Tetta... wha?

Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi of Milan remains an evocative figure for many. His rise to prominence, begun when he served as lead-ghostwriter on John Paul II's 1995 encyclical, Evangelium Vitae, quickened pace not long after when the moral theologian was named archbishop of Genoa, then a cardinal and, four years later, transferred to the archbishopric of Milan, his home diocese.

The buzz at Conclave Time rang quite heavy that Tettamanzi, now 72, was one of the candidates proffered by the "Stop Ratzi" faction of cardinals who sought to block the dean's ascent to Peter's chair. The group was, so it's said, made up of the orbit of the current and former Eminences of the diplomatic corps, who feared the potential loss of prestige the Secretariat of State would experience in a pontificate oriented more toward the Holy Office than San Damaso.

Whether the backdrop was fact or speculation, it's no coincidence said anxieties have come to pass.

Anyways, it might just be statements like Tettamanzi's latest which garnered him popularity with the diplo crowd.

Milan's Catholic Archbishop Dionigi Cardinal Tettamanzi has expressed regret for the Roman Catholic Church's excessive missionary activity in Russia, saying the activity may have been insulting to the Russian Orthodox Church.

Cardinal Tettamazi said some Western Christians, including Catholics, failed to either discern or recognize the incomparable spiritual richness of Holy Russia, or to respect and evaluate the religious and cultural heritage of the great Orthodox tradition, speaking at a meeting with Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexiy II in the St. Danilov Monastery in Moscow on Monday.

Beginning with the 1990s, religious and missionary activity in Eastern Europe multiplied on the private initiative of various persons from the West.

But this initiative, does not always appear correct from the ecumenist viewpoint, he said. Proselytism is currently condemned by many Orthodox and Catholics, he added.

Tettamanzi is also giving a Milan Catholic church to the Moscow patriarchate, at first temporarily, then permanently.

In a pontificate heavily attuned to Orthodox sensibilities, either Tettamanzi is serving as papal messenger, attempting to smooth the Benedictine path toward Moscow, or he's highlighting that, between the Pope and some of the cardinals of his loyal opposition, divergences of tactic remain.

Think what you will, but the words are still a whopper.

-30-

Benedict's "School of Community": Venice's Scola to Milan

SVILUPPO: At Roman Noon Tuesday, 28 June, the Milan move as reported below was formally made by the Pope.

A prominent scholar of Islam and key member of B16's "kitchen cabinet," it's all but official that Europe's largest diocese will shortly go to the cardinal considered the Italian hierarchy's top intellectual heavyweight.

The move months in the making, the über-reliable Andrea Tornielli relayed earlier today that, at Roman Noon tomorrow, the Pope is set to name Cardinal Angelo Scola, the 69 year-old patriarch of Venice, as archbishop of Milan and head of its 5 million Catholics.

Named to the canal-side post in 2002 and elevated to the college of cardinals the following year, Scola (shown above with Benedict during the pontiff's trip to Venice last month) would become the second consecutive Milanese pastor to be transferred into the post from another Italian cardinalatial see; the prelate he's tipped to succeed, Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, now 77, was the scarlet-clad archbishop of Genoa for four years before his own return to his hometown in 2002.

Its ecclesial roots dating to the 4th century, the Lombard capital is home to one of global Catholicism's five largest local churches, a top-shelf group rounded out by Mexico City, Sao Paulo, Los Angeles and Madrid. And now, for the second time in a row, it's slated to be led by one of its own -- in this case, a native son of the city, but one who was denied priesthood there.

Reportedly turned away from Milan's seminaries due to his heavy involvement in Communion and Liberation -- the influential lay movement founded in the city (and, more recently, Joseph Ratzinger's movement of choice) -- Scola was ordained far to the south, in Abruzzo, in 1971. Early on, the scholar-cleric developed a close bond with the then-Professor Ratzinger and became a charter contributor to Communio, the theological journal founded by the theological power-trio of the now-Pope with Henri deLubac and Hans Urs von Balthasar, both of whom would likewise go on to receive the cardinal's red hat.

Another significant influence on Scola was the CL founder Msgr Luigi Giussani, who was memorably eulogized by then-Cardinal Ratzinger at his February 2005 funeral in Milan's cathedral, weeks before the preacher's election to Peter's chair. Both formative experiences were said to have come together in Scola's proposal to the Pope for a Vatican organ completely dedicated to the New Evangelization, which Benedict established a year ago this week and gathered for its first full meeting last month.

Scola's been a consultor to the CDF since 1986, five years before he was named a bishop.

Between them, the posts Scola leaves and enters produced no less than five 20th century Popes, totaling five of the last eight Roman pontiffs -- St Pius X, Bl John XXIII and John Paul I from Venice, Pius XI and Paul VI from Milan. Only in the last half-century, however, with the latter's exponential growth and emergence as Italy's hub of industry and population has the Lombard mega-see come to be viewed as the country's most prominent ecclesiastical outpost.

Accordingly, while Scola's name duly made the rounds among the Italian papabili prior to the 2005 Conclave, the cardinal's profile as a potential successor to his mentor would only skyrocket with the Milan appointment. Likewise, the reported move would open up another hotly-contested selection for the Venice post... and given recent history, that one would bear just as close watching -- after all, the successor named to Genoa on Tettamanzi's transfer to Milan was the then-secretary of the CDF, Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone, now B16's "Vice-Pope" as the pontiff's immensely influential Cardinal-Secretary of State.

All of 1,640 years since the acclamation of Ambrose by the Milanese as their choice to become the city's bishop, according to Tornielli, the installation of the saint's next successor is foreseen for late September.

SVILUPPO: As the Italian wires buzzed with word of a last-minute summons of Venice's civil authorities and press corps to the Patriarch's headquarters for an unspecified "extraordinary gathering" at midday Tuesday, the immensely high stakes of the Milan nod -- which nearly a century of Popes had traditionally reserved to themselves -- were duly underscored by the illustrious historian of the Council Alberto Melloni, who told Il Foglio's Paolo Rodari prior to Scola's emergence that....

Whoever gets picked [for Milan] will be the 'chosen one' of the Pope. Because it's evident that if Ratzinger welcomes the thoughts of his collaborators in the case of other dioceses, he decides Milan on his own. There's no more important appointment for a pontiff than Milan. The nomination is a highway to the papacy and, as such, is as decisive for the whole church as it is for the Ambrosian see. And this time, the feeling that Tettamanzi's successor could likewise know the end of an Achille Ratti (the future Pius XI) or a Giovanni Battista Montini (Paul VI) is great.

PHOTOS: Getty(1,3,4)

-30-

80th Birthday Cake: €25... 50th Anniversary Card: €3... 1,300 Milanese Kicking Around in Jerusalem: Priceless.

As you know, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini marked his 80th birthday some weeks back. While the observance even included a public manifestation of Ratzi-love for the Catholic left's longtime standard-bearer, the real festa's going down this week in the emeritus Milan prelate's home of Jerusalem, where he settled after his 2002 retirement.

A delegation of 1,300 representatives from Europe's largest archdiocese -- "one for each parish and assorted others" according to a source familiar with the plans -- have swooped into the Holy City to pay tribute, led by the Jesuit scripturalist's successor, Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi. The pilgrimage, which runs through Monday, also commemorates the latter's golden jubilee of priestly ordination in advance of its observance in June. The current leader of Italian Catholicism's moderate-progressive wing, ghost-author of JP2's 1995 encyclical Evangelium vitae -- and one of the serious "Stop Ratzi" contenders floated at the 2005 conclave -- Tettamanzi, himself a Milan native, turns 73 today.

