Cardinal Vingt-Trois Reaches 75 -- Pope Ignores Congregation of Bishops in Appointments -- Wants the Most Progressive Replacements

(Paris) On November 7, André Cardinal Vingt-Trois completed his 75th birthday. He has offered Pope Francis his resignation according to canon law. Who will succeed him as Archbishop of Paris?

The Cardinal has been the head of the Archdiocese since 2005, which had been evangelized by Saint Dionysius of Paris (Saint Denis). According to La Croix, the daily newspaper of the French bishops, the Apostolic Nuncio and the Permanent Council of the Episcopal Conference have already prepared a tripartite proposal, which will be examined by the Congregation of Bishops and presented to Pope Francis for help in any decision. The Pope is completely free in his decision.

He can leave Cardinal Vingt-Trois in office for another two years or more. He may if he wants to retire the Cardinal, he may or may not stick to the proposal of the Bishops' Congregation. While his predecessors rarely deviated from this, Pope Francis also strikes his own course on this point. Above all, he has appointed the important episcopal sees on his own, that is, past the competent Congregation of Bishops. As it happened in Chicago, Madrid, Sydney, Palermo and Bologna, to name just a few examples. Paris is one of the important episcopal sees, which is why the Pope is likely to take a similar approach.

Search for "the most progressive candidate"

It is not just a papal willfulness, but a directional decision. On 19 April 2016, Le Journal de Montréal quoted Quebec's Alain Pronkin, a journalist specializing in religion and good connections with his fellow countryman, quoted Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops as saying:

Pope Francis is looking for "the most progressive candidates".

"It is disturbing because it is the task of Cardinal Ouellet in Rome to propose the name to the Pope, but he ignores it and opts for completely different candidates".

A few days earlier La Croix had written:

"It has already happened that Pope Francis rejected all three of the names presented to him by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops, [...] and even sought others from his direction."

In order to seek "others from his own direction," the Pope, in order to obtain information, makes use of the Jesuit order. The decisive factor for Francis, according to Pronkin, is the progressive attitude of the candidate, which must be confirmed to him by a confidant. This confirmation is sufficient. The Pope would then need no dossiers and reports, as presented to him by the Congregation of Bishops. The recommendation of a person whom he trusts is enough to make someone a bishop.

Candidate for the Archdiocese of Paris

Several names have been mentioned in the past for the Archdiocese of Paris, which are given alphabetically:

Msgr. Michel Aupetit, 66, Bishop of Nanterre since 2014

Mgr. Jean-Marc Aveline, 58, Auxiliary Bishop of Marseille since 2013

Msgr. Jacques Blaquart, 65, Bishop of Orleans since 2010, Chair of the Solidarity Committee of the Episcopal Conference

Msgr. Jean-Paul James, 65, Bishop of Nantes since 2009

Msgr. Dominique Lebrun, 60, Archbishop of Rouen since 2015

Mgr. Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, 55, Auxiliary Bishop of Paris since 2008, Chairman of the Faith Commission of the Episcopal Conference

Msgr. Pierre d'Ornellas, 64, Archbishop of Rennes since 2007

Msgr. Laurent Ulrich, 66, Archbishop of Lille since 2008, former Vice-Chairman of the Episcopal Conference

Msgr. Pascal Wintzer, 57, Archbishop of Poitiers since 2012

There is also a name that has recently been given special mention and is also highlighted by La Croix:

Father François-Xavier Dumortier, 69, Jesuit, former Rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

For the Paris See, Francis may not only use the Jesuit order to obtain information, but make another Jesuit Archbishop.

François-Xavier Dumortier

The Jesuit Dumortier was born on November 4, 1948 in Levroux, France. His family is from French Flanders. He studied Political Science at the Institut d 'Etudes Politiques de Paris and Law at the Université Panthéon-Assas Paris with a specialization in Legal Philosophy. At the age of 25, in 1973, he entered the Society of Jesus and studied philosophy and theology at the Center Sèvres of the Jesuit order in Paris and at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge Massachusetts. In 1982 he was ordained a priest and in 1990 also took solemn vows in his order. For 20 years he taught philosophy, mainly ethics, at the Paris Jesuit College Center Sèvres of which he was its principal from 1997 to 2003. His research focus was the work of Hannah Arendt. In 2003 he was appointed Pro-Provincial of France. In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI made him the rector of the Roman Jesuit College Gregoriana. This is a post he held until 1 September 2016. Since the beginning of 2014 he is a Knight of the French Legion of Honor. Pope Francis personally made him a Synodal participant for the Double Synod of the Family in 2014. In 2008 he was already talked about as successor to Msgr. Gerard Defois as Archbishop of Lille. Now he is considered the most promising candidate for the Episcopal See of Paris.

