Curial Chairs, Summer Edition

Sure, B16's social encyclical might be three days away... but beneath the top line of Caritas in Veritate, a good bit else is well in motion behind the Vatican walls.

This morning, the latest round of Curial chair-shifting continued with the outbound transfer of Bishop Giampaolo Crepaldi, #2 at the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, to the Italian border-diocese of Trieste.

Holder of the secretary's post since 2001, when he succeeded then-Bishop Diarmuid Martin (now archbishop of Dublin) on the Irishman's transfer to the UN mission in Geneva, no Vatican successor was named to replace the veteran social worker, who'll be one of four top prelates to lead the presentation of the new encylical on Tuesday morning in the Holy See Press Office.

Likewise today, the Pope named the vicar-general of Toledo, Msgr Juan Miguel Ferrer, as a "second under-secretary" at the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. While the English Marist Fr Tony Ward already holds the #3 post at Culto Divino, the Spaniard's appointment is worth noting as it reunites Ferrer with his past and future boss, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares -- the "Little Ratzinger" who took the reins of the global church's "liturgy office" late last year.

(Of course, the other top transition at CDW will be completed a week from today in Washington with the ordination of the office's new secretary, the Bronx-born Archbishop-elect Gus DiNoia OP, in the capital's the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.)

Today's twin moves follow yesterday's promotion of the longtime secretary of the Congregation for Bishops, Archbishop Francesco Monterisi, to the archpriest's post at the papal Basilica of St Paul's Outside the Walls. With that shift, the 75 year-old Italian is now placed in line to become a cardinal, keeping with the longstanding tradition for former seconds-in-command at the dicastery overseeing episcopal appointments for the global church's non-mission dioceses. Named to succeed Monterisi in the critical post was Archbishop Manuel Montiero de Castro, 71, who had served since 2000 as the papal nuncio to Madrid and, as a result, was the Holy See's lead voice to the Socialist government of Premier Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose efforts to liberalize Spain's abortion laws and legalize same-sex marriage have met with ferocious criticism from the country's hierarchy.

Most of the already-announced moves were foreseen last week by the most reliable of the current Curia's court scribes, Il Giornale's Andrea Tornielli, who likewise lifted the veil on several other shifts supposedly at hand.

Among the yet-unannounced bunch are two that'd be of special interest to North Americans: according to Tornielli, the highly-regarded nuncio to Ottawa, Archbishop Luigi Ventura, is likely bound for the papal nunciature in Paris (whose occupants traditionally end up with the red hat) and, with the Secretariat of State's #3 official said to be in line for a return to the field, the post of Assessore is reportedly headed toward Msgr Peter Wells, a priest of Tulsa and the current head of Stato's English Desk.

The top aide to the all-important Sostituto -- the archbishop who, in essence, serves as the Roman Curia's "chief of staff" -- past Assessori have customarily gone on even higher: among others, both the current overseer of the Eastern churches Cardinal Leonardo Sandri and Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe of Naples once held the job, as did another American, then-Msgr James Harvey of Milwaukee, who John Paul II named to run his Household in 1998.

As the official responsible for arranging the pontiff's audiences and visits, the Midwesterner will return to his usual place in the San Damaso courtyard next Friday afternoon, this time to welcome President Obama to the Vatican and escort the visitor through the Apostolic Palace to the Papal Apartment.

PHOTO: AP

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Rome to US: See You in Mid-'10

During the plenary, several folks asked about the recent report that 2009 won't be seeing an American ad limina visit to Rome, which would normally be expected given the pilgrimage's traditional five-year timetable.

Indeed, the Quinquennial Reports -- and all the time and work they entail -- can wait. From the Vatican, CNS' Cindy Wooden reports:

In 2004 the U.S. bishops came on a pilgrimage to the tombs of Sts. Peter and Paul, to the "threshold of the apostles" -- "ad limina apostolorum" in Latin.

But they will not be back in 2009 and not even in the first months of 2010, said Archbishop Francesco Monterisi, secretary of the Congregation for Bishops, which schedules and coordinates the visits.

Things are backed up at the Vatican.

Almost every week, bevies of bishops can be seen making their way to different Vatican congregations and councils and crossing St. Peter's Square to go up to the papal apartments, but they all are making their visits for the first time in at least six years....

"It is just not possible to preserve the five-year schedule," Archbishop Monterisi said, although he added that no one at the Vatican is talking about changing the written rules.

The time lag, however, does allow the bishops wiggle room on writing what is still referred to as their "quinquennial reports."

The Code of Canon Law says, "The diocesan bishop is bound to present a report to the supreme pontiff every five years concerning the state of the diocese committed to him."

But the Vatican's directory for "ad limina" visits ties the report's deadline to the date of the bishop's appointment with the pope, saying it should be turned in "approximately six months, but not less than three months" before the scheduled visit.

So, while the heads of Brazil's 252 dioceses spend most of 2009 and part of 2010 making their visits to Rome, the U.S. bishops will have an extra year to pull together diocesan statistics and information covering everything from Catholic schools to vocations, and from health care to ecumenical and interreligious initiatives.

For the record, the canons provide that a bishop need not turn in a Quinquennial Report "if the year determined for submitting a report falls entirely or in part within the first two years of his governance of a diocese."

The next visit will feature a new element for the Stateside bench; while, in the past, the heads of Eastern-church eparchies made the trip alongside their Latin-rite counterparts in the geography-based regions of the conference, the Oriental sees were recently melded into a USCCB region of their own, and so will now have their pilgrimage all together, with their own week carved out.

While the bishops -- most of whom don't get to Rome as often as the A-listers -- love the visits, one complained earlier in the week that "those reports take so much time."

To repeat an earlier word of advice: these days, they can't be meticulous enough.

Regarding another prior note, the buzz has since gained further steam that the Congregation for Bishops has proposed raising the episcopal retirement age to 78. As with all things, the reported move remains under papal consideration.

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The Word From Rome

First off, quick story: I called a chancery the other day with a quick question. Having dealt with the staff before, they knew me. But out of nowhere I was asked: "Are you calling from Rome?"

Talk about your shocking moments.

That said, a couple blurbs from the Oltretevere beat:

• In the recent consistory list, eyebrows were raised and jaws were slacked in the Curia over the non-elevation of Archbishop Francesco Monterisi. While Monterisi's day job -- secretary of the Congregation for Bishops -- doesn't come with a red hat, his transitory role last year as Secretary to the Conclave does; or, at least, it has for the past couple hundred years.... Yet another sign that Benedict XVI is being quite selective with his traditions. In the culture he inherited, he's downright iconoclastic -- something we'll be seeing a bit more of in late April.
  
• If you're looking to get a fitting at the legendary clerical tailors Gammarelli before 27 March, good luck. As is always the case at these moments, the atelier who's dressed Popes and clerics of all stripes since the 1700s goes into overdrive to prepare the scads of vestments which the new class of cardinals will need in time for the 24 March consistory and the days of receptions and other ceremonies to follow. (Not to mention the other potentates dropping into town during the festivities who need to replace a frayed something-or-other.) At least for the first go-round, the new cardinals will need three freshly-made cassocks -- the red choir, black simar with cape and the house cassock without it, not to mention mozzetta, ferraiolo (the watered-silk cape worn for formal non-liturgical events) and, of course, the famous red socks. (A separate, heavier set is also made for winter, but those can wait.) For far-flung princes loyal to Roberto and family, as long as their measurements are on file they should be OK, with maybe a quick take-in or two in the days before the conferral of the birettas -- most of which also take their origin from the shop. The long-standing house rule is that, aside from the Cardinal-designate's private secretary, no outsiders may see the nuovo Porporato in his reds until he leaves his Roman lodging to make his journey to the Vatican on consistory morning. Period.
  
• Which American bishop got summoned over to meet with a dicastery? Given his record with administrative recourses, seems the curial chiefs felt the need to give this US high-hat a canon law primer.
  
