2-2. Sri Lanka Cardinal Stands True to Tradition in Papal Race...

 

△ Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith

 

These Last Days News - March 11, 2013

 

 

2-2. Sri Lanka Cardinal Stands True to Tradition in Papal Race...

 

 

 

 

"It was the will of the Eternal Father that one universal language be used along with, in comparison with, together with the language of the land. This universal language, Latin, befit and was chosen by the Eternal Father as a universal language for the universal Church, the Roman Catholic Church....”

– The Bayside Prophecies

Our Lady of the Roses, April 10, 1976

 

TURN BACK

"This evil has penetrated far into the very heart of My House. You must now turn back and restore My House. I, your God, give you this command for the salvation of your own soul."

- The Bayside Prophecies

Jesus, August 21, 1976

 

“Place more attention upon the Holy Sacrifice. It is being celebrated in a manner that is not approved of by the Eternal Father. Take the time to honor your God with your heart. My brothers and sisters, the Holy Sacrifice cannot be done in thirty minutes, or even in sixty minutes, properly. There is no time in Heaven, and you shall not place a time upon the Holy Sacrifice on your earth.”

– The Bayside Prophecies

Padre Pio, April 5, 1975

 

 

 

 

Yahoo News reported on March 7, 2013:

 

In one of his first appointments as pope, Benedict XVI picked a Sri Lankan archbishop to return to the Vatican for a top post overseeing the church's liturgy and rites.

 

The choice of Malcolm Ranjith in 2005 rewarded a strong voice of tradition — so rigid that some critics regard it even as backward-looking. And it came as the church increasingly grappled with a critical question for the future: How much innovation can be allowed to cater to developing world congregations with fast-growing flocks?

 

Ranjith faced a clash of priorities — guarding tradition versus pressure to reform. And in the debate he came mostly on the side of doing things the old way. But he was also guided by diplomatic finesse honed as a Vatican envoy nurturing sensitive relations between mostly Muslim Indonesia and the breakaway nation of predominantly Catholic East Timor.

 

Ranjith, who in 2010 was named Sri Lanka's second cardinal in history, now is being mentioned among the possible successors to Benedict if the conclave looks beyond Europe to acknowledge the shifting "southern" demographics of the church.

 

Although there are many strikes against a Ranjith candidacy — Sri Lanka, for example, has just 1.3 million Catholics, less than half the population of Rome — the rising influence of the developing world helps keep the idea alive.

 

The other Asian papal prospect, Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, has much more star power as the head prelate in the heavily Catholic Philippines. Yet to his advantage, Ranjith, at 65, is a decade older than Tagle, has Vatican experience and is seen as very much an ideological protege of Benedict. All of this could attract the attention of papal electors seeking both the bold statement of a non-European pope and the safety of someone not likely to challenge church orthodoxy.

 

"The Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith's leadership quality is fantastic, excellent, and very specially the sermons," said Vijitha Ariyaratna, who works at a Colombo church. "The homilies are down to earth, they are simplified. I really admire him.“

 

Ranjith, however, has also earned detractors for his strong affinity for traditions in worship, such as the Latin Mass, that others have left behind.

 

In 2009, he banned lay deacons from preaching in the Colombo archdiocese and required that Holy Communion only be offered to those kneeling and the communion wafer placed directly on their tongue — a style that has been abandoned by many parishes in the West.

 

Ranjith also forbade priests from introducing elements from other religions into the Mass, which is increasingly common as the church in some areas looks to pay homage to indigenous or majority faiths through gestures such as music or dress.

 

He faces further questions for comments that appear sympathetic to late ultraconservativeArchbishop Marcel Lefebvre, who split from Rome over interpretation of reforms from the 1962-5 Second Vatican Council, known as Vatican II, which revolutionized the church's relations with Jews and allowed for the celebration of Mass in languages other than Latin. In 1988, the Vatican excommunicated Lefebvre and four of his bishops after he consecrated them without papal consent.

 

The Vatican is now engaged in talks with a Lefebvre-founded breakaway group, the Society of St. Pius X, on whether to return to papal control.

 

Ranjith was born to a large family in central Sri Lanka and was ordained by Pope Paul VI at St. Peter's Basilica in 1975. After further studies in Rome and Jerusalem, he was appointed an auxiliary bishop of Colombo and later appointed first bishop of the newly created diocese of Ratnapura, a central region known for gem mining.

 

In 1985, he founded the Colombo archdiocese's social service arm, which focused on helping the poor and marginalized. He also staked out a reputation as a strict adherent to church traditions.

 

Ranjith led a commission in the 1990s that denounced the views of Sri Lankan theologian Tissa Balasuriya, claiming he supported reforms such as the ordination of women. Ranjith was backed by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later to become Benedict XVI. Balasuriya was temporarily excommunicated and died in January.

 

Ranjith went on to become the Vatican ambassador, or nuncio, to Indonesia and East Timor — a delicate role especially given rising pressures in the region on non-Muslims by Islamic extremists. He also became a front-line emissary for Catholic assistance after the December 2004 tsunami.

 

The newly named Benedict brought Ranjith back to the Vatican as the No. 2 in the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, which oversees issues on the liturgy. He was appointed archbishop of Colombo in 2009 and was thrust into another mediation role: Efforts to end a quarter-century civil war between the government, controlled by the majority Sinhalese ethnic group, and the now-defeated Tamil Tiger rebels.

 

At the end of the war in 2009, he was a leading voice urging the government to quickly resettle civilians held in military-run camps. He also appeared before the country's Reconciliation Commission with suggestions to promote harmony between the Sinhalese and minority Tamil communities.

 

"He is a very balanced pastor, a shepherd," said the Rev. Benedict Joseph, spokesman for the Colombo archdiocese. "He always tried to closer and closer to the people."

 

 

 

 

"Many now rebel against their leader, their God-given leader, your Vicar. In matters of faith and morals, man must not change the God-given laws, coming from the seat of Peter, and established through tradition upon earth through My Son's Church."

- The Bayside Prophecies

Our Lady of the Roses, October 6, 1979

 

"Because of the fall in Babylon, many new languages were given because of the sin of Babylon. Therefore, as a member of one country, My children, with a universal language, you carried with you your own country's translation, and were you to visit abroad, you could enter upon any foreign edifice, Church of My Son, and feel comfortable and in one with the man, the priest, the one chosen by My Son to represent Him in His House.

"If you were, My child, to go from your United States to France, could you understand the words in French? But, My child, you would recognize the words in Latin and you would have your book with you to read in your American language, just as those in France could read in their French language, bringing upon the world a beautiful and common bond of language among all who have been given the grace to be called to the Roman Catholic Church of My Son.

"Do not leave My Son's Church though, My children, because they have taken this language from among you. You must wait and persevere and weep with My Son for this defilement by man."

- The Bayside Prophecies

Our Lady of the Roses, April 10, 1976

 

  

 

 

 

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