Re: Ratzi Didn't Know

...about Wielgus, that is; the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops talks in today's Corriere:

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who heads the Congregation for Bishops, the powerful department which decides the future careers of aspiring churchmen, said that the Vatican did not know the truth about Wielgus.

"When Monsignor Wielgus was nominated, we did not know anything about his collaboration with the secret services," Battista Re was quoted as saying...

Italy's La Repubblica newspaper, without naming sources, said the Pope only received an 80-page fax about Wielgus' spying on Saturday evening. The fax was sent by the Polish government and translated into Benedict's native language, German.

The scandal has been a major embarrassment for the Pontiff, who last year visited Poland, paying tribute to his Polish-born predecessor John Paul II -- widely credited with helping hasten the fall of the communist regime there.

The Vatican on Sunday accused the Polish Church's opponents of vindictively dragging up Wielgus's past. Spokesman Federico Lombardi blamed a "strange alliance between the persecutors of the past and their adversaries" for a "wave of attacks."

The NYTimes reports that, outside the cathedral yesterday, "some of [Wielgus'] supporters shouted that 'Jews' were trying to destroy the church."

...and everything old (and reprehensible) is new (and still reprehensible). Again.

Speaking of developments that'd have Wojtyla spinning in his tomb, The Times of London contributes this surreal nugget (emphasis mine):

On Saturday night crisis talks were held between the Vatican, the Polish Church leadership and the Government. The lights burnt late in the Warsaw residence of Josef Kowalczyk, the Papal Nuncio. According to a Church source, there was also a long conversation between the Pope and Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, Metropolitan Archbishop of Krakow and one of the closest advisers to Pope John Paul II.

One of the key questions for Polish public opinion has been whether the tarnished Archbishop — who was recruited formally by the police in 1973 — spied on the Polish Pope. So far the files suggest not, but many documents have been destroyed and the uncertainty about his past lingers.

Also this morning, an undaunted B16 gave his annual New Year address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See. Customarily delivered in French, it's come to be known in Vatican circles as the Pope's "state of the world" speech.

-30-

An Exchange of Letters

In the Vatican's strongest rebuke yet to the excommunicated Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, a letter written at the direction of Pope Benedict XVI has warned the married Zambian prelate that "there is no other way for the welfare of your soul" than to abandon the movement of married clergy he established last year.

The late November document, sent under the signature of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, came as a response to two letters from Milingo and his Married Priests Now! prelature in the wake of the Holy See's September announcement that, after ordaining four married clerics to the episcopacy in a Washington ceremony, the controversial archbishop and his ordinands had incurred the most severe canonical penalty. While the splinter group sought to profess loyalty to the pontiff, it also took issue with the judgment of the excommunications and the Vatican's statement that it would view Milingo's ordinations not only as illicit, but also invalid.

In light of his actions, Re informed Milingo that Benedict "has suffered and still suffers with your comportment." Reiterating that the latter's sacramental progenation was "seriously illicit and illegitimate," the prefect held the Roman line that "they will never be accepted by the Church, and will therefore do a lot of harm to the Church and profoundly so to the People of God.

"At the same time you are aware that such actions will render you responsible before God loaded with such a grave sin, which will cut you away from the Church, and of course excommunication," the letter continued. "One day each one of us will have to render account before God for such actions which will be judged according to the truth."

Dated 27 November, the letter came eleven days after the Pope called a meeting of his dicastery heads -- the third of his pontificate -- to discuss the Milingo situation and reaffirm the normative place of mandatory celibacy in what Re termed the "integral discipline" of the Western church. Taking direct aim at Milingo's stated objective to reintegrate into the church clerics who left active ministry to marry, Re said that "there must never be any hope that the Church may admit once more those priests who have failed to maintain celibacy and have ended up by contracting marriage."

Re closed with an appeal in Benedict's name that the sanctioned prelate "reflect as to what you have done, causing serious scandal and unbelievable damages to yourself and to many souls," and a prayer that he cease from engaging in "any other harm to the Church with new ordinations," that he may not have to "present [him]self to the tribunal of God as an excommunicated Archbishop."

Two weeks after the letter was sent, Milingo ordained two married men as priests at the close of a Married Priests Now! convocation in New Jersey.

In a lengthy reply to the Roman note, Milingo and his council of the four bishops he ordained last year said that "we are acting in a profound matter of conscience." The group requested a senior English-speaking prelate to act as an intermediary between it and the Vatican, chiding the Curia for its delays in communication.

While repeating their finding of priestly celibacy as "unjust" and professing their loyalty to Benedict, Milingo and his aides promised to keep the pontiff appraised of "our ordinations of the past year and... of the married men we call to the priesthood."

The saga continues....

-30-

Il Consigliere -- Amid Media Meltdown, The Vatican Goes Fox-Hunting

Earlier today, the Pope held another of his occasional "Cabinet" meetings with his dicastery chiefs. Yet while the latest of the sporadic conferences dealt with the fallout of the recent fiasco surrounding leaked Vatican documents -- a story whose resemblance to an Italian soap-opera has made it cat-nip for the global media -- a subsequent development served to underscore the degree to which the failures of the scandal are being chalked up more to failures of messaging than of governance.

Turning to a highly-regarded hand among Rome's foreign press, the Associated Press leaked earlier this afternoon that Greg Burke (above right) -- Fox News' correspondent in the city since 2001 -- was hired by the Secretariat of State as a "senior communications adviser." According to the wire, the lead Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Fr Federico Lombardi, subsequently confirmed the move.

The Curial office buffeted most intensely by the torrent of leaks, State likewise oversees the various media arms connected with the church's central governance: Vatican Radio and Television, L'Osservatore Romano, and the Holy See Press Office. The four were brought under the umbrella of the "clearinghouse" dicastery in 1984, when the new head of its Information Office, then-Msgr Crescenzio Sepe (today the cardinal-archbishop of Naples) brought aboard the duo who would become the lead framing agents of the pontificate of John Paul II: the Spanish journalist Joaquin Navarro-Valls to lead the Press Office, and the Italian Christian Democratic politician Mario Agnes to run the newspaper, which marked its 150th anniversary last year.

Of course, Burke's nod likewise continues a legacy of Americans brought in to enhance the Holy See's media presence, a line begun by Philadelphia's own John Foley, who led the Pontifical Council of Social Communications from 1984 to 2007. Having moonlighted as the US media's lead Vatican liaison as well as the "patron saint of the Catholic press" both at home and beyond, the beloved graduate of Columbia University's School of Journalism was subsequently made a cardinal by Benedict, and kept up his many newsroom friendships until his death last December from leukemia at 76.

A numerary of Opus Dei (like Navarro-Valls), the St Louis-born Burke -- who worked the Rome beat for TIME magazine before joining TV's most-watched news outlet -- will answer to the Sostituto at Stato, Archbishop Angelo Becciu, essentially the Vatican "chief of staff."

In an AP interview, the newly-named consigliere compared his job to that of the White House Communications Director.

"You're shaping the message, you're molding the message, and you're trying to make sure everyone remains on-message," Burke said. "And that's tough."

Burke said he had previously been offered and declined the position twice.

Following the day's earlier meeting with his Curial heads, Benedict held an evening round-table with four members of the College of Cardinals "who by virtue of their great and varied experience in the service of the church, not only in Rome but also around the world, can have an exchange of ideas and suggestions to help restore the desired climate of serenity and trust in the service of the Roman Curia," as a Vatican statement explained.

The quartet included Cardinals George Pell of Sydney, the prefect of Bishops, the Canadian Marc Ouellet; the French Interreligious Czar Jean-Louis Tauran, and the Slovak Jozef Tomko, former head of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, who was one of the trio of retired red-hats tapped to oversee an internal investigation into the "Vatileaks" fuore. That group met at length with the Pope a week ago today.