If a common traveler's experience is any indication, there'll be a lot of kicking going on -- not for purposes of calcio, nor as an element of the rite proper to the See of Ss. Ambrose and Charles.

While, as a rule, Italians have little patience for queues and crowds, that's ever-more the case with the denizens of Italy's fast-paced northern hub, the more eager of which have the tendency to get through with their feet... in ways that go beyond simply walking.

It's hard to forget the memory of being huddled with a phalanx of Lombards at the security checkpoints outside Bernini's Colonnade early on the morning of the largest canonization held by the greatest saint-maker in the history of the practice.

Clad in green scarves, i Milanesi had converged on the Vatican to serve as the cheering section (and quite the excitable one, at that) for their adopted daughter Josephine Bakhita, the Sudanese slave who came to Italy, becoming a religious of considerable renown not far from the Bel Paese's largest city.

As the checkpoints were preparing to open, I found myself chatting with the Milanese about Martini -- arguably, one of the more engaged prelates of the modern era -- and they were practically singing hymns of praise to him, clearly pleased to hear that he was known in America. The flock just couldn't say enough loving things about their archbishop.

Then the barricades were parted and lines ordered to form. And, seemingly on a dime, the children of Mother Bakhita promptly switched gears and started stampeding their way past the rest of us, kicking their way through like a charging herd.

Meanwhile, the Spanish pilgrims present for one of their own got the hint and began to push (or punch), the supplicants of the 120 Chinese martyrs -- whose sainthood on the country's National Day prompted a protest from Beijing -- prayed silently, awed by the basilica before them and unfazed by the surging mass of humanity, and some among the throng of Yanks who'd come to witness Philadelphia's own Katharine Drexel raised to the honors of the altar did what our kind do and began screaming, seemingly in the name of just, well, doing something.

The effort yielded as much.

As you can tell, it made for quite the experience -- I loved every second. And, for the record, it all repeated itself the next morning like clockwork as the Piazza hosted the papal audience for the canonization pilgrims.

Back to the birthday boy, who shares his age with Benedict XVI (the papal 80th falling a month from Friday), Martini's said to have received over 5,000 pieces of congratulatory mail to mark the beginning of his ninth decade. The crush of visitors to his pad at the Pontifical Biblical Institute is such that only callers from Milan are being received.

But the years haven't slowed him entirely; the cardinal is showing no signs of letting up his habit of penning "articles disturbing the peace of his Italian fratelli," says a friend.

And much as others are keen to close their ears, a certain man in white just keeps on listening.


PHOTOS: Incrocinews

-30-

THE CHURCHMAN OF THE YEAR: An Encounter on the Road

2005 Churchman of the Year -- International
Monsignor LUIGI GIUSSANI
Founder, Communione e Liberazione

The scene inside the cavernous Duomo of Milan on 24 February 2005 had the air of a papal liturgy. The only thing missing was the Pope.

Italy's power elite of church and state had converged on the country's northern capital to pay tribute to Msgr. Luigi Giussani, whose Communione e Liberazione grew from a high school teacher's idea into one of the core "new movements" which have had a significant impact on the global church in the decades following the Second Vatican Council.

To pay homage to their spiritual father, the ciellini, as the Communione faithful are known, came en masse. The Cathedral was filled beyond its capacity of 10,000, and an additional 30,000 braved the winter weather to gather and pray in the expansive piazza outside. So respected was Giussani, and so powerful a force is CL in Italian life, that Italian television carried the entire Mass live as if it were a state funeral.

Indeed, the only thing missing was the Pope. But the absence of John Paul II, who had been returned to the Policlinico Gemelli as his own time neared, was compensated by his sending of the Vatican's biggest Communione booster, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, as the papal envoy (allegedly at Ratzinger's request).

Given Ratzinger's presence, an arrangement was worked out in which he would co-preside over the Ambrosian Rite liturgy alongside Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi of Milan. The Cardinal-Dean would also give the homily, seemingly at the instigation of the movement Giussani left behind.

In his 22 years as the Vatican's doctrinal guardian, Joseph Ratzinger's speaking appearances were limited to small theological conferences and liturgies in various churches and cathedrals in his travels. He had never been papal legate to any major event, let alone tapped to give a homily which would be heard by more than a few hundred insiders. And such was the Panzerkardinal's severe public profile that nothing much was expected from him as he mounted the steps to the Duomo's super-lofty pulpit.

What followed astonished those who saw it. It was the beginning of an unexpected, dramatic sea change, the full effect of which would be consummated in two months' time.

For the first time, a mass audience got to see the softer side of Cardinal Ratzinger that day as never before. Six weeks before he caused the same effect on the global stage with his homily at the funeral of John Paul II, he offered a moving meditation on the life and work of Luigi Giussani through the prism of the premium Communione e Liberazione places on the cielini's daily encounter with the living Christ as the root of their activity in the world.

This love affair with Christ, this love story which is the whole of his life, was however far from every superficial enthusiasm, from every vague romanticism. Really seeing Christ, he knew that to encounter Christ means to follow Christ. This encounter is a road, a journey, a journey that passes also–as we heard in the psalm–through the “valley of darkness.” In the Gospel, we heard of the last darkness of Christ’s suffering, of the apparent absence of God, when the world’s Sun was eclipsed. He knew that to follow is to pass through a “valley of darkness,” to take the way of the cross, and to live all the same in true joy.

Why is it so? The Lord himself translated this mystery of the cross, which is really the mystery of love, with a formula in which the whole reality of our life is explained. The Lord says, “Whoever seeks his life, will lose it, and whoever loses his life, will find it.”

Fr Giussani really wanted not to have his life for himself, but he gave life, and exactly in this way found life not only for himself but for many others. He practiced what we heard in the Gospel: he did not want to be served but to serve, he was a faithful servant of the Gospel, he gave out all the wealth of his heart, he gave out all the divine wealth of the Gospel with which he was penetrated and, serving in this way, giving his life, this life of his gave rich fruit–as we see in this moment–he has become really father of many and, having led people not to himself but to Christ, he really won hearts; he has helped to make the world better and to open the world’s doors for heaven.

The homily's effect was punctuated at its end with a spontaneous, extended, enthusiastic round of applause from the masses. By contrast, when Cardinal Tettamanzi -- who had routinely, if not universally, been touted among the "Top 5" papabili to succeed John Paul -- offered a reflection after communion, his remarks were met with dead silence.

For the prelates in attendance, those watching on television and those around the world who quickly heard about it afterward, what transpired was enough for the message to go out that, while one papabile had faded, a new, unexpected contender had risen in his place.

The rest, as they say, is history.

John Paul had an abiding respect, even affection, for Luigi Giussani -- Communione's statutes were approved by the Holy See in 1982 -- but among the movements his heart belonged particularly to Opus Dei and to the Legionaries of Christ, both of which experienced expansive growth during his pontificate due in large part to his staunch support.

That said, even though he is technically not a member, Benedict XVI is the cielini Pope; John Allen reported that, at the time of Giussani's funeral, Cardinal Ratzinger had told one of its priests that the movement "changed [his] life."

Having lost its founder but gained (and helped to place) a very zealous admirer on the fifth floor of the Apostolic Palace, Giussani's legacy stands only to grow and its influence to increase. Don Luigi's hand-picked successor, Fr Julian Carron, has already been received by Pope Benedict on several occasions -- the only other religious superior to have had a private audience in this pontificate to date is the Jesuit Superior-General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach. As reported in mid-December in The Tablet, two of the three cardinals who form the "kitchen cabinet" of this pontificate are themselves cielini: Angelo Scola of Venice and Marc Ouellet of Quebec. (Christoph Schonborn of Vienna, a Dominican, rounds out the group.) And Benedict's household staff, who have come with him from his pre-papal days, are culled from the Memores Domini, the CL group of secular laity who profess celibacy.

