Sandro Botticelli
Punishment of the Rebels [Moses and the Sons of Korah]
Sistine Chapel, 1482
And immediately as Moses had made an end of speaking, the earth broke asunder under their feet: And opening her mouth, devoured them with their tents and all their substance. And they went down alive into hell the ground closing upon them, and they perished from among the people. But all Israel, that was standing round about, fled at the cry of them that were perishing: saying: Lest perhaps the earth swallow us up also. And a fire coming out from the Lord, destroyed the two hundred and fifty men that offered the incense. (Numbers 16:31-35)
Once again in this Pontificate, the most sacred treasure possessed by the Church, the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, is turned into an object of rebellion and division. The first was, of course, the fake controversy of Communion to adulterers ("remarried divorced" Catholics).
Now, following several denials by Rome, but after a clear authorization given informally by Francis in another interview granted in his return to Rome from Geneva a week ago, the first German bishop has finally awarded express authorization for Communion to be regularly offered to Protestant spouses of Catholics.
From the German-language page of the EWTN news network, the news that the Archbishop of Paderborn, Hans-Joseph Becker, has given his full authorization for the distribution of Holy Communiuon to Protestant spouses:
The excuse offered is that this will be done "in individual cases", and not as a "general rule". But be not fooled! This is merely a rhetorical smokescreen, a ruse for disinformation, fake news made up by an Archbishop: what matters is that even in these "individual cases" Communion will be given regularly.
But that is certainly not the reading of Canon 844 of the Code of Canon Law, that foresees this ONLY in "danger of death" or other "grave necessity" and only with a profession of Catholic faith and proper disposition -- basically, in a very urgent situation when formal steps for conversion would not be possible in time before a rapid denouement of the personal situation of the non-Catholic. That is certainly not the case with a Lutheran spouse of a Catholic who wants to receive Communion regularly: the answer here is for this spouse, if he or she is so eager, to renounce his former faith and enter the Catholic Church.
This is an age of Sacrilege, Apostasy, Schism, this is the age of the rebellion of Korah, led by members of the Hierarchy itself in Germany: "Depart from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be involved in their sins." (Numbers 16:26) This rebellion has been brought about by confusion and ambiguous declarations from a Supreme Office that should bring about only clarity and certitude.
Parce, Domine, parce populo tuo!