Winding down a three-month sabbatical in Rome, it's notable that the Australian prelate -- a keen provocateur universally described as some variation of "a bull in a china shop" -- was the lone non-Curialist to take part in the discussions. But that stands as an indicator of his enduring status as a papal favorite.

In 2010, Pell had been widely expected to succeed Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re at the helm of the all-powerful Bishops' office, but the choice was switched to Ouellet in the final weeks after a particularly vicious power play had been engineered from within Vatican circles with the intent to block Pell's appointment.

-30-

Southern Crossed, Northern Starred: Ouellet Tipped for Bishops

Long story short, folks: if you're gonna write something long, whatever application you use, just remember to save it early and often... lest the program crash and take 1,500 words with it.

More once the rest is re-written... but for now, one of the more dramatic -- and, indeed, consequential -- outbreaks of Vatican intrigue in memory has taken a new turn today with the report that Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the 66 year-old archbishop of Quebec and primate of Canada, is now expected to be named prefect of the Congregation for Bishops "in the coming weeks" upon the retirement of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re.

Relayed by the most reliable of the Italian "court scribes" -- Il Giornale's Andrea Tornielli -- the leak caps a stunning turnabout that, but six weeks ago, saw Sydney's Cardinal George Pell preparing to take up the all-powerful post overseeing the global episcopate and, above all, recommending its next members to the pontiff.

Already having been earmarked a Roman apartment, while the Aussie strongman's age and health were cited widely in the Italian press as the causes behind the switch, Saturday's La Stampa reported that the circulated rationale provided a "diplomatic veil," under which lay concerns over a 2002 accusation of abuse against Pell dating to the early 1960s, which was deemed unestablished at the time after an inquiry backed by the Australian church, but led by a retired, non-Catholic High Court judge.

While the daily's Marco Tossati wrote that -- likely due in part to the fierce internal opposition toward Pope Benedict's "Australian project" -- fear suddenly circulated in the Vatican that "the presumed victim could decide to open judicial proceedings," the complainant in the 2002 matter has never been heard from since the inquest's close. What's more, the accuser's attorney made clear at the time that his client would seek no criminal or civil redress in the case and was satisfied with the process' result.

On making his allegation, the accuser had been "urged" by church officials to report the claim to the civil authorities, but declined.

After the inquiry, the charge was essentially forgotten... that is, until recent weeks.

* * *

Looking forward, though, the latest presumptive pick to enter the Vatican's "Big Three" and head up the celebrated Thursday Table that votes to recommend episcopal appointees to the pontiff has long enjoyed Benedict's high regard and solid trust.

A veteran of the Communio school (and still a member of the journal's editorial board), Ouellet is no stranger to the Curial world. A product of the Gregorian and onetime professor at the Lateran, in 2001 the dogmatic theologian was ordained a bishop and made secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, from which post he was sent back to Canada's mother-see 18 months later and, within a year, given the red hat long denied his predecessor. In the time since, among other things, the Sulpician was touted as papabile at the 2005 Conclave, won high marks for his turn as relator (spokesman) at the 2008 Synod of Bishops dedicated to the Word of God, and has been spoken of since this pontificate's early days as a member of B16's "kitchen cabinet."

Over recent weeks, the cardinal's been at the center of a heated debate over abortion up North, one sparked after he echoed church teaching by calling the procedure a "moral crime" irrespective of its circumstances.

After protests ensued from politicians and women's groups and he was branded an "ayatollah" in the press, Ouellet said that "there is a legitimate debate about promoting human life, about respect for the unborn."

Canadian society "is very weak on that," he added.

A forceful voice in a Quebecois square where he recently observed that "the church... has no power anymore," the cardinal's resume likewise includes extensive experience in the secondary area of competence long entrusted to the oversight of the Congregation for Bishops, having served a decade in South America as a student, professor and seminary rector in Colombia.

The prefect of Bishops has simultaneously held the presidency of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America since 1969. Ouellet is already a longtime consultor to the Southern task-group.

That's where it's at for now... and especially given the turns this one's taken, it bears repeating anew that barring the Bollettino in hand, anything, and everything, can change.

Again.

As always, stay tuned.

-30-

A Hitchhiker's Guide to "The Ratzinger Galaxy"

In the latest Panorama, the Italian magazine's Vatican writer Ignacio Ingrao takes a look into the cosmos surrounding Benedict XVI, where he finds some interesting things.

L'Affaire Wielgus marked but the latest blow separating the German Pope from Wojtyla's People, Ingrao says, noting in sequence that Benedict had curtailed what was supposed to be Cardinal Josef Glemp's lifetime reign as primate of Poland; denied a red hat to the Cravoian Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity and retired Cardinal Edmund Szoka (the former archbishop of Detroit, but still a key figure of John Paul's "Polish mafia") from the Governatorato. What's more, the report says that the pontiff's next move will be to consign Polish Archbishop Edward Nowak, currently secretary of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, "to the small church of St Stanislaus, as chaplain of Rome's Polish immigrants."

Of course, this "war of the flags" isn't just one of nationalities, but of allegiances within the Roman Curia. Longtime readers know that as much love is lost between the denizens of the Secretariat of State and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as it is between Yankees and Red Sox fans. And in light of recent events, the CDF Pope's "peace offering" to the Stato crowd is looking to be on the wane.

According to Ingrao, the communication of Benedict's decision to ditch the freshly-possessed archbishop of Warsaw wasn't made directly: it was conveyed to Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, by the Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone SDB in the sacristy of St Peter's following the 6 January papal liturgy to mark Epiphany Day. The disapproval of the current archbishop of Krakow, the legendary Wojtyla aide Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, to the Wielgus pick was noted; his memoir, titled A Life with Karol, rolls out on the shelves in Italy next week.

From there, a broad summary of Ratzinger's frustrated initiatives is enumerated: the indult for the Pian Mass, the "halted" plans for the reorganization of the Curia, Cardinal Sodano's foot-dragging on moving out of the Apostolic Palace digs that belong to the cardinal-secretary (a delay which literally kept Bertone consigned to the tower for three months), the "irritation" of the Legionaries of Christ over the public sanction of the order's founder on allegations of abuse.

Much of this, Ingrao says, stems from the reality that, two years in, the Pope "has paid dearly for lacking his own team," and that as the infighting raged, he spent much of his time in seclusion, working on the first ten chapters of his Jesus of Nazareth, which'll be released at Easter. However, with Bertone settled in at San Damaso, we're told that this year will finally see Ratzinger and his new Stato chief "having the better" over their in-house rivals.

With the piece, Panorama published a diagram of the various constellations of prelates surrounding Benedict, in differing degrees of closeness and by orbit of nationality.

Not surprisingly, the Poles were all at the outermost ends of the image. And intriguingly, Re doesn't appear on it at all.


PHOTO: Panorama

-30-

B16 Resigns

Nearly eight years since his election, Pope Benedict XVI announced this morning that, at the end of the month, he will become the first Roman pontiff since Celestine V in 1294 to resign from the Chair of Peter.

The 85 year-old – who has quietly indicated over the years that he would take the drastic step should he feel it necessary – broke the news during a previously-scheduled consistory to approve some causes for canonization (above); originally given in Latin, the following English translation of the statement was released by the Holy See:

Dear Brothers, 

I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is. 

Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.  

From the Vatican, 10 February 2013  

BENEDICTUS PP XVI

Beyond the statement, no timetable or other parameters are currently known on the holding of a Conclave – we're in very uncharted territory here, folks, so please be patient. The lone item of canon law to even mention a pontiff's resignation is Canon 332, paragraph 2, which states that "If it happens that the Roman Pontiff resigns his office, it is required for validity that the resignation is made freely and properly manifested but not that it is accepted by anyone."

