ABERDEEN, U.K., April 30, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — Several months into the Irish government’s public worship ban, the president of the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland has rebuked penalizations as “extreme and unnecessary.”
Bishop Hugh Gilbert of Aberdeen condemned restrictions unveiled in Ireland two weeks ago in a statement published on behalf of the Scottish bishops on Wednesday. The bishop called the new rules, which criminalize attendance of public Mass, “disturbing” to the bishops of Scotland.
“Recent developments that penalize the celebration of Holy Mass have been disturbing not only to the Irish bishops’ conference but also to the bishops of Scotland,” Bp. Gilbert, who presides over the diocese of Aberdeen, said. “We all recognize the need for restrictions to protect the common good of all people in a pandemic but to enact legislation that criminalizes those who gather to celebrate Holy Mass is indeed extreme and unjust.”
The Catholic News Agency noted that the statement is “a rare intervention by a bishops’ conference on matters in a neighboring country.”
The statutory instrument 171 of 2021, authorized by Health Minister Stephen Donnelly on April 12, prohibits religious services except for funerals and weddings and mandates that priests “lead worship or services remotely.” Violators could face up to six months in jail.
“We consider the publication of this statutory instrument, together with associated penal provisions, to be provocative and formally enacting a potential infringement of religious freedom and of constitutional rights,” Archbishop Martin, the primate of Ireland, said after the restrictions were announced.
He added that the “draconian” instrument was promulgated in a “clandestine manner without notice or consultation” and that the Irish bishops did not know about the law until it was publicly revealed. The move was particularly disappointing given “reassurances of the [prime minister] to Church leaders only three days ago that he understood the importance of faith and worship to the people of Ireland,” Abp. Martin said.
The primate emphasized that the bishops had “consistently impressed on government that people of faith value highly their spiritual well-being and consider the public practice of their faith as essential — something which has not been sufficiently recognised in statute.”
The Irish government has deployed notably extreme measures throughout the COVID-19 crisis, often in collaboration with certain prelates. Public Mass has been suspended in the nation since last year.
“I must speak out to represent the voices of a very large cohort of people who are growing increasingly weary of being unable to attend Mass and whose spiritual and mental wellbeing is being eroded,” Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan of Waterford and Lismore said even before the implementation of additional anti-Mass measures earlier this month. “Their patience is wearing thin. They are frustrated and feel unrepresented and discriminated against.”
“It is very difficult to explain to people why they are banned from public worship bearing in mind also that Ireland is one of the tiny few countries in Europe where public worship is not allowed,” he said.
The Vatican has announced its fifth International "Health" Conference on "Exploring the Mind, Body & Soul," to take place between May 6-8, and nearly everything about the conference is rotten -- morally, scientifically and culturally.
Incredibly, the conference organizers have listed huge numbers of globalist and abortion-promoting speakers such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, vaccine developers, Mormon elders, pro-abortion Chelsea Clinton, population control advocate Jane Goodall, a New Age activist, a prominent UK Muslim scholar, and pro-abortion American actress Cindy Crawford, among others.
The logo for the conference is a circle of people linking hands, colored in the tones of the LGBT rainbow flag, and positioned next to the crossed keys and Papal tiara of the Pontiff. In the ten goals listed for the conference, the Pontifical Council for Culture makes no reference to God or the Catholic Church.
The organization and promotion of this conference is beyond an outrage, it is a closer to a sacrilege (also outrageous!).
Indeed, of the conference, Archbishop Viganò has said that the Holy See is "making itself the servant of the New World Order." [More below about Arbp Viganò's reaction to the conference...]
Please SIGN and SHARE this petition urging the Vatican to CANCEL this desperately wrong-headed appeasement to the secular world disguised as a "health conference."
114 speakers are set to appear at the event, including 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;
- Chelsea Clinton, a strong advocate for abotion;
- The head of Google Health, David Feinberg;
- And, Dr. Anthony Fauci from the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, whose advice to government officials played a major role in shutting down American churches last year.