Beyond the temporal matters of numbers and clout, a clear line can be drawn from Giussani's philosophy to that expressed by Benedict XVI in his addresses and writings, both in his pre- and post-election incarnations. "Christianity is an event," the Communione founder once wrote, in a meditation which sounds conspicuously like something which would emanate from Joseph Ratzinger. "There is no other word to indicate its nature: neither the word law nor the word ideology, conception, or project. Christianity is not a religious doctrine, a series of moral laws, a complex of rites. Christianity is a fact, an event: everything else is a consequence."

Another common link is an appreciation of culture and love for its richness in explaining and propagating the effect of the Christian event. In his funeral homily, the man who would be Pope alluded to this similiarity of outlook in saying that, "Fr Giussani grew up in a home–as he himself said–poor as far as bread was concerned but rich with music, and thus from the start he was touched, or better, wounded, by the desire for beauty. He was not satisfied with any beauty whatever, a banal beauty; he was looking rather for Beauty itself, infinite Beauty, and thus he found Christ, in Christ true beauty, the path of life, the true joy."

This is drawn from a shared belief in the importance, not of forced consumption of faith or the use of adversarial means in announcing it, but of allowing its seeds to be sown gently, with charity, with patience, with respect, and having the trust in its beauty -- and its logic, its sensibility -- that its germination will flow from there. Giussani once spoke about his experience as a high school teacher in these terms, saying, "I tried to show the students what moved me: not the wish to convince them that I was right, but the desire to show them the reasonableness of faith; that is, that their free adhesion to the Christian proclamation was demanded by their discovery of the correspondence of what I was saying with the needs of their hearts, as implied by the definition of reasonableness. Only this dynamic of recognition makes whoever adheres to our movement creative and a protagonist, and not simply one who repeats formulas and things they have heard. For this reason, it seems to me, a charism generates a social phenomenon not as something planned, but as a movement of persons who have been changed by an encounter, who tentatively make the world, the environment, and the circumstances that they encounter more human. The memory of Christ when it is lived tends inevitably to generate a presence in society, above and beyond any planned result."

As always happens for those who experience the Christian event to its fullest, Luigi Giussani's death brought new life, both to the church he loved and the movement he nurtured. In that his passing played a catalytic role for the chain of events which made one of his most prominent devotees the successor of Peter, ensuring a new and lasting resonance for the Communione school in the life and mission of global Catholicism, his intrepid work in life -- and his rich legacy, which has already impacted the course of the church's future -- makes him, from beyond the grave, the pre-eminent world Churchman of this historic year.

-30-

The Long Shadow of Schism

For purposes of clarity, the Pope's relevant text on the week's big story, in full, from Wednesday's audience:

In the homily delivered on the occasion of the solemn inauguration of my pontificate, I said that the "call to unity" is an "explicit" duty of the pastor and I commented on the Gospel passages about the miraculous catch of fish, saying: "Though there were so many fish, the net did not break." I continued after these Gospel words: "Alas, beloved Lord, with sorrow we must now acknowledge that it has been torn!" And I continued, "But no -- we must not be sad! Let us rejoice because of your promise, which does not disappoint, and let us do all we can to pursue the path towards the unity you have promised. … Do not allow your net to be torn, help us to be servants of unity!"

Precisely in fulfilling this service to unity, which determines in a specific way my ministry as the Successor of Peter, I decided some days ago to concede the remission of the excommunication incurred by four bishops ordained without pontifical mandate in 1988 by Archbishop Lefebvre. I have carried out this act of paternal mercy because repeatedly these prelates have manifested their sharp suffering in the situation in which they found themselves. I trust that following from this gesture of mine will be the prompt effort on their part to complete final necessary steps to arrive to full communion with the Church, thus giving testimony of true fidelity and true recognition of the magisterium and the authority of the Pope and the Second Vatican Council.

In these days in which we remember the Shoah, my memory turns to the images taken in during my repeated visits to Auschwitz, one of the concentration camps in which was carried out the brutal massacre of millions of Jews, innocent victims of a blind racial and religious hate. As I renew with affection the expression of my total and indisputable solidarity with our brother recipients of the First Covenant, I hope that the memory of the Shoah moves humanity to reflect on the unpredictable power of evil when it conquers the human heart.

May the Shoah be for everyone a warning against forgetting, against negating or reductionism, because violence committed against even one human being is violence against all. No man is an island, a well-known poet has written. May the Shoah teach especially, as much the old generations as the new ones, that only the tiring path of listening and dialogue, of love and pardon, leads peoples, cultures and religions of the world to the desired encounter of fraternity and peace in the world. May violence never again humiliate the dignity of man!

That said, as the freshly de-excommunicated head of the Society of St Pius X moved to keep his controversial confrere on the sidelines...

We have learned of an interview given by Bishop Richard Williamson, a member of our Society of Saint Pius X, to Swedish television. In this interview, he comments on historical questions, particularly the question of the genocide of Jews by the National Socialists.

It is obvious that a Catholic bishop can only speak with ecclesiastical authority about matters concerning faith and morals. Our Society claims no authority on other matters. Its mission is the propagation and restoration of authentic Catholic doctrine, set forth in the dogmas of the Faith. It is for this that we are known, accepted and esteemed throughout the world.

We are deeply grieved to see how much harm the violation of this mandate can do to our mission. Bishop Williamson’s statements do not in any way reflect the position of our Society. This is why I have forbidden him, until further notice, to make any public statements on political or historical issues.

We ask forgiveness of the Sovereign Pontiff and of all people of good will for the dramatic consequences of such an act. While we recognize how inappropriate these declarations were, we can only note with sadness that the incessant accusations against our Society are also obviously intended to discredit it.

This we cannot accept, and we declare that we will continue to preach Catholic doctrine and administer the sacraments of grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

...yet another member of the Lefevbrist fraternity made waves by backing the latter up:

[A]nother leader in the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X has questioned whether the Nazis used gas chambers for anything other than “disinfection,” and said that people who hold revisionist views on the Holocaust are not anti-Semites.

Fr. Floriano Abrahamowicz, a pastor and spokesperson for the Society of St. Pius X in northeastern Italy, also referred to Jews as “a people of deicide,” referring to the death of Christ, and suggested that the Jewish Holocaust has been “exalted” over what he called “other genocides,” such as the Allied bombing of German cities and the Israeli occupation of the Gaza strip.

On the other hand, Abrahamowicz insisted that the traditionalist movement founded by the late French Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre is not “anti-Semitic.” Among other things, Abrahamowicz said, he himself has Jewish roots on his father’s side....

Reacting to protest in Italy over the Abrahamowicz interview, the Italian superior of the Society of St. Pius X, Fr. Davide Pagliarani, issued a press release saying that the society confirms Fellay’s earlier statement on Williamson and “reproves every single word inconsistent with it.”

Abrahamowicz is himself a well-known figure in Italy. In 2006, he gave a television interview in which he said that Erich Priebke, a German SS officer convicted of war crimes for a 1944 massacre in Rome, in which 335 Italian civilians were killed in reprisal for the deaths of 33 German soldiers, should not be seen as an “executioner” but rather a soldier who acted “with regret and a heavy heart.” In 2007, Abrahamowicz celebrated a Latin Mass for Italian politician Umberto Bossi, leader of the far-right Northern League party. Bossi and his party have sometimes been accused of xenophobia, particularly towards Muslim immigrants.

In 2008, after Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi of Milan had expressed support for Muslims seeking to open new mosques in Italy, Abrahamowicz said on Italian radio that Tettamanzi was an example of “infiltrators” attempting to “subvert the church from within.”

