away from the woke churches. Most of the converts I met get upset with Barto too because they went along with classes for a year and spent time learning and love the OC.
One of the Greek Churches I went to, already had 90% of the mass in English and this was 10 years ago. As far as the “converts will be a much easier flock to accept the “union” with the heretics”… I think the same applies for many people that are already in Church. Many of the modern orthodox have no idea about Church cannons and the writings of the holy fathers or the oppressions and past crimes of the Catholics against our faith; they will just follow their church leaders. Our OC is indeed at crossroads, but it is not the first time. And some Catholics criticize the decisions of the pope and since they consider us heretics, those Catholics are against the union with us, which may work out as an advantage against the union in the end.
We have been warned by the saints that at end times, we won’t be persecuted to switch to another religion, but to accept all religions as true. In other words, Truth will be canceled by accepting all lies. We are witnessing those times already since both the pope, elpi, and barto state that all paths lead to salvation. They are relativizing the truth. Their new church doesn’t seem to be one that prefers converts or immigrants but one that will be a marmalade in which everyone is right and can think and worship whatever they want and have whatever God they want. Those of us that won’t go along with it will be labeled as haters and intolerant etc and will be punished for holding onto our faith.
I hope that my Greek brothers and sisters will be strong enough to go through whatever is coming. Fr. Ephraim from AZ said not to leave the churches and to wait until a pan orthodox council will condemn what is happening now and all those guilty will be punished. That won’t happen for a while so we need a lot of patience.
“Fr. Ephraim from AZ said not to leave the churches
and to wait until a pan orthodox council will condemn
hat is happening now and all those guilty will be punished.”
Can you please give a reference?
Photios, I will have to look for it. Metr. Neophytos speaks about Fr. Ephraim’s position on this. There is also a book that should be coming out this year, God willing, with other things the Elder said before he died…
Here is a link, the question is about leaving the Churches and stopping commemoration due to the situation in Ukraine but I believe it very much applies to leaving the churches in general:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5QwNekMqVg&t=319s
Thanks for this.
My pleasure. Metr. Neophytos is one of my favorite, he is great and he is not afraid to speak. God bless him!