(LifeSiteNews) – Bishop Johan Bonny of Antwerp, who with a group of Flemish bishops in Belgium recently published guidelines for the blessing of homosexual couples, has now publicly said that he has spoken with the Pope, and that “our guidelines for blessing of homosexual couples that we have recently published are in line with Pope Francis.”
Bonny is currently in Germany where he met with the German bishops at their annual fall meeting in Fulda, spoking with them behind closed doors. In this context, he gave Katholisch.de, the official website of the German bishops, an interview, in which he encouraged the German bishops to continue the work of their Synodal Path which recently declared recently that homosexual acts are “not sinful.”
At the end of this Katholisch.de interview, Bonny was asked about the reaction to his own actions, since he himself in 2015 already advocated for a blessing of homosexual couples. The interviewer reminded him that he was still a bishop, even though he advocated for such a blessing.
Bonny responded: “Yes, I am still a bishop. I was called to Rome, and there I said what was my opinion about it. I have also personally spoken with Pope Francis about it.”
When asked about the result of this conversation with the Pope, Bonny answered that “I know now what he thinks. That is for me the most important thing.”
RELATED: Catholic bishops in Belgium publish blessing ceremony for homosexual couples
The Belgian bishop insisted that the Pope is also in agreement with him and his Flemish fellow bishops and their newly released guidelines. “And I know that our guidelines for the blessing of homosexual couples, which we recently published, are in line with Pope Francis,” he said, adding that this was important to him “because communion with the Pope is sacred to me.”
The prelate continued:
It is the personal responsibility that the Pope has given us bishops and that he also supports. However, the same topics do not have to and cannot be discussed worldwide at all times. Moreover, the Pope does not have to write everything down on paper. Just as I as a bishop do not record every conversation on paper.
When the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith came out with a ban of the blessing of homosexual couples in March last year, Bishop Bonny expressed he was “angry” at Rome and said he felt “shame” for his Church.
He then also referred to the Pope himself when saying that “this responsum is not an example of how we can walk a path together. The document undermines the credibility of both the ‘synodal path’ advocated by Pope Francis and the announced year of work with Amoris Laetitia. Will the real synod please stand up?”
Now, under the growing pressure across the Universal Church – with Cardinals Gerhard Müller and Willem Eijk, among others, raising their voice of opposition – Bishop Bonny saw it fit to come out even more explicitly about the Pope’s intentions.
It is to be seen how the Vatican will respond to this new interview by Bonny.
***MAJOR UPDATE, November 10, 2022*** LifeSiteNews reported the bombshell statement issued by Archbishop Viganò, declaring that members of the “Bergoglian church” are no longer in union with the Church of Christ.
According to Archbishop Viganò:
the visible church, to which the world gives the name of Catholic Church and of which it considers Bergoglio as Pope, is no longer Church...
This statement was long overdue, and Archbishop Viganò is finally sounding the alarm — Pope Francis is leading the Church into something radically different than the Church established by Christ. Pope Francis cannot continue betraying the faithful by abdicating his duty as Universal Shepherd.
The time to redouble our efforts and fervently request that Pope Francis repent and be reconciled with the Church is NOW.
SIGN and SHARE. Defend the Church and demand that Pope Francis faithfully uphold the authentic Catholic faith!
Bishops from across the world have raised concern over Pope Francis' unfaithfulness to the 2,000+ years of Catholic teaching, and the recent statement by Archbishop Viganò is truly the breaking point into a new era for faithful Catholics.
READ THE FULL STATEMENT FROM LIFESITENEWS AND SIGN THIS PETITION TO DEFEND THE CHURCH NOW.
****************
Bishop Joseph Strickland, Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Fr. James Altman, and two dozen more faithful Catholic priests & scholars are publicly calling out Pope Francis for his outrageous, dangerous, and heretical teaching concerning reception of Holy Communion.
Pope Francis stated that "faith" is the only requirement for those who wish to receive Holy Communion in his June 29 Apostolic Letter on the liturgy, Desiderio desideravi.