Meanwhile, in the country where the global reaction to last Saturday's "remit" of the 1988 sanctions has, arguably, run strongest -- Germany -- the lead council of Jews has followed the lead of Israel's chief rabbinate and cut its Vatican ties... all while the Neo-Nazi community there has found itself a new "hero," but making sure it hails him within the confines of the country's Holocaust-denial laws.

-30-

"Reform Begins With the Pastors": 400 Years a Saint, B16 Hails Borromeo

As previously noted, today's the feast of St Charles Borromeo, the Tridentine-era reformer-bishop of Milan, now honored as patron of seminarians and catechists.

This year, however, the observance takes on an added sense of significance: four hundred years ago this week, the nephew of Pope Pius IV was canonized a quarter-century after his death at 46.

To mark the milestone, this morning saw the release of a papal message, addressed to the current archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi.

Here, the Vatican's (heavily-snipped) English summary of B16's text:

"The time in which Charles Borromeo lived was a very delicate one for Christianity", writes the Pope. "In a period obscured by many trials facing the Christian community, with divisions and doctrinal confusion, the clouding of the purity of faith and custom, and the bad example of many sacred ministers, Charles Borromeo did not limit himself to deploring and condemning, nor simply to expressing hope that others would change; rather, he began to reform his own life".

St. Charles "was aware that serious and credible reform had to begin with pastors". To this end he focused on "the centrality of the Eucharist, ... the spirituality of the cross, ... assiduous participation in the Sacraments, ... the Word of God, ... and love and devotion for the Supreme Pontiff, readily and filially obedient to his directives as a guarantee of true and complete ecclesial communion".

"May St. Charles encourage us always to begin with a serious commitment to personal conversion", writes the Holy Father, going on to encourage priests and deacons "to make of their lives a courageous path of sanctity" and expressing the hope that the Church in Milan may always find in her ministers "a clear faith and a sober and pure life, renewing that apostolic ardour which characterised St. Ambrose, St. Charles and so many of your holy pastors".

"St. Charles was recognised as a true loving father to the poor. ... He founded institutions for the assistance and recovery of those in need. ... During the plague of 1576, the saintly archbishop chose to remain among his people to encourage, serve and defend them with the weapons of prayer, penance and love".

"St. Charles Borromeo's charity cannot be understood without an understanding of his relationship of passionate love with the Lord Jesus". In this context the Holy Father refers to "the contemplation of the holy mystery of the altar and the Crucified Christ" which awakened the saint's "feelings of compassion for man's misery and aroused in his heart the apostolic longing to bring the evangelical message to everyone".

"Let us make the Eucharist the true centre of our communities, let us allow ourselves to be educated and moulded by that well of charity. Each apostolic and charitable action will draw strength and fruitfulness from that source".

The Holy Father concludes his Message with an appeal to young people: "Like St. Charles, you too can make your youth an offering to Christ and your fellows. ... Dear young people, you are not only the hope of the Church, you are part of her present moment. And if you have the courage to believe in sanctity, you will become the greatest treasure of your Ambrosian Church, which is built upon saints".

One of the pontiff's many lines which went untranslated by the Holy See reads in English as follows: "Even in our own time, the ecclesial community does not lack its own trials and sufferings, which themselves show the need for purification and reform".....

Likewise rolled out this morning: the Pope's greeting to the five-yearly plenary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, in which Benedict cited an "urgent need" for a renewed "commitment to educating Catholic laity in Church social doctrine."

With precisely that end in mind, under the stamp of (and dedicated to) John Paul II, in 2003 the same Council released the definitive Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church -- a resource as valuable as it's gone widely underused.

In its first full-tilt gathering under the presidency of Ghana's Cardinal Peter Turkson, the Justice & Peace plenary is tackling B16's contribution to the social Magisterium: his third and latest encyclical, Caritas in Veritate.

SVILUPPO: "The classic expression of a real reform" -- from 1985's famous Ratzinger Report, a flashback of the now-Pope on St Charles.

-30-

Ambrose, Charles, Montini, Martini... and Mario – For Milan, The Pope's "Inside Job"

And so, after months of anticipation, "The Big One" has arrived – arguably the most significant personnel choice of any Pope Francis will make across his pontificate.

Yet while the ancient chair of Milan has been occupied over 18 centuries by saints, future Popes – and, more recently, the intellectual heavyweights of their respective ecclesial eras – in selecting its 144th holder, Papa Bergoglio opted instead for the "man behind the curtain," picking Bishop Mario Delpini, the 65 year-old auxiliary and lead vicar-general of the Lombard church, to lead Europe's largest diocese, comprising some 5 million Catholics served by more than 1,100 parishes. (Above, the archbishop-elect is seen with Francis during his March visit to the city.)

Despite having served as top aide to Cardinal Angelo Scola practically since the now-retiring prelate's arrival six years ago, a contrast of style was clear at the noontime announcement in the Milanese Curia, as Scola donned his red-trimmed house cassock, while the archbishop-elect – known for bicycling around Italy's financial and media hub – made his debut in a faded tab-shirt and rumpled suit (below).

Oft-tipped in the Italian rumblings leading up to today's move, among the locals Delpini's ascent has evoked comparisons to the newly-elected Paul VI's pick of another native son – his own lead deputy, Giovanni Colombo – to fill the seat after the then-Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini became the post's last holder to be elected to the papacy.

Over his 42 years of priesthood, the incoming archbishop's ministry has been spent mostly in the central rungs of the sprawling, immensely complex local church, being tapped by its successive chiefs as seminary rector, regional vicar, auxiliary, and then the de facto overseer of the Curia. (At the behest of Scola's predecessor, Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, Delpini was named an auxiliary in 2007 by then-Pope Benedict XVI.)

Beyond allowing for a remarkably smooth transition that'll see Delpini hit the ground running, it was indeed observed during the stakes that the eventual choice shares a key focus with Francis' recent nominee as vicar for Rome, Archbishop Angelo DeDonatis: on top of his duties as vicar-general, like DeDonatis the Milanese likewise coordinates the mega-diocese's efforts for the continuing formation of priests.

Striking a humble tone in his first remarks upon the appointment, Delpini joked to the throng of clergy and media on hand today that, "people who know me might say I'm a good guy... but archbishop of Milan? Somebody else would be better.

"My inadequacy can be found just in the names [of prior archbishops]," he said "illustrious [names] like Angelo, Dionigi, Carlo Maria, Giovanni, Giovanni Battista, etc. But Mario – what kind of name is that?

"As you can see, it's just some run-of-the-mill bishop."

The "biking bishop" can say that all he likes, but history shows his new reality to be rather different – beyond being thrust into the global stratosphere with his ascent, as noted here over recent weeks, five of Delpini's nine predecessors over the last century have either been beatified, elected to the Papacy, or both.

"I need everybody," Delpini said today, voicing his hope that "our church should reveal in an ever more evident way the threads of synodality and co-responsibility that Vatican II marked out.... I need all the men and women who live in this diocese... to help this Ambrosian church to be creative and welcoming, poorer and more simple, that it might be freer and happier."

In keeping with recent custom for the post, Delpini will be installed in the seat of Saints Ambrose and Charles in late September to coincide with the beginning of the church's pastoral year after the summer hiatus. By longstanding tradition, the formal "entrance" of a new archbishop into the city is conducted as a grand spectacle, with the region's civic leadership, the top brass of the Italian church, and an overflow throng outside the Duomo (cathedral) all out in force; the future Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini SJ is seen above at his 1979 arrival, having been ordained as the 141st archbishop at the Vatican by John Paul II.

While most Curial business has ceased for the vacation season of July and August, it's standard procedure that diocesan appointments already decided will still be announced over the next ten days or so.