Along the same lines, there is no established protocol whatsoever for the titles, status or prerogatives of a retired Pope.

On Friday, Benedict raised some eyebrows by having a rare private audience with the Dean of the College of Cardinals, the 85 year-old Italian Angelo Sodano, the figure who would be responsible for the convoking of a papal election. The departing pontiff ostensibly communicated his plan to the Cardinal-Dean at that point. 

That said, as both Sodano and his Vice-Dean, Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, are past the eligibility age to vote, under the norms currently in place, the duty of presiding over the Conclave would seem to fall to the senior cardinal-bishop younger than 80: the retired prefect of the Congregation for Bishops Giovanni Battista Re, who turned 79 in late January.

Under the operative norms governing Conclaves in the wake of a Pope's death, the voting college is to start the election between 15 and 20 days from the moment of vacancy. In this case, however, the traditional novemdiales – the nine days of official mourning before the election – would not apply.

Now comprised of 118 voting members younger than 80, the College as a whole – retirees included – governs the church during a papal interregnum.

-30-

To Defend and Serve, Chaplains Edition

At a Vatican seminar this week for prelates and priests serving the world's defense forces, attendees were reminded by speakers of all faiths that their ministry extends much further beyond their "parish" boundaries:

"The church, bearer of the human, moral and spiritual values without which it is impossible to build a worthy and true human society -- a family of families -- must be on the front line in supporting a correct application of humanitarian law in every circumstance," said [Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re], prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.

The cardinal spoke at the Oct. 12 opening of a two-day course in humanitarian law offered to military ordinaries and chaplains from around the world. Military ordinaries are bishops responsible for the pastoral care of Catholics in the armed forces.

The course brought together about 80 participants from more than 30 countries and included speakers representing other religions and other Christian communities, as well as experts on international relations and on humanitarian law.

Cardinal Re told the bishops and priests that promoting human rights is part of their pastoral role.

"The support of the church for humanitarian law is a way of witnessing to the importance of protecting the dignity of the human person, created in God's image, in every circumstance, including the tragic context of armed conflicts," he said.

Cardinal Renato Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, told participants that religious believers have a special obligation to work together to defend the rights of all people.

"In the modern world, where phenomena such as international terrorism seem to place in doubt the value of human life and where, too often, religions are considered a factor of conflict, religions themselves are called to cooperate to affirm human dignity" and demonstrate that violations of humanitarian law cannot be excused simply by invoking "political or military necessity," Cardinal Martino said....

In a message sent to the meeting, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his hope that members of different religions would work together for "the promotion of the fundamental value of peace, based on truth, love, justice and freedom."

Mohammed Amin al-Midani, president of the Arab Center for International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Education in Strasbourg, France, told participants that in Islam the Quran and the example of the prophet Mohammed emphasize the value of each human life and lay down precise rules and limits for the conduct of war....

In an interview with Catholic News Service, al-Midani said he tried to explain to the bishops and chaplains the mainstream interpretation of Islamic law and Islamic principles regarding human dignity.

"Unfortunately, there are those with fundamentalist, extremist interpretations of Islam; they believe it is right to kill non-Muslims," he said. The Muslim majority has an obligation "to show the tolerant tradition of Islam, which is very ancient."

"This meeting is very important because soldiers must know how to dialogue," he said. "They must know, for example, that not all Afghans belong to the Taliban. They must go into these countries knowing what Islam is, that diversity exists and that people want to dialogue with them."

Rabbi Abramo Piettelli, who teaches at Rome's Pontifical Lateran University and serves at Rome's main synagogue, told the gathering that Christians, Muslims and Jews must encourage their followers to act on their belief that all human beings were created in God's image.

"Being created in the divine image," he said, places a "great responsibility" on each person to act in a way that promotes the creation of "a society based on the values of brotherhood, justice and truth. The conflicts, wars and controversies that trouble our times are a challenge not only for governments, but for each individual."

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, said international humanitarian law exists "to make wars less cruel and to facilitate aid to its victims, but also to educate consciences in respect for the dignity of the human person."...

The cardinal said the peoples of the world can never hope to achieve peace unless they focus on and hold firm to a common set of moral values, beginning with the value of every human life.

Present at the explicit request of the cardinal-prefect was Archbishop Edwin O'Brien of Baltimore, who had headed the US' archdiocese for the Military Services until his installation in the Premier See eleven days back.

In accordance with the statutes of the worldwide archdiocese, its temporary governance has been entrusted to its senior auxiliary, Bishop Richard Higgins, until a new head for the 1.4 million American Catholics in uniform (and their families) is named.

As for the permanent succession to O'Brien, let's just say everyone and their lieutenant's got a horse in the race...

...at least, so it seems.

-30-

"The Wizard," Out of Oz

Building on the post below -- and, indeed, a trail of reports dating back some 14 months -- late word "running around" in Rome and relayed by a credible op says that Cardinal George Pell could be appointed prefect of the Congregation for Bishops sooner than expected, possibly even as soon as tomorrow.

To be clear, though, it bears repeating that, until the moment of an announcement, anything (and everything) can change.

For the record, the previously cited June timetable came some weeks back from a source in the Sydney cardinal's orbit. Earlier today, however, a leading Italian vaticanista -- Il Foglio's Paolo Rodari -- reported that the move "lacked only [its] announcement," revealing that following his aforementioned private audience with B16 on Friday (during which, according to Rodari's sourcing, a rollout date was set), Pell spent over an hour at the Congregation's offices meeting with the current prefect, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who reached the retirement age of 75 in early 2009.

Believed to have been a "campaign manager" behind Joseph Ratinzger's 2005 election to Peter's chair, the bold, bullish "Wizard of Oz" -- an Oxford D.Phil. whose 15 years at the helm of his homeland's two largest dioceses have firmly placed his colorful, conservative stamp on the Australian church -- wouldn't just bring the specter of history to the all-powerful dicastery overseeing the world's 5,000 bishops, but an almost diametric contrast of personality and style from the prelate he's tipped to succeed. For instance, while Re became a star of the diplomatic corps, beginning his rise under the patronage of the famous Giovanni Benelli, the leading progressive candidate at the conclaves of 1978, Pell was barely released from his first papal election before doing color commentary alongside Raymond Arroyo and Richard John Neuhaus on EWTN.

If it pans out -- and, notably, against the backdrop of a sex-abuse crisis largely driven by administrative acts of some English-speaking bishops -- the move would be without precedent, both for its naming of an English-speaker to the Bishops post, and the ascent of a second native Anglophone into the rarefied space of the Vatican's "Big Three" Curial chiefs. That said, a Pell pick would maintain this pontificate's well-established form on another front; roughly a majority of Benedict's chosen top lieutenants overseeing the global fold have been drawn not from the ranks of the Roman Curia, but the leadership of local churches -- an implicit check of what many ordinaries saw as an unfettered excess of the dicasteries' oversight role during the pontificate of John Paul II.

On a context note, no Australian has held a leading Curial chair since Cardinal Edward Cassidy retired as head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in 2001. Still, despite never having served a day in a full-time Roman post, Pell's already well-used to flexing muscle at the Vatican: last week saw the culmination of his decade-long "wide" project as the new Roman Missal in English received the recognitio of the Holy See.

The cardinal had overseen the text's preparation as chairman of the blue-ribbon Vox Clara Committee, which consulted the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments on the wholesale new translation of the Mass-book, soon to become the first vernacular text employed across the whole English-speaking world.

-30-

Long Knives in the Palace?

Last time we heard from Edward Pentin, the Rome correspondent for the National Catholic Register scored the church-beat's Coup of the Century, tipping Tim Dolan for New York nearly a full month in advance, more than a fortnight before the Appointed One himself formally heard the news.

For his curtain call -- again penned for the conservative site Newsmax.com -- Pentin reports that, though the twin tempests might be "closed" in the Vatican's public mind, the debacles of the Lefevbrist "remit" and the doomed appointment of Gerhard Wagner in Linz will soon see another shoe drop behind the walls: a deck-clearing in the Curia's "clearinghouse" office:

[T]he personnel changes will affect the “second rung” of officials within the Secretariat of State – essentially the executive branch of the Vatican. Further changes among the top ranks of the Roman Curia are also likely over the next few months..

The news comes after two very public controversies which many Church observers say could have been avoided....

Vatican sources say both controversies over Williamson and Wagner could have been mitigated. Church commentators say weaknesses in internal management and communications are the main causes of these missteps. The rescinding of Fr. Wagner’s appointment came as a particular disappointment to many in the Curia because of his orthodoxy. The appointment might have had a better chance of success had officials handled it better.

The majority of these internal communication and managerial problems are said to originate within the Secretariat of State which is responsible for coordinating all departments of the Roman Curia, and the Vatican’s relations with foreign governments.

As well as personnel changes among officials in the Secretariat of State, at least eight Curia cardinals are close to, or beyond, their normal retirement age of 75. The Pope is therefore expected to announce their replacements in the coming months.

Newsmax has learned that one cardinal, Castrillon Hoyos, will be asked to step down before Easter. The 79 year-old Colombian cardinal was responsible for pushing through the lifting of the excommunications of the four breakaway bishops

Long viewed as the nexus of the Curia's "contra-Ratzinger" wing given the Pope's 23 years as head of Stato's longtime rival -- namely, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith -- while the Williamson and Wagner cases are cited as the rationale behind the reported sack-fest, another aspect of the lead dicastery's recent history is likewise worth pointing out: its mid-rank still populated with appointees from the now-retired Cardinal Angelo Sodano's 15 years at its helm, in the current pontificate State has been the home office's main base of support for the Legionaries of Christ, which has taken a series of highly-public blows in recent weeks amid its admission of further moral and fiscal improprieties on the part of the movement's already-disgraced late founder, Fr Marcial Maciel Degollado.

A Vatican-approved Legion response to the crisis was tipped for release nearly a month ago... but -- like no shortage of other things in this pontificate -- the wait continues. In the meantime, leading prelates with high standing in the eyes of Benedict & Co. have called for major interventions in the community's rule and oversight: Archbishop Edwin O'Brien of Baltimore said in late February that, given evidence of Maciel's "systematic deception and duplicity," he could no longer recommend the Legion and its lay movement, Regnum Christi; and while taking pains to highlight the "enormous number of good people in the Legionaries," last week Cardinal George Pell of Sydney recommended the appointment of an apostolic visitation from outside the community to "investigate its founder's corruption and re-examine its charism."

Well known as B16's most-trusted collaborator, the Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone SDB turns 75 in December, but is expected to stay on for an open-ended period. Pell, however, has come up repeatedly for a potential transfer to the Curia over recent months, with the most-cited possibility being the top post of the Congregation for Bishops in succession to Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who reached the retirement age at January's end.

Of the 14 prelates the current pontiff has chosen to take up lead dicasterial posts, half have been called from the helm of prominent archdioceses around the globe, including Sao Paulo, Bombay, Genoa, Florence, San Francisco and St Louis.

PHOTO: Getty Images

-30-

A Woman's Place: Atop the Curia

Over the summer of 2007, B16's second-in-command pledged a Roman Curia with more women in senior posts.

It took this long, but finally, they made a start earlier today.

With Cardinal Peter Turkson freshly arrived in Rome to take up his work as president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, this morning the Pope named Dr Flaminia Giovanelli, a longtime staffer at the dicastery, as its undersecretary, the third-ranking post.

As CNS notes, the slot had been open since April 2006, when then-Msgr Frank Dewane was sent back to the States as coadjutor of Venice in Florida. (A Wisconsin native, Dewane became head of the Gulf Coast diocese in early 2007.)

An expert on "the politics of development and work" who's held advisory posts at a host of global bodies, the new undersecretary, 61, becomes one of just three non-ordained officials to hold "superior" rank in the current Curia: the other two are Sr Enrica Rosanna, who broke the glass ceiling of the top-level offices when John Paul II named her undersecretary of the "Congregation for Religious" in 2004, and Dr Angelo Scelzo, the longtime #3 at the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, who's held his post since 2000. An Australian laywoman, Rosemary Goldie, first broke the barrier, serving as undersecretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity from 1966-76.

(It likewise bears noting that the head of the Holy See's Internet Office is an American-born religious, Long Island native Franciscan Sister of the Eucharist Judith Zoebelein.)

The nod adds to a lead lineup at Iustitia et Pax that was already worth watching; alongside Turkson -- the much-touted African papabile of the moment, who was named to head it in October, B16 tapped one of his lead advisers in the drafting of his social encyclical, now Bishop Mario Toso SDB, as its #2 in the late fall. (Significantly, Toso is a Salesian confrere of Benedict's all-powerful Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.)

As other Curial chairs go, reportedly tipped for the spring is the moment's most awaited shift: Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re's retirement from the helm of the Congregation for Bishops. Head of the "Thursday Table" that votes to recommend episcopal appointees to the pontiff since 2000, Re turns 76 at month's end.

Several other dicastery chiefs are likewise past the retirement age: Christian Unity czar Cardinal Walter Kasper turns 77 in March, and the lead overseer of Religious Cardinal Franc Rodé CM turned 75 last fall, as did Cardinals Claudio Hummes (Clergy), Paul Josef Cordes (Cor Unum), and Giovanni Lajolo (Governor of the Vatican City-State).

Oh, and Bertone turned 75 in early December, too... but the lack of chatter surrounding the milestone just served to reinforce the conventional wisdom -- that is, he ain't going anywhere, at least not anytime soon.

Speaking of matters Curial, Saturday will see the Vatican's traditional observance of the feast of St Francis deSales -- the patron of writers and journalists (and, indeed, of the deaf, too) -- and, with it, the annual release of the papal message for the church's World Communications Day, this year's dedicated to the pastoral ministry of priests "in a digital world."

PHOTO: Getty

-30-

Rome-Bound?

B16's weekend integration of Cardinal Peter Turkson into his top team was just the latest instance of this pontificate's significant trait for drawing senior Curialists from among the ranks of diocesan bishops.

For the record, that's Joseph Ratzinger's keen commentary on a longstanding complaint of ordinaries the world over -- namely, that the Roman Curia had enjoyed a too-heavy hand in the oversight of their local churches during the reigns of his recent predecessors.

Almost five years since his election, nearly three-fifths of Benedict's picks to head the global church's 24 cabinet ministries -- ten of the 17 he's named -- have come from the trenches... and with Turkson's appointment now finally put to bed, one of Australia's leading papers is running buzz that Down Under's leading churchman could be next:

Catholic circles in Rome and Australia are abuzz with speculation that Pope Benedict XVI will shortly appoint Australia's Cardinal George Pell to a prestigious job in the top echelons of the Roman Curia.

Cardinal Pell's experience as Archbishop of Sydney and Melbourne, and his service on a range of Vatican organisations, is seen as an ideal background to take on a senior Vatican job.

Cardinal Pell, who was ordained in 1966, served as a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith when Cardinal Ratzinger was in charge.