On 15 April 2016, just a week after the presentation of the post-synodal letter Amoris laetitia , Rector Dumortier hosted a conference on this highly controversial document. Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, and Archbishop Vicente Paglia, at that time President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, attended the meeting. In his greeting, Dumortier expressed his unreservedly positive response to Amoris laetitia, in whose establishment he had himself participated as a synod.

His introduction and the conference papers are in video:

 

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
 Image: Youtube (screenshot)
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link...https://www.katholisches.info/2017/11/wer-wird-naechster-erzbischof-von-paris/
AMDG

Pope Francis and the Appointment of Bishops: "He Looks For the Most Progressive Candidates"

Pope Francis and Cardinal Ouellet shortly before the Conclave
of 2013 on St. Peter's Square

(Rome) Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the Roman faith prefect is not the only cardinal who is marginalized by Pope Francis (see Pope Francis and the Marginalization of the CDF). This also applies to another "Ratzingerian", the French-Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, prefect the Congregation for Bishops. 

In his first interview with the atheist Eugenio Scalfari on the October 1, 2013 for the daily newspaper La Repubblica,  Pope Francis said, looking at some members of the Roman Curia: "the court is the leprosy of the papacy ".

But Francis seems "to fight the leper and not the leprosy," said Secretum meum mihi . The daily newspaper Le Journal de Montréal headline in yesterday's edition: "Cardinal Ouellet no longer has the ear of the Pope".  Cardinal Ouellet is responsible, as prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, for the appointment of bishops. His dicastery is preparing the appointment of bishops by the pope, is collecting the necessary information and recommends candidates.

Pope Francis "throws Ouellet's recommendations in the trash"

Under Pope Francis, things have fundamentally changed: "Pope Francis has thrown his recommendations for the appointment of new bishops into the trash," said the French-Canadian newspaper.

"It is worrying because it is the task of Cardinal Ouellet in Rome to propose in the Pope's name, but he ignores them and decides on all other candidates," said Quebec Religion specialist Alain Pronkin.

The French daily La Croix reported a few days ago that "it has already happened, that Pope Francis rejected all three names submitted to him by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, [...] and even sought out others for direction. "

According to the weekly magazine L'Espresso that was the case, for example, in the replacement of three important Sees: Chicago, Madrid and Sydney.

The appointments for Francis are not only a question of suitability, but a question of direction. The real revolution of Pope Francis is done by appointment .

Pope Francis looking for "the most progressive candidate"

According to Le Journal de Montréal , it was even "very rare" that the Pope follows the recommendations of the Cardinal, although that is his task and Cardinal Ouellet, through his staff, has the best overview of the situation in a diocese.

However, the Pope uses his own channels, not the official, but informal, and which may also come about by accident. According to Alain Pronkin, Pope Francis is looking for the "progressive candidates". For this he has to rely on recommendations. What he rejects with Cardinal Ouellet are accepted from among the Pope's confidants. In other words, the belief and understanding of the Church by Cardinal Ouellet, a Ratzingerianer, displeases the pope.

"A concrete example: The Pope believes in the fact that the divorced and remarried can receive Communion, while Cardinal Ouellet, however, expressed his rejection of this," said Alain Pronkin.

The same applies to the issue of homosexuality.

For this reason, Francis shuns everything that is presented to him by Cardinal Ouellet and relies instead on labile random recommendations.

Recommendation by a progressive confidant enough to be Bishop

This was not quite by chance. The Pope operates by information obtained from part of the Jesuit Order.  What is decisive for Francis is the progressive attitude of the candidates who must be confirmed to him by a confidant. That is enough. The Pope then needs no dossiers and reports, as they are presented to him by the Congregation for Bishops. A person's recommendation of trust is sufficient to make someone a bishop.

The archdiocesan chair of Chicago is one of the most influential in the US.  and Pope Francis rejected all three candidates that were presented to him by Cardinal Ouellet,  in collaboration with the Apostolic Nuncio and the former Archbishop Cardinal Francis George. Instead, he appointed Bishop Blaise Cupich, who was regarded as one of the biggest outsiders in the episcopate of the United States because of his progressive views. Thus, Francis not only drove a splinter, but a real stake into the heart of the Catholic Church in the United States. Archbishop Cupich has already called for the communion for divorced and remarried and the acceptance of homosexuality.

