Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, the "Political Arm" of the Pope -- Sprout of the Upper Classes Who Wants to be Rid of the Odor of His Origins

Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, the "politiacal arm" of the Pope. "For decades he has labored ceaselessly in the Vatican till the election of Pope Francis. The name Sorondo is still widely known in Argentina because of his father and grandfather.

(Rome) Archbishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, officially the Grand Chancellor of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences, is the "political arm" of Pope Francis. He is responsible for a new ambiguity and accomodation in matters of life, culture of death and sterilization as a solution to environmental problems and climate change. The policy had already been laid before the pope's political adviser. He comes from the Argentine upper class. His grandfather was Argentine Interior Minister and his father a well-known political journalist. Even now accusations have been voiced that the pope's political adviser does not live like a priest, since he "never celebrates Holy Mass, and neither does he pray the breviary," says InfoVaticana .

Sprout of the Argentine upper class: learning politics already in the cradle

He was born in Argentina at the Feast of the Nativity of Mary, on 1942, as the son of a family of the upper class, and grew up in a strongly intellectual environment. His mother, Amalia Moreno Bunge, died when he was only eight years old. At the age of 26, he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires in 1968. After his ordination, he went to Italy, where he studied philosophy at the Dominican University of Angelicum and at the University of Perugia .

The young priest never returned to Argentina, where his family name is still known among the elderly. The reason for this is that his grandfather Matías Guillermo Sánchez Sorondo and his father Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, are both well-known figures of Catholic right-wing nationalism in Argentina.

The grandfather Matías Sánchez Sorondo: Professor, Interior Minister, Putschist, Senator

The grandfather Matías Sánchez Sorondo (right) in the 30s as a senator

Matías Guillermo Sánchez Sorondo (1880-1959) was professor for civil law at the University of Buenos Aires and a lawyer in the Argentine capital. As such, he represented Standard Oil in Argentina. From 1918-1926 he was also a deputy in the provincial parliament of Buenos Aires. The convincing anti- Communist was one of the leading figures in the Austrian coup. From 1930-1931 he was Argentine Interior Minister. Under his leadership, communism was banned and a special department for the suppression of communist activities was created in the Ministry of the Interior . Subsequently he belonged to the Argentine Senate until 1941 for the Conservative National Democratic Party (PDN), then until 1943 the Senate of the Province of Buenos Aires. In the autumn of 1932, Argentine media reported that a new coup was planned to make Matías Guillermo Sánchez Sorondo the president of a "fascist government". But this did not happen. The Conservatives ruled Argentina until 1943.

El Orden, 12 October 1932: Sanchez Sorondo as "probable" president of a fascist government

With the coup of the military, with which Juan Peron's political rise began, his political career ended. Even today he is the bogeyman of the Argentine left, he is accused by them, as by Raul Campodonico in his 2005 book "Trincheras de Celuloide" (Celluloid Trenches), as an "admirer" of Mussolini and Hitler. Matías Guillermo Sánchez Sorondo founded the first, state-run Cinematographic Institute of Argentina, whose first director he became. But this, according to left-wing authors, had only been done in order to make use of the emerging cinema, based on the German and Italian models, for propaganda acts.

The father Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo Sr. : Professor, putschist, publicist

Marcelo Sr. (1911-2012), father of Marcelo Jr., is the second son of the well-known politician. With his wife, Amalia Moreno Bunge, he had six children. He gave his original monarchist spirit in his admiration for Benito Mussolini and, above all, Francisco Franco, whom he described as the "best ruler" of Spain since Charles III. He praised Franco for his defeat of the Popular Front government and the reestablishment of Spain. Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo Sr. studied law and became a lawyer like his father. He was a professor of constitutional law and director of the Institute of Political Science at the Law Faculty of the University of Buenos Aires. Like him, he was a representative of traditional nationalism, but he did not hold political positions, but appeared as a journalist.

The father, Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo Sr.

He founded and directed three publications: Nueva Politica (New Politics, 1940), Azul y Blanco (Blue and White, 1956) and Segunda Republica (Second Republic, 1961). Like his father in 1931, Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo was one of the leading figures in the military coup of 1955. The convinced anti-Peronist became the mastermind of the Moviemento Revolucionario Nacional (National Revolutionary Movement), which was considered the "political arm" of the armed forces ousting Peron in 1955.

In 1973, when Peron was still in exile, Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo Sr. ran as representative of the Frente Justicialista de Liberacion(Justizialistische Liberation Front ) for the Argentine Senate. The Liberation Front was an alliance of Peronist Party, the Conservative People's Party (PCP), the Social Democratic Party (MIDD) and parts of the Christian People's Party (PPC). Sanchez Sorondo had been nominated against the will of Peron, who, after the election of a Peronist president, returned from exile in the same year and took his third term as president. Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo was beaten in the capital of Buenos Aires by a young, unknown candidate of the Social Democratic Unión Cívica Radical (UCR, Radical Citizen's Union) named Fernando de la Rúa, who was to become the Argentine president in 1999-2001. The reason for the spectacular defeat was the lack of support from the Jewish community of the Argentine capital, which expressed its resentment against him and his father. De la Rúa, on the other hand, became a personal friend.

Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo Sr. 1973 as a candidate for a senator seat

Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo twice denounced his appointment as ambassador in his life and had to be imprisoned three times for his political convictions. Once, in 1955, because he defended the Cathedral of Buenos Aires against the Peronists. In Buenos Aires, 100,000 people took part in the Corpus Christi Process that year. After the end of the procession, it turned into a demonstration against the government of Peron. As a reprisal, Peron imprisoned 300 political opponents, mainly Catholics, including Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo. That was the beginning of Peron's fall.

As the author of several books, he dealt mainly with constitutional questions and state theory. This includes the book "Teoría política del federalismo" (Political Theory of Federalism).

In his last interview in 2005 for the Spanish daily La Nacion , he complained about the disappearance of Argentina's traditional leadership class and criticized the abandonment "oligarchical system" that had been built. He stressed the need to rebuild the political party system and at the same time called for the "new political forces" to identify with the "historical roots of the country." In globalization Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo Sr. saw "No obstacle" that any state "can fully exercise its sovereignty". He summarized essential elements of his political thinking in his book "La Argentina por dentro," (Argentina from Within)  published in 1987.

Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo Jr.: the "political arm" of Pope Francis

The son of Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo and grandson of Matías Sánchez Sorondo, Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo Jr., followed his father and grandfather in an academic career. In 1976, he was appointed Professor of History of Philosophy at the Pontifical Lateran University. From 1987-1996 he was also Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy. In 1989, he became a member of the Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas. In 1998, he always took up a chair at the Catholic Free University of the Most Blessed Mary Assumed into Heaven (LUMSA). At the same time Pope John Paul II appointed him chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences. Since 1999, he has also been secretary of the Pontifical Academy of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Offices, which he received under Benedict XVI. and holds still today.

In 2001, John Paul II appointed him titular bishop of Forum Novum and personally gave him the bishop's consecration.

"For decades, he understood how to behave more or less unobtrusively", says InfoVaticana.

As a member of the Roman Curia he collected "a considerable pile of titles, awards, prizes." The bulk of his mission was to cover international events, conferences, congresses and seminars. "What some" call "academic tourism," according to InfoVaticana, allowed him to prove his skills as a networker.

Decisive turning point: the election of Pope Francis

Sanchez Sorondo with Massimo Vattimo 2015 in Buenos Aires: "Papistic International"

The decisive turning point, however, was the election of his countryman Jorge Mario Cardinal Bergoglio to Pope Francis. In recent years, since March 2013, Sanchez Sorondo Jr.took a step forward and became one of the main actors of the Argentine pontificate. He became a political adviser to Francis, and for this he established international contacts, both to the left-wing establishment, especially in the international institutions, but also to movements of the radical left. He is the "figurehead" (Infovaticana) of the Pope's political agenda. Since March 13, 2013, Sanchez Sorondo took part in an "ancient capitalist forum" organized by the then Argentinean Minister of Culture, Teresa Parodi, in Buenos Aires. In addition to Leonardo Boff, the Italian Communist and professed homosexual Gianni Vattimo also joined the lectern and proposed the birth of a new Communist International as a Papal International under the leadership of Pope Francis, in the struggle against capitalism. While the representatives of left-wing movements and parties applauded frenetically, Sanchez Sorondo sat gloating on the podium.

In September, Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo will become 75, but there is no doubt that Pope Francis will hold him in office. The thinking of Sanchez Sorondos moves between a classical Aristotelian-Thomistic formation and a pronounced "zeal for novelties", says Infovaticana .

The concern for the poor and the concern to get rid of the aristocratic stall odor

In 2014 the Global Freedom Network (GFN) was presented to the press at its initiative. In the same year, the Global Sustainability Network (GSN) followed as an interreligious initiative. These are just two of a series of such initiatives. No one can say whether these effectively announced projects for the media actually had any tangible impact. A few days ago they announced the creation of a Global Network  "against mafia and corruption." The approach of Monsignor Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo seems to follow a secular logic of public relations. Great announcements, global goals, multi-year planning. The GFN has formulated targets for 2020, the GSN for 2030.

Sanchez Sorondo with Jeffrey Sachs (left)

The Spanish-language news page Infovaticana speaks of a sociologically very characteristic forma mentis. "Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo comes from a family of the upper class who had never had to learn poverty on their own. Argentine critics see in his zeal for "the poor", "the excluded", "the oppressed" stereotypes of poverty, exclusion and oppression at work. "The relatively new (at least public) concern of Monsignor Sanchez Sorondo for the poor should not be linked to the odor of his aristocratic descent," said Infovaticana . "This usually produces a certain psychic tension, which is the result of a bad conscience."

The result is political positions that are close to the left. Apparently unresolved tensions should be appeased. In connection with various events and initiatives on the ecological encyclopaedia Laudato si  became clear. One such Sanchez Sorondo initiative is the Global Catholic Climate Movement, which has offered an online course with the progressive UN expert on climate change and overpopulation, Jeffrey Sachs. Another economist who has a considerable influence on the Vatican is Joseph Stiglitz, who was also introduced by Sanchez Sorondo.

