Church Militant: Interview with Abp. Vigano from Marco Tosatti’s blog:
EXCERPTS from Archbishop Viganò :
“The concordat between the Holy See and the Italian State recognizes that the Church has, as its ‘native right,’ full freedom and autonomy in carrying out her ministry, which is given proper social and public expression in the celebration of Holy Mass and the administration of the sacraments. No authority may interfere in this ministry, not even with the consent of Church authority, which is not the master of the sacraments but rather the administrator of the grace conveyed by them.
Jurisdiction over places of worship belongs in toto and exclusively to the ordinary of the place, who decides with full autonomy, for the good of the souls entrusted to him as pastor, which functions may be celebrated there and by whom they may be celebrated. It is not the prime minister’s role to determine who may have access to churches, nor to legislate about what the faithful or the minister of worship can or cannot do.
Beyond this, various authoritative pronouncements have been made by eminent jurists and judges — including those of the Supreme Court — objecting to the legitimacy of legislating by means of presidential decrees that violate the superior laws and prevailing guarantees of the constitution of the Italian Republic. Even if we were not talking about the Catholic religion, which is particularly protected by its special status, the suspension of the right to freedom of worship that is implied by the prime minister’s decree is clearly illegitimate. I trust that someone will officially declare it so, putting an end to this indecorous delirium of omnipotence by the civil authority not only towards God and His Church but also towards the Catholic faithful and Italian citizens.
It should be clarified, in order to avoid misunderstandings, that the bishops’ conference does not have any authority over the bishops, who each have full jurisdiction in their own diocese, in union with the Apostolic See. And this is even more important once we have understood that the CEI has been all too amenable to — or rather, dominated by — the Italian government. It is unheard of the Italian bishops’ conference would continue to tolerate such abuse.
Bishops should not wait for an entity without any jurisdiction to tell them what to do: It is up to each of them to decide how to act, with prudence and wisdom, in order to guarantee the sacraments and the celebration of the Mass to the faithful. And each one can do so without having to ask either the bishops’ conference or the state, whose authority ends at the entrance of our churches and must stop there.
It is unheard of the Italian bishops’ conference would continue to tolerate such abuse, which prejudices the divine right of the Church, violates a law of the state, and creates a very serious precedent….
The supine silence of the CEI, and of almost all of the individual ordinaries, reveals that this is a situation of subordination to the state that has no precedent, and that has rightly been perceived by the faithful and by priests as a situation in which they have been abandoned to themselves.
The most emblematic examples have been the scandalous interruptions of the celebration of Mass by law enforcement, with a sacrilegious arrogance that should have received an immediate and very strong protest from the secretariat of state. The ambassador of Italy should have been summoned to the Holy See and presented with a harsh note of protest against the government’s serious violation of the concordat, and the Holy See should have informed the Italian government that it would exercise its right to withdraw the apostolic nuncio to Italy if the government’s illegitimate provision was not withdrawn.
Cardinal [Pietro] Parolin, in his role of sponsor of Prime Minister Conte, finds himself in an embarrassing situation and a conflict of interest. It appears evident that, instead of protecting the sovereignty and freedom of the Church in fidelity to his high institutional function as secretary of state, Cdl. Parolin has shamefully chosen to line up alongside his lawyer friend [Conte]. Not even the economic interests of the so-called Catholic voluntary service could justify his making such a choice.”
Extensive Interview continues here:
https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/abp-vigano-the-faithful-and-priests-are-right-to-feel-abandoned including the Pope’s support of the Conte government over the Church.
See also: https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/pope-snubs-bishops-bid-open-churches
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