News of the publication of “O Comissariado dos Arautos do Evangelho” [The Commissariate of the Heralds of the Gospel] spread through international media like wildfire. This speed - proof of how actual the subject is - nevertheless runs the risk of overlooking the reasons that were decisive towards elaborating the book, causing it to be judged rashly and unfairly.

 

Indeed, for more than eight years now, the International Private Association Heralds of the Gospel, as well as the two Societies of Apostolic Life that developed from it, have been subjected to prolonged intervention by the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life. This incomprehensible and disturbing situation has caused perplexity, as is only natural, in many who trust the institution and adhere to it. As a result, the Heralds saw themselves compelled, in moral duty, to offer them the indispensable clarifications. For, at stake was not only the good name of the institution and its members—shadowed by doubts roused in vicious campaigns of slander—but even the reputation of the Catholic Church itself.

 

Maintaining, until now, deferential silence due to the scandal that could be caused, a study commission of Heralds, with the required academic preparation and coordinated by Prof. Dr. José Manuel Jiménez Aleixandre, Doctor in Canon Law from the Angelicum in Rome, and Sr. Dr. Juliane Vasconcelos Almeida Campos, Doctor of Philosophy, has finally brought this volume to completion. It ventures to dispassionately recount facts, those that occurred during the period mentioned.

 

Corroborated by abundant and solid documentation, the narrative constitutes, on one hand, an obligation of justice, since the protraction of this state of affairs would breed unfounded suspicions about the existence of serious crimes inside the institution, and on the other, is also an act of self-defense considering the cumulative damage: for example, almost thirty deacons cannot be ordained priests; seven classes of seminarians have not yet been able to receive the diaconate; numerous other members are prevented from taking temporary or perpetual vows. Additionally, the aspirants who cannot be admitted must be taken into consideration, as also the adolescents and their families who have seen their hopes dashed by the disruption of the educational project that the Heralds of the Gospel promoted. Lastly, multiple violations of canon law, described in detail in the book, should likewise be counted among the grave reasons for its composition.

 

Consequently, this work signifies neither an offensive nor dissent, nor even does it seek to injure anybody. It is solely a precautionary effort, prompted by obligations of conscience, of justice and of love towards the Church, aimed at, among other things, preventing the abuses to which the Heralds were victim be ever repeated, in the interests of justice and equitable reparation.

 

 

E-books:

- Italian: https://ebooks.lumencatolica.com.br/Commissariamento-Araldi

- Spanish:

https://ebooks.lumencatolica.com.br/Comisariado-Heraldos

-Portuguese:
https://ebooks.lumencatolica.com.br/Comissariado-PTBR