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The process is one time only. On November 23, the canons of Chur rejected the three candidates for a new bishop for the diocese of Chur. They did not act on the proposal that the Pope had made. The broken election reveals how deep the differences are between supporters of a conservative and a progressive line.
The events also surprised Pope Francis. The weekend after the scandal, he summoned Apostolic Administrator Peter Bürcher to Rome. This is confirmed by various sources. Francis had installed Bürcher, the former Bishop of Reykjavik, as a kind of transitional bishop. He took over from the controversial Vitus Huonder, retired from old age.
It is not known exactly what the Pope spoke to Bürcher about. The spokesman for the bishop of Chur, Giuseppe Gracia, does not even want to confirm the meeting and refers to the papal secrecy that applies to the election of a bishop. Francis probably wanted first-hand information about the conditions and the non-election in the diocese of Chur.
On the ticket were Mauro-Giuseppe Lepori, 61, Abbot General of the Order of the Cistercians in Rome, Vigeli Monn, 55, Head of the Disentis Monastery, and Joseph Bonnemain. The 72-year-old is responsible for relations with regional churches in the Diocese of Chur. One canon described Bonnemain as “the greatest disappointment of my life as a priest.” Lepori and Monn rejected the majority because they were not sufficiently anchored in the pastoral care of the diocese of Chur.
After the canons have renounced electoral privilege, the Pope can install a bishop himself. When that will happen is open. Presumably a camel is more likely to go through the eye of a needle than Francis quickly pulls out of his hat the much-quoted bridge builder, who likes to reconcile the feuding sides.
Discrepancies between Vatican offices
Another indication that Francis wanted to know more about the election of the bishopric of Chur is provided by a look at the list of audiences. On the Saturday of the weekend that Bürcher went to Rome, the Pope received Marc Ouellet. The 76-year-old Canadian cardinal is the head of the Congregation for Bishops, the office that handles the appointment of new bishops.
According to an investigation by our newspaper, the Congregation of Bishops and the Secretary of State, the Vatican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, entered each other’s premises. In fact, the Secretary of State would also participate in the election of bishops. Finally, the Swiss Nuncio, who works for the Secretariat of State, informs the Vatican of possible candidates, from which the Pope in turn forwards a list of three to the cathedral chapter.
This time, however, the Congregation of Bishops has apparently bypassed the Secretary of State and put a list of three on the pope’s table. This would explain why there were no candidates among the names considered conservative and loyal to Huonder. Because it’s hard to imagine that nuncio Thomas E. Gullickson, who is labeled “ultra-conservative,” would have started a palace revolution in Chur himself with his list of names.
A canon lifted the charge of a coup by progressive forces. This is shown in the records of the failed bishop election. According to various media, the canon is Vicar General Martin Grichting. He is considered Huonder’s brother in spirit and a powerful man in the Diocese of Chur. The NZZ recently described him as a conservative provocateur, but also as “very erudite and rhetorical.”
Grichting evaluated the list of the three as an attempt to “silence the voice of the diocese of Chur, which has previously strayed from the mainstream.” It signifies a hostile takeover of the diocese of Chur by the bishops of Basel, St. Gallen and the abbot of Einsiedeln. “As has been known, in Rome you interfered massively in the appointment of Chur as bishop.”
Gateway to the dilution of teaching
Regional churches, allied with progressive forces, also play a decisive role on the line of conflict. Conservative forces perceive a gateway into regional churches to dilute Catholic teaching. According to their reading, they promote a Protestantization of the Catholic Church.
The Bishop of Basel Felix Gmür and his colleague from St. Gallen Markus Büchel are considered progressives on the issue of priesthood for women and celibacy. The Diocese of Chur, on the other hand, sees itself as a bastion against the zeitgeist.