These "VIP" speakers are also joined at the Vatican conference by the following: United Nations representative and conservationist Jane Goodall, who supports population control; new age activist Deepak Chopra; rock guitarist Joe Perry; Mormon Elder William K. Jackson; executive chair of the British Board of Scholars and Imams, Shaykh Dr. Asim Yusuf; pro-abortion model Cindy Crawford; and, by Salesforce CEO, Marc Benioff, who has firmly aligned himself with the globalist, liberal elite, by censoring conservative voices on his platform.
The sheer number of speakers holding anti-Catholic views has sparked a firestorm of well-deserved criticism.
And, in an letter published by LifeSiteNews, Archbishop Viganò roundly condemns this conference and, moreover, the infidelity to the Church's perennial teaching. Here is a brief excerpt (read the whole letter by clicking on this link):
"...The Holy See has deliberately renounced the supernatural mission of the Church, making itself the servant of the New World Order and Masonic globalism in an antichristic counter-magisterium.
The same Roman Dicasteries, occupied by people ideologically aligned with Jorge Mario Bergoglio [i.e. Pope Francis] and protected and promoted by him, now continue unrestrained in their implacable work of demolishing Faith, Morals, ecclesiastical discipline, and monastic and religious life, in an effort as vain as it is unprecedented to transform the Bride of Christ into a philanthropic association enslaved to the Strong Powers.
The result is the super-imposition over the true Church of a sect of heretical and depraved Modernists who are intent on legitimizing adultery, sodomy, abortion, euthanasia, idolatry, and any perversion of the intellect and will. The true Church is now eclipsed, denied and discredited by her very Pastors, betrayed even by the one who occupies the highest Throne."
The fact that there is so much anti-Catholicism (i.e., anti-truth) held by so many of the speakers makes it impossible to ask for the organizers to simply disinvite disreputable speakers.
That is why we are urging the Vatican to CANCEL this anti-life, anti-truth, anti-Catholic, anti-health "health conference" altogether!
Please SIGN and SHARE this urgent petition asking the Vatican to CANCEL its fifth International "Health" Conference on "Exploring the Mind, Body & Soul."
This conference contains such a high concentration of poison for the Faith and the faithful that is should be canceled, not only for the contents itself, but also for the grave scandal it will (and is, already) cause.
After SIGNING and SHARING, please take a minute to contact the following Church authorities to politely, but firmly, voice your dismay and displeasure at the anti-God, anti-life and anti-faith conference which the Vatican has scheduled for the beginning of May.
Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi - Head of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Culture
Email: [email protected]
Phone: [+39] 06 6989 3811
His Excellency Archbishop Christophe Pierre - Papal Nuncio for the United States
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 202-333-7121
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
'Viganò on Vatican ‘health’ conference with Fauci: Holy See is ‘making itself the servant of the New World Order’' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/opinion/vigano-on-vatican-health-conference-with-fauci-holy-see-is-making-itself-the-servant-of-the-new-world-order
'Vatican hosting Fauci, Chelsea Clinton, Pfizer CEO, Big Tech oligarchs at ‘health’ conference' - https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/vatican-to-host-conference-featuring-covid-jab-developers-big-tech-leaders-fauci-and-chelsea-clinton
Photo Credit: HTTPS://VATICANCONFERENCE2021.ORG/
Catholics in neighboring Scotland resumed Mass in March, following a major legal victory. Highly restricted public masses have been celebrated in England throughout the ongoing, nation-wide lockdown that has triggered massive protests.
Studies repeatedly have shown that lockdowns, which were pioneered by the Chinese Communist government, do not significantly stop the spread of COVID-19. Stay-at-home orders and forced business and school closures have coincided with surging overdose deaths and child suicide attempts and may contribute to over 100,000 non-virus deaths in the U.K. alone.