On December 18, Pope Francis appointed his house Vaticanista Andrea Tornielli editor of all Vatican media.The office was newly created.
The informal papal spokesman has become an official one.Losers included the Vatican Press Office.The question was how Vatican spokesmen and papal speakers should coexist.
The question has become obsolete with the resignation of Vatican spokesman Greg Burke.
The American journalist was appointed in 2015 as the deputy of the then Vatican spokesman P. Federico Lombardi SJ.On August 1, 2016, he has since taken over his office.He fulfilled his task faithfully, but he did not have it easy with Francis and his communication policy.Burke failed to get close to the Pope.A relationship of trust was denied by the head of the Church.
While Andrea Tornielli had direct access to Pope Francis from the very beginning, Burke's predecessor, P. Lombardi, was not informed about some of the actions or only inadequately.His answers to journalistic questions were sometimes a sweat-splitting balancing act.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi Image: Vatican.va (screenshot)
The new top of all Vatican media: Andrea Tornielli, and the new editor-in-chief of the Osservatore Romano: Andrea Monda.
(Rome) The surprising change at the head of the Osservatore Romano is confirmed as the first "official act" of the papal house Vaticanista, Andrea Tornielli in his new post in the Communications Dicastry. However, the Cardinal Secretary of State should not have known about it and be "very irritated" about it.
The winners
According to the daily La Verità, the former editor-in-chief of the Pope's daily newspaper, Giovanni Maria Vian, was dismissed by joint intervention of Fr. Antonio Spadaro SJ, editor of the Roman Jesuit magazine La Civiltà Cattolica, and Andrea Tornielli, Pope Francis's house Vaticanista. Both belong to the Pope's closest circle of acquaintances.
Tornielli had been called to the Holy See by Francis on 18 December. Since that time, he has directed all Vatican media as a publisher with central alignment and coordination powers.
On the one hand, Tornielli's appointment represents a crucial step in Pope Francis' media reform. The Italian journalist has had privileged access to Francis. Now he exercises his alignment and control function directly. The Vatican media are thus available to Francis directly and in close association with Santa Marta.
The intervention triggered within the papal court, however, also has "some abdominal pain". The State Secretariat and the Secretary of State was evidently not informed of the dismissal. Cardinal Pietro Parolin was "very irritated" about it.
The appointment of Tornielli is seen by the media as a "reckoning" within Pope Francis' closest but heterogeneous circle of intimates. Winners of the power struggle are Tornielli and Spadaro. The Jesuit is considered the most influential adviser to the Pope in this area. In 2017, an agreement was signed with the Jesuit Order to secure its influence over the Vatican media.
The losers
The loser is first and foremost Giovanni Maria Vian. He has since been replaced by Andrea Monda. Monda is close to Spadaro. He is the President, Spadaro the founder of the Roman cultural project with the unusual name Bomba carta (letter bomb).
However, one of the losers is the Vatican State Secretariat, which was overrun by the events. By the evening before Vian's release, Cardinal Secretary Parolin is said to have known "absolutely nothing" about it. Pope Francis had neither involved him in the decision-making process nor informed him in advance, although in the past the Secretariat of State had a not inconsiderable influence on the Vatican newspaper and on the Vatican Press Office.
According to Vatican sources, Vian's work as editor-in-chief under Francis had never been contested. The historian and philologist was still employed under Pope Benedict XVI. Under Francis he opened the pages of the Osservatore Romano, however, to readily heterodox, feminist and heretical voices and positions.
The daily La Verità sees "small orthodox methods" at work that are part of an "internal power struggle between many roosters in the same chicken coop".
As far as reconstructable, it was Pope Francis himself who wanted to replace Vian, in order to make the more than 170 year old Osservatore Romano stronger as a house medium in duty for the direct support of the line of Pope Francis. However, the decisive step came from Spadaro and Tornielli.
Had it gone to Francis, Spadaro should have taken over the job of chief editor, but this was refused. On his recommendation, however, the close collaborator, Andrea Monda was meanwhile used.
The internal power struggle for influence and closeness to the pope
More than four years after media reform began in 2014, the operation seems complete. Pope Francis was also not deterred by unexpected and unwanted setbacks, such as the tragicomic overthrow of his first communications chief, Dario Edoardo Viganò. At the beginning of the year he had manipulated a letter from Pope Benedict XVI. to give Pope Francis a particularly flattering gift for his five-year jubilee on the throne. Viganò, not to be confused with the former nuncio in the United States, fell easily. Pope Francis caught him again immediately and set up a new office ad personam for him in the same communication dicastery.