He is also a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and president of the Vox Clara Committee, which advises the Vatican on English translations of liturgical texts used at Mass.

One possible senior job becoming vacant in Rome is the powerful position of Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, which helps advise the Pope on the appointment of new bishops across the world.

Its Prefect, Cardinal Battista Re, who has held the job since 2000, reached the retirement age of 75 this year.

Tip to Insight Scoop.

To be sure, speculation on a potential Pell-to-Rome move has been bandied about since the weeks following last summer's World Youth Day in Sydney; talk linking the fiercely outspoken prelate to the Bishops post was reported on these pages last March. As one Oz op put it at the time, Pell "has done everything you could do here," indicating that the 68 year-old cardinal -- who once famously remarked that he didn't "think a Christian can say 'I’m a lover, not a fighter'" -- isn't one to rest on his laurels.

On a related note, only in recent days were the traditional post-WYD papal honors conferred on several of the top planners behind Sydney's staging of the church's "Olympic event."

In its report, the Australian already took to proffering two potential successors to Pell at the helm of the 580,000-member Sydneyside church; Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Canberra, a former Melbourne auxiliary and lead player on the Roman Missal project, and the Oxford-trained Sydney auxiliary Antony Fisher, a onetime barrister, leading moral theologian and Pell protege long seen as a rising star of the English-speaking church worldwide.

That said, Fisher earned scorn during WYD's first days by characterizing the family of a dead abuse victim who garnered a high profile in the event's run-up as "dwelling crankily on old wounds."

In the incident's aftermath, the 50 year-old prelate maintained that he was taken out of context, terming the quote's fallout "very hard."

"It taught me not to criticise the media," Fisher told a local paper, "because they’ll get you back."

Since the internationalization of the Curia began in earnest under Paul VI, there is a history of Australians serving in top Vatican posts; a former archbishop of Melbourne -- Oz's largest diocese -- Cardinal James Knox ran two dicasteries (including the Congregation for Divine Worship) before his 1983 death, and Cardinal Edward Cassidy held the influential post of Sostituto in the Secretariat of State before becoming head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in 1990. (Now 85, Cassidy chose to retire to his homeland.)

The latter's successor at the ecumenical office, Cardinal Walter Kasper, is one of four Curial heads currently serving past the retirement age; alongside Re, Cardinals Franc Rode (prefect of the "Congregation for Religious") and Paul Josef Cordes (president of Cor Unum, which handles humanitarian affairs) both turned 75 last month.

-30-

The Bull in the "Bishops Shop"

"He's a quintessential Australian," a friend of George Pell's once observed. "He loves to shock."

Over the years, the Sydney cardinal's launched his unique, prolific brand of broadside on environmentalists, Islam, and the ecclesial and political Left... to name but a few.

Yet soon, barring the unforeseen, a new target -- for "Big George," the biggest one yet -- appears set to present itself....

The Global Bench, all 5,000 members of it.

Sure, the formal word might've been absent from this morning's dispatches. Lest anyone wasn't banking it before, however, the bet's looking ever more like a winner -- early today, the leading Italian "court scribe," Il Giornale's Andrea Tornielli, blogged the following, here translated from the original:

In the last few days Benedict XVI again received in audience Cardinal George Pell, archbishop of Sydney, making official his appointment as Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops. Pell subsequently had a long conversation with his predecessor, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re. The announcement of the move will be given over the coming weeks, but before the first of summer. Pell would be installed at the helm of the "bishop factory" for its return to full rhythm of its activity after the summer holidays. With the arrival of an Australian in the lead post of the key dicastery of the Roman Curia, that which deals which choosing bishops, Benedict XVI has completed one of the most important choices of his pontificate, one destined to shape the life of the global church for the next twenty years. It's true, in fact, that Pell isn't very young -- he'll be 70 years old in June 2011, and so has ahead of him no more than seven years -- but it's likewise true that the episcopal appointments that pass his sign-off before being placed before the pontiff will impact the life of the church for at least two decades. Papa Ratzinger yet again chooses from among the non-Italians for a key post of Curial governance, and from among the non-Italians who have no experience in the Curia (in the last 35 years, the Congregation for Bishops alternated between Italian and non-Italian heads -- from Baggio to Moreira Neves, from Gantin to Re -- but all had Curial experience). A choice certainly destined to renew and internationalize the Curia, and likewise to reinforce the hand of the Secretariat of State.

One shoe still to drop is notable: for nearly three decades, the Bishops' chief has done double-duty as head of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America -- Rome's south-of-the-border lookout post, founded in the heyday of liberation theology.

With the continent now claiming roughly half of the global church's billion-plus membership, but Pell's global experience largely limited to the Anglosphere, the future of the joint arrangement will bear watching over the weeks ahead... among other things.

On a related note, the Il Giornale scribe broke a significant story last week, revealing that B16 would soon create the first new dicastery in a quarter-century.

Reportedly the brainchild of Cardinal Angelo Scola of Venice and with a mandate to reach out to the developed world, Tornielli wrote that the foreseen "Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization" would be headed by Italian Archbishop Rino Fisichella, the politically-savvy yet recently-controversial president of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

The proffered Council would be the first top-rank Curial office instituted since the flow-chart's last major tweaking, John Paul II's Pastor Bonus revamp in 1988.

PHOTO: Getty

-30-

More Robinson

As Bishop Geoffrey Robinson continues to wend his way through a monthlong Stateside tour (in defiance of orders from the Holy See and requests by the resident ordinaries), CNS notes the hubbub over the retired Aussie prelate's presence on these shores... and the controversial author's reaction:

Robinson, retired auxiliary bishop of Sydney and former head of the Australian bishops' panel investigating clergy sexual abuse, told Catholic News Service May 21, "A fight between me and the (U.S.) bishops is really something I'm not interested in."

Noting that he is not sure if any U.S. bishop has read his 2007 book, "Confronting Power and Sex in the Catholic Church: Reclaiming the Spirit of Jesus," Bishop Robinson said, "I've written about what I believe."

In a telephone interview from New Jersey, a stop on his U.S.-Canadian speaking tour, he also commented on a May 6 statement from the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference expressing concern about doctrinal problems in the book.

Bishop Robinson said the Australian bishops "did what they felt they had to do and I have no problem with that."...

U.S. Bishop Tod D. Brown of Orange, Calif., asked Bishop Robinson to cancel his June 11 visit to the Orange Diocese.

"Lest your visit be a source of disunity and a cause for confusion among the faithful of our local church of Orange, I want you to know that you do not have my permission to speak in the Diocese of Orange, and I ask you to cancel your speaking engagement here," Bishop Brown said in the May 16 letter.

Bishop Brown said the reason he was unable to accept Bishop Robinson was that Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, and 10 other U.S. bishops, including Cardinal Roger M. Mahony of Los Angeles, had asked Bishop Robinson to cancel his tour. Bishop Brown also mentioned the Australian bishops' "notice of concern" about the book.

CNS obtained copies of Bishop Brown's and Cardinal Mahony's letters but was unable to obtain the letter from Cardinal Re.

Cardinal Mahony's letter, as well as the letter from the 10 other bishops, was dated May 9 and reflected concerns similar to those listed in Bishop Brown's letter....

Responding to the Australian bishops, Marist Father Michael Whelan, director of the Aquinas Academy in Sydney, Australia, said: "We have a right to know precisely what is doctrinally unsound with what Bishop Robinson has written and why it is unsound.

"It is a serious book and it demands a serious response," Father Whelan added in his statement posted on the Aquinas Academy Web site May 19.

The "imprecision and vagueness" in the bishops' "bland and defensive" statement, Father Whelan said, is a "sad and discouraging reflection on the leadership of the Catholic Church in Australia, likely to confirm those who are unlikely to read Bishop Robinson's book and alienate those who find it worth reading."

Father Whelan said the Australian bishops' concession in their concluding paragraph that church authority "may at times be poorly exercised ... in shaping policy and practice in complex areas of pastoral and human concern" raised many questions for the "new vision" of church asked for by the Second Vatican Council.

"It seems to trivialize the serious matter of the church's ability to get it wrong. ... Could we claim, for example, that our ecclesiology -- both in theory and practice -- over the centuries has always been utterly in accord with the person and teaching of Jesus Christ?"

Among attendees at Robinson's first engagement last weekend in Philadelphia: retired Detroit auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton... himself no stranger to stirring the pot.

-30-

"A Church That Says 'Yes'" -- And Bishops Who Do, Too

Coinciding with tomorrow's installation here, a piece has popped up with a good, long look at how Canadian appointments are made, with two top clerics breaking taboo and going on-record.

Toto, I don't think we're in the US anymore.

A key difficulty felt not just in Canada also gets noted: the shrinking talent pool.

According to Father Frank Morrisey, a canon law expert at St. Paul University here, three men have a “significant influence” in the appointing of bishops. The pope, who makes the appointment, usually from a list of three names, though he is not bound to that list; Canada’s Apostolic Nuncio Archbishop Luigi Ventura; and Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the prefect of the Congregation of Bishops. For some northern dioceses, still considered missionary areas, the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples is involved instead.

There have been two few major appointments under Benedict to tell whether there will be a difference between a Benedict bishop or a John Paul II bishop, Father Morrisey said, though he notes the late pope tended to pick “safe” or more conservative bishops in the latter part of his pontificate. “They were looking for doctrinal integrity.”

Archbishop Ventura, Father Morrisey said, seems to have been putting forward names of candidates with “good pastoral experience and that’s an essential quality.”...

The nuncio presents three names to the Congregation for Bishops, which goes then goes through the detailed dossier on each candidate. Archbishop Ventura, however, does not “just pick a name out of a hat,” according to the nuncio’s first secretary, Msgr. Michael Crotty, an Irish priest who has spent nearly three years in Ottawa after previously serving in Kenya. Archbishop Ventura relies on Canada’s bishops who, according to canon law, are to meet in their ecclesiastical provinces every three years and supply the nunciature with a list of prospective candidates. When there is a vacancy, the process of consultation begins. Msgr. Crotty said nunciature deals with five to seven vacancies a year in Canada.

The Edmonton Archdiocese, the Edmonton Ukrainian Eparchy, the Kingston Archdiocese and Saint John Diocese are vacant. Ottawa’s archbishop has announced he will retire in June. Five bishops reach the age of 75 this year, though that doesn’t mean the pope will accept their mandatory resignations. Some bishops are already past age 75. Each diocese has its own special needs, to be matched with the right candidate.

“[The bishops] have a major say,” said Archbishop Prendergast, noting the ecclesiastical provinces in the Maritimes meet together. There each bishop presents names of priests that would be good bishops. Prendergast also sends out a letter to priests to find out whom they would recommend. Each meeting comes up with 10 to 12 names.

“Some names are not found to be suitable. Some people don’t handle stress well. To be a bishop you have to handle stress. Some people have a hard time making decisions,” Archbishop Prendergast said.

The archbishop said doctrinal reasons may form an obstacle for a candidate. According to canon law, a candidate must be “outstanding in strong faith, good morals, piety, zeal for souls, prudence and human virtues,” and other gifts necessary for the job.

He said he never approaches a priest enquire if he’d be interested in being a bishop or to let him know he’s on a “bishop’s track.”

Archbishop Prendergast does not know about any jockeying for power or people actually seeking to be bishops. “Maybe I’m very naïve,” he said. Instead he finds that priests tend to have a have a high regard for the episcopacy, but do not seek to become bishops. Some will have that attitude out of humility, some from concern for the pressures of the office. “When they have a good bishop, they admire them.”...

“The reality of the Church is very wounded in contemporary society,” said Msgr. Crotty, noting the breakdown of marriage, increased divorce and the legal recognition of same-sex marriage.

“Nobody can be in any doubt about what the church teaches on marriage, on life issues, but there is a large misunderstanding,” he said. “The pastoral challenge is to explain, catechize, set forth the church’s teaching.”...

The challenge is to keep the enthusiasm of the young people alive, he said. These Catholic youth are seeing the church as “countercultural,” he said, adding that they want to know why. “The big pastoral thrust is to reach out to young people and give them answers why.”

The pope is framing those answers in a positive fashion, he said, proving false his unearned reputation as a scold and naysayer, who as Cardinal Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, was portrayed as always saying “No.”

Instead he is laying out a vision of “being positive, of being open,” Msgr. Crotty said.

“The church is a church that says, ‘Yes!’ Yes, to life, yes, to marriage,” he said.

The pope is inviting people to be positive, to say “yes,” accepting a new life in Christ, he said. Christ doesn’t ask us to say “no,” Msgr. Crotty said, “he asks us to say “yes” because he wants what is good for us.

Msgr. Crotty noted how the nuncio’s address to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (CCCB) annual plenary last October stressed the importance of three of the pope’s major texts. They included: his encyclical God is Love; his Regensburg speech on the crucial relationship between faith and reason; and his Dec. 2005 address to the Roman curia where he talked about two views of the Second Vatican Council. One view sees the council as “one of discontinuity and rupture,” the pope said, and the other as one of “reform and renewal in the continuity” of the church. The pope critiqued the view that the “spirit” of the council could be separated from its texts.

Msgr. Crotty notes a more liberal paradigm has operated over the past 30-40 years that seemed to suggest the church’s teachings had to change to “go where the people are going.”

“That paradigm has actually failed,” he said. “You can’t change the teaching of the church because it belongs to Christ. Christ’s message doesn’t change. We have to change. Sometimes it’s easier to ‘change Jesus’ than to change ourselves.”

”Those who set out in the 1960s to go out and change the world and wanted to change the church didn’t succeed,” he said. “The process of trying to ‘changing Jesus’ has been going on for a long time,” he said referring to society as a whole with its Jesus Seminar and now the new Jesus Project, aimed at debunking Jesus’ historical existence.

Now it’s time to “allow Jesus to change us,” he said.

The Canadian Church’s challenges concerning vocations go hand in hand with growing secularization. “God is less and less a part of people’s lives and culture,” he said. “Vocations are the fruit of the faith community. It’s not a question of increasing church personnel, there is a need to grow the faith, to nourish the faith, and the faith will bear fruit in more vocations for the priesthood and religious life.”

“We need to be full of enthusiasm,” he said. “You don’t attract people to your ranks if you lack enthusiasm about who we are and what we are.”

Ben fatto.

-30-

The Sunday Pole: B16 "Furious"; Walesa Blames SB Alums; Bishops "Not Afraid of Truth" -- So Long As Only Rome Knows It

It just keeps going... and going... and going.... Then again, those of us who've endured the last five years here in the States shouldn't be surprised.

In Rome, the Pope is said to be hopping mad over the debacle, feeling "furious" and "isolated" as he reportedly prepares to expedite Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re's long-expected departure from the top job at the Congregation for Bishops. (Re's customary Saturday afternoon audience with the Pope, at which the appointment dossiers are proffered for Benedict's final decision, went forward as usual yesterday.)

On-the-ground in Warsaw, Lech Walesa, the Solidarity leader and first democratically-elected president, entered the Wielgusgate fray in yesterday's Corriere della Sera, where he opined that it's "'no coincidence the scandal exploded at the last moment.