Above all, however, given the fallout of last week's transition at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the most important nod on-deck is that of its new Archbishop-Secretary to replace the incoming Prefect, Archbishop Luis Ladaria SJ.

Though the lead official of a Roman dicastery sets his office's general direction and serves as its external "face," the second-in-command is at least as critical a figure in light of his responsibility for managing the daily nuts and bolts of its workload – which, in the CDF's case, tends to involve no shortage of the Curia's most sensitive and significant business.

-30-

Ambrose, Charles... and Francis' Choice – In Italy (and Beyond), All Eyes on Milan

While late last week was supposed to be given to the Midsummer Classic – eventful as it was for a June meeting – more pressing developments have pushed the bench to the side... at least, the Stateside one.

As ever, news has its ways of disrupting the best-laid plans. Still, as sidetracks go, this instance brings the specter of a blockbuster: the most important personnel choice Pope Francis will make, bar none, is said to be on deck.

According to mounting reports from Italy over recent days, Papa Bergoglio has settled upon his pick for the archbishopric of Milan: with 5 million Catholics, Europe's largest diocese by far – above all, the Italian church's most critical assignment outside Rome thanks to the city's place as the country's financial and media hub, not to mention its top population center.

Upon his unveiling, Francis' choice will succeed Cardinal Angelo Scola, who reached the retirement age of 75 last November.

Long a favorite of Benedict XVI, the 2011 choice of Scola – Papa Ratzinger's decades-long collaborator on numerous fronts, above all in seeking to set the goalposts for a dialogue with post-modern culture – was merely the latest instance of how every Pope of the modern era has sought to send an unmistakable message with his appointment to the seat of Saints Ambrose and Charles (Borromeo).

Among others, three more recent turnovers of the post likewise stand out: Pius XII's 1954 call of his Co-Secretary of State, Msgr Giovanni Battista Montini, to the Lombard church, from which he would be elected nine years later as Pope Paul VI; now-St John Paul II's 1979 shock tap of the then-rector of the Gregorian, Fr Carlo Maria Martini, which served to launch the Jesuit Scripture scholar into cult figure status across broad swathes of progressives and others worldwide, then the 2002 choice of his successor, Dionigi Tettamanzi – already cardinal-archbishop of Genoa and, a decade prior, the primary ghostwriter of JPII's pro-life manifesto, Evangelium Vitae.

As a pontiff's ability to run the table only extends for the course of his own reign, beyond the confidence of his Maker in White – and with it, the Milanese prelate's day-to-day influence over the life of a mega-fold spread across 1,000-plus parishes – that five of the city's nine archbishops over the last century have either been beatified or elected to the papacy (or both) speaks to an enduring imprint long beyond their respective turns at its helm.

Indeed, in an act underscoring the post's nonpareil standing in papal eyes, Benedict continued the tradition (begun with Martini) of conferring Scola's pallium privately, in this case at Castel Gandolfo (above), instead of doing so alongside the world's other newly-named archbishops. In its last instance, however, the move echoed the 2002 moment when – breaking the norm that restricts the wool band to metropolitans – John Paul II placed it on the shoulders of Joseph Ratzinger, effectively singling out his eventual successor.

Accordingly, that Scola's considerable buzz as Papabile in 2013 was only short-circuited, at least in part, by sudden civil investigations into the cardinal's allies in local government – a probe which curiously leaked onto the front-pages of Italian papers on the very morning before the cardinals entered Conclave – just emphasized further both the outsize shadow of Milan and B16's unspoken "message" bolstering it. And in one of the most priceless "comic relief" moments that are Italian ecclesiastics' stock-in-trade, when the election was accomplished within 24 hours, the country's bishops' conference famously didn't let the the choice's actual identity prevent them from issuing a statement exulting over Scola as the new "Pope." (And especially these days, how that hasn't birthed a Fiat factory's worth of conspiracy theories is anyone's guess.)

In light of said lineage, then, whether the Milan pick comes this week, next month or (at the latest) early next year, it's nonetheless the ultimate venue for Francis – as both the first non-European Pope in over a millennium, and ever the son of Northern Italian emigres – to set his stamp, both for the direction of Catholicism on the "Boot" and across the wider church... let alone, on a personal level, serving as an especially meaningful act given his marked devotion both to the now-Blessed Montini – whose post-Conciliar efforts Francis sees himself as "picking up" after a half-century of Curial obstruction – and the late Martini, whose posthumously-released final interview given just before his August 2012 death (read: six months before the last Conclave) could be read as a "tell" into the election that followed on its heels, and the current moment writ large.

Within Italy itself, a new occupant for the Lombard seat – the place which, 18 centuries ago, witnessed the conversion and baptism of a certain Augustine – would cap an epochal hat-trick by Papa Bergoglio over recent weeks, following last month's appointment of now-Archbishop Angelo De Donatis, 63, a "career pastor" and spiritual director to priests, as Francis' Vicar for Rome, then his assent to the Italian bishops' choice of Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti of Perugia as the new president of their national conference, known as the CEI.

In both cases, the respective choices merely capped off trajectories signaled by the Pope himself: the preacher of the Lenten retreat for pontiff and Curia in 2014, De Donatis was catapulted into Rome's diocesan leadership a year later – when, in a rarity for one of his auxiliaries, Francis performed the ordination himself (right) in St John Lateran – while, in another shock to the system, Bassetti (a prior vice-president of the Italian bench) was plucked for the red hat in the Pope's first intake, as the cardinalate's traditional destinations in Venice and Turin were (and remain) bypassed.

On the other hand, meanwhile, both choices were the result of freshly-amplified attempts at consultation ordered from the Domus: for the Roman seat (technically the Pope's vicar-general), earlier this year Francis issued an open call for input among the clergy and faithful to be sent to him by mid-April, while in a first for the CEI's corner office – a key power-center of Italian life in the not-so-distant past – Bassetti's selection only came after the Italian bishops voted on a terna (three-man shortlist) of preferred presidents at last month's plenary, with the cardinal handily coming out on top.

That said, it is indeed conspicuous that – as the vicariate of Rome invariably brings its holder a red hat – despite having decided on De Donatis prior to his announcement of a Consistory next week, the Pope still opted against making a cardinal of the de facto head of his own diocese.

In a perfect world, that alone should end any complaints about any other place not seeing the scarlet again. Yet in an age that prefers decibel levels to actual context, it won't.

As speculation goes for Milan, listing potential names is only healthy as clickbait; in factual terms it's simply pointless in this case. Keeping with his established practice for other critical nods, it's an easy call that Francis will reserve the file to himself, taking his own soundings by phone, private letter or face-to-face and short-circuiting any debate or vote from the Congregation for Bishops.

While no shortage of possibilities have been buzzed about among Roman ops for months on end, the most scintillating among them – Pierbattista Pizzaballa, 52, the longtime head of the Franciscans' centuries-old mission in the Holy Land – is ostensibly off the table due to early days into his new assignment as archbishop-administrator of Jerusalem's Latin Patriarchate, armed with a mandate to remedy what he's termed "a critical situation, mainly financial" facing the jurisdiction which encompasses Israel, Palestine and Jordan. (And as one op summed up the scene facing the widely-regarded friar, "When an Italian's been sent in to fix the money, you really know it's bad.")

*   *   *

Immense as the expectation's running for Milan, however, Italy's super-seat is just one of three of the world's premier local churches awaiting the Pope's choice of a new leader in short order.

Likewise Catholicism's most sizable outposts on their respective continents, the archdioceses of Kinshasa and, as of early this month, Mexico City are now in play as their respective occupants have submitted their retirement letters. On the latter front, lest anyone forgot a certain "bombshell" address in the heart of global fold's second-largest national turf some 16 months ago – widely seen as Francis' pointed critique on Cardinal Norberto Rivera's leadership of the Mexican hierarchy over two decades at its helm – well, do the math.

What's more still, considering the ample audience el Arzobispo Primado de México now enjoys North of the Border – in light of Univision and Telemundo (the networks of choice for the Stateside Church's emerging majority bloc) often besting ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC and in major-market TV ratings – as the future of the US fold goes, Rivera's succession is a move of almost unparalleled domestic consequence, to boot.

Speaking of (fading European) numbers, it's a sign of the times that Italy's largest diocese is now the smallest among the A-list trio pending before Francis: the principal seat of the onetime Belgian Congo, Kinshasa's growing fold comprises over over 6 million Catholics, and while Mexico City – the global church's largest diocese of all – is said to number close to 8 million members, that figure is likely low-balled due to migration patterns and iffy record-keeping.

Though last Thursday brought the antique celebration of Corpus Christi – a holy day within Vatican City itself (read: all offices closed) – in a rarity, the Holy See apparently saw fit to troll the Italian press' outbreak of "Milanese fever" by opening shop to roll out a number of appointments in Albania, Mexico and Colombia.

Meanwhile, in a first, the Vatican observance's traditional outdoor Mass at St John Lateran and procession to St Mary Major was moved to Sunday, ending a longtime work-week ritual which tended to reflect some degree of liturgical schizophrenia and/or longing for the restoration of the Papal States.

Simply put, in choosing to match the Monstrance-march to Italy's actual calendar, the Pope didn't just opt to facilitate the convenience of the faithful, but – like so much else in the works – chose to abide by the decision of the episcopal conference... even if it took some four decades after the fact.

-30-

Getting Up to Speed

Crazy days, but thanks a million for the prayers... and more on that in a second.

Just in case anyone's been missing a quick summary, you're in for a treat:

• Yesterday, Msgr Guido Marini took the Pope's side for his first liturgy at B16's chief master of ceremonies. The debut of the Genovese cleric, a former private secretary to Cardinals Dionigi Tettamanzi and Tarcisio Bertone during their reigns on St Siro's chair, is but the most prominent indicator of the continuing rounds of the Curia's "musical chairs." Rome's top Worship Czar, Cardinal Francis Arinze, reached the retirement age of 75 on All Saints' Day, and expectations are that it might not be long before Sri Lankan Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith -- the current #2 at the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments -- gets the nod to succeed the Nigerian cardinal. Arinze's sound-byte-friendly statements have made him a favorite of the global press, but not the "extraordinary rite" folk; a leader of the Curial charge that opposed what became Summorum Pontificum, one top Tridentine hand once accused the prefect of "attacking the Mass." ("The Mass" meant "Old Mass," of course.) But in Ranjith -- a favorite of Benedict's whom the Pope restored to the Curia after a 2001 power play saw him banished from the Urb -- the papal leanings on the liturgy would gain another ally in a key post. And it'd mark another first, with two heads of Roman congregations hailing not only from Asia, but South Asia at that. 

• Speaking of Ranjith, the CDW lieutenant has, to use a friend's term, "gone on a rampage" of late, using the Italian news-outlet Petrus to encourage bishops to "set aside all pride and prejudice" in implementing the wider permission for the 1962 Missal and, according to CWNews, employing another recent speech to observe that prelates opposed to the new norms were being "used as instruments of the devil." And speaking of MC Marinis, with his successor now firmly in place, the former papal ceremoniere Archbishop Piero Marini -- now president of the Pontifical Commission for International Eucharistic Congresses -- is primed to spread his wings on his own in the weeks to come, with an English-language treatise on the liturgical reform now on the shelves, and a spate of appearances set to take flight. 

• Keeping with the Main Office personnel, appearances are that the longstanding (and just as confounding) buzz linking the "Grand Inquisitor" Cardinal William Levada to the archbishopric of New York has become The Rumor That Won't Go Away... which means one of two things: 1. there could be something to it... or 2. (and, more likely,) that Someone (or, again, more likely, several Someones) are keeping it afloat out there, but to no small degree. While both at home and abroad, Team Levada has furiously downplayed the talk as an attempt to undermine the Pope's choice to succeed Himself as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, questions about the scenario haven't stopped coming in at a steady clip, even from traditionally-reliable (and just as customarily-cautious) quarters. As previously noted, stranger things have usually happened -- but not if this one actually came to pass. (Still, don't hold your breath on it.) Actually atop the Pope's HR plate, though, are key openings for the top job at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and the #2 post at the Congregation for Catholic Education. Given the consistent priority the Holy See places on the academy -- a concern only upped exponentially in this pontificate -- the latter appointment has garnered no small amount of attention. Reportedly, however, the job -- vacated by summer's appointment of Archbishop Michael Miller CSB as coadjutor of Vancouver -- has already been declined... more than once. Suffice it to say, the state of things across the Tiber has B16 and Bertone headhunting for a few good men... on second thought, more than just a few sounds more like it.

• Speaking of New York, Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee -- whose own name hasn't lacked for mention in the Gotham Stakes -- will swing through the Big Apple this weekend for an appearance at the annual mega-watt weekend meeting of the Order of Malta's US branch. Alongside a Saturday Mass at the Waldorf-Astoria for the American association's Knights and Dames, the former NAC rector is slated to give a talk focusing on "The Priesthood and the Future of the Church in the United States." Given the profile and place of the gathering, some have already mused that this is "the introduction," and others might be tempted to quote the lyrics of an old song, the one that begins "Sign, sign, everywhere a sign." Feel free to do either, but just keep in mind that it's still early... and, as always, stay tuned.
  

• Keeping close to home, the mega-series chronicling a year with Bishop Thomas Tobin continued Sunday in the Providence Journal with two more parts. The project sounded impressive at its outset, but in its precision, fairness and detail of context, Wayne Miller's package has been a gift. (Full disclosure: this author was involved in the prep for the series as an informal consultant on the fine-tuning... and to have lent a hand on something like this is one of the reasons I love my job.)

• Hard to believe, but it's already been six months since the aforementioned scribe found himself in one of the US church's hidden hotspots: Madison, Wisconsin. To say that the place blew me away on multiple levels doesn't scratch the surface; as with so many others, the MadCity experience lives with me and keeps me encouraged everyday. You see, in the heart of what's been termed the "People's Republic" for its prominence as a bastion of hard-core secularity, quite a vibrant community is emerging -- one that's young, alive, awake, open and warm in spirit, and large both in number and heart. And the fruits are considerable: in recent years, the number of seminarians in the diocese of 280,000 has spiked to 30, on a beautiful spring Friday (the first of the year there) just as many twenty-somethings were holding the fort in downtown's lone adoration chapel, and the campus ministry at the University of Wisconsin -- where weekend Mass attendance goes long into the thousands -- has spilled over into the two downtown parishes, which have experienced a concurrent uptick in energy and responded with an outreach and engagement of the top-flight kind. Presiding over it all is Bishop Robert Morlino, who recently sat for an extended interview (transcript) with one of the city's mainstream broadsheets. After four years of driving over iced lakes in Montana as bishop of Helena, the Scranton-born onetime Jesuit who began his teaching years on Philly's Hawk Hill landed on the Madison Isthmus in 2003; asked why he thought he was sent to a town known for its tough crowd, the bishop mused that it might've come about "because the Lord has given me the grace not to be afraid." A moral theologian by training and accomplished chef in his spare time, Morlino's fearlessness extends to the heart of the public square; when his ability to mix it up "quite often" was noted, he shot back with "Oh no, it's been a while.... Have I been in a controversy the last six months?" (He hasn't.) "[T]he culture is not conducive so much to the flourishing of an institution whose engine — the church's engine — is driven by obedience," he said later. "The engine that drove Christ was obedience to the Father, and the engine that drives the Catholic Church is obedience to Christ. Churches are an obedience-driven communion. So when you're in a culture that's not so warmed up to obedience, then you have your problems. But you just embrace those problems and go on with joy. And that's what I do." Among other things joyously on-deck for the strong-speaking bishop and his ecclesiastical boomtown: a "worthy" new St Raphael Cathedral to replace the 19th-century structure destroyed in a 2005 fire, and a '62 Mass to be celebrated by Morlino on Laetare Sunday.

• And, on a final note, it might be T -6 days 'til the US bishops ratify Cardinal Francis George's ascent to their top post in Baltimore, but two other major conferences of the global church have already elected new heads in recent weeks: the Canadian bishops tapped Archbishop James Weisberger of Winnipeg as their new president at last month's annual plenary in Cornwall and, yesterday at Lourdes, the French episcopate chose Cardinal-designate Andre Vingt-Trois of Paris to lead them for the next triennium; the Parisian prelate succeeds Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard of Bordeaux. The (American Catholic) world might be awaiting next Monday's address of the nuncio to Washington Archbishop Pietro Sambi with bated breath, but in the meantime, the Cornwall remarks of B16's representative to Canada Archbishop Luigi Ventura are well worth a read (and maybe the "extra credit" types might like to review Sambi's '06 talk). Among the common agenda items for the conferences (US included) this fall has been the election of delegates to the next Synod of Bishops, scheduled for next October in Rome. Its theme: "The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church."

Whew.

-30-

Spanning the Hierarchy

For your viewing pleasure, another episode of the roundup:

• There’s much in the mill these days that speaks to the end of an era…. Several eras, actually, as age and openings push open another round of chair-shuffling in Benedict XVI’s Vatican. One of these was augured just the other day; as the Pope left Austria, a friend wrote in to say that, “And now, Piero Marini closes two decades of devoted service to the Popes.” That’s been said, but only wishfully, on multiple occasions by critics of the longtime Maestro of Vatican ceremonial (almost from the minute of Joseph Ratzinger’s election to Peter’s chair). Yet this time, the message came from a friend of Marini… and, indeed, this time, it’s for real. It won’t be long before the Pope places Marini, 65, in line for the cardinal’s red hat, most likely as head of the Pontifical Commission for Eucharistic Congresses, taking the place of Cardinal Josef Tomko, the former prefect of the Propaganda. The move will see the man who’s become the papal circle’s most familiar face – well, aside from the Boss – getting a lower profile and, with it, a good bit more time to travel, write and speak. (Be careful what you wish for….) Having first come to the Vatican as private secretary to the late Archbishop Annibale Bunigni, the liturgical adviser to Paul VI, Marini’s reflections on the liturgical reform, published in Italian two years back, will be released in English come November. Il Giornale’s Andrea Tornielli reports that – surprise, surprise – Marini's successor will be culled from the Genovese farm team of the Secretary of State. The rumored appointee’s name? Marini. No joke. (Msgr Guido, 46, a former MC and secretary to Bertone and Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, would become the Curia’s third Marini. None are related... whether your criterion's blood or gustibus.) As predictable as the rising of the sun, the blogs and forums blamed the Pope’s Technicolor vestments from last Saturday’s Mass at Mariazell on the Maestro, even though they were designed and presented by the Austrians. Among what would be their swansong of potshots at their favorite bete noire, one inflamed commentor said that the choice of vestments made the celebrants look “like the cast of Hair.” Appropriate enough, as when the announcement drops they’ll likely be singing "Let the Sunshine In"… or however one intones that in Latin. (On another note -- and as further proof that the natives are taking over everything the Apartment can give 'em these days -- Tornielli’s let slip that an Italian priest, Fr Carlo Pezzi, 45, is tipped to become archbishop of Moscow, in a move that would reportedly further “extend” the goodwill of the Russian Orthodox toward Benedict, who's exceptionally keen on better ties with Patriarch Alexei II and longs to visit Russia. The current Moscow prelate, Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, is slated to return to his native Belarus as archbishop of Minsk… where he, too, will likely end up with his red hat.)

• Another glorious run’s close comes in two days' time – not with the implementation of B16’s motu proprio on the 1962 Missal Summorum Pontificum, but the 80th birthday of the US’ senior bishop-maker in Rome, Cardinal Edmund Szoka. He might’ve retired last year from the Governatorato – the Vatican’s “city hall” – but the former archbishop of Detroit has arguably wielded his greatest clout over the years in the selection of new prelates as a member of the Congregation for Bishops. From Friday, his seat there falls vacant, as does another elector’s slot in a hypothetical conclave (bringing the number of voting cardinals to 104). As first intimated here in late June, it’s looking as if the college will be replenished at a consistory in late November over Christ the King Weekend. The Curia is in dire need of “working cardinals,” they say – that is, red-hats able to aid the work of the dicasteries by actively participating in the work of five or six congregations. And, alongside Marini, among the next crop of these will be Philadelphia’s own John Foley, currently awaiting the “sacred purple” as the newly-named Pro-Grand Master of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre. Already three months into a spate of "pre-game" celebrations for the elevation of the River City’s favorite son, news of Foley's likely emergence with a seat on Bishops -- and, ergo, a kingmaker in his own right -- will get the locals even more revved up. To think, Phillyites, that a hometowner will boldly go where no Krol – nor, for that matter, any Pharaoh – has gone before…. Was the wait was worth it or what?
  

• A key crux of the journalist’s craft is the ability to decipher leads from “leads.” There’s a big difference between a genuine, organic movement toward an outcome and an appearance of the same that, in reality, is little more than a ploy. Especially in this business, separating the wheat from the chaff is often no easy task, and all of us who do this beat are likely, if not bound, to fall into the trap at some point. Bottom line, however: if there’s one thing that Rome frowns upon, it’s any semblance of campaigning or pressure – often the best way of ensuring that a party’s publicly-sought outcome will yield the precise opposite. As unfortunate evidence of the dangers of this, one need look no further than the venerable Times of London’s recent anointing of Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Birmingham as “the front-runner” to succeed Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor as archbishop of Westminster. Cormac may have turned 75 just last month, but even from a year before his letter crossed the English Channel, there’s been no dearth of articles in the British press purporting that the wheels are absolutely, positively turning on a succession process that (quite unlike the race for the Big Apple) hasn’t yet been broached in any meaningful way. Coverage of the sort isn't just a disservice to the reading public, either; key to the Times’ analysis was its report that Nichols’ celebration of Mass for and high-profile remarks at an Oxford conference on the Extraordinary Use late last month would be rapturously received in Rome. Appearing merely days after the Oxford gathering, the notably positive hair-splitting of the archbishop’s words and actions there (e.g. his use of the 1970 Mass in Latin as opposed to the ’62 Missal -- a choice which, the paper said, showed him to be "sympathetic to traditionalists while at the same time not being their prisoner") did Nichols the grave embarrassment -- brutta figura, even -- of making his appearance and address seem less driven by a heartfelt desire to encourage the Pope’s intended reintegration of the church's fullest liturgical tradition than a calculated attempt to garner attention and favor along the Tiber with an eye to returning to the primatial see of England and Wales, where his episcopal ministry began. Then again, the piece did say that "the biggest mark against Archbishop Nichols is that he is perceived as ambitious"... and, candidly, the story didn't do much to douse the perception. (Just when you thought that, if all else fails, at least the liturgy was safe from politics.) Especially in this tight-lipped pontificate of surprises, the rule of thumb seems to be that “He who goes in the ‘front-runner’ comes out to cancel the moving vans.” For proof of that, look no further than Benedict's top picks to date in the English-speaking world, precisely none of whom dominated the pre-appointment chattering in the mass media -- and, if anything, were barely mentioned before ending up with, well, the only nod that actually counts. What's more, just as then-Auxiliary Bishop Nichols was heavily tipped to succeed Cardinal Basil Hume in 2000, another of the press’ top designees in the last go-round was the then-Master General of the Dominicans, Fr Timothy Radcliffe, whose name has, reality aside, already surfaced anew in print…. Surely, if they believe in the "front-runner" logic of media selection, the Nicholites wouldn’t mind the thought of an Archbishop Timothy, either? (Pause for response.) Thought so.
  

• Continuing with the thread that pressure-group tactics are best checked by the church's gates, it seems that – lest anyone be surprised – Voice of the Faithful could use a thorough education in the ways and culture of ecclesial governance.... That is, if it truly seeks to be of service, or get its point across... neither of which it's accomplished of yet. Cardinal Francis George's ascent to the presidency of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops come November was already a fait accompli, but if any doubt lingered that the archbishop of Chicago will face no hurdles to becoming the first cardinal chosen to lead the US hierarchy since 1971, VotF secured his landslide victory last week with a letter to the bishops asking them not to elect the cardinal, calling into question his "track record of protecting children." Clearly, someone forgot to remind the good Bostonians that it’s the Conference of Catholic Bishops, not some open powwow longing to be crashed by a shadow hierarchy (whose intervention will simply circle the episcopal wagons even more tightly). Already the intellectual leader of the conference – and, arguably, more its co-president than its deputy these last three years – the 70 year-old cardinal is said to be looking better than ever after two brushes with ill health over the last year, and appears to be gearing up for his late autumn coronation in Baltimore. After a year of little travel following surgery for bladder cancer, then a broken hip at Easter, he's re-sprung into his old form, having headed straight from last week’s Vox Clara meeting on liturgical translations in Rome to Washington for the USCCB administrative committee’s pre-November prep session. Nominations for the presidency close on Friday, and while no vice-president in the conference's history who’s ever stood for the presidency has failed to win it, an extra amount of attention this year will focus on the race for the #2 slot, which comprises the nine non-winners of the presidential ballot. Since George narrowly defeated then-Bishop Wuerl of Pittsburgh for the VP post three years ago, it’d be an understatement to say that the landscape of things has changed, and dramatically at that. But still, not being The Times -- and, ergo, not clairvoyant -- the soundings to date will remain under seal until things actually, you know, get moving.
  

Forgive the slow posting this week – the fall travel has begun in earnest….

To our Jewish readers (and there are more than a few) L’Shana Tovah, Happy New Year and all best wishes as the calendar turns to 5768.

And to our Catholic readers, keeping always in mind that the church is the daughter of the synagogue, Happy Motu Proprio.

-30-

On Agnes' Day, Send in the Lambs

Earlier today, a longtime Vatican tradition on this feast of the early martyr St Agnes returned again as the Pope blessed the two lambs whose wool will be shorn to make this year's editions of the pallium, which the metropolitan archbishops of the Latin church named over the prior year will receive from B16 on 29 June's feast of Saints Peter and Paul.

The name Agnes deriving from the Latin "agnus" -- "lamb," of course -- the baby sheep now head to the Benedictine convent of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, whose sisters are tasked with the weaving of the two-inch wide band marked with six crosses, which the metropolitans don within their respective provinces as the liturgical symbol of "the fullness of the episcopal office."

Though the Pope's appointment year is just past its halfway point, 2011's Pallium Class already has its share of still-rising figures, particularly from Latin America -- this year's group will include the new archbishops of Guatemala City, Quito, Bogotá, Santiago de Chile and Bahia in Brazil, all customarily cardinalatial sees. From points beyond, likewise among the 25 metropolitans named to date are the pontiff's freshly-tapped picks for Turin, Jakarta, Port-au-Prince, Pretoria, Riga, the Philippines' largest see of Cebu and the de facto Beninese capital of Cotonou, which Benedict is slated to visit in mid-November both to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the West African country's first evangelization, and to pay tribute to his closest friend in the Roman Curia: Cardinal Bernardin Gantin -- the first African ever to serve as dean of the College of Cardinals -- who left Rome to retire to his homeland in 2002 and died in 2008.

Likely to join the group before its convergence at the confessio of St Peter are the successors to the current cardinal-archbishops of Manila, Guadalajara, Seoul, possibly Cologne -- and above all, the next head of Europe's largest and most influential local church: the 5 million-member archdiocese of Milan, where Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi turns 77 in March as Italian reports indicate that the succession stakes for the mega-post have begun in earnest over recent weeks.

For the States, meanwhile, this year's "dance card" is already filled out in full, and historically so.

Though the American contingent of four new archbishops is consistent with the quotas of recent years, in a moment without precedent for the US church, two Hispanic metropolitans from these shores -- Archbishops José Gomez of Los Angeles and Gustavo Garcia-Siller of San Antonio -- will receive their pallia together.

With all of four Latino prelates named to lead Stateside provinces over the last century, never have two been tapped in the same year. And with Hispanics soon to comprise a majority among the nation's 68 million faithful, the duo's presence will make for Rome's clearest picture yet of the American Catholic future -- at least, until Gomez receives his red hat sometime around mid-decade.

The US delegation will be rounded out by Peter and Paul... literally: Archbishops Peter Sartain of Seattle and Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, who'll be installed on 11 February.

Speaking of Stateside metropolitans, it bears noting that, having named 19 of these shores' 33 archbishops in less than six years as Pope (no less than 12 of them in just the last 24 months), B16 has, in essence, cleared through the existing domestic docket for the senior posts. Though Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia reached the retirement age of 75 last April, it is widely presumed that he'll remain in post until the most sweeping reorganization the 1.1 million-member River City church has undergone in quite some time -- an extensive review and reboot of parish, school, and chancery configurations alike -- wraps up, seemingly toward the end of 2012.

As future openings go, Archbishop George Niederauer of San Francisco celebrates his 75th in June, with Cardinal Francis George of Chicago and Archbishop John Vlazny of Portland in Oregon marking the milestone early next year.

-30-

On St Siro's Chair

Making good on his June promise to "provide in short order" for a successor to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone as archbishop of Genoa, this morning Benedict XVI used the city's patronal feast of the Madonna della Guardia to name Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco, the head of Italy's military ordinariate, to the post.

It's already been announced that the 63 year-old Bagnasco will be installed in Genoa, where he spent his priesthood, on 24 September.

A native son's appointment to one of Italy's traditional cardinalatial sees indicates that the recent pattern of Genoa archbishops -- i.e. the last two (Cardinals Dionigi Tettamanzi and Bertone) ended up going somewhere else -- is something of the past. Bagnasco has served as Italy's military chaplain-in-chief since 2003; he was ordained bishop of Pesaro in 1998 and elevated to archbishop in 2000 when it became a metropolitan see.

In his previous Genoa days, its new archbishop served as a seminary professor, spiritual director, head of the archdiocese's liturgical apostolate and its catechetics and education offices. The thread of youth ministry runs through his priesthood -- he was once the diocesan representative to the FUCI (the Italian federation of Catholic collegians) and once led regional efforts for the pastoral care of students.

Notably, the appointment appears to be a valedictory victory for Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the outgoing papal vicar of Rome and strongman of the CEI, the Italian bishops' conference. Since 2001, Archbishop Bagnasco has served as head of the board of Ruini's prized organ of communication, the CEI's daily paper, Avvenire.

-30-