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

Ultraprogressive Cardinal Appointments Upcoming — Liberation Theologian Disciplined By Benedict

Bishop Ricardo Valenzuela with Fernando Lugo, then President of Paraguay. Lugo was previously Bishop of San Pedro. In 2008 he was the liberation theologian laicized by  Pope Benedict XVI. Valenzuela and Lugo had both studied at the Gregoriana in Rome.

(Asuncion) Already in recent weeks, it has been said that Pope Francis might create new cardinals at the end of the month. The media in Paraguay report that this time the South American country is likely to get a cardinal. While at the end of June, as possible timing of cardinal elevations becomes less likely, the number of ultraprogressive contenders for the Cardinal rank is increasing.

The Cardinals under 80 choose the Pope. Any consistory for the creation of new cardinals convened by Pope Francis represents a powerful push towards progressive succession.

At the feast of the apostolic princes Peter and Paul, the Pope traditionally awards the pallium to the metropolitans appointed last year, as the visible sign of their attachment to the Bishop of Rome and the universal Church. In May, voices thickened that the ruling pope could take the opportunity to create new cardinals. The date seemed unusual because there is currently no need, as the full number of papal electors is given. This was last set to 120 by Pope John Paul II. Katholisches.info reported when this need will be restored.

In recent days, "rumors have intensified" that Paraguay will get a cardinal in the next cardinal surveys, as the Paraguayan daily ABC Color said yesterday. As possible contenders for the Cardinalatial purple the newspaper has named Bishop Ricardo Valenzuela of Caacupé (not to be confused with Archbishop Edmundo Valenzuela of Asuncion), Bishop Adalberto Martinez of Villarrica and at the same time President of the Paraguayan Episcopal Conference, and Bishop Francisco Pistilli of Encarnacion. All three have been already promoted by Pope Francis. The greatest opportunities are said to belong to Bishop Valenzuela. A few weeks ago he had already been called to Rome to talk about this issue, local voices said. However, on request from ABC Color, Bishop Valenzuela said "jokingly" that it was "just rumors and nothing more". The trip to Europe did not take him to Rome but to Lourdes.

The Paraguayan episcopacy is strongly liberation theological, as shown by the conflict over Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano of Ciudad del Este  who was an exception in the South American country. Due to disturbance of unity in the episcopate, he was deposed in 2014 by Pope Francis in a despotic manner. He refused a conversation. Bishop Livieres spoke of an "intrigue of other bishops" and warned that Pope Francis would even have to answer to God for the impeachment. Katholisches.info called the papal intervention "the nightmare of this pontificate: purges without procedure". A year later, the plucky bishop died as a result of an operation.

Bishop Valenzuela has the closest contact with Pope Francis. When Francis deposed Bishop Livieres, he appointed Msgr. Valenzuela, then reputed to be the most progressive Bishop of Paraguay, Apostolic Administrator of Ciudad del Este. For Bishop Livieres the appointment was an additional slap in the face of the deposition. Valenzuela, at that time Bishop of Villarrica, was entrusted by Francis with the execution of the Church renewal by Bishop Livieres. As a reminder: Bishop Livieres, a member of Opus Dei and an Argentine like Pope Francis, was one of the first to remove his seminarians from the Joint Paraguayan Seminary in Asuncion, following their appointment as Bishop of Ciudad del Este, to protect them from progressive and liberation theological influences. He promoted priestly vocations and in the parishes, Eucharistic adoration and the traditional Roman rite. He established his own seminary just for his diocese. Although the Diocese of Ciudad del Este covers only ten percent of Catholics in the country, the seminary of Bishop Livieres numbered 70 percent of all seminarians in Paraguay.

At present, 45 cardinals come from the American continent.

In the view of another candidate, who is vigorously named as a possible purple bearer, the Portuguese theologian and Archbishop José Tolentino Calaça de Mendonça, was named by Jornal Madeira recently with a more realistic date for February 2020. Curial Archbishop José Tolentino Calaça de Mendonça is one of those who want to "liberate" the Church from its dogmas.

Also the last Sunday in the Church year, the Christ the King celebration in Novus Ordo, could be a possible date for a consistory. Because of the vacant positions in the College of Papal Electors, the cardinal elevations should take place only in the spring of 2020.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi

Image: Presidencia (screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG