WARSAW, Poland - A Catholic archbishop has rejected a church instruction barring him from public appearances and vowed to go on denouncing “heresy and sectarianism.”
“Christ gave me authority through the church to proclaim the truth, and I’ll do so as long as I live,” said retired Archbishop Jan Lenga, 69, who lives in Lichen, Poland, after serving in Kazakhstan.
“I won’t yield to degradation by those whose own statements and actions are entangled with heresy and sectarianism,” he said. “What right do they have to recall what pertains to the church when they themselves have never upheld it?”
Bishop Wieslaw Mering of Wloclawek ordered Lenga to stop preaching, celebrating Mass or speaking to the media, after the archbishop accused Pope Francis of “spreading untruths” and refused to include the pope in prayers.
He added that he had no wish “to belong to a church run by Protestants, Islamists and Jews,” and believed his critics should “form their own church, rather than usurping power in the Catholic Church.”
Meanwhile, a senior member of Lenga’s Marian order said bishops were empowered by canon law to decide who could conduct services in their dioceses, but added that the archbishop had left the order’s jurisdiction after his 1991 consecration as bishop.
“Archbishop Lenga is living at Lichen as our guest, at his own request and that of the Vatican, with a monastic roof over his head,” Father Piotr Kieniewicz, secretary of the Congregation of Marians of the Immaculate Conception Warsaw-based province, told Catholic News Service Feb. 27.
“He is subject solely to the Holy Father, and if Bishop Mering was licensed by the nuncio to take some decision about him, that is their business.”
Lenga, born in Ukraine, trained secretly in Soviet-ruled Latvia and Lithuania and was ordained in 1980, later becoming newly independent Kazakhstan’s first bishop. He was named bishop of Karaganda in 1999, ministering mostly to Catholic families deported to Central Asia under czarist and communist rule.
After leaving Kazakhstan in 2011, he co-signed several letters urging Pope Francis to clarify marriage and family teachings after the pope’s 2016 encyclical “Amoris Laetitia.” He also signed a May 2019 “Declaration of Truths” alongside U.S. Cardinal Raymond Burke.
In a book-length interview, circulating in Polish on YouTube, he said he still recognized Pope Benedict XVI as pope and had dropped the “usurper and heretic” Pope Francis from his prayer intentions after concluding he was spreading “untruths and sins” and “leading the world astray.”
In a Jan. 20 Polish TV interview, he said “many bishops and cardinals” lacked a “deep faith” and had adopted “an attitude of betrayal and destruction” by seeking to “correct Christ’s teaching,” adding that current confusion in the church indicated “the Antichrist is here.”
In a Jan. 22 statement, the Polish bishops’ spokesman, Father Pawel Rytel-Andrianik, said Lenga’s statements could not “in any way be identified” with the Polish church or bishops’ conference, adding that it was “a matter of regret” the prelate was “appearing in the media and leading the faithful into error.”
In a Feb. 22 open letter, Mering said he had tried “to ease growing tension” in two unsuccessful meetings with the archbishop and would leave a “final decision” on his fate to the Holy See.
“I’m acting in the name of the church, which has a hierarchical structure - we cannot tolerate a situation in which this archbishop omits the Holy Father’s name from the canon of the Holy Mass,” the bishop said.
“My request that he stop speaking to the media is to prevent an evil sensation. Some will praise the archbishop, while others will be scandalized by the divisions he’s initiated.”
The former Archbishop of Karaganda in Kazakhstan, Jan Lenga, has been banned from preaching and celebrating Mass by the Polish Church for describing Pope Francis as the antichrist and refusing to include him in prayers.
"Canon Law empowers the local diocesan bishop to take disciplinary steps which might halt the spread of scandal among the faithful," Fr Artur Niemira, chancellor of the central Wloclawek diocese, said in a statement to Poland's Catholic Information Agency, KAI.
"Archbishop Lenga is to refrain from delivering sermons and publicly conducting the liturgy. This same ban also applies to contacts with the media."
The ruling was made public following a series of declarations by the 69-year-old retired Ukrainian-born archbishop, a member of the Marian order, who quit his Kazakhstan see in 2011 and now lives in an order house at Lichen in central Poland, by arrangement with the Vatican.
The KAI agency said Lenga had "issued controversial claims undermining the authority of the reigning Pope Francis, and refusing to name him during Masses". It added that the ban on public appearances had been imposed by Bishop Wieslaw Mering of Wloclawek and would remain in place until further restrictions were announced by the Vatican.
In May 2019, Archbishop Lenga co-signed a 40-point "Declaration of Truths" opposing aspects of the Pope's teaching, alongside the American Cardinal Raymond Burke, the Polish-born Archbishop Tomasz Peta of Astana in Kazakhstan, and the retired Polish-speaking Cardinal Janis Pujats of Latvia.
