The Death of a Pope Whisperer

German-born Cardinal Claudio Hummes, Pope Francis' governor in Brazil, died yesterday at the age of 88.

(Brasilia) The Archdiocese of São Paulo announced the death of Cardinal Cláudio Hummes at the age of 87. Cardinal Hummes was Pope Francis' lieutenant in Brazil and one of the major promoters of the Amazon Synod, which, along with the Synod on the Family, was the largest project of the current pontificate to date. Overall, Hummes was one of the most influential voices for the progressive paradigm shift under Francis. The pope called him a "very, very good friend".

Odilo Cardinal Scherer, the incumbent Archbishop of São Paulo yesterday issued a "Message of Sorrow and Hope" announcing that the burial will take place in São Paulo Cathedral:

"It is with great sadness that I announce the death of Cardinal Cláudio Hummes, (...) today, after a long illness that he endured with patience and trust in God."

It was Hummes who, as Francis himself said, said immediately after his election in 2013: "Don't forget the poor". It was he who recommended that the newly elected man call himself Francis. The long history will only be briefly outlined.

Hummes' rise

Archbishop Hummes with Lula da Silva 1989

Pope Benedict XVI had appointed the Archbishop of São Paulo to the Roman Curia despite his progressive attitude. This was a frequently practiced but not always successful attempt to remove critics of a pontificate from their dioceses and at the same time integrate them in Rome. John Paul II had failed with Cardinal Walter Kasper, Benedict XVI failed with Cardinal Hummes.

Cláudio Hummes, born in 1934 as Auri Alfonso Hummes in Montenegro in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, was of German descent and grew up in an area in southern Brazil dominated by German immigrants. His ancestors emigrated from the Hunsrück to Brazil in 1857. Perhaps that is why it was so easy for him to help forge a progressive German-Brazilian axis.

He studied with the Jesuits, but entered the Franciscan order in 1952, where he received the religious name, Claudio. His intelligence enabled him to continue his studies at the Antonianum, the pontifical college of the Franciscan order in Rome. In 1958 he was ordained a priest and in 1965 he was an adviser to the Brazilian Bishops' Conference on ecumenical questions.

In 1975 he was appointed bishop by Paul VI. and the episcopal consecration by his confrere Archbishop Aloisio Lorscheider OFM, one of the signatories of the catacomb pact. In the same year, he became bishop of Santo André. At the time, Hummes had been in close contact with the political left for years, particularly with future Brazilian head of state and government Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

At the same time, however, he had the only partially accurate reputation of not being a representative of Marxist liberation theology, which was particularly rampant in Brazil. Therefore, John Paul II appointed him Lorscheider's successor as Archbishop of Fortaleza and in 1998 Archbishop of São Paulo, one of the largest dioceses in the world. He was created a cardinal in 2001.

The integration attempt by Benedict XVI.

Cardinal Scherer's message

Benedict XVI appointed Hummes to the Roman Curia as Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy in 2006, an appointment that caused a scandal even before Hummes arrived in Rome. The newly appointed prefect of clergy spoke out in an interview in Brazil for the abolition of Priestly Celibacy.  The scandal was perfect. The Holy See, severely offended, intervened and Hummes backtracked. He corrected his statement and was able to take up his post as Prefect in Rome.

The Brazilian cardinal had revealed two things to the whole world: Hummes was not a Marxist, but a progressive with no reservations about the Marxists. And he knew how to act, if necessary to hide his feelings.

Nevertheless, his time in Rome was not to last long. Externally he kept a low profile but sabotaged the pontificate of Benedict XVI. The final straw came in 2010 with Hummes' boycott of the appointment of St. John Mary Vianney as Patron Saint of Priests.

Behind the scenes, the progressive spectrum was up in arms against Benedict XVI's intention to make the priest of Ars the role model for the next generation of priests. According to the outraged, this is a step backward into “pre-conciliar” times and is directed “against” the Second Vatican Council. Hummes as the responsible cardinal prefect at the Curia played a central role in the rebellion against Benedict XVI. Since this was intriguing and Benedict XVI. was a very lenient regent, Vianney's appointment failed. However, the German Pope showed in his reaction that he could – if only rarely – take decisive steps. He fired the Brazilian that same year and before the end of Hummes' term. Benedict XVI thus shared his poor opinion of Hummes' tenure to the world.

Cardinal Hummes returned to Brazil at the age of 76 and had become Benedict's implacable opponent on a personal level as well. At the beginning of 2014 he would have turned 80 and resigned as a papal elector. The end of his influence. But Benedict XVI. surprisingly announced his resignation in February 2013 and offered the progressive Fronde the unexpected opportunity to turn things around at the "last moment".

Hummes, the Pope Whisperer

Hummes became a key figure in the March 2013 conclave. He was the one who supported the archbishop of Buenos Aires in the pre-conclave and, according to his own statements, supported Jorge Mario Bergoglio in the conclave "when things became a little more dangerous".

The crucial concern of the Sankt Gallen secret group and the Bergoglio team was that their Argentine candidate could withdraw his candidacy, as he did in 2005. Cardinal Kasper had obtained Bergoglio's promise that this would not be the case a second time. But Hummes had the task not to leave Bergoglio's side in the Sistine Chapel. When he showed himself to the world as the new pope, the "pope maker" Hummes also stood next to him on the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica. It was he, as Francis later said several times, who had whispered to him to take the name Francis.

When Francis showed himself to the world as the newly elected Pope in 2013, Cardinal Hummes stood with him on the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica.

The close bond between Francis and Hummes was still evident in the election year when the new pope gave the Brazilian the satisfaction of vengeance. On September 21, 2013, Francis Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, with whom Benedict XVI. had replaced Hummes as Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy just three years previously.

As late as February 2014, the first anniversary of Benedict XVI's announcement of his resignation, Hummes' joy was evident. The mood among Catholics had been "depressed and sad" during Benedict's reign around the world. People would have “hung their heads”. But with the resignation of the German Pope, so much has changed in one fell swoop “in such a quick and beautiful way”. With the election of Francis, the loss of trust of the people under Benedict XVI. vanished, because