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French Pope and the “heads” that “fall”: a story usually told by the “traditional front.” Because the Argentine pontiff, in the interpretation provided by the conservatives, is drawing a parable that inevitably ends up resembling the character of the top of the universal Church, excluding those who had had high roles in the previous administration and modifying the internal balance. That is, those established by the reign of Pope Emeritus. A theme that also applies (and sometimes especially) to the face of the Roman Curia. In fact, it happens with every new successor to Peter. The Church of today is, therefore, a Catholic Church that would look towards a future with “Bergoglian” traction, due to the protagonists identified by Francis and to the detriment of the “Ratzingerians” or “traditionalists”. But the matter seems much more complex than that.
The case of Cardinal Angelo Becciu, from whom Jorge Mario Bergoglio took away the rights derived from purple, has reopened the secular issue of the “purges.” Cardinal Becciu, in the division of the “Vatican alignments”, has never been considered a traditionalist and an opponent of the “revolution”, quite the contrary. One detail, the latter, that provokes discussion. In fact, the former deputy of the Secretary of State has collaborated with Francis for years. Conservatives know this well, and these days, after the news has spread, they question the proximity of the duo. The Pope, cutting Becciu, made it clear that too much attention should not be paid to the shirts worn by consecrated persons in this alleged dispute between the ecclesiastical right and left in Vatican. Otherwise, Becciu, who in traditionalist fiction has always been portrayed as a “Bergogliano”, would not have “resigned.” Another purple that ended up in Bergoglio’s “sights” is former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, but the American, before being “unhinged” by the bishop of Rome, was at the center of a case of abuse that made a lot of noise. Therefore, it is a story in itself.
The Becciu case may open other fronts. There are rumors that speak of a list, a “black list”, which would be composed of those who, among the high hierarchies of the Holy See, would have disappointed Pope Bergoglio. Someone could jump like Becciu, they say. Boutade or not, Becciu is not the first to open the door. We will remember, for example, the cardinal Gherard Ludwig Mueller, former prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The “chair” in which Joseph Ratzinger also sat during the pontificate of Saint John Paul II. Mueller is, in effect, a student, a doctrinal follower, of the Pope Emeritus. Well, after having appointed the Teutonic cardinal to the head of the old Holy Office, Francis decided not to renew the post after the first term.
Attention: the reasons why Mueller is no longer a prefect are, in the limit, doctrinal in nature, and have nothing to do with any scandal. However, the need for continuity usually involves at least a decade. Otherwise, it is not easy for a high clergyman to affect doctrine. The fact is that Mueller is no longer the prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith: Cardinal Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, a Jesuit, has arrived in his place. Is there a distinctive feature that unites Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s choices regarding promotions and removals? May be. In fact, a certain marginality of the prelates considered conservative can be noticed.
The “expulsion” of the conservatives
Mueller’s is just one of those cases. During 2017, we talked about how the cardinal Raymond Leo Burke he had been sent to the island of Guam to investigate allegations of sexual abuse directed against an archbishop, Anthony Apuron, who would later be canonically found guilty. Those were the times of the “dubia” in Joy, the apostolic exhortation through which Francis opened himself to the communion of the divorced and remarried. Here, on that trip to Guam, someone caught a glimpse of some kind of punishment inflicted on the American cardinal. If only because Burke was one of the signatories to the five questions posed to the pontiff about the doctrinal legitimacy of the positions taken in the exhortative text. Those who would feed the “doctrinal confusion” among the faithful.
Cardinal Burke was later expelled from some Congregations of the Holy See, including that appointed to dispose of bishops and that of the Causes of Saints. These “hunts” have also been interpreted in the same way as “sanctions” addressed to the “traditional front” by the Pope, as if the criticism was not accepted or in any case a badly digested behavior.
Then there is Monsignor Luigi negri, who is no longer the bishop, in fact the archbishop, of the diocese of Ferrara-Comacchio. Jorge Mario Bergoglio preferred Monsignor Gian Carlo Perego, exponent of Caritas and the Fundación Migrantes. Perhaps, if not above all, because the “right to reception” cannot be questioned.
The conservatives are occupying less and less space: this is the accusation made against Francesco by the party that is directly affected. In reality, the Holy Father, through a letter written to Cardinal Mueller himself, seemed ready to find the square with this hemisphere. In any case, they are called “merciful” or “purified”: they are the ones who, always according to the pro-traditionalist narrative, have saluted their posts for not being “Bergogliani”. For his lack of support for the “revolution.” And the case of Bose? Prior Enzo Bianchi is certainly not a traditionalist, however, he had to pack himself. This is to attest how the reference “jacket” may not be decisive. Other name? Antonio Cañizares Llovera, cardinal close to Saint Pius X, that is, to the Lefebvrians. From the Vatican, Llovera returned to Valencia at the will of the Holy Father.
In addition to the “expulsion”, there is the issue of the lost audiences: the one told by sources close to the late cardinal Carlo Caffarra, which would never have been received by Bergoglio despite multiple requests, and which was not granted these days to Cardinal Zen, an elderly former archbishop of Hong Kong who came to Rome to meet with the Pope on the question of the agreement between the Vatican and China. It appears that Bergoglio has made it known that he has no time available for him.
The realities commissioned by Bergoglio
Dall ‘Order of Malta to the Franciscans of the Immaculate Conception, passing through the Little Sisters of Mary and through other realities: Jorge Mario Bergoglio, for many different reasons and through different modalities, intervened in many situations related to ecclesiastical bodies or institutes. Among them the case of Enzo Bianchi can also be cited. In comparison with the Orders, however, the traditionalists air a precise sentiment: that according to which Bergoglio, wanting to counteract what he calls “rigidities”, does not allow forms of organization that are considered old, past, or in any case dissonant with regarding the vision of the “outgoing Church.” . In short, going “to meet the world” would be a condition noWhereas retiring to prayer and staying away from contemporary society would no longer be accepted attitudes. Bergoglio would oppose the cloister.
Therefore, some companies will try to build one “creative minority”: in the sense that Joseph Ratzinger intended, something far from today’s society. But they would be doing so in the course of a pontificate that seeks, instead, to embrace this world. The version of the critical sources of the work of the Argentine pontiff is more or less always this. Even “praying too much” gets discouraged. Although this litany has been refuted. And the traditionalists, as we know, are biased. What is surprising in any case is that a kind of “opposition” has been organized around this story of the commissioners. THE “merciful” they seem to have formed a solid bloc, which is used to criticize the priorities that Francis has identified for the future of Catholicism. The “merciful”, in short, all united “against” the pontificate of mercy. With the support of the well-known “traditionalist” blogs and sites.
The Becciu case
The cardinal Angelo Becciu he still has purple, but he has lost his rights. The Pope, surprising everyone, fixed it. So Becciu will not be part of the next cardinal assembly. The one who, when the time comes, will be called to choose the successor of Jorge Mario Bergoglio. And the Becciu case runs the risk of constituting a milestone in the history of this pontificate. Becciu is not Burke and neither is Mueller: the Sardinian cardinal was anything but an opponent of Pope Francis, both at the doctrinal level and at the media level. Regardless of the reasons that led to Becciu’s disappearance after a private audience, a face to face with the Argentine pontiff, it should be noted how the circumstances relating to the no longer prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints are more unique than rare. .
Delving deep into memory, there are no cases of cardinals reduced in their duties due to alleged financial scandals. And as for the cardinal and secretary of state Pietro Parolin has claimed, as reported by‘Adnkronos, that there is no “coincidence” between the removal of Becciu and another fact, namely, that the former prefect of the Ministry of Economy, Cardenal George Pell, who has meanwhile been acquitted of abuse allegations in an Australian trial that has, for obvious reasons, come to the attention of international news, has made his return to Rome, the ‘supporters’ of the traditionalists still seem inclined to celebrate Pell’s great comeback. Almost as if, in an elusive clash between two stripes, the conservative side had prevailed. Because Pell would have had an idea of managing “Vatican affairs” that was very different from Becciu’s. A phenomenon, this one of the opposition between “fans”, that is noticed especially in the social networks. Pope Francis, after the letter to Mueller, could have opted for one peace with the conservative hemisphere.
This is a hypothesis, but it could become reality if Cardinal Pell, Mueller or others return from occupying the top positions in the Holy See. Pell had not been “expelled”, but his position had been suspended due to the ongoing trial in his home country. Now the prefect of the Ministry of Economy is Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, an Iberian Jesuit who cannot boast of purple. Is there a possibility that Pell will once again preside over the body that Bergoglio wanted to fuel his battle for internal and external “transparency”? Very difficult. Never say never, however, it seems the most recommended answer.
The “expulsion” of the Ratzingerians
We thus arrive at one of the crossroads of the question: if it is true that with each pontificate, with what could be unduly called a “dispossession system”, the balance changes and, therefore, the protagonists in leadership positions are replaced, then, How many Ratzingerians are there? Was it left to lead the different Congregations or Academies with the reign of Bergoglio? We have already said it of Cardinal Mueller, Monsignor Negri and others. Cardinal Robert Sarah, despite some doctrinal controversies, including that over the abolition of priestly celibacy, stands firm as prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. But it is an exception. Archbishop Georg Gaenswein is no longer the prefect of the Papal House: he is still the personal secretary of Benedict XVI. Monsignor Molina and Father Noriega are no longer part of the Pontifical John Paul II Theological Institute for the Sciences of Marriage and the Family. Both were attributable to the doctrinal thrusts of the two pontificates that preceded this one.
