{"id":2747,"date":"2017-07-18T09:24:24","date_gmt":"2017-07-18T14:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/mysticpost\/?p=2747"},"modified":"2017-07-18T09:24:24","modified_gmt":"2017-07-18T14:24:24","slug":"one-four-cardinals-formally-asked-pope-clarity-amoris-laetitia-secret-protector-medjugorje-told-pope-medjugorje-worlds-confessional-box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/mysticpost\/2017\/07\/18\/one-four-cardinals-formally-asked-pope-clarity-amoris-laetitia-secret-protector-medjugorje-told-pope-medjugorje-worlds-confessional-box\/","title":{"rendered":"Was One of the Four Cardinals Who Formally Asked Pope for Clarity on \u2018Amoris Laetitia\u2019, the Secret Protector of Medjugorje… Told Pope “Medjugorje is the world’s confessional box.”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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\n

Carninal Meisner had a great devotion to Mary and a positive impression of the spiritual fruits of Medjugorje. When Benedict XVI appointed a commission, led by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, to examine the phenomenon, he advised the pope to be prudent. \u201cLook, Joseph, this is the world\u2019s confessional box,\u201d he told him.<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Some would argue that many traditionalist Catholics often have an unfavorable impression of Medjugorje, particularly in the world of Catholic punditry. So it may come as a giant surprise to many that one of the four Cardinals who signed the now famous \u201cDubia\u201d would hold such positive feelings towards Medjugorje .<\/p>\n

Cardinal Meisner recently passed away and what follows is an article by Catholic Herald about his life and his influences.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Cardinal Meisner was steadfastly loyal both to Church teaching and his close friend Benedict XVI<\/p>\n

\u201cA giant\u201d: that is how a high-ranking prelate in the Roman Curia describes Joachim Meisner, the German cardinal who died suddenly last week. He fell asleep while he was reading the Breviary, and never woke up.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a good, strong man,\u201d a curial cardinal who was friends with him told me. \u201cThe Lord took him at one of the most beautiful moments for a good priest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meisner certainly was a benchmark for the German Catholic Church in the past century. \u201cA wise old bear\u201d: that\u2019s the image offered with affection by one of his friends. Whenever problems arose, when there was a difficult point to face, it was customary to seek his advice.<\/p>\n

His story is that of a fighter, true to Rome and to the Church. He was born in Breslau (now known as Wroc\u0142aw and belonging to Poland) on Christmas Day, 1933. With his mother and his brothers, he lived through the tragedy of millions of other German refugees, chased westwards in the aftermath of World War II. His father, a soldier in the German army, disappeared on the Russian frontline.<\/p>\n

Meisner was a reference point for the Holy See and the Pope in a period that now seems far away, but is relatively only yesterday, when Berlin, Germany and Europe were divided by a wall. In 1980 he was appointed Archbishop of Berlin, a city formally possessing a Protestant majority, but broadly de-Christianised with a Catholic minority. He was really John Paul II\u2019s man in Berlin.<\/p>\n

It is no secret that, since time immemorial, the German Church has harboured an \u201canti-Rome complex\u201d. Joachim Meisner was one of the three \u201cMs\u201d who supported the Vatican. The other two were Gerhard M\u00fcller and Reinhard Marx (the latter was then decidedly less \u201ccreative\u201d than he is now from a pastoral and theological point of view).<\/p>\n

Meisner was theologically uncompromising. On the other hand, he was capable of deep and very delicate religious feelings. One person recalls him bringing freshly cut flowers to set before the Tabernacle.<\/p>\n

Meisner enjoyed the unconditional trust of John Paul II and a lifelong friendship with Joseph Ratzinger. Meisner called him \u201cJoseph\u201d and went on doing so, in private, even after the latter emerged as Benedict XVI at the conclave of 2005.<\/p>\n

Meisner\u2019s role in the conclave was decisive. He convinced his fellow countryman to accept the election. Meisner himself revealed some of the details in a book. \u201cNow, you will think I am mad, but out of responsibility to the Church I feel obliged to tell you that you must become Pope,\u201d Meisner told Ratzinger in 2005. Ratzinger was not so sure. \u201cHis answer was: \u2018You cannot do this to me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually, of course, Ratzinger was elected, and in the Sala Ducale, near the Sistine Chapel, one of the first photos shows Meisner near Ratzinger, but not too near, and no one else in the vicinity.<\/p>\n

Meisner was friendly with the German journalist Paul Badde, and just after the conclave told him: \u201cToday I fought as never before in my life.\u201d Badde says that it was Meisner who \u201chad, during the conclave, uncovered and thwarted a plot by the so-called St Gallen group against that same election [of Joseph Ratzinger]\u201d. The St Gallen group had tried to elect a progressive pope in 2005; Jorge Mario Bergoglio was blocked then, but not eight years later.<\/p>\n

Meisner tried, maybe more than once, to persuade Benedict XVI to change his secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. \u201cHe looked straight in my eyes,\u201d Meisner recalled, \u201cand told me: \u2018Bertone remains. Enough! Enough! Enough!\u2019 After this episode I never touched on this issue again.\u201d Meisner concluded that \u201cthis is typical of the Ratzingers: they are loyal people. It is a behaviour which does not make their life easier.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meisner was shocked when he learned of Benedict\u2019s resignation. He was against it. But some say that later, when he met the retired pope and realised how weak and worn out he was, he changed his view.<\/p>\n

Meisner had a great devotion to Mary and a positive impression of the spiritual fruits of Medjugorje. When Benedict XVI appointed a commission, led by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, to examine the phenomenon, he advised the pope to be prudent. \u201cLook, Joseph, this is the world\u2019s confessional box,\u201d he told him.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Then came the election of Francis and the\u00a0dubia<\/em>, the five questions submitted to the Pope about his document\u00a0Amoris Laetitia<\/em>\u00a0by Meisner and three other cardinals. When you consider Meisner\u2019s history of loyalty to the pontiff and the Church, you realise how deeply he must have been concerned by\u00a0Amoris Laetitia<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Cardinal M\u00fcller has given an account of the cardinal\u2019s last night on earth. He spoke to him by phone in Bad F\u00fcssing, where the ageing cardinal was on holiday.<\/p>\n

M\u00fcller told him that the Pope had decided not to renew his appointment as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith. Meisner was \u201cdeeply saddened\u201d by the news. \u201cThat moved him personally and wounded him, and he considered it to be a form of damage for the Church,\u201d M\u00fcller said. Later that evening, with his Breviary open before him, Meisner passed away. He would have been 84 this Christmas.<\/p>\n

Marco Tosatti is a Vaticanist who writes from Rome<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Follow Mystic Post on Facebook Carninal Meisner had a great devotion to Mary and a positive impression of the spiritual fruits of Medjugorje. When Benedict XVI appointed a commission, led by Cardinal Camillo Ruini, to examine the phenomenon, he advised the pope to be prudent. \u201cLook, Joseph, this is the world\u2019s confessional box,\u201d he told […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2537,"featured_media":2634,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medjugorje"],"yoast_head":"\nWas One of the Four Cardinals Who Formally Asked Pope for Clarity on \u2018Amoris Laetitia\u2019, the Secret Protector of Medjugorje... 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