Vatican blocks Biden communion ban in US, pushes vaccine, silent on German schism

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Vatican blocks Biden communion ban in US, pushes vaccine, silent on German schism

In recent weeks, U.S. bishops have lined up on either side of the debate, with leftists in the hierarchy outing themselves for their infidelity.

May 13, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — Another unbelievable couple of weeks in the Vatican have just wrapped up. We’ve not only seen the Pope’s vaccine-pushing conference featuring Chelsea Clinton (and a whole host of other pro-abortion bigwigs), but we’ve also witnessed Rome’s public push to excommunicate all mafia members while simultaneously blocking an effort by many U.S. bishops to refuse Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and many other abortion-pushing politicians Holy Communion.

And that’s just the start! Pope Francis has also ignored the ardent pleas of Cardinals, priests, and bishops to stop the schism in Germany with hundreds of so-called Catholic priests blessing homosexual unions Monday. 

On May 7, Clinton spoke at the Vatican’s conference — ironically dedicated to “dialogue” — saying there must be a global effort to crack down on vaccine-critical social media posts. “I personally very strongly believe there has to be more intensive and intentional and coordinated global regulation of the content on social media platforms,” she said.

Clinton is the Vice President of the Clinton Foundation and the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Like her parents, she is an outspoken advocate for abortion. 

She appeared at a pre-recorded online meeting forming part of the Fifth International Vatican “Unite to Prevent & Unite to Cure” conference. 

Obviously, hearing those remarks uttered at a Vatican conference stings, especially for us here at LifeSite, since we were permanently banned from Facebook earlier this month. We were kicked off YouTube just a few months ago, as well, which caught the attention of Fox News’ Tucker Carlson.

Apart from Clinton, speakers at the Vatican conference include prominent and diverse names such as the CEOs of Pfizer and Moderna,  the former  of which produces abortion pills; the Director of the National Institute of Health (NIH)  Francis Collins, who advocates using fetal tissue in research projects; the head of Google Health, David Feinberg; and COVID czar Dr. Anthony Fauci of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, another speaker, has a history of promoting LGBT issues, and is  described by  TIME magazine  as “one of the most outspoken executives” for LGBT affairs.

Pro-life activist Michael Hichborn, in an interview with LifeSite, recalled that sinister figures have in the past called on pastors and ministers to help promote intrinsic evils.

“In 1939, Margaret Sanger wrote to Dr. Clarence Gamble suggesting that they convince ‘negro doctors’ and ‘negro ministers’ to promote contraception among the black population,” he said. “Mimicking Sanger’s approach, Fauci now wants to use Catholic priests to convince faithful Catholics to take an unproven shot that has over 3,000 reported deaths and over 100,000 serious adverse reactions attached to it. Faithful Catholics have every right to reject the shot and should tell Fauci and his lackeys to go pound sand!”

Believe it or not, at the conference the Vatican announced the granting of a Pontifical Award to the CEO of a pharmaceutical company that makes abortion-tainted  experimental coronavirus vaccines. Stéphane Bancel, the CEO of Moderna, was given a Pontifical Hero Award in recognition of his success in convincing the company to focus its energies on developing a vaccine for the COVID-19 coronavirus. Notably, Moderna helped fund the Vatican conference.

On May 10, Vatican News reported a new group in the Vatican has been tasked with the excommunication of all members of mafia groups. Under the overall directive of Cardinal Peter Turkson, who heads the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, a working group has been drawn up that reportedly  will have as its aim the excommunication of members of the mafia and organized crime groups.

Meanwhile, pro-life advocates have noted the irony of how similar sanctions are not being placed on abortion supporters, particularly politicians who support the killing of the unborn. In fact, while focusing on excommunicating mafia members, the Vatican is blocking efforts of several U.S. bishops to ban pro-abortion politicians from receiving communion.

Last week, the Vatican  weighed  in on discussions currently underway among U.S. bishops regarding the distribution of Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians. A letter sent to the USCCB president by Cardinal Luis F. Ladaria, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), warned that an upcoming U.S. bishops policy on giving Holy Communion to pro-abortion politicians, such as Joe Biden, could be a “source of discord.” Cardinal Ladaria said the policy would unfairly concentrate on “only one category of Catholics.”

One particularly odious part of that Vatican letter is that in what would appear to be a first, the Vatican used language developed by abortion advocates, repeatedly using the term “pro-choice” to describe politicians who support abortion. In the letter, Cardinal Ladaria employed the term “pro-choice” four times. He referred to “pro-choice politicians” twice, as well as “pro-choice legislation” and a “pro-choice position.”

One such example of the CDF’s use of this term is given when noting how local bishops should “reach out to and engage in dialogue with Catholic politicians within their jurisdictions who adopt a pro-choice position regarding abortion legislation, euthanasia, or other moral evils, as a means of understanding the nature of their positions and their comprehension of Catholic teaching.”