• And lastly, at least for now, I won't be able to make my planned trip over for the Super Bowl that is Consistory Week. I was really looking forward to getting back after all this time -- I hear that a lot of expectant Romeheads await my appearance -- but I've got a lot on my plate here right now (i.e. Tupperware containers full of unpaid bills), and before I can do anything, that all has to be taken care of first. After all, if the words in the breeze are right, we won't have to wait long until the next gathering. But, in the meantime, fret not: the A-Team of operatives (not to mention Loggiarazzi) will be on the ground: at the receptions, the trattorias and, most importantly, the ceremonies. So you know where to keep it for wall-to-wall coverage....

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Hints of "Dawn"

And so, church, welcome to the tensest of days here in the office....

That said, with all signs pointing to B16's announcement of his third class of new cardinals in the morning, Italy's (and, indeed, the world's) reigning vaticanista-in-chief -- Il Giornale's Andrea Tornielli -- reports that the expected 20 November intake will comprise 24 red hats, leaving unclear whether the pontiff will deviate from the now-traditional maximum of 120 electors set by Paul VI in 1975.

In addition, in an audio file posted on his paper's website, Tornielli read several names from a purported biglietto, albeit an incomplete one.

Keeping the "incomplete" bit in mind, here are the designates from his list:

• Archbishop Angelo Amato SDB, 72, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints
• Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, 66, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy
• Archbishop Fortunato Baldelli, 75, major penitentiary of the Roman church
• Archbishop Velasio dePaolis CS, 75, prefect for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See
• Archbishop Paolo Sardi, 76, pro-Patron of the Order of Malta
• Archbishop Francesco Monterisi, 76, archpriest of the Basilica of St Paul's Outside the Walls
• Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, 68, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture
• Archbishop Paolo Romeo, 72, of Palermo
• Archbishop Raymond Burke, 62, prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura
• Archbishop Kurt Koch, 60, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
• Archbishop Robert Sarah, 65, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum
• Archbishop Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, 57
  
• Archbishop Raymundo Damasceno Assis of Aparecida, 73
  
• Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith of Colombo, 62
  

That makes 15 of a potential 22 electors.

Meanwhile, in the "honorary" division -- that is, clerics elevated over age 80 in recognition of their distinguished service but ineligible to enter a conclave -- Tornielli ran two names...

• Monsignor Domenico Bartolucci, 93, the director-emeritus of the Sistine Choir
• Monsignor Walter Brandmuller, 81, president-emeritus of the Pontifical Commission for Historical Sciences
  

That's where things stand... as ever, more as it comes in.

SVILUPPO: Adding several names he simply deems "most probable," Tornielli updates list, including the names of Archbishops Laurent Monsengwo Pasiya of Kinshasa, Thomas Collins of Toronto, Donald Wuerl of Washington and the 75 year-old Coptic patriarch of Alexandria, Antonio Naguib -- who would become the lone Oriental patriarch to hold a seat in the voting college.

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Red Alert, Red Alert

We have liftoff -- a 20 November consistory to create 24 new cardinals.....

Here, the biglietto, in order:

• Angelo Amato, prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints;
• Antonio Naguib, patriarch of Alexandria of the Copts,
• Robert Sarah, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum,
• Francesco Monterisi, archpriest of St Paul's Outside the Walls,
• Fortunato Baldelli, major penitentiary of the Roman church,
• Raymond Burke, prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura,
• Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
• Paolo Sardi, pro-Patron of the Order of Malta,
• Mauro Piacenza, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy
• Velasio DePaolis CS, prefect for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See (& papal delegate to the Legionaries of Christ)
• Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture
• Medardo Joseph Mazombwe, archbishop-emeritus of Lusaka (Zambia)
• Raul Eduardo Vela Chiliboga, archbishop-emeritus of Quito (Ecuador)
• Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya, archbishop of Kinshasa
• Paolo Romeo, archbishop of Palermo
• Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington
• Raymundo Damasceno Assis, archbishop of Aparecida
• Kazmierz Nycz, archbishop of Warsaw
• Malcolm Ranjith, archbishop of Colombo
• Reinhard Marx, archbishop of Munich and Freising
  

...and the over 80s:

• Archbishop Jose Manuel Estepa Llaurens, Military Ordinary-emeritus of Spain
• Bishop Elio Sgreccia, president-emeritus of the Pontifical Academy for Life
• Msgr Walter Brandmuller, president-emeritus of the Pontifical Commission for Historical Sciences
• Msgr Domenico Bartolucci, director-emeritus of the Sistine Choir

And, well, there you have it.