There is not only a tough fight in the Catholic Church between faithful and modernist circles in progress, but also a massive struggle within the very heterogeneous entourage of Pope Francis. Tornielli and Spadaro seem to have taken control of all Vatican media. The method used to push the last rival out of the field is not endorsed by all the pope's confidants. At least not by those whose influence was curtailed. Cardinal Secretary of State Parolin belongs to the media. The new mighty power that unites Tornielli in his hands has also weakened the position of the Vatican press service and Vatican spokesman Greg Burke.
Tornielli was so far only an informal papal spokesman. Now he is officially taking over this function. That will not be without consequences in Tornielli's activism. Francis used Paolo Ruffini as Viganò's successor after he had to accept more reluctant than willing Viganò's resignation. Ruffini, however, is more of a placeholder. Real influence is not attributed to him. The role that Dario Edoardo Viganò will play in the media in the future remains to be seen. At least he will not be able to oppose Tornielli.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Picture: MiL
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG
(Rome) Last year, the Vatican bureaucrats started hunting for InfoVaticana, the largest independent Catholic news platform in the Spanish-speaking world. Allegedly because it leads with the Vatican in its name.
With a letter from Pope Francis to the multi-lingual news platform
Vatican Insider, the Vatican provided proof that it was only an excuse. The Vatican Secretariat of State sent a warning to the operators of InfoVaticana, the Spanish professional journalists, last year.
The news site, according to the accusation, operates by naming itself
"Vatican" in the name of unfair competition through misleading
advertising. The Vatican is serious. The State Secretariat appointed Baker & McKenzie, one of the top 10 global law firms, to take legal action against InfoVaticana. Cannons were used to shoot sparrows, said Gabriel Ariza and Fernando Beltrán, founders and operators of InfoVaticana .
Logo development of InfoVaticana since the outbreak of the legal dispute. The compulsion to "neutrality" They see the real reason for the unusual Vatican approach in their basic attitude and the pope-critical reporting.
The independent platform has in the past published critical accounts of
certain acts and statements of the ruling Pope, as well as of Spanish
bishops, including the Archbishop of Madrid appointed by Pope Francis.
Edit: this isn’t entirely fair, the House Vaticanist, and Papal biographer, Andrea Tornielli was manifestly bad years before the Sankt Gallen Mafia put their man on the papal throne. He was already pushing Communion for the remarried and divorced at least in 2012. (It was thought he had a personal investment in the issue.)
[Gloria.tv] The persecution of the Catholics inside the Church is growing stronger according to Monsignor Antonio Livi, a philosopher who served as a professor and dean at the Roman Lateran University. Talking to Gloria.tv, Livi points out that Pope Francis accuses of “heresy” those who are faithful to the doctrine and fight confusion. Livi added that Pope Francis has put at the top of the Church – quote – “the worst heretics” and that he has his encyclicals written by – quote – “the worsts heretics”.
Catholics Are Persecuted in the Catholic Church
According to Livi, those who profess the integral Catholic Faith are now often forbidden to give talks, and their publications are hidden away in the Catholic bookstores. Quote: “All the official Catholic media in Italy ostracize the solid Catholic doctrine.” Livi further states that it has become “habitual” to sack theology professors for beeing “too Catholic.”
Bishops’ Newspaper Slams Its Long-Time Contributor
As an example, Livi cites Avvenire, the daily of the Italian Bishops which – quote – “hosts and exalts the worst betrayers of the Faith”. Livi criticizes this on the Internet and was furously attacked by Avvenire’s editor-in-chief Marco Taquinio although Livi has been a contributor to Avvenire for thirty years, at a time when Avvenire was still Catholic.
Supporting Pope Francis Is Profitable
Gloria.tv asked Livi how Andrea Tornielli who before Francis’ election was defending Catholic positions, suddently became Francis’ court journalist. Livi replied that Tornielli and others have made the “choice of convenience” in order to become “propagandists”. Livi commented that Tornielli became rich with this choice while, Marco Tosatti, who was working with him at the daily La Stampa, but resisted the temptation to join the Bergoglio party, is now poor. Livi adds: “I am also poor”. The Lateran University refused to pay a pension to Livi. This leaves him with a minimal state pension.
Francis with the Master of Ceremonies from Benedict XVI., Guido Marini
(Rome) The strange game of hide-and-seek whether Curia Archbishop Georg Gänswein as Prefect of the Papal Household or Msgr. Guido Marini Pontifical Master of Ceremonies have been confirmed.