"'The men of the secret service acted in a calculated way, perfectly aware of the fuss this case would create in Poland, abroad and in the Vatican," Walesa said, calling the residual remainder of Communist-era agents "specialists in destabilisation" afraid at the potential "loss of their public sector jobs by the present administration."

The Nobel laureate also cast blame on "government 'populists and demagogues'" in facilitating the run-up to last week's resignation of Stanislaw Wielgus moments before his installation as archbishop of Warsaw.

At its emergency meeting on Friday, the Polish episcopate composed a letter that was read in the nation's churches at this weekend's Masses. In the same session, the hierarchy in attendance consented to a review of each of its members files in the archives of Poland's National Institute of Memory. The findings of the research, however, will not be made public at home, but forwarded to the Holy See.

Over this weekend, Radio Polonia reported that the pleasure of the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone SDB, at the bishops' agreement. Bertone also said that "a just assessment" of a prelate's unacceptable involvement with Communist intelligence "can be made only on the basis of absolute certainty as to the authenticity of the archive documents serving their indictment."

Calling intense communication "essential" for episcopal appointments in an interview with an Italian wire service, the state broadcaster paraphrased Bertone's belief that "its deficit may prove detrimental in assessing the candidate's qualifications."

Fulltext of the episcopate's letter, and excerpts (emphases original):

On 5th January 2007, in an appeal directed to the community of Warsaw Church, Archbishop Wielgus confirmed the fact of the above mentioned entanglement and admitted having harmed Church through it, as well as – in the face of a media campaign – having done damage to the Church by denying the facts of collaboration with the secret service.

We accept with respect his decision about resignation from the ministry of Archbishop Metropolitan of Warsaw. It is not up to us to judge a man, a brother, who has served the Church in a faithful and zealous way, including his time as a professor and Rector [President] of the Catholic University of Lublin (KUL) and then as the Bishop of Plock. We want to support the Archbishop with our prayer in the full clarification of the truth. At the same time regret to state that not taking into account the widely accepted rule of the presumption of innocence contributed to creating an atmosphere of pressure around the accused Archbishop, which did not make it easy for him to present the public opinion with an appropriate defence, to which he was entitled....

[W]e repeat once more: the Church is not afraid of the truth, even if this is a hard, shameful, truth and approaching this truth is sometimes very painful. We deeply believe that the truth liberates, because Jesus Christ himself is a liberating truth. The Church has been struggling with sin inside herself and in the world, to which it is sent, for two thousand years. Sin degrades man and distorts the image and similitude of God in him. The Church does not carry this through under her own power. It does it under the power of the One, who as the only one can make us free from evil. Therefore we begin every Eucharist with a confession of our sinfulness: “I confess to the almighty God…” This is not a void liturgical formula, but a deep confrontation with our weakness and faithlessness before the face of the merciful God. Similarly, we ask in every Eucharist: “Lord Jesus Christ … look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church.” We are not afraid to confess that the Church is a community of sinners, but at the same time she is holy and called to holiness, since Jesus Christ is her Head, living and working in her – a Saint above all saints. It is before Him that we stand, asking the Holy Ghost to deliver us from evil, fear and our small-mindedness.

Last Sunday, during the Lord’s Baptism feast, in Warsaw cathedral, we read the Gospel about Jesus who joined the sinners, standing on the bank of Jordan to receive the baptism of penance. We believe strongly that Jesus stands together with all of us on the banks of Polish Jordan. Once more the words of Jesus bring back our hope: “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Lk 5:31-32, NRSV). Solidarity with sinful people led Jesus to the Cross. Thanks to this we have received His Baptism – the baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire for the remission of sins....

Let us remind: “For two thousand years the Church has opposed the evil in the evangelical way, which does not destroy the dignity of another man. The truth about the sin should lead a Christian to a personal acknowledgment of guilt, to contrition, to a confession of the guilt – even a public confession, if need be, and then to repentance and satisfaction. We cannot abandon such an evangelical way of confronting the evil. (…) The Christ Church is a community of reconciliation, forgiveness and mercy. Inside her there is a place for every sinner, who wishes to reform, as Peter did, and despite their weaknesses wants to serve the cause of the Gospel” (Memorandum).

As the Servant of God John Paul II stated emphatically, “Man is the way of the Church” (Redemptor hominis, 14) – every man, including every priest and every bishop. Fulfilling the conditions of Christian conversion, everyone has the right to forgiveness and mercy, to join in the life of the Church community and society. We know that many of those, who once submitted to enslavement, deafened their conscience and compromised their dignity, have already repented for their weakness with years of faithful service. They are our brothers and sisters in faith!

We wish the Ash Wednesday, 21st February 2007, to be a day of prayer and repentance of the whole Polish clergy. In all the churches in our dioceses services to the Merciful God should be celebrated for a forgiveness of mistakes and weaknesses in proclaiming the whole Gospel. As clergy, we are “taken from the people”, we are a part of Polish society, which as a whole needs to turn away from evil and make a full conversion.

There is a great task of reconciliation for the Church in Poland, apart from standing in truth before the face of God. We will not change the past, both the glorious, and the one that we are ashamed of. We can include everything, with God’s help, in our present and future in such a way that the power of Christ on the face of the Church is revealed. We appeal to all the people of the Church, the clergy and the laity, to carry on the examination of their consciences concerning their conduct in the time of totalitarianism. We do not want to encroach on the sanctuary of any man’s conscience, but we encourage to do everything to confront the truth of possible facts and – if need be – to adequately admit and confess the guilt.

We appeal to the people in power and members of Parliament to ensure a usage of the materials found in the archives dating back to PRL which will not lead to encroaching on the rights of a human person and demeaning the dignity of man and which will make it possible to verify these materials in an independent court of justice. It should also not be forgotten that these documents incriminate their authors above all.

Being aware of the call of Christ: “Do not judge, so that you may not be judged.” (Mt 7:1), we ask everybody to refrain from passing superficial and rash judgments, for they can be damaging. We mean especially those who work in the media. May Christian conscience and human sensibility suggest them what should be presented to the public opinion and how it should be done, always taking into account the dignity of a human person, the right to defence and good name, even after one’s death. We appeal to the young generation, lacking a direct experience of the era in which the older people happened to live, to make an effort to learn the hard and complex truth about the past times. Despite all the shadows, it is to the generations living in those times, including the generations of clergy and their uncompromising struggle with evil that we owe our regaining of freedom after years of Marxist ideology and soviet patterns of political and social life imposed on us.

(Via Amy Welborn.)


PHOTO: AFP/Janek Skarzynski

-30-

Vatican Bishops Czar: Prelates and Politics Don't Mix

As if the appointment backlogs weren't enough to keep tabs on, Re & Co. have another retired bishop problem on their hands -- this time, it's a seemingly deposed Paraguayan prelate aiming to run as a leftist candidate for president:

The Vatican on Tuesday called on a retired Roman Catholic bishop to give up his plans to run for Paraguay's presidency or face canonical sanctions.

But retired Bishop Fernando Lugo [shown above at a March rally] said he had already resigned from the priesthood to lead a planned opposition alliance and challenge conservative President Nicanor Duarte of the Colorado Party in elections scheduled for May 2008.

The communique from the Vatican, signed by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, threatened to suspend Lugo's authority as a priest as a "first sanction." It was not clear whether the text was written before or after the resignation.

"In the name of Jesus Christ, I ask him to seriously reflect about his behavior," the Vatican warning read.

It added that a run for the presidency "would be clearly against the serious responsibility of a bishop ... Canonic [sic] Law prohibits priests from participating in political parties or labor unions."