In a book-length interview, still circulating in Polish on YouTube, he said he still recognised Benedict XVI as Pope and had dropped the name of the "usurper and heretic" Francis from his Mass prayer intentions.
"Bergoglio has not confirmed himself in the faith and is not passing that faith to others, he is leading the world astray," said the archbishop, who trained secretly in Soviet-ruled Latvia and Lithuania and was appointed Kazakhstan's first bishop in 1991 and Archbishop of Karaganda in 1999. "He proclaims untruths and sins, not the tradition which has endured for 2000 years... He proclaims the truth of this world, which is precisely the truth the devil".
It is inadmissible for the Polish moderation of Gloria.TV to persecute Archbishop Lenga as it is doing : "I publicly and solemnly ask @Don Reto Nay to remove the orders from this madman [the Polish moderator] who since last night has been waging a war on me that all Poles are witnessing: more than a hundred banishments, castings, erasures and even substitutions of the title and description of the …More
It is inadmissible for the Polish moderation of Gloria.TV to persecute Archbishop Lenga as it is doing : "I publicly and solemnly ask @Don Reto Nay to remove the orders from this madman [the Polish moderator] who since last night has been waging a war on me that all Poles are witnessing: more than a hundred banishments, castings, erasures and even substitutions of the title and description of the video (5) SPOTKANIE z abp. JANEM PAWŁEM LENGA : « PRZERYWAM ZMOWE MILCZENIA ») ; and each time, I am obliged to hand over everything. This criminal must be banned from Gloria.TV because his actions are the work of the Gestapo and the KGB." (English translation of GChevalier's commentary)
Orinigal in French :
« Je demande publiquement et solennellement à @Don Reto Nay d'enlever les commandes à ce fou-furieux [le modérateur polonais] qui depuis hier soir me livre une guerre dont tous les polonais sont témoins : plus d'une centaine de bannissements, de coulages, d'effaçages et même de substitutions des titre et descriptif de la vidéo (5) SPOTKANIE z abp. JANEM PAWŁEM LENGA : « PRZERYWAM ZMOWE MILCZENIA ») ; et à chaque fois, je suis obligé de tout remettre. Ce criminel doit être banni de Gloria.TV car ses agissements tiennent de la Gestapo et du KGB. »
This is AWSOME! One bishop who speaks like a bishop! It is sad that they treat him as an enemy, rather than Francis who fully deserves it for what he has done to the Church. They should be ashamed!
“Christ gave me authority through the Church to proclaim the truth, and I’ll do so as long as I live,” said retired Archbishop Jan Lenga, 69, who lives in Lichen, Poland, after serving in Kazakhstan. “I won’t yield to degradation by those whose own statements and actions are entangled with heresy and sectarianism,” he said. “What right do they have to recall what pertains to the Church when they …More
“Christ gave me authority through the Church to proclaim the truth, and I’ll do so as long as I live,” said retired Archbishop Jan Lenga, 69, who lives in Lichen, Poland, after serving in Kazakhstan. “I won’t yield to degradation by those whose own statements and actions are entangled with heresy and sectarianism,” he said. “What right do they have to recall what pertains to the Church when they themselves have never upheld it?” He added that he had no wish “to belong to a church run by Protestants, Islamists and Jews,” and believed his critics should “form their own church, rather than usurping power in the Catholic Church.”
"Cristo me dio autoridad a través de la Iglesia para proclamar la verdad, y lo haré mientras viva", dijo el arzobispo retirado Jan Lenga, de 69 años, que vive en Lichen, Polonia, después de servir en Kazajstán. "No cederé a la degradación de aquellos cuyas propias declaraciones y acciones están enredadas con la herejía y el sectarismo", dijo. "¿Qué derecho tienen a recordar lo que pertenece a …More
"Cristo me dio autoridad a través de la Iglesia para proclamar la verdad, y lo haré mientras viva", dijo el arzobispo retirado Jan Lenga, de 69 años, que vive en Lichen, Polonia, después de servir en Kazajstán. "No cederé a la degradación de aquellos cuyas propias declaraciones y acciones están enredadas con la herejía y el sectarismo", dijo. "¿Qué derecho tienen a recordar lo que pertenece a la Iglesia cuando ellos mismos nunca lo han defendido?"Añadió que no deseaba "pertenecer a una iglesia dirigida por protestantes, islamistas y judíos", y creía que sus críticos debían "formar su propia iglesia, en lugar de usurpar el poder en la Iglesia Católica".
If Archbishop Lenga is offended by supposed heresies in the Pope, he should take a long look at his fellow Pole, Pope John Paul II. www.traditionalmass.org/articles/article.php
Bergoglio not only allow idolatry in the Vatican, trying to destroy priesthood, he also deliver Chinese Catholic to the enemy as he also will deliver all Catholics into hands of the UN, this definitely more serious and warrant a fierce resistance!
