That bishop is being used as an example: Go against Covid mandates, get your throat slit by the Pope.
- No matter that this bishop is so young, with decades of ministry in front of him.
- No matter that the “vaccines” not only do nothing to immunize against Covid, but have people get it more readily and in a worse manner, and because of which there are untold numbers of injuries and deaths.
- No matter that the “vaccines” are tainted by the murder of healthy babies for their research, development, testing. That’s irrelevant. Feel the power!
- No matter that, world-wide, this rubbish is over, with pretty much all “cases” having zero symptoms.
But, that’s all expected, right? Bishops have been cancelling priests all over the world for not getting jabbed, and the Pope has done nothing about it; instead, the Pope is now moving on bishops who do not themselves mandate the “vaccine.”
Good on this bishop for doing the right thing. But there’s more.
The Vatican announced that Pope Francis had relieved him of his duties, but the bishop did not resign. He’s going to force a canonical process against himself, you know, at least to get something on paper. Meanwhile, the Nuncio already told him that he committed no crime. Here’s his fare-ye-well on the diocesan website. Very, very telling. My emphases in bold:
Declaración del Obispo Daniel Fernández Torres [I tidied up the google translation:]
When you receive the news of my substitution as bishop in charge of the Diocese of Arecibo, I want you to know that it is not for me to explain a decision that I cannot explain myself, even if I accept it with the patience of Christ for the good of the Church. Nor is it up to you to judge what only God and history will do at the time.
In reacting to what happened, I feel blessed to suffer persecution and slander (see Matthew 5:10-11) for announcing the truth of the dignity of man in circumstances like the current ones in which “it is uncomfortable: he opposes our actions… ” (Wisdom 2:12). Today I can hold my head high, even being imperfect and a sinner, knowing that I have done the right thing and that gives me a lot of inner peace. I am also comforted by the Hebrew meaning of the name Daniel, which I providentially received at my baptism, “God is my judge.”
I am very sorry that in the Church where mercy is preached so much, in practice some lack the slightest sense of justice. I have not been prosecuted, nor have I been formally accused of anything, and one day the Apostolic Delegate simply communicated to me verbally that Rome was asking me to resign. Now a successor of the apostles is replaced without even undertaking what would be a proper canonical process to remove a parish priest.
I was informed that I had not committed any crime but that I allegedly “had not been obedient to the Pope nor had I had sufficient communion with my brother bishops of Puerto Rico.” It was suggested to me that if I resigned from the diocese I would remain at the service of the Church in case I was needed in another position at some point, an offer that actually proves my innocence. However, I did not resign because I did not want to become an accomplice in a totally unjust action and that even now I am reluctant to think that it could happen in our Church.
This personal experience, on the other hand, has helped me realize in a new way the serious responsibility that all bishops have in the government of the Church, which is apostolic and not pyramidal, synodal and not autocratic. I think that for quite some time many bishops have been watching with concern what is happening in the Church and we have resisted believing what is happening. Today more than ever we must remember our call to be prophets.
- [IMPORTANT:] These are difficult times, but let’s not lose hope. The words of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, being a priest, can encourage us: “It seems certain to me that very difficult times await the Church. Her real crisis has barely begun yet. You have to count on strong shocks. But I am also totally sure of what will remain in the end: not the Church of political worship, already lifeless, but the Church of faith. Certainly she will no longer be the dominant force in society to the extent that she was until recently. But it will flourish again and become visible to human beings as the homeland that gives them life and hope beyond death.”
I humbly celebrate how much we have been able to do together from the Diocese of Arecibo, in these almost twelve years, in youth and vocational ministry, in the struggle for the dignity of human love, family and respect for life, in the freedom of Church against political interference, in the formation of holy priests and in having given a “House” to the Virgin in our diocesan Sanctuary. If for trying to be faithful to God I am replaced in office, it is worth it, because as bishop I can be useful to the Church with my own testimony. I remember the words of Saint John of Ávila: “how honored we are to be dishonored for seeking the honor of God”.
I express my communion in the Catholic faith, with the Pope and my brothers in the episcopate, despite my perplexity at an incomprehensible arbitrariness. And if, from now on, I can be of any service to you, I declare my full availability.
Today and always my greatest gratitude to God and Our Lady of Perpetual Help, our patron saint. Thanks also to all the priests for being a good and faithful clergy. Thank you to all the faithful of my beloved Diocese of Arecibo for your love and prayers. Thank you to all the bishopric staff for being an extended family. Thanks to my family for their unconditional support always. Thanks also to my brothers from different Christian confessions for the times when together we raise our voice in defense of the family.
God bless you all. In Christ dead and risen, +Daniel
Yes, well, if the slitting of this good bishop’s throat by the Pope is being used as an example to cool the jets of any other bishop in the world who is trying to be faithful, it backfired. At least I myself, as a way-out-of-the-way parish priest in the tiniest parish in these USA, am fired up by this bishop’s great example in being faithful to the One Good Shephard, Christ Jesus our Lord, our God, our All.
Thank you, Bishop Daniel Fernández Torres. Thank you.
Two things:
(1) Let’s all of us say a prayer for Bishop Daniel and his Diocese: Hail Mary…
(2) Let’s all of us say a prayer for Pope Francis: Hail Mary…
This kind of thing has been going on for a long time with the priests who are being cancelled daily. But this obscene persecution now of bishops by way of power without justice, power without service, power just to inflict real harm against the Lord’s anointed is a turning point downward in the entire Church in the world because of the way this tyranny has been flaunted by the Pope and the Nuncio and the Vatican Press Office. Again, that you, good Bishop Daniel, for leading the way to Jesus. Jesus is the One, the only One.
ARISE! LET US BE GOING! 