Despite its reticence to target this “one category of Catholics,” the new working group on the mafia looks set to also target one specific kind of Catholic. LifeSite contacted the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development seeking more information about the working group but was informed that details would be conveyed in the upcoming weeks.

In recent weeks, U.S. bishops have lined up on either side of the debate, with leftists in the hierarchy outing themselves for their infidelity and seeing support for their heretical position in Pope Francis himself.

Bishop Robert McElroy of San Diego recently wrote a piece for  America Magazine  decrying the public calls for pro-abortion politicians to be denied Holy Communion. Among those supporting constant Church teaching that calls for pro-abortion politicians to be denied Communion is Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, who  argued  that  such politicians  merit a public “correction” for their “public rejection of Catholic teaching” that is not limited to “exclusion from the reception of Holy Communion” but may also include “excommunication.”

Additionally, a number of other high-profile Catholic shepherds, including  Cardinal Raymond Burke,  Archbishop Samuel Aquila, and Archbishop Joseph Naumann have likewise come out publicly defending the position that pro-abortion Catholic politicians must be denied Communion to safeguard the sacrament, to avoid scandal, and to call the sinner to repentance. 

Meanwhile, in Germany there is outright schism with hundreds of priests, in an act of defiance, giving sacrilegious blessings to homosexual unions on May 10. So while the Vatican is very involved in directing the U.S. church, curbing its efforts at fidelity, it has had a more hands-off approach in the church in Germany, where the country’s bishops are currently walking down their “Synodal Path” that appears to be leading to a departure from the Church’s teaching on the priesthood, marriage, and sexual morality.

A cardinal, two bishops, and a dozen priests have begged Pope Francis to intervene to stop the Catholic Church in Germany from going into “schism.”

“The German Synodal Path, initiated in 2019, has been, during the past two years, fertile ground for the planning and subsequent homogenization of ideas and theories that are blatantly contrary to the immutable and perennial Magisterium of the Holy Catholic Church, founded by the Divine Savior on the solid rock of the Apostles,” the appeal states.

“Concerned about this sad situation, we Pastors of the Catholic Church and faithful laity committed to the defense of the Truth of the Faith, ask the Holy Father to take the necessary measures to put an end to these drifts of the German Synodal Path and, if necessary, to apply the appropriate canonical sanctions against the promoters of this tremendous deviation from both doctrine and communion with the Keys of Peter,” it adds.

The  May 5 appeal  is signed by Bishop Emeritus of Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen, Kazakhstan Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Switzerland Bishop Marian Eleganti, 12 priests, including U.S. canon lawyer Fr. Gerald Murray, and more than 50 other laymen and women in the fields of law, teaching, and health. 

The response from Pope Francis has been silence. 

But there has not been silence from a couple of awesome prelates who have led the resistance to the insanity coming from Rome. Bishop Schneider, in addition to the appeal to the Pope, also gave an interview to LifeSite in which he urged faithful Catholics in Germany, who are witnessing schism unfolding right before their eyes as increasing numbers of clergy publicly defy Catholic moral teaching, to pray and to continue to remain faithful.

“Firstly, they should self-assuredly and joyfully confess the fullness of the Catholic faith, which they know from the Catechism and from the ever-valid documents of the Magisterium of the Church,” Bishop Schneider told LifeSiteNews.

Bishop Schneider said that faithful Catholics in Germany must not retreat during these times but go on the offensive.

“They should organize meetings and conferences to explain and to strengthen the Catholic faith,” he said, adding that they should also organize “prayer chains of supplication and reparation for the sins against the Catholic faith, the sanctity of the sacraments and the moral life.” Faithful Catholics must support “in many ways” bishops and priests in Germany who choose to remain true to all the teachings of the Catholic faith, he continued.

“All those who still want to live the fullness of the Catholic faith should unite together, pushing away some existing differences between them, which are substantially of a secondary character, in view of the ongoing massive apostasy from the Catholic faith in Germany,” the bishop said.

Asked if there is anything that can be done practically to save the Catholic Church in Germany or if it is already too late, Bishop Schneider told LifeSiteNews that “from the human point of view there is little hope.”

“To save the Catholic Church in Germany, there is first the need of prayer and reparation for the sins against the Catholic faith and the sanctity of the sacraments, committed in the past decades in first place by many representatives of the hierarchy, cardinals, bishops, and priests. There is a need of a Divine intervention that will raise some new apostles of the Catholic faith in Germany,” he said.

And finally, the heroic Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, one of the main voices defending Truth in the Church, has given to LifeSite a prayer appeal to the Most Holy Virgin Mary, turning to the Mother of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to appeal for us with Her Divine Son to bring an end to the current calamity in the world and in the Church. Yesterday was Ascension Thursday and also the feast of the first apparition of Our Lady of Fatima in 1917. It was also the release date of the prayer by Archbishop Vigano, which you can read in full by clicking here.