Shortly before his death, Cardinal George wrote about the Synod of Bishops in Rome:

"The pope has said he wants to see on every question, and so it happened, so he got what he wanted, and now he has to fix it. [...] This raises the question of why he does not clarify these things himself. Why is it necessary that apologists have the burden to find the best interpretation? He has not realized the consequences of some of his statements, or even his actions? Does he not realize the impact? "

As is known,  the post-synodal Letter of Amoris Laetitia did not receive papal clarification, for the "apologists" are busy again on the road, "to find the best interpretation".

Appointments: Here the "revolution" Francis performs most effectively

Pope Francis has been working meticulously on a new personnel network on the decision-making level, which should lead the Church structurally well beyond his death in a particular direction. Maybe his personal policy, which is usually revealed very quietly, revealed even in the most important field of activity in which he transposes his vision of the Church vision. Here his "revolution" is at its most enduring.

According to Pronkin, Cardinal Ouellet could soon be replaced by Pope Francis. The French Canadian, says Pronkin, would not be the first high Curia employee who would deposed because of his criticism of the papal course. However, Francis had found a way to make the appointments himself, although the competent Congregation is in the hands of persons whose convictions he rejects. The informal, semi-clandestine appointments to official bodies in the  past is not only a temporary solution, but probably corresponds to the disposition of the Pope and his aversion to rules and laws. [Or he doesn't want to spend the political capital to get rid of him, when he can do the job himself.]

There have been advantages for the "revolution" of episcopal appointments that a Ratzingerianer still officially stands at the head of the Congregation for Bishops. It maintains the impression in the Church  that there is a balancing counterweight, but one  that does not exist in reality. [There were still very, very bad appointments under Benedict.]

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: MiL (Screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link to Katholisches...

AMDG

Important Strategic Course in Selecting the Head of Opus Dei

Right of Pope Francis is Prelate Echevarria, Left
Msgr. Ocariz

(Rome) Prelate Javier Echevarría, who has been at the head of the Personal Prelature of Opus Dei since   1994,  has engaged an important personnel decision and thus undertook a strategic course in naming  his successor at the head of a Personal Prelature.

Echevarria, who has the rank of bishop, is the second successor of Opus Dei founder Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer y Albas (1902-1975). Escrivà was canonized  in 2002 by Pope John Paul II, and his first successor, Monsignor Álvaro del Portillo (1914-1994) was beatified by Pope Francis on September 27, 2014.

Monsignor Javier Echevarría has now appointed a deputy.The decision was justified with the proliferating  global tasks and his advanced age. Echevarría, born in 1932 who reached his 82nd birthday last June 14, had appointed the former Vicar General of the Prelature, Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz as his deputy.

Msgr. Fernando Ocariz Coadjutor Prelate 

In Dec. 9 came the appointment came into force transmitting to  Msgr. Ocáriz all that is necessary for the responsibility  the management of the Prelature, including the prelate's reserved decision-making powers. The only exceptions are the responsibilities associated with the episcopal office of the prelate.

The appointment was made ​​in accordance with Article 134, paragraph 1, and Article 125 of the Codex iuris particularis Operis Dei ,   which  John Paul II. approved with the Apostolic Constitution Ut sit on 28 November 1982.

In contrast to countervailing tendencies to  bureaucratize ministries occupied for life in the church and to limit their time, the prelate of Opus Dei continues its life in accordance with statutes. For this reason, the statutes provide for the possibility that the prelate may freely appoint a deputy  in the form of a coadjutor. The General Council of the Prelature can also recommend such an appointment.

Msgr. Ocariz was Co-author of the Declaration Dominus Iesus

Msgr. Fernando Ocáriz was born in 1944 in Paris. He studied physics at the University of Barcelona and then theology at the Lateran University in Rome. At the University of Navarra, he received his doctorate in the New Evangelization. In 1971 he was ordained a priest and later taught Fundamental Theology as Professor at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome. Since 1986 he has been Consultant of the Congregation and since 1989 a member of the Pontifical Academy of Theology . Since 1994, he exercised the office of Vicar General of the Prelature. He is regarded as one of the principal authors of the Declaration Dominus Iesus on the unicity and salvific universality of Jesus Christ and the Church in 2000.

Opus Dei, canonically erected in 1943,  is the only personal prelature of the Catholic Church. The prelate has the rank of bishop. Already, Msgr. Echevarria held  the Office of the Vicar General in Opus Dei before his appointment as  Prelate.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: Osservatore Romano

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

Link Katholisches...

AMDG

Canon Stephan Burger new Archbishop of Freiburg

Edit: this priest has just been appointed to one of the most powerful sees in Germany. He replaces the Old Liberal Archbishop Robert Zollitsch. We guess he’ll get a cardinal’s hat before than Moraglia, the Patriarch of Venice. More later.

