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A critical website on Vassula Rydén and True Life in God Vassula Ryden's "Response to Cardinal Levada" |
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Added September 19th, 2007 Minor edits: September 20 and October 24th, 2007
On
August 31st, 2007 the official website of Mrs Ryden’s True Life in God organization, circulated an
article signed by Vassula titled “Response to Cardinal Levada’s letter of January
It
is also important to take note, that during all this period of time, major Catholic
websites (such as EWTN, www.catholic.net, www.aica.org, etc.) have always affirmed that
the Notification was valid and in full force. So,
the only ones who kept on saying that Mrs Ryden was approved, were Vassula herself and her
long-time supporters, who took her word for it and simply decided to ignore any kind of
information that proved them wrong. I
cannot end this article without commenting some other points Mrs Ryden raises in her
article in response to Cardinal Levada: 1.
We learn that Mrs
Ryden had a copy of Levada’s internal communication since at least May of 2007, but
did not care to share it until August 31st,
when it had already been all over the Internet for three weeks. 2.
Mrs Ryden blames Cardinal Levada for “three
grave errors” contained in his communication, which I comment hereunder: -
Cardinal Levada “puts into my [Vassula’s] mouth words I
never said, and these words are: ‘that the messages are not divine revelations but my
own personal meditations’”. The communication does not really say
that those words were pronounced by Mrs Ryden. We understand it as saying that the
ensemble of clarifications and explanations Mrs Ryden gave were examined and the CDF
concluded (on their own) that her writings were not divine revelations, but rather
personal meditations. -
Cardinal Levada mixed up the date of Vassula’s letter (26 June
2002) with Fr. Grech’s letter (4 April 2002). Well, in fact, the real
author of the mistake is… Cardinal Ratzinger! He was the first to mix up the dates in
his famous letter of July 2004 to the five
Episcopal conferences (see: http://www.pseudomystica.info/tligchurchposition.htm#july
2004 letter ), and that is the origine of the error. Mrs Ryden herself has Cardinal
Ratzinger’s July 2004 letter published on her website and on her promotional booklets with this “grave error”( http://www.tlig.org/en/testimonies/churchpos/cdf2005/ratzletter/
) -
Cardinal
Levada referred to volume 10 instead of volume 12 of the TLIG books.
Well, what can we say ? Errare humanum est… 3.
Mrs Ryden supposes
Cardinal Bertone to be “probably very
disappointed at seeing his work belittled” by Cardinal Levada.
Cardinal Bertone’s work was… the 1995 Notification! And at the time, he was
accused in a very similar way by TLIG supporters as Cardinal Levada is now. He was even
accused of having acted behind Card. Ratzinger’s back… The reader can refresh
his memory here: http://www.pseudomystica.info/tlignotificationsreTLIG.htm
Moreover, Cardinal Bertone left the CDF in February
of 2003 and became Bishop of Genova, until he was named Secretary of State in June of
2006. 4.
Mrs Ryden recalls that
the essential theme of the TLIG messages is the restoration of unity among all Christians.
To restore unity, one should start by restoring one’s own unity with one’s own
Church. It is not a secret that Mrs Ryden has a very difficult situation with the Greek
Orthodox Church, to which she says to belong. According to several declarations made by
representatives of the Orthodox faithful, the main problem is the way she acts (see: http://www.pseudomystica.info/tliggreekorthodox.htm
). In 2001, the Committee on heresies of the Synod
of the Greek Orthodox Church published their decision regarding Vassula Ryden. In
substance, they declared that Mrs Ryden has de facto
left the Greek Orthodox Church, although she presents herself as a member of it.
(Some translations on the Internet use the word “excommunicated”. The difficulty
is the word ekpései, which has many possible
translations. The text seems to say litteraly that she “threw herself out” of
her Church. The original text in Greek can be consulted in the official website of the Anyway,
since Mrs Ryden has clearly indicated that she does not wish to become a Catholic, but on
the other hand does not act as an Orthodox, then she has indeed chosen to be in a
denominational “no-Church’s land” with the the approval of her
“Jesus”, for whom “all are the same” (message of October 27, 1987 http://www.tlig.org/en/messages/182/ ),
and this suggests a lot about her idea of unity. |
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| The
original article of Vassula Ryden, as it was published and
circulated by www.tlig.org in September 2007 :
To
TLIG readers worldwide: Response
to Cardinal Levada’s letter of January 2007.
Recently
the new prefect of the CDF in I
am sorry that once again there is much confusion, and thank you for the many letters of
support and prayer for the continuing propagation of the TLIG messages. I am writing to
clarify this confusion and to sharpen your memories. The
letter is confusing and contradicts itself. At one moment it sounds negative and at
another favorable! It appears to have been composed in a rush since it contains several
errors and misinformation. I have written to his Eminence and asked him to kindly correct
those errors, but I have not yet received a response from him. The
conclusion to my dialogue with the CDF was positive. This positive conclusion was to be
held “low key”, and hence there would not be a new Notification to eliminate the
old one. However, as Card. Ratzinger said, the situation had now been modified in the
sense that the messages should now be read in the light of my clarifications. For exactly
this reason, Cardinal
Ratzinger
formally
requested of me
that my dialogue with the CDF be published in the new editions of my books, a request I
heeded when the dialogue was published in the latest Volume, Volume 12, and subsequent new
editions of the messages. All this is contained in the points 1 and 2 of Card.
Levada’s letter and this is positive. Thus,
point “Before
issuing an individual decree an authority should seek out the necessary information and
proofs, and also hear those whose rights can be injured, in so far as this is
possible” (Canon 50). Although I had written to the CDF that I was prepared to
continue in dialogue if they might have any further questions, I did not receive any
reply, nor was I called in to any conversation, which would have been only right since I
had engaged in dialogue with them, trusting
them and entrusting myself to them!
I furthermore wrote that I would be willing to make clarifications in footnotes to the
messages if they believed anything needed clarification. I was not asked to make any such
comments to the messages which is one more confirmation that the outcome of the dialogue
was positive. With
the new conclusion in Cardinal Levada’s letter he is thus rejecting the study and the
dialogue that the then Cardinal
Ratzinger
(now Pope), and Cardinal Bertone (now Secretary of State) had with me during a period of
two and a half years, during which time many inspectors, theologians, Bishops and
Cardinals, after study, had to give their final opinion as well and that, as you all know,
was positive. The
letter refers the reader to two canons: Canon 215 and 223. Can.215
The Christian faithful are at liberty freely to found and direct associations for purposes
of charity or piety or for the promotion of the Christian vocation in the world and to
hold meetings for the common of these purposes.
Can.223§
These
canons confirm that the Catholic faithful are free to form and gather in prayer groups.
How is it then that such canons are quoted to say that it is not
advisable
to participate in TLIG prayer groups? Furthermore,
the letter contains three grave errors. 1.
The gravest damage is caused by a false statement in the Cardinal’s letter. He states
and puts into my mouth words I never said, and these words are: “that
the messages are not divine revelations but my own personal meditations!” This is NOT
TRUE! I
never said anything of the sort, ever! This is a very serious and fundamental error. I am
reluctant to believe that this misrepresentation was deliberate, rather than due to
negligence, but the effect is the same. A false statement has been published to the
Bishops and indeed the world.
Last
May I wrote to Cardinal Levada about these serious errors, giving copies to the Holy
Father, and several Bishops and Cardinals. I received, almost immediately, a letter of
acknowledgment from Cardinal Bertone, (probably very disappointed at seeing his work
belittled). Fr. Prospero replied saying: “I thought the matter was closed and would
not turn up again”. Obviously, the Bishops writing to the CDF wanted a clear answer,
a “yes” or a “no”, regarding the Notification. Cardinal Levada’s
letter is not a clear “NO” either. As I understand it, it does not prohibit the
faithful, it discourages, on the basis of some doubts the Notification
might
contain.”
Recently,
I also received an answer from Archbishop Angelo Amato who is the Secretary of Cardinal
Levada [Note from this website: Archbishop Amato is not the personal secretary of
Cardinal Levada, but the Secretary of the CDF, in other words the number 2 of the
Congregation]. His short note says, that Cardinal Levada’s letter was
expressly written with the purpose of informing all the Catholic Bishops of the dialogue,
(which as you know was positive) that took place between me and the CDF so that they might
know how to direct the Bishops as to how they should compose themselves. He has not
mentioned anything
else contained in the rest of the letter and
avoids the question of the errors in the document. In
the letter of Card. Levada, his Eminence tells his faithful that to gather and pray in
TLIG prayer meetings is “inappropriate”. Are we really serious? Are we now to
believe that prayer is harmful and therefore inappropriate, and against what the Church
teaches us?? Well, I do not believe that! Nor does God, nor any sensible believer because
it is NOT an act done against God and against God’s Will, or against the Church to
turn to God in prayer and adoration, but the contrary! In
October 1978 the late Holy Father John Paul II, speaking to a delegation from other Five
years later, the Holy Father promulgated the Code of Canon Law which promotes Ecumenism.
One of its provisions is very clear “It
is within the special competence of the entire You
will see that this special task, to ensure that Catholics participate in the Ecumenical
movement, is given to the highest authorities of the church, including the Congregation
for Doctrine and Faith. This obligation is imposed by the strongest possible mandate
which is the will of Christ himself. As you all know, the essential theme of the
TLIG messages is the restoration of unity among all Christians. No
Catholic should be discouraged from gathering in prayer groups in the pursuit of their
ecumenical rights and indeed duties that form the entirety of the meetings, when the
recitation of the Holy Rosary, the reading of the Scriptures, the prayers of the heart and
the making of intercessory prayers are the essence of these prayer meetings. To discourage
people from attending prayer meetings is truly against God’s Will and it remains
utterly incomprehensible how a Prelate of the Church can go against Christ’s urge to
his disciples: “That we should pray at all times”. So
my dear friends, I leave it up to you to choose: You can either follow the positive result
after the dialogue I had with the then Cardinal
Ratzinger,
which gave us our freedom to continue reading TLIG and evangelizing with love for love,
guiding God’s people back to his church and to union in the church, or follow the
dispositions of the letter signed by Cardinal Levada that does not say “yes” or
“no” and is confusing at best. We
all know that when God speaks, He speaks with clarity and “not in dark corners.”
I wish us, as people of God, to do as much. August
2007 |