Cardinals Burke, Brandmüller: Silence Stops Now

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Vatican City (ChurchMilitant.com) - Two high-profile cardinals are imploring the presidents of all conferences of bishops to speak out at this week's sex abuse summit in Rome against the homosexual network plaguing the Catholic Church.

In an open letter published on Tuesday, Cardinals Walter Brandmüller and Raymond Burke, two of the authors of the dubia, are calling on bishops to end the conspiracy of silence that's allowing the vice of homosexuality to flourish in the Church.

"The plague of the homosexual agenda has been spread within the Church," warned the cardinals, "promoted by organized networks and protected by a climate of complicity and a conspiracy of silence."

The cardinals rejected the push by such prelates as Cdl. Blase Cupich of Chicago that claim sex abuse is merely a product of "clericalism" and call prelates to sound the alarm.

"In the face of this situation, Cardinals and Bishops are silent," noted the cardinals. "Will you also be silent on the occasion of the meeting called in the Vatican for this coming February 21st?

One bishop who agrees with the two cardinals on the existence of a homosexual network within the Church — and on the climate of silence fostering it — is Bp. Athanasius Schneider, auxiliary bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan.

In an interview with LifeSiteNews in January, Schneider said there is a homosexual network very active within the Church. He said if the synod ignores this central problem, it will prove fruitless.

The current crisis of clerical sexual abuse brought to the surface the fact of the existence of real clerical homosexual networks in the Church. If the upcoming Summit on Clerical Sexual Abuse in the Vatican will not address … the predominant role of the homosexual behavior in the clerical sexual abuse cases, the Summit will give a highly irresponsible answer and will be doomed to failure from the start, manifesting thereby also a peculiar form of clericalism.

In their open letter, Cdls. Burke and Brandmüller remind the prelates that they never received a response when they wrote their dubia in 2016 seeking clarification on the reception of the sacraments by civilly remarried Catholics.

We are among those who in 2016 presented to the Holy Father certain questions, "dubia," which were dividing the Church in the wake of the conclusions of the Synod on the Family. Today, those "dubia" have not only not had any response but are part of a more general crisis of the Faith. Therefore, we encourage you to raise your voice to safeguard and proclaim the integrity of the doctrine of the Church.

The issue of seeing homosexual relations as no longer evil is part of a growing moral relativism, they noted.

"The roots of this phenomenon," the cardinal explained, "are clearly found in that atmosphere of materialism, of relativism and of hedonism, in which the existence of an absolute moral law, that is without exceptions, is openly called into question."

Laity are also urging the bishops to end the silence regarding homosexual predation.

Below is the cardinals' open letter to the presidents of the conferences of bishops:

Dear Brothers, Presidents of the Conferences of Bishops,

We turn to you with deep distress!

The Catholic world is adrift, and, with anguish, the question is asked: Where is the Church going?

Before the drift in process, it seems that the difficulty is reduced to that of the abuse of minors, a horrible crime, especially when it is perpetrated by a priest, which is, however, only part of a much greater crisis. The plague of the homosexual agenda has been spread within the Church, promoted by organized networks and protected by a climate of complicity and a conspiracy of silence. The roots of this phenomenon are clearly found in that atmosphere of materialism, of relativism and of hedonism, in which the existence of an absolute moral law, that is without exceptions, is openly called into question.

Sexual abuse is blamed on clericalism. But the first and primary fault of the clergy does not rest in the abuse of power but in having gone away from the truth of the Gospel. The even public denial, by words and by acts, of the divine and natural law, is at the root of the evil that corrupts certain circles in the Church.

In the face of this situation, Cardinals and Bishops are silent. Will you also be silent on the occasion of the meeting called in the Vatican for this coming February 21st?

We are among those who in 2016 presented to the Holy Father certain questions, dubia, which were dividing the Church in the wake of the conclusions of the Synod on the Family. Today, those dubia have not only not had any response but are part of a more general crisis of the Faith. Therefore, we encourage you to raise your voice to safeguard and proclaim the integrity of the doctrine of the Church.

We pray to the Holy Spirit, that He may assist the Church and bring light to the Pastors who guide her. A decisive act now is urgent and necessary. We trust in the Lord Who has promised: “Behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world” (Mt 28,20).

Walter Cardinal Brandmüller

Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke

Watch the panel discuss the need for cowardly bishops to speak up at Rome's synod in The Download—Fighting for Truth.

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