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| Caffarra |
“It should be
noted that a lot of good people—defenders of the Faith—have been dying since Francis’ emergence. Fr. Nicholas Gruner, Our
Lady’s Loyal Ambassador, died in 2015; the great Italian Cardinal, Giacomo
Biffi, died in July 2015; Fr. Gabriel Amorth, the world’s most famous exorcist
who told Fr. Gruner in March 2015 that “unless the
consecration of Russia is done—as Our Lady asked—by the end of October, 2015,
the dark prophecies of Fatima may well come to pass any day after that.”, died in September, 2016; Mr. John Vennari, Fr.
Gruner’s co-worker, died in April this year—just to name those I can easily
remember.”
Now, once again,
another Dubia Cardinal, Carlo Cardinal Caffarra, has passed on! Edward Pentin
of National Catholic Register reports:
Cardinal Carlo Caffarra Dies at 79
Widely thought to be
the Church’s leading expert on marriage and the family and one of the four
‘dubia’ cardinals, the Italian cardinal passed away this morning after a long
illness.
Cardinal Carlo Caffarra, the archbishop
emeritus of Bologna and one of the original four cardinals to sign the dubia sent
to Pope Francis, has died suddenly at the age of 79.
The cardinal, who led the diocese of
Bologna for nearly 12 years from late 2003 until October 2015, passed away this
morning after a long illness, according to the Italian bishops'
newspaper, Avvenire. The sound of the bells in the Bologna
archdiocese announced news of the cardinal's death.
Arguably the Church’s leading expert on
marriage and the family for decades, Pope John Paul II gave Cardinal
Caffarra the mandate to found the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for
Studies on Marriage and Family in 1981.
Benedict XVI elevated him to cardinal
in 2006, and together with Cardinals Walter Brandmüller, Raymond Burke
and Joachim Meisner (who died in July), he signed the dubia—
five straight-forward questions put to Pope Francis last September aimed at
clarifying parts of his apostolic exhortation, Amoris Laetitia.
Both he and Cardinal Meisner died
without receiving an acknowledgement or any form of reply to the dubia.
His letter to
Francis on behalf of the four cardinals requesting an audience also
received no reply.
Born in Samboseto di Busseto, in the
province of Parma but in the diocese of Fidenza, Cardinal Caffarra was ordained
priest in 1961, specialized in canon law and moral theology before focusing on
exploring themes of marriage, family and human procreation in the 1970s.
He stressed he was driven to devote his
time to this area due to requests made "by many married and engaged
couples who wanted to be introduced to the great Christian view of marriage” in
the years of discussion that followed the publication of Paul
VI's encyclical, Humanae Vitae.
He held various august positions
associated with marriage and family, teaching medical ethics, especially its
theological and anthropological aspects, and serving as a member of the
International Theological Commission, a position he held for two successive
five-year periods.
Author of books on fundamental moral
theology and numerous articles, later translated into major languages, he wrote
a carefully annotated edition of all John Paul II’s catecheses on human
love.
In 1980, John Paul II nominated him as
an expert at the Synod of Bishops on marriage and family, which led to John
Paul’s apostolic exhortation Familiaris Consortio. He served
as dean of the Pontifical John Paul II Institute from 1981 until 1995, and was
a consultant for five years to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
led by the then-Prefect (and future Pope) Joseph Ratzinger.
At the same time he taught courses and
lectures at various foreign universities: from Chile to Sydney, from Navarra to
Madrid, and oversaw the expansion of the John Paul II Institute
internationally.
He succeeded Cardinal Giacomo Biffi as
Archbishop of Bologna, and retired at the age of 77. He continued to be a
member of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Supreme Tribunal of
the Apostolic Signatura and was made an honorary member of the
Pontifical Academy for Life in June.
Pope Francis personally chose him to take part in the two synods on the family, in 2014 and 2015.
But he died disturbed by the aftermath
of Amoris Laetitia and the disparate interpretations of the
document by bishops around the world. “Only a blind man could deny there’s
great confusion, uncertainty and insecurity in the Church,” he said in a recent
interview. He was particularly vexed by the confusion felt among priests
which he said was immense.
In one of his last talks on the state
of marriage and family in the West today, Cardinal Caffarra said Satan is
hurling at God “the ultimate and terrible challenge,” to show he is
capable of constructing an “anti-creation” that mankind will be deceived into
thinking is better than what God has created.
He warned that societies elevating
abortion to a “subjective right” and equating a homosexual relationship to
marriage represented the destruction of “two pillars of creation.”
In supplementary remarks, he recalled a
letter he received from Sister Lucia when he was facing trials in
establishing the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage
and the Family.
He said he would “never forget” the
last words of her letter, “words that are engraved in my heart,” in which
Sister Lucia wrote “there will come a time when the decisive confrontation
between the Kingdom of God and Satan will take place over marriage and the
family.”
He said she underscored that those who
are going to work for marriage and the family “will undergo trials and
tribulations” but added: “Do not fear, Our Lady has already crushed his head.”
Cardinal Caffarra told the conference
that his talk was “based on these words of Sister Lucia, and therefore on the
conviction that what Sister Lucia said in those days are being fulfilled in
these days of ours.”
***
The cardinal gave one of his last interviews in May this year, in which he told the Register why education is the key to protecting life, marriage and the family. See the interview here.
In January, he gave an interview to
Italy's Il Foglio newspaper in which he explained why he and the other
three 'dubia' cardinals consider clarification of Amoris
Laetitia to be so vital. See the full interview on Catholic
World Report here, and my summary
of the interview here.
Cardinal Caffarra was a firm opponent
of same-sex 'marriage'. In 2010, he issued this doctrinal note warning
legalization of it would be "devastating" for society, and that
Catholic politicians who support such legislation can no longer call themselves
Catholic.
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