That said, the twin retired prelates -- among other aspects -- make this list stranger than almost any other in memory; Cardinal-designate Vela, 76, was just replaced in the Ecuadorean capital last month, while Cardinal-designate Mazombwe, who retired in 2006, loses his conclave vote on turning 80 next fall.

From Cardinal-designate Donald Wuerl of Washington, the following statement has quickly emerged...

“This truly is an honor for the Archdiocese of Washington, the Church in the nation’s capital, and for all of the clergy, religious and parishioners of this local Church who every day live out their faith in commitment and deep love for Christ. I am humbled by our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI’s trust in me as shepherd of this flock and pledge to him my renewed fidelity, affection and loyalty.”

Once the secretary to a cardinal -- and, arguably, the most impeccably-prepared American cleric in history for the red hat -- the DC designate, 70 next month, will celebrate an 8am Mass this morning in St Matthew's Cathedral, with a press availability to follow.

Tonight, he'll be in Houston to give an address on faith and the just society at the University of St Thomas, for which a webstream will be had. Uniquely, late yesterday saw Wuerl announce a new seminary for the capital church -- a pre-theologate on the campus of the Catholic University of America, to open in August 2011.

And via "Big Rig" -- that is, the new St Louis chancery -- the following statement has just come from the Vatican's "chief justice," the Gateway City's eighth archbishop from 2004-08, Cardinal-designate Raymond Leo Burke:

I am deeply humbled and honored by the announcement that His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI intends to name me to the College of Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church at the Consistory which he has convoked for this coming November 20th. Having received the news of the Holy Father’s intention, I express my deepest gratitude to His Holiness for the great confidence which he has placed in me, and I renew my commitment to serve Him, as Shepherd of the universal Church, in total fidelity and with all my being.

Considering the weighty responsibilities of the members of the College of Cardinals in assisting the Holy Father as his closest co-workers, even “to the shedding of blood,” I am more than ever conscious of my own weakness and of my total dependence upon the help of divine grace, in order that I may fulfill worthily and generously the responsibilities which will be mine, God willing, as a Cardinal of the Church.

I count upon the continued intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Communion of Saints, and the prayers of the many faithful whom I have been blessed to serve as priest and Bishop, especially in my home diocese, the Diocese of La Crosse, and in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis, and of those with whom I have been, in the past, and am now privileged to serve in the Roman Curia, especially my co-workers at the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. Only the knowledge of God’s immeasurable and unceasing outpouring of mercy and love from the glorious pierced Heart of Jesus gives me the confidence to accept the great honor and burden which His Holiness intends to confer upon me.

Today’s announcement turns my thoughts with deepest affection and gratitude to my late parents and all my family, living and deceased; and to the priests, consecrated persons and lay faithful who have assisted me to know my vocation to the Holy Priesthood and to respond to it with an undivided heart over the more than thirty-five years of my priestly life and ministry. Today, with all my heart, I humbly thank God for the gifts of life, of the Catholic faith, and of my vocation.

At the same time, my thoughts naturally turn to the many challenges which the Church faces in our day in carrying out her divine mission for the salvation of the world. In particular, I am deeply conscious of the critical importance of the loving witness of the Church to the truth, revealed to us by God through both faith and reason, which alone is our salvation. It is a witness which Our Holy Father tirelessly gives with remarkable wisdom and courage. I pledge myself anew to assist Pope Benedict XVI in this critical witness and in the many works of his pastoral charity on behalf of all our brothers and sisters in the Church and in the world.

I ask for prayers that I may be able to assist our Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI to the best of my ability and with every ounce of my strength. I, once again, place my whole heart, together with the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary, into the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. In the glorious pierced Heart of Jesus, I am confident that I will find the purification, courage and strength which I will need to carry out the new responsibilities to be confided into my hands. I thank, in advance, all who will pray for me, and ask God to bless them abundantly.

All that said, one conspicuous absence from the slate is enough to make for a major heartbreak.

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