Lugo, 55, was appointed bishop of the impoverished northern San Pedro diocese by Pope John Paul II in 1994, but 10 years later he was ordered to retire. No reasons were announced.

Elsewhere in the American South, B16 this morning appointed Auxiliary Bishop Ricardo Ezzati Andrello of Santiago de Chile as archbishop of Concepcion, the nation's second largest metropolitan church. Key to decoding why Ezzati got the nod -- the three magic letters of the pontificate.... No, not B16, but SDB (scroll down).

Home to the departing CELAM president Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa, the Schoenstatt cardinal-archbishop of Santiago, Chile lost half its "If the conclave were held today" delegation last Saturday with the 80th birthday of Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina Estevez.

A deity of the Tridentine circuit, the superannuation of the former prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments excludes him not just from future papal elections, but also from his remaining curial memberships, including his coveted seat on the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei -- known to many simply as "The Indult People."

If another conclave were to take place before February 2008, however, though he won't be able to vote, the prelate who took obvious glee in proclaiming the election of Joseph Ratzinger to the Chair of Peter would still get to do the "Habemus Papam!" honors. Though past the voting age, Medina remains the Protodeacon, the senior cardinal-deacon who announces the new pontiff to the world.

As cardinal-deacons -- the junior rank of the college, reserved for curial officials and red-hats who lack the episcopal dignity -- traditionally "opt-up" to the order of cardinal-priest ten years after their elevations, currently next in line for the Protodeacon slot is Cardinal Agostino Cacciavillan, the former head of the APSA (the Holy See's investment office) who served as pro-nuncio to Washington from 1990-1999 and is the senior surviving deacon from the Wojtyla mega-consistory of 2001.

Should the Big Announcement fall to Cacciavillan, however, he'll also have to be informed of the specifics secondhand -- the veteran diplomat marked his 80th birthday last August.


PHOTO: AP/Jorge Saenz

-30-

Reunited

Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in public (in five years), Archbishop and Mrs Emmanuel Milingo.

According to the wires, Maria Sung is now using her husband's surname. As previously mentioned here, Milingo appeared earlier today at a convocation for illicitly married priests which runs through Tuesday in New Jersey.

In an interview with the Italian journal 30 giorni serialised by Zenit earlier this week, new Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, SDB spoke about his role in quelling the Moonie wedding brouhaha of 2001 and the controversial Zambian prelate's latest exploits:

Another personal commission [Bertone received from] John Paul II was to assist the former Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo of Lusaka, Zambia, in August 2001, when he decided to return to the Catholic Church after his civil marriage within the Moon sect.

"I only wish to say that his return after his first elopement filled me with joy and that I am very sad today by this second fall. I hope and pray that he will finally take up his post again in the Catholic Church. I have entrusted this to the intercession of the servant of God, Pope John Paul II," said the cardinal.

Given the delicacy of the situation, it might be time for another Wojtyla apparition -- this time to advise Bertone on a manner of proceeding.

SVILUPPO: Fresh off the wires, Milingo has been formally notified of impending ecclesiastical sanction -- and he's retorted:

Milingo said that Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, head of the Vatican's Congregation for Bishops, has demanded that Milingo send a letter of repentance by Oct. 15 to Pope Benedict XVI or face "canonical suspension."

"Your behavior, activities and public statements during these past few months are completely contrary to the obligation of every bishop," Re wrote in the letter, a copy of which was shown to The Associated Press. "In the name of Jesus Christ, I beg you to reflect seriously on your behavior and all its consequences."

Milingo, the retired archbishop of Zambia, was in New Jersey with is wife, Maria, for a conference of priests and their wives organized by his new advocacy group, Married Priests Now!. Asked how he would respond to the Vatican, he said, "I will stay with them" - meaning married priests.

Well, there you have it.

PHOTO: AP/Tim Larsen

-30-

The Roman Chessboard

Coronas, citronella torches, disco blasting on the radio and a long respite in the jacuzzi....

My friends, this is livin'. For once.

This morning, the Pope received Archbishop Paul-Josef Cordes, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum -- and the gentle hand behind Deus caritas est -- in private audience. Last Monday, Archbishop Stanislaw Rylko, president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, got face time with the Fluffiness.

If you're asking yourself "What's afoot?" you just might be onto something.

The names of Rylko and Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education, have circulated at the front of the line among potential successors to Cardinal Jozef Glemp of Warsaw, who turned 75 in December 2004. One scenario being floated has Rylko -- an associate of Karol Wojtyla's long before the election of the Polish Pope -- returning home, with Benedict's countryman Cordes taking his place at the helm of the first-ranking Council.

Given the presence of another German, the Ratzinger uber-confidant Bishop Josef Clemens (lots of Josephs dancing around, no?) as secretary at Laity, that would signal a move for the cleric who served as private secretary to Cardinal Ratzinger for twenty years.

Throw in the persistent rumblings of the dispatching of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, to Genoa in succession to Secretary of State-designate Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, combine that with the Pope's intent to tighten the reins on the episcopal selection process and put it in trusted hands, and you have a highly potential... something.

Not to mention the discussions on who's going to succeed Lajolo.....

Stay tuned.

-30-

"The Pope's 'Hot' Autumn"

Having made an "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" decision by giving the vote of confidence to Cardinal McCarrick's good service in Washington, we return to B16's coming curial reform -- where the mantra increasingly seems to be, "it's broke, fix it."

In that vein, a goodly amount of buzz was generated across the water by a Saturday piece in Il Giornale by their Vaticanista, Andrea Tornielli.

Stating that the Pope sees the task as "the simplification of the structures of the Roman Curia," Tornielli seems to be of the school that the big more-than-tweaking will come after, as opposed to before, the Synod of Bishops which runs from 2-23 October. But the vacuum of hard news at this point says much about the Pope's style (all translations from the Italian are my own):

Benedict XVI spends many hours of the day alone, in his library, reading and studying letters; he doesn't receive people for the Mass celebrated in his private chapel, he doesn't receive people for lunch, and rarely for dinner (although he brought once from the palace of the Holy Office his former secretary, Bishop Josef Clemens, and on another occasion invited the German bishop Paul-Josef Cordes, president of Cor Unum).

You all know how much Clemens and the current secretary love each other to bits and pieces....

As reported here before, this Pope has intensified his role in the appointments of bishops when compared with his predecessor.

The style of Papa Ratzinger is very reflective, as demonstrated by his deep review of the dossiers on new episcopal appointments that Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re [prefect of the Congregation for Bishops] passes onto him, and that the pontiff holds onto without deciding on them immediately, which John Paul II did.

Our good friend Papabile (who also understands the dance of Romanita') has noted that Re's quinquennio -- the five-year term of appointment all curial superiors are given -- expires on the 17th of this month. Don't remind Rigali, the news most likely gets him even more skittish....

And Tornielli returns to what has become a constant thread of the reform drumbeat: the continual side-lining of the Secretariat of State. Apparently, the dicasteries are sending their correspondence straight to the Pope without passing it through the customary San Damaso clearinghouse. He mentions four names for the Sodano succession, a decision which is expected quickly: Cardinals Attilio Nicora, president of APSA, the Holy See's investment office; Angelo Scola of Venice, a darling of the Communione e Liberazione; and Tarcisio Bertone of Genoa, Cardinal Ratzinger's former number-two at CDF, the Holy See's frontman on combatting The DaVinci Code, "who has discussed the future of the Roman Curia with [Benedict] many times," according to Tornielli.

None of the three, nor the fourth name mentioned -- Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the Jesuit archbishop of Buenos Aires (and, if several reports are to be believed, the conclave's "runner-up") -- have any experience in the diplomatic corps of the Holy See which the Secretary of State heads.

You say you want a revolution....

-30-