May 30, 2014 15:44 | Message to the Editor

(Freiburg im Breisgau) The Archdiocese of Freiburg im Breisgau has a new archbishop.The successor of Archbishop Robert Zollitsch is the former head of the Archdiocesan Offizialat [Chancellor], Canon Stephan Burger. Archbishop Burger was born on April 29, 1962 in Freiburg. There he studied theology at the Theological Faculty of the University and was ordained priest on 20 May 1990 for the Archdiocese. After parish ministry, among others, in Tauberbischofsheim and Pforzheim, he obtained a degree in canon law in 2006 at the University of Münster. In the same year he was appointed to the archiepiscopal church court. At the same time he was still active in parish ministry in Kaiserstuhl-Burkheim. In 2013 he was appointed canon of the cathedral chapter.

Tutilo, the brother of the new archbishop is Abbot of the Benedictine Beuron.

Link to katholisches...

New Bishop of Liege Celebrates "Old Mass" After Appointment

(Brussels) On the 31st of May Pope Francis appointed Monsignor Jean-Pierre Delville appointed bishop of Liege, who then celebrated a High Mass few days after his appointment in the Immemorial Mass of All Ages. The new bishop of the diocese, which also includes the territory of the German-speaking community in the area of eastern Belgium, Eupen and St. Vith, has already celebrated the "Old Rite" several times in the as the blog Belgicatho reported.

The consecration of the new bishop will take place on the 14th of July in the Cathedral of Liege. The Bishop was born on the 29th of April, 1961 in Delville in the capital of his diocese. In 1980 he was consecrated as bishop of his home diocese. He succeeds Bishop Aloysius Jousten. Link to katholisches...

Msgr Georg Gänswein Long-shot for Diocese of Regensburg

This weekend the careerist and teacher of error, Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller is leaving Regensburg. An unexpected guest took part in the festivities.

Prälat Georg Gänswein –
current secretary of Benedikt XVI.
© premiosciacca, Flickr, CC

 (kreuz.net, Regensburg) This Sunday the teacher of error and new defender of the Faith of Pope Benedict's grace, Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller officially departs as Bishop of Regensburg.

The event is the occasion of a feast and a closing Pontifical Mass in Regensburg Cathedral.

Today, this Saturday, Msgr Müller will open the former private house of Pope Benedict XVI in the 2700 population community of Pentling, which borders on north eastern Regensburg as a meeting place for the Neoconservative.

The Unexpected Guest

More interestingly Prelate Geoorg Gänswein, the private secretary of the Pope, was present for the festivities.

He has no close relatives in Regensburg.

For that reason there have been the presence of rumors whereby he appears as a likely candidate for the empty Diocesan post.

Roman observers consider this option to be improbable.

The Wish-candidate of the Enemies of the Church

The media bosses of the anti-cllerical 'Schwäbische Zeitung'  have already indicated their wish candidate.

Thus the schmier paper mentioned Cathedral Dean Lorenz Wolf (56).  He is the chief of the 'Catholic Office" in Munich.

The 'Catholic Office' is a point of contact between Bavarian politics and the Church.

Cathedral Dean Wolf had already been tapped as the likely Bishop of Augsburg after the Putsch against Bishop Walter Mixa.

A Mitre at Any Price

As other names, the newspaper named Munich Auxiliary Bishop Wolfgang Bishof (51).

The Director of the Schwabian pilgrimage site Maria Vesperbild, Prelate Wilhelm Imkamp may also have an appetite for the office of Bishop.

With the invitation of Berlin's homo-Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, he has shown that he is thoroughly prepared to walk over bodies to snatch up a mitre.

Link to kreuz.net...

Old Liberal Bishop of Salzburg to Retire: Conservative Replacement?

Edit: this from Cathcon.  On a brighter note, some of you will remember that Linz Auxiliary Bishop designate Father Wagner was summoned to Rome recently.

Expect a big fight over the Archbishopric of Salzburg Kothgasser to retire - General News - Austrian Times Online News - English Newspaper:

 "Alois Kothgasser, the archbishop of the Diocese of Salzburg, has decided to apply for retirement. Kothgasser announced yesterday (Weds) that he informed Pope Benedict XVI. about his wish in a letter. Kothgasser, 75, added he hoped for a private conversation with the Pope to discuss who could succeed him. 

A decision is expected for autumn. Kothgasser is regarded as one of the Austrian Church’s leaders who try to ensure a healthy balance of the influence of members with a modern approach and the clergy’s conservative circles.

 News that he wants to resign due to his age hits the Church in the midst of what some analysts think could lead to a cross-country rebellion." Cathcon- there is no healthy balance possible with rampant modernism now breaking out into open disobedience to the Vicar of Christ.