This statement is dangerous because:
- The Council of Trent explicitly anathematized those who make this claim calling it 'heresy'
- Pope Francis omitted the essential step of repentance for sin to worthily receive the Eucharist.
- Pope Francis is thereby allowing the faithful to eat and drink condemnation on themselves, should they receive Holy Communion unworthily
- Pope Francis is supporting moral relativism, eradicating the clear distinction between good and evil
- Pope Francis is eradicating the need for the Sacrament of Confession
- Pope Francis is damaging the teaching office of the Church by sowing doubt and division among faithful Catholics
But there is a way to stop Pope Francis' modernist attack and defend the true Catholic teaching on Holy Communion.
Catholics everywhere must renounce Pope Francis' heresy and uphold the truth: only Baptized Catholics in the state of grace, and therefore free of mortal sin, can receive Holy Communion*.
For those in mortal sin, repentance and absolution must first be sought in the Sacrament of Confession before receiving the Eucharist*.
Pope Francis' statement would mislead many souls, which is why we need your help today to stand with Bishop Strickland, Fr. Altman, Bishop Schneider, and more.
TELL POPE FRANCIS: HOLY COMMUNION CAN ONLY BE RECEIVED IN THE STATE OF GRACE!
The growing list of faithful Catholics who are standing for the truth and bravely resisting Pope Francis' attempt to dilute the Church's moral authority is only growing. This is great news, but the news can't simply stop with you.
You must join the growing list of supporters to but a STOP to Pope Francis' heresy.
WATCH: LifeSiteNews' co-CEO and Editor-in-Chief, John-Henry Westen, fully breaks down the growing list of faithful Catholics choosing to resist Pope Francis' attack on the faith.
Stand with these faithful Catholics: Bishop Joseph E. Strickland, Bishop André Gracida, Bishop Athanasius Schneider, Bishop Robert Mutsaerts, Father Gerald E. Murray, Father James Altman, Father John Lovell, Professor Claudio Pierantoni, Dr. John Lamont, Dr. Peter Kwasniewski, Professor Anna Silvas, Dr. Anthony Esolen, Professor John Rist, Professor Paolo Pasqualucci, Julia Meloni, George Neumayr, and LifeSite’s John-Henry Westen.
*However, if a Catholic is unable to attend Confession but has a grave reason for receiving the Eucharist (such as a priest who may be required to celebrate Mass at a given time but who is unable to go to Confession), such a person must be confident to the best of his ability that he have perfect contrition for any mortal sins that he may have committed before receiving Holy Communion in an exceptional situation.
MORE INFORMATION:
Full statement by Catholic bishops and scholars correcting Pope Francis' heresy - LifeSiteNews
However, it is not the first time that a clergyman has publicly recounted a private conversation with Pope Francis, saying that Francis supports the blessing of homosexual couples. In March of 2018, the French priest Fr. Daniel Duigou revealed that he received Pope Francis’ support for blessing homosexual couples.
LifeSite reported that Duigou described his private conversation with the Pope in a televised interview as follows:
“The first question he [the pope] asked me was: ‘Do you bless divorced and remarried couples?’ which is one of the big questions today in the Church,” explained Duigou. He recalled responding, “I listen and I bless, and I also bless homosexual couples.”
According to Duigou the Pope responded: “Yes, because to bless means that God thinks well of people and that God thinks well of all people.” The news show host asked incredulously: “Well, does this mean that the Pope is in favor of blessing homosexual couples?”
The French priest responded: “Yes, absolutely. It is not about marrying them.”
In 2016, Bonny went on record calling for a blessing for homosexual couples, as well as for cohabitating or divorced and “remarried” couples.
Following the CDF’s March 2021 ban on homosexual couples, Pope Francis removed the Vatican official who is said to have been the driving force behind the Vatican’s ban on blessing of homosexual couples.
He has continuously promoted the work of pro-LGBT activists such as Father James Martin, S.J., saying in public just in August that an event hosted by the pro-LGBT priest was “enriching.”