The networker: Bernie Sanders, Jeffrey Sachs, Paul R. Ehrlich, John Boongarts

The contacts to the candidate for the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party , US Senator Bernie Sanders, whom Pope Francis would have liked to see in the White House, also goes back to Sanchez Sorondo. In a public polemic, the Argentine curial bishop opposed the President of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, Margaret Archer, arguing that he had invited Sanders to the Vatican. An invitation, which took place in the midst of the pre-election contest and was judged by US media as a clear party endorsement by  the Holy See in favor of Sanders.

The Pope's "political arm" network also includes relations with Bolivia's President Evo Morales and the Neomalthusian abortion advocate, Paul R. Ehrlich , who was allowed to appear in the Vatican last February. It was an invitation which led to the resignation of Sanchez Sorondo, which can be left uneffected as long as he is assured of the support of Pope Francis. Cardinal Raymond Burke, a leading critic of the current pontificate, expressed his horror at the invitation of abortion ideologists to the Vatican. These include, in addition to Sachs and Ehrlich, Mathis Wackernagel from the Global Footprint Network and John Boongarts from the Population Council and the Rockefeller Foundation. Both advocate a reduction in the population through massive birth control and consider the birth reduction as a solution for the environmental and climate problems they proclaim.

The neomalthusian turn of the Vatican

The initiatives of Sanchez Sorondo are not addressed to the faithful, for whom they are often an annoyance or at least disappointing. The US LifeSiteNews wanted to receive information from the Argentinean bishop as to why a Paul R. Ehrlich was invited to the Vatican. The responses of Sanchez Sorondo showed a certain tension and aversion. Faithful critics from the Catholic ranks seem to disturb the bishop; questions of how many of his positions are reconciled with the doctrine of the Church have been found annoying and cut off by him.

A constant can be seen in the written and oral statements by Sanchez Sorondos. For his strategy of bringing together the Vatican and international institutions and merging the positions, the curia bishop claims the Holy Spirit. According to the bishop, the dialogue strategy of Pope Franziskus could move something, while the pro-life groups and defenders of the family would not move anything.

Sanchez Sorondo is now a member of the Leadership Council of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, an organization that is based on an initiative of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. Together with Sanchez Sorondo there are also Jeffrey Sachs and Ted Turner, two advocates of population control to reduce the world's population.

Ted Turner organized an event through his United Nations Foundation, recognizing and honoring the work of Monsignor Sanchez Sorondo, the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, and the leadership of Pope Francis for a "sustainable development" in favor of "our common home". The event took place in September 2015 at the Harvard Club in New York.

Humanity experienced "magic moment"

Sanchez Sorondo in Valencia: "Humanity experienced magic moment"

Just a few days ago, Sanchez Sorondo, at the Catholic University of Valencia, said: "Humanity is experiencing a magic moment" because the pope's lemmings and those of the United Nations for the first time coincide with the goal of eradicating poverty in the world and the goals of sustainable development of the UN were unanimously adopted after a speech by Pope Francis. The subject of abortion was as much discussed by the Pope's political adviser as were some other "details".

Although Sanchez Sorondo has not lived in Argentina for decades, he is very well informed about developments there. His contacts, which are particularly astonishing, concern Gustavo Vera and Guillermo Moreno. Vera founded the Bien Común party in 2014 . The party founder, emphasized Vera, goes back to a meeting with Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio and a word from him. They both apply for primaries for political offices and work on an anti-Macri front. It is an open secret that the reigning right-wing president, Mauricio Macrí, is quite repugnant to Pope Francis, just like all politicians and political groupings to the right of the center. Sanchez Sorondo still finds time to interfere with Argentine internal politics, in which his father and grandfather have already played an important role, from which the son and grandson, however, distanced themselves as far as possible. To be exact, he does not mention either.

He is accused by critics of promoting papolatry and seeing himself in certain areas as an authentic interpreter of the papal will. At an Acton Institute event held at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, Sanchez Sorondo said that human caused "global warming" is just as much a part of ordinary lewdness, as saying that abortion is sin."

"He never celebrates the Holy Mass, and neither does he pray the breviary"

"Sanchez Sorondo lives more like a business man than a cleric," says Infovaticana . The news page cites witnesses who "worked with him for a long time," and who claim that the Bishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo "never celebrates Mass and neither does he pray the breviary."

Infovaticana speaks of people who have worked intensively with him for several months, claiming that the "political arm" of Francis "does not live like a priest".

"The chapel in the Casina where he lives remains unused."

"Neither does he pray the breviary. He probably does not even have one. One day he was to take part in a Holy Mass, and it was rather funny to see that he did not even know the most essential parts of the Eucharistic Ordinarium."

And again Infovaticana :

"It also testifies to the terrible character of the Argentine, how despotic and disrespectful he is to the subordinates, especially women."

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: InfoVaticana / Wikipedia / Hemeroteca Digital / UCV (Screenshots)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG