Cardinals Expected to be Silent in the Next Consistory

The cardinals of the Church will meet in a consistory next week, but Pope Francis has set unusual rules for them.

In a few days a cardinal consistory will begin in Rome – with special rules

(Rome) A regular Consistory of Cardinals has been convened by Pope Francis for Monday, August 29th. On Monday and Tuesday the Cardinals will gather in Rome to "reflect." Francis used this word on May 29 when he announced the convocation of the consistory at the end of the Regina Cæli. The convocation consists of several parts. In the first, the Extraordinary Consistory, next Saturday, Francis will create new cardinals with the next conclave firmly in view.

What is certain is that the reflections to be undertaken by the cardinals will not be free and open, clear and honest exchanges with parrhesia [freedom of speech], as Francis is wont to say, but on the contrary: none of the cardinals will be able to intervene or even ask questions.

This "detail" was revealed yesterday by the voyeuristic, sleazy website Dagospia, which, however, has surprisingly good contacts in the Church sector.[We'll definitely take that into account!] It also reported that the Cardinals read the “detailed introductory report of Monsignor Marco Mellino, Secretary of the Council of Cardinals [ex C9 Council of Cardinals], on the Roman Curia in the light of the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium, with a general presentation, news, times and methods of application.” This report was already mentioned in a report by the Italian press agency ANSA on May 9th, which had as its subject the purpose of a meeting between Francis and the heads of dicasteries at the Roman Curia that took place on that day.

Dagospia published the document in its entirety, that is, the report read by Mellino at that meeting to the dicastery leaders “with laughter and unflattering comments” and then sent to the cardinals around the world who will be gathering at the Vatican in a few days will. Msgr. Mellino prepared them, recte warned them that no interventions or questions from the cardinals were planned.

Those who thought - and this is of course primarily true of the cardinals themselves directly concerned - that the Consistory would be an opportunity to ask Francis for clarifications on, or even to comment on, the curial reform that came into force on June 5th, will have to postpone these expectations. The College of Cardinals is the Senate of the Church and is intended to advise the Pope. But apparently the expectations of the current governing pontiff, who says "think about it" but means silence, are "too high".

According to Dagospia, the text has already drawn criticism from some members of the College of Cardinals, who consider it an idiosyncratic "potpourri of reflections" by Paul VI, John Paul II and Francis. The missing mention of Benedict XVI. is no coincidence.

On Sunday, between the extraordinary consistory on Saturday and the ordinary one beginning on Monday, Pope Francis will pay a pastoral visit to L'Aquila, the old imperial city of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, which was almost leveled by a severe earthquake in 2009. A visit to the tomb of Celestine V, the only pope in church history who voluntarily resigned before 2013, is also planned. 

In 1294 Celestine, who until then had lived as a hermit in the mountains, resigned after just a few months. It was only on this condition that he had consented to his election, after the cardinals had been unable to elect a new pope for two years since the death of his predecessor. The two major factions, Guelfi and Ghibellini, who divided Italy, also balanced each other out in the Church senate. Some were close to the Guelphs and were considered the "papal party", the other to the Waiblingen, meaning the Staufers, i.e. the "imperial party". However, Celestine, now Pietro da Morrone again, was not allowed to return to his hermit life, but was held in honorable custody by his successor - honored, but in prison.

Pope Benedict XVI visited Celestine's grave in 2009. Francis' visit to the tomb sparked speculation and led to the "mistaken reading" that Bergoglian Vaticanists tirelessly assert that Francis also intends to resign and announce his abdication at the forthcoming consistory. 

It remains to be seen how many of the Church's 206 cardinals will be present in Rome in the coming days to be mere extras, now that they know what role they are destined to play. In addition, neither the WHO nor the Vatican, where particularly radical and disproportionate Corona measures were taken, officially declared the “pandemic” to be over, which is why there is a harmless excuse not to make the trip to Rome in the first place.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image : Vatican.va (screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG