Is There an "Organized Movement" Against Pope Francis?

Andrea Tornielli at the Presentation of his Interview Book "The Name of
God is Mercy" to Pope Francis

(Rome) Andrea Tornielli is considered in Rome as the House and Home Vaticanist.  He enjoys the privilege of having easy access to the leader of the Catholic Church. Before important initiatives, Tornielli is a regular guest in Santa Marta. His information comes firsthand. He also advises the Pope in matters of public relations and acts as its indirect mouthpiece. Yes according to plan and need, Tornielli announces in his articles steps the Pope takes or tries to give them an official interpretation in the face of criticism. This also includes, occasionally straighten out things.

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In Argentina, the journalist Elisabetta Piqué, the Rome correspondent of the daily newspaper  La Nacion, takes a special position. The Pope's special friend has already published   her biography "Francisco. Vida y Revolución " (Francis. Life and Revolution)  about her compatriot on the papal throne before.

Both, Tornielli and Piqué, see their tasks as to put  the words and deeds of the Pope, medially, in a good light. They comply with this, albeit indirectly, especially in this pontificate where this is not a task to be underestimated.  Pope Francis is to remain a mystery. In fact, the mystery does not grow less in the passing of time.

Inconsistencies complicate interpretation of his thought and action. Tornielli's products are guaranteed to appear in the daily newspaper, La Stampa and the Internet portal,  Vatican Insider:  they reveal, whether expressly mentioned or not, the intention of the Pope.

The Tornielli interview in "La Nacion"

Tornielli Interview for La Nacion

Elisabetta Piqué is now letting Andrea Tornieli have his say in La Nacion have his say. The reason for the interview was the conversation book recently published by Tornielli with Pope Francis "The Name of God is Mercy". Here, too, we learn some of what is thought in Santa Marta.

"For the organized sector, the Pope can't do anything right," says Tornielli in a citation in the title. "The renowned Italian Vatican expert, author of a book interview with Francis, is astonished at the systematic attacks of a conservative group against the Argentine Pope," writes Piqué.

In an interview Piqué and Tornielli also speak of  the criticism of Pope Francis.

Piqué: But in the past few months things have happened that one has never seen before, such as the letter of the 13 cardinals who wrote the Pope during the last Synod, who defied his authority and practically accused him of manipulation.

Tornielli: Like Paul VI.  who published the encyclical Humanae Vitae, there were articles with very severe criticism. But it is true, at the Synod, there was a moment of tension. And it seems to me that there is an organized movement, which uses all media, including the Internet, to spread discord and criticism of the Pope. What amazes me is that they find something to criticize every day.  In this movement, it does not really matter what the Pope  says or does. That surprised me a lot and this perseverance clearly points to a prejudice, because it has not taken into account what he actually says and does, when it does not fit into clichés.

Piqué: Can this daily critique of Francis, especially by blogs, who accuse him of being a populist, of being ambiguous,  desacralizing in matters of doctrine and the papacy, hurt him?

Tornielli: If the criticism is not right, but on the basis of prejudice when it is systematic, even ridiculous, because of their insistence and their instability, they turns in the end against those who express them.

Pope Francis informed about criticism

The interview confirmed that Pope Francis is aware of the criticism of statements and decisions about him. That was  apparent early on when Francis, on November 1, 2013, called the intellectually upstanding, but  one of his especially toughest critics, the Catholic law philosopher Mario Palmaro. Mario Palmaro was already suffering a serious illness, which he would succumb shortly thereafter.

The existence of an "organized movement" that "systematically" criticized Pope Francis may be a personal impression of Tornielli, but he did not reveal any evidence. It seems doubtful that the Pope's critics are  "all media."   In fact, it is believed, taking Tornielli's and Piqué's statements together, that just the "blogs" are responsible. The Internet, because of its free access, thus appears to be the only medium where criticism of the current Pope can be expressed. That says something about the medium of the Internet, but it says even more about the press and radio.

This is interesting,  as the Argentine Master of Ceremonies of the Pope, Msgr. Guillermo Xavier Karcher, said  for the first time in interview in April 2014  that the Pope reads a single newspaper, La Repubblica, and that it prepares a map for him of the daily press. But he neither reads the Internet nor could he use a computer.Curial Archbishop Claudio Maria Celli, President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, said on June 23, 2015 at the Europe Forum in Bilbao, the Pope had confided to him on 18 June in Santa Marta: "I know that there are many blogs against me."  It was a statement that he could only make from information provided by others. 

Tornielli All Inclusively Dismisses Criticism of Pope Francis  

Also, given  the assertions that the criticism of the Pope  was "not sincere", based on "prejudices" and was therefore "baseless," Tornielli states no example.

Specifically, the point in the interview is that there is only a general discrediting of any criticism of Pope Francis.

An "organized movement" against Pope Francis has not yet been determined for us. What concerns Katholisches.info, we can assure you,  is that we are  not on the lookout for acts of Pope Francis which could be criticized. We hold no contact with any group which forges  against Pope Francis or anyone else who intrigues in an "organized movement" of which we have not heard anything and we therefore attribute its existence to the imagination of Andrea Tornielli.

But as chief editor I will not deny, that sometimes I rise in the morning with the anxious thought about what the news of the Pope now holds. One would probably be exaggerating, if they wanted to say  you have won a very confident impression. Still less,  can we claim as the  Francis-worshipers do,   constantly seeking the Holy Spirit to play Him off against Tradition, Scripture and the Magisterium as needed.

But Tornielli and Piqué do not reveal what they criticize.

Unlike Tornielli and Piqué,  we are anyhow independent and impartial in our coverage, since we have entertain no close relationship to the subject of reporting  unlike Piqué, who has been friends with Francis for many years and who baptized her children, and unlike Tornielli, who has lived since 13 March 2013 with one foot in Santa Marta, and quite exceptionally owes this pontificate for his privileged position.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Radio Vaticana / Secretum meum mihi (screenshots)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

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