Vatican Hopes to Wait Out the Viganò Dossier

Parolin: There is "unrest" in the Vatican

August 31, 2018 0

The Vatican is full of sadness and unrest. The Viganò dossier shakes the current pontificate and the next storms are already gathering together.

(Rome) In the Vatican, the dossier of the former Apostolic Nuncio Carlo Maria Viganò is obviously irritating. It is recognizable by contradictory reactions. Obviously, there is no real strategy on how to deal with it. The minimalist counter-strategy is: ignore and sit out. A strategy that is not lacking in explosiveness, because in the past, sexual abuse allegations have often been addressed in the same way.

Pope not distressed, Avvenire

 

First, the Italian news agency ANSA reported on Monday night that Pope Francis was "saddened" by the dossier, but not thinking of resigning. A resignation request had been linked by Archbishop Viganò with the publication of the dossier. ANSA did not name a specific source but merely "collaborator" of the Pope. There is, however, no reasonable doubt that the information was not from the immediate circle of the Pope and that their publication was intentional at that time.
On Tuesday, however, two journalists very close to the Pope reported the opposite in Avvenire, the daily newspaper of the Italian Episcopal Conference:

"Pope Francis is not sad about the Viganò letter".

And further:

"The personages over of Francis's reaction to the dossier of the former nuncio demanding his resignation were denied."

As in earlier moments of this pontificate, one source of the Vatican denied another, and the same immediately.
 
According to Avvenire , "the Pope works as usual". An assertion to the contrary of "a press agency" was described by the bishops' newspaper as "machination" and "vulgarity." Even Avvenire noted only "credible Vatican sources", but no specific names.
 
Regardless, Vatican spokesman Greg Burke responded to journalist questions with a sneaky counter-question:

"Did the Pope seem sad on Sunday evening on the plane? I ask you …"

So much for the aspect of papal affliction. On the more explosive aspect, Avenire did not deny the ANSA report on Curial Archbishop Viganò's demand for resignation. That the pope does not think of resignation corresponds to the facts.
 
Aldo Maria Valli, long-time Vaticanist of the RAI, who supports his colleague Marco Tosatti on the Viganò dossier, published an interview on Tuesday with Nuncio Viganò. He defended himself against harsh criticism from the papal circle, which cast doubt on his motivations and credibility.

"I'm not acting for revenge. I just want the truth to come to light."

In the interview, Viganò said even more:

"I was talking because corruption has now reached the top of the Church hierarchy. Turning to the journalists, why do not they ask what has become of the document box that - we all saw it - was handed over to Pope Francis by Pope Benedict on Castel Gandolfo? Was everything in vain?"

In fact, filming in March 2013 showed how the recently retired Benedict XVI. at the first meeting with Pope Francis he handed over a whole box of documents to him. At that time, the Vatican media attached great importance to showing a harmonious relationship between the two church leaders, which is why masses of pictures were distributed by both popes. It was not announced what the two discussed.
 
Yesterday, Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin spoke on the Viganò dossier.

"The pope is calm," the headline of Vatican Insider in direct speech, but "in the Vatican sorrow and unrest prevails."
 
The Cardinal Secretary of State thus ironed out the conflicting reports of the previous day. It grieves, but it is not the Pope who is sad, but employees in the Vatican. The dossier of the former nuncio in the USA had caused "great pain", but not Francis, according to Parolin, but "with the collaborators of Francis".
 
The Cardinal endeavored to give the impression that everything was going its usual course. The conversation with Vatican Insider took place on the outset of a reception in one of the courtyards of the Vatican Museums with "typical Mexican food and Mexican music".
 
If one reads the statements Parolin more accurately, they do not quite say what the title claims. Literally, the Secretary of State said:

"I have seen a statement from the Vatican press office saying that the pope is calm. What I have seen (these days I was traveling with him to Ireland and beyond), he seems calm."

So Parolin did not want to confirm this serenity. Next he said:

"The Pope is a great mercy, even in the face of such things that, of course, cause so much sadness and unrest. But he has an ability to be very serene."

The Cardinal Secretary of State did not want to comment on the case of Archbishop Viganò:

"Compared to such things it is only possible to express the pain, great pain. I hope that we all work in search of truth and justice, that these are the points of reference of our actions and not others. Of course, the matter is by no means alarming."

In response to explicit demand from Vatican Insider, the Secretary of State refused to comment on the contents of the Viganò dossier:

"It's better not to go into details about these things. I repeat what the Pope said: Read it yourself and form your judgment. The text speaks for itself. "

Voices surrounding the allegations, they are very "alarming." The refusal to even attempt to refute them raises new questions. With this sentence cited by Parolin, formulated on the return flight on Sunday evening from Ireland, Francis once more followed his strategy of avoiding unpleasant questions by a non-response. The fact that the Cardinal Secretary of State has also repeated this sentence confirms how much the bomb of the Viganò dossier shakes the current pontificate. The counter-strategy is to ignore and it sit out. Ironically, this is the strategy that has been too often used by the Church to respond to sexual abuse allegations.  

Meanwhile, the next storm is already brewing. Archbishop Viganò accuses Francis of having been informed of Cardinal McCarrick's depravity and yet remaining silent. Meanwhile, Francis is accused of having said nothing on Nicaragua. It is about a similar case: a gay double life and sexual relations of a bishop with his own seminarians and subordinates.
 
The signs are pointing to storm, and it seems to be the "homo-heresy" that shakes up this pontificate.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Vatican Insider / Avvenire / ANSA (Screenshots)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
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