Was the Bowl Of Earth At Synod’s Closing Mass For Pachamama? Vatican Responds
During the offertory of the Amazon Synod’s closing Mass, a native woman presented Francis with a bowl containing earth, some green plants and red flowers.
According to the Roman Missal's General Instruction 73, other gifts than bread and wine are to be put “away from the Eucharistic table.”
Yet, when receiving the bowl, Francis whispered something to Monsignor Guido Marini, his Master of Ceremonies, who put the bowl on the corner of the altar, where it remained until the end of Mass (video below).
On October 4, the same black bowl was offered to Pachamama during the ominous ritual in the Vatican gardens (left picture).
South American pagan websites explain that Pachamama offerings can be made with a bowl which should contain some fruits or drinks covered with earth, and flowers including red ones, the demon’s preferred color.
Robert Moynihan writes (InsideTheVatican.com, October 31) that the bowl presented at …

Vatican Carries Out [Mock?] Attack Against German Synod
A prospective synod organized by the German bishops and considered by them to be "binding" has not ecclesiological validity, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, wrote in a September 4 letter to Munich Cardinal Reinhard Marx.
Ouellet stresses that such a synod cannot change the teaching and discipline of the universal Church, CatholicNewsAgency.com (September 12) reports.
The Vatican added a canonical assessment, signed by Archbishop Filippo Iannone, the head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts.
Iannone explains that the synod violates canonical norms because the themes envisaged - “sexual morality”, “form of priestly life,” “women in Church ministries” - do affect the universal Church.
According to him, this is not - as claimed by the Germans - a synod about regional pastoral themes, but a sort of particular council which is illegitimate without Vatican approval.
However, …

Cardinal Sarah: Francis Is A Solid Pope
God has given to the Church “solid popes” to prepare it for the current situation of a world drowning in a fatal confusion, Cardinal Robert Sarah told ValeursActuelles.com (March 27).
Sarah praises all recent popes:
“God has given us Paul VI, who defended the life and true love with the encyclical Humanae vitae, despite a very strong opposition.
He gave us John Paul II, who worked on a marriage between faith and reason in order that they be the light that guides the world towards a true vision of man - the very life of the great Polish Pope was a living Gospel.
He gave us Benedict XVI, who put together a teaching of unparalleled clarity, depth and precision.
Today, he gives us Francis who literally wants to save Christian humanism.”
Picture: Robert Sarah, © Mazur/catholicchurch.org.uk, CC BY-NC-SA, #newsGoquvnyqer

Western Country: Number of Ordinations Up By 24% - And a Little Secret
Although on a very low level, Spain experiences a “boom” in priestly ordinations, VaticanNews.va (March 17) reports. The biggest number of ordinations is in Madrid (3.5 million Catholics) with 14 and in Valencia (2.6 million Catholics) with 10 ordinations.
What VaticanNews.va doesn't say: The diocese that, compared to its size (700’000 Catholics), has the biggest number of seminarians (45) and ordinations (7) is Alcalá de Henares.
The reason: Alcalá Bishop Juan Antonio Reig Pla, Bishop, 71, is the most Catholic among the Spanish bishops and no friend of Pope Francis.
Picture: © Mazur/catholicchurch.org.uk, CC BY-NC-SA, #newsRahbeowepf