In the past week rumors had arisen that both close collaborators of Pope Benedict XVI. and Pope Francis may no longer be confirmed in office. They would face the same fate that met Cardinal Gerhard Müller as Prefect of the Congregation of the Faith last June .
On December 15, Guido Horst, the Rome correspondent of the Tagespost wrote:
"But is now the mystery of the Vatican more transparent? The technology is becoming more modern. But Glasnost does not mean that. Three examples: The Internet had speculated on whether the pope would extend the term of office of Archbishop Georg Gänswein as Prefect of the Papal Household and that of the Master of Ceremonies Guido Marini. As insiders confirm with certainty, Francis did that."
Horst did not refrain from making a swipe at the less transparent information policy of the Holy See:
"Why did you not know this? A note in the Vatican Bulletin would have been enough and the rumors would end."
External middleman "confirms" Master of Ceremonies in office
This note to put an end to the rumors, but had not been published in the Vatican Bulletin. Instead of the direct route that Guido Horst had called for, a strange path was chosen. A middleman was rushed forward. This is the House and Court Vaticanist of Pope Francis. Without a doubt, Andrea Tornielli is a close confidant of the ruling church leader, but without official function.
Tornielli published on the coordinated by him news platform Vatican Insider the article:
"The Pope confirms his ceremoniar Guido Marini".
It says:
"Pope Francis has renewed the commission of the Genoese Prelate for five years, who Benedict XVI. had called to the Vatican. Possibility of a change refuted. "
Tornielli continues:
"In the past few weeks, when the confirmation had already been given to the person concerned, indiscretions circulating in the Vatican palaces spread about a possible change. In reality, the relationship between the Pope and his Master of Ceremonies remains fixed, and Francis appreciates the faithfulness of Msgr. Marini, who has the task of overseeing every papal liturgy."
Strangely enough, Santa Marta uses an external middleman to make such a statement official, as the Vatican daily bulletin is responsible for. Or as Guido Horst said:
"A note in the Vatican Bulletin would suffice."
Apart from that, the Vatican Insider message only concerns Mgr. Guido Marini. For the time being, not even the papal middleman Tornielli knows the fate of Curial Archbishop Georg Gänswein.
Katholisches.info wrote on December 18 to the whole thing:
" Glasnost was Michael Gorbachev. Pope Francis it is not. "
Text: Giuseppe Nardi Image: Vatican Insider (screenshot)
Cardinal Angelo Scola should be retired tomorrow due to age. His successor in all likelihood is to be Vicar General Mario Delphini
(Rome) Monsignor Mario Delpini, the previous Vicar General of the Archdiocese, is to become the new Archbishop of Milan. The northern Italian Archdiocese, which is not the Roman Rite, but the Ambrosian Rite, is one of the most important dioceses in the world. The Archbishop is still Angelo Cardinal Scola, the opponent of Pope Francis in the conclave of 2013, who is in good health but has also completed his 75th year of life in November 2016, and therefore presented the canonical request for resignation to the Pope.
Monsignor Mario Delpini
The appointment of Monsignor Delpini will be announced by the Vatican, "subject to a change in the last hour", on Friday. This is reported by the papal House Vaticanist Andrea Tornielli on Vatican Insider.
Thus Pope Francis chose the candidate who had been the favorite among the consulters in the diocese. According to Tornielli, it was Cardinal Scola who had asked the Pope to make the appointment before the summer so that after the summer the "pastoral year could begin with the new Archbishop."
Mgr. Delpini entered the Archdiocesan Seminary in 1967 and was ordained priest in 1975 by the then Archbishop Giovanni Cardinal Colombo. He studied Patristics at the Augustinianum in Rome and taught Greek and Patristics at the Milan seminaries.
Cardinal Martini made him the rector of the Seminary. Under Cardinal Tettamanzi, he became auxiliary bishop in 2007. Cardinal Scola, who was Patriarch of Venice until Pope Benedict XVI. in 2011 called him to the bishop's chair of St. Ambrose, made the auxiliary bishop his Vicar General. In 2014, he also entrusted him with the training of the clergy.
Tornielli emphasizes that Delpini is a "choice of continuity." He had served the "last three archbishops," Martini, Tettamanzi, and Scola, "spiritual, humble but not submissive, a great worker, but far from the type of manager bishop, and he attaches great importance to personal relationships with priests," says Tornielli. He was on the road in the city.
"Group elevation" to make adolescents "actors"
The Auxiliary Bishop Delpini engaged in liturgical relativism for World Youth Day 2013 through liturgical relativism. Delpini celebrated a Holy Mass with the young people of the Archdiocese before their departure for Rio de Janeiro.
"At the end of the high feast, the episcopal 'superintendant' of the celebration celebrated not only with his priestly concelebrants, but youths, specially called to the altar, to elevate the chalices with the Precious Blood of Christ and the Hosts with the Body of Christ. Apart from the fact that normally only one chalice and a ciborium with the consecrated hosts are raised, even if several are used: the group elevation was not carried out by priests or deacons, who stood idly in the background, but by young laymen, girls and fellows who had previously been fished out of the church nave by the coordinating priest.
The embarrassed facial expressions of the young people in the pictures are quite telling. You clearly are in the wrong place. There is no cross on the altar. It was forgotten in the zeal of a conspicuous priesthood of all believers. The Lord is hanging on the side wall in the background. The photo was even published on the website of the church newspaper IncrociNews of the Archdiocese of Milan, among the official reports on World Youth Day 2013 .
The example shows that they are priests who behave like elephants in the liturgical china shop.
The Archbishop's Liturgy Commissioner tried to defend the Auxiliary Bishop and Vicar General against the criticism, which did not exactly improve the situation. Msgr Pierantonio Tremolada wrote:
"I am absolutely convinced that the gesture was intended to give the young people the feeling of being actors during the week of World Youth Day" (as the Pope said yesterday). Moreover, we are not sure that it was decided by S. Ex. Mons. Delpini. The leaders of the celebration do not always decide the liturgical gestures, sometimes at the last moment they execute them at the instruction of others."
The liturgy commissioner did not go into the gesture. On the contrary, the reference to the pope made it clear that he did not bother.
By tomorrow's appointment, Pope Francis will have appointed the metropolitans of the three largest, most prestigious and wealthy archbishoprics in the world within three years with Cologne, Chicago and Milan.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Photo: Vatican.va/MiL/IncrociNews (Screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG
(Rome) Last Friday, 23 June, the new leadership of the Order of Malta was received by Pope Francis in audience. The delegation was led by the Grand Masterless Order of the Governor of the Grand Master, Giacomo Count Dalla Torre del Tempio di Sanguinetto, who was elected for a year on the last 29th of April.
Maltese Order before of the "bagarre"
Vatican Insider, the news platform directed by the pontifical House Vaticanist Andrea Tornielli, reported enthusiastically the same day about the reception. At the same time, the site emphasized the fact that the delegation had not appeared in the uniform of the knights but in civilian clothes before the pope.
The 1000 year old order has passed through some dramatic months. At the beginning of December 2016 there was an open conflict between the then acting Grandmaster Fra Mathew Festing and Grand Chancellor Albrecht Freiherr von Boeselager. Festing dismissed Boeselager, who found support with the Vatican Secretariat of State and with Pope Francis. The Grand Master insisted on the sovereignty of the Order in an Order. Pope Francis saw it differently. When, at the end of January, he received the Grand Master in audience, he did so less to give Fra Festing the opportunity to present his position, but to give him an ultimatum. The Grand Master took the consequences and resigned.
Dramatic conflict just a "bagarre"?
At the same time, the Vatican Secretariat of State re-elected Boeselager as "Grand Chancellor" in the name of the Pope. Until the election of a new Grand Master, Fra Dalla Torre will be responsible for the duties of the management of the Order, as a state administrator. The actual decisions fall on the Boeselager - Secretary of State.
Maltese Order after the "bagarre"
The Pope's audience was traditionally held the day before the Feast of Saint John the Baptist, the patron of the Order. Topics were "the reform of the Order and humanitarian projects". Critics fear structural intervention in the religious order to cement a change in its course. At the core of the "reform," the assumption is that the first class should be subdued in favor of the Second Estate, to which Boeselager also belongs.
"Kneeling and hand kiss, moving look, civilian clothes. Farewell! decorations, red jackets and presumptuous photos."
Thus Vatican insider author Salvatore Cernunzio describes the "new humility" of the Order. The delegation, led by Statthalter Dalla Torre, had a total of twelve representatives. The Maltese Vicar presented himself to the Pope in a completely different way from that of the Order, which was "last December an actor behind a turbulent bagarre."
For Vatican Insider, the serious conflict, which has several courtly spies, was only a "tussle". After a "successful" operation, the Vatican apparently wants to go to the agenda.
Order Knights with Cukulle at Church events
All the members of the Sovereign Council, who had entered before Pope Francis, appeared in civilian clothes, "without the picturesque uniforms," Cernunzio said. The Order also expresses its dual character in its clothing: military as a knightly order through the red uniform, ecclesiastically through the black Cukulle. Obviously, the knights who had been "encouraged," says Cernunzio, left the appropriate uniform for the secular occasions last Friday in the closet because they "do not like the pope".
Even in the past, the Order's representatives had appeared wearing less formal civilian clothes before the pope. In the context of the Pope, however, past weeks were intended to emphasize this aspect and emphasize a contrast to the past.
The meeting lasted almost 25 minutes. All those present left the audience room "visibly moved", according to Cernunzio.
Pope Francis had "encouraged" them with the words:
"I am near to you, I pray for you, continue this way."
Maltese Order and Immigration
The governor assured the Pope that the Order was fully committed to the promotion of "international humanitarian law" and that it was increasingly active in the area of "Migration and Development". As of June 28, Fra Dalla Torre, will take part in the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) in Berlin.
In the course of the mass immigration to Europe and to the USA, Pope Francis has supported a "right to migration". In this connection, he had a strong demand for a change of the National Citizenship Act over the leadership of the Italian Bishops' Conference appointed by him. Those who are born in Italy will automatically be citizens of the country, according to the draft of the Italian left-wing government, which is currently being discussed by parliament. However, the latest opinion of the IPSOS Institute revealed that the majority of the Italians reject the Ius soli and demand the maintenance of the jus sanguinis, as the principle of pedigrees. The success of the bourgeois-right opposition in the municipal elections of Sunday confirms this trend.
Pope Francis, on the other hand, encouragted the Bishops' Conference to "cozy up" with the left-wing government, according to personal preferences, as the critics say: the pigments on the new palette ranges from registered partnerships for homosexuals to immigration issues. The Maltese Order seems to be viewed as a building block in the network of the "migration industry".
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Photo: Vatican.va (Screenshots)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG
(Rome) Andrea Tornielli, a regular visitor to the Domus Sanctæ Marthæ, where Pope Francis lives, put the brakes in an article by Vatican Insider on the report by another publication, close to Pope Francis, Il Faro di Roma, which had reported on Monday, 10 April, that Pope Francis would announce the recognition of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Pius X as a personal prelature on 13th May in Fatima. Was it only a Vatican test balloon to test the reactions?
This is quite conceivable, but there is still movement behind the scenes. The report by Faro was strengthened by a reference to the website of the Sacred Heart of Jesus' Seminary of the Society in Zaitzkofen. First, it was said:
"Perhaps the Society will be established as a personal prelate until June [June 2018] by Rome."
The sentence was later deleted from the report. Apparently, it had not been published with the consent of the administration, or the publication of such a hypothesis had at the time been regarded as inappropriate.
Tornielli's first-hand information
When the report of a possible announcement of the canonical recognition of the Society, in connection with the 100th anniversary of the first Marian apparition in Fatima, was taken over by numerous media, Andrea Tornielli had hit the brake on the evening of the 12th of April. Tornielli is considered to be a house and court vaticanista of the pope. The content of his report can not be exactly interpreted. The fact of his intervention, on the other hand, is probably due to the wish of Pope Francis.
Tornielli emphasized in his article that "Pope Francis took two important steps in favor of the traditionalist group by thinking in both cases of the faithful who follow the Society."
Tornielli continued:
"Some sources have spoken of a possible acceleration, and the announcement of an imminent action of the granting of a personal prelature during the trip, which the Pope will undertake to Fatima on the 12th and 13th of May, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Marian apparitions, which have influenced the history of the 20th century."
But then the brakeman follows with some background information:
"However, the situation has not changed since a few months ago. The General Assembly of the Society, Bishop Bernard Fellay, has not yet signed the modified and simplified doctrinal statement, which contains a professio fidei, considered by the Congregation of the Faith and the Pontifical Commission, Ecclesia Dei, as a necessary step before the legal process, the full return of the [Priestly Society] St. Pius X to communion. "
Tornielli then provides basic indications of a Vatican roadmap:
"The pope and the Vatican dicasteries are in no hurry and do not want to push Fellay, knowing that he has to make the bill with differences of opinion within the Society. It is also foreseeable that the Holy See, before setting up the Personal Prelature, will adequately inform the affected bishops' conferences of those countries in which the Lefebvrians are present and effective.
"The time is not yet ripe"
Tornielli emphasizes that the "followers of the Society have a special veneration for the Mother of Fatima," and a pilgrimage of the Society to Fatima will take place on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of the Virgin Mary's apparition.
"But the time, as important sources of Oltretevere [Vatican] inform, is not yet ripe."
A somewhat cryptic piece of information, which is not explained in more detail, why and on what page is "the time not yet ripe". Tornielli explains why in Fatima on 13th May there will be no announcement on the Society with the canonization of the seer children, Francisco and Jacinta Marto, and the centennial of the Marian apparitions, would be "pushed into the background."
The return of the Lefebvrians to the full communion," Tornielli said, "would be a message with a worldwide response since it would finally seal the end of the break-up in 1988." This rupture was already "partially restored," according to the papal house vativanista, in the decision of Pope Benedict XVI, "to abolish the excommunication of those who had received episcopal ordination."
Since 2012, when once - at that time still under Pope Benedict XVI. - after an imminent reconciliation, it is known that there are opposing positions in the Vatican and in the World Church, concerning a reconciliation with the Society. The different reports of media, which are close to the pope, seem to confirm a certain tug-of-war. The fact is that the voice of Andrea Tornielli is doubtless more important than that of Faro di Roma. Tornielli's report, with some concrete details on an intended procedure, confirms that he referred to his information, if not from the first hand, at least from the direct circle around the pope. The fact is that there are also parts in the Vatican, as already in 2012, who are working towards a recognition of the Society.
Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: MiL
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
AMDG
(Rome) On Sunday, he published together with his colleague Giacomo Galeazzi a kind of list of proscriptions for the Pope's critics. Yesterday, the publishing house Piemme announced that it will write a new book on Pope Francis.
We're talking about Andrea Tornielli, who holds the office of unofficial papal house Vaticanist since 2013. The new book, which will be released in January 2017 is entitled "In viaggio" (En Route). The book will be a "long, exclusive interview with Francis contained, as the publisher announced."
Andrea Tornielli and Pope Francis are to repeat the recipe which led to the worldwide success with the book at the beginning of 2016 "Il nome di Dio è Misericordia" (The Name of God is Mercy), which has appeared in 100 countries and has been translated into 35 languages.
The year 2016 was marked by new releases into the book market by four ecclesiastical personalities of the highest order. It all started in January, Pope Francis, followed in April by Prefect Gerhard Cardinal Müller with his Spanish language book "Informe sobre la Esperanza" (State of the Hope).
In September Benedict XVI followed with his interview book, "The Last Conversations" with Peter Seewald, and finally in October, Cardinal Prefect Robert Sarah with the book submitted in French "La Force du Silence" (The Power of Silence).
While the interview books by Francis and Benedict XVI. were simultaneously published in several languages, translations of the other two books are in preparation. All four are conceived to develop an international effect.
Pope Francis also wants to release another interview book in 2017 that will explain from the pen of Andrea Tornielli what Pope Francis intends for the Catholic Church. According publishing information the book has caused quite an international stir among publishers even before tomorrow's opening of the Frankfurt Book Fair. "First offers" for translations into other languages have already been received, says Piemme .
Text: Giuseppe Nardi Image: SMM / Piemme (screenshots)
(Rome) what does Pope Francis think of the Second Vatican Council? It was recently the topic at Il sismografo (The seismograph), an unofficial press review of the Vatican Secretariat of State on the Internet. The "Seismograph" provokes "little earthquakes" wrote the Vatican expert Sandro Magister. The recent "earthquake" relates to "nothing less than the hermeneutics of the Second Vatican Council, as interpreted and applied by Pope Francis."
The people involved in the matter are:
Luis Badilla Morales, the chief editor of Il sismografo, a Chilean who "was a Minister of the Allende government and since 1973 in political exile in Europe" (Terred'America) and has worked for many years at Vatican Radio;
Massimo Faggioli, church historian and a leader of the progressive "School of Bologna" along with Giuseppe Alberigo, for whom the Second Vatican Council was a positive "break" and "new beginning" in the Church's history;
Agostino Marchetto is a Curial Archbishop, former diplomat and weighty critic of the "school of Bologna" - and longtime friend of Pope Francis. Marchetto is a representative of the "hermeneutic of continuity" within the understanding of Pope Benedict XVI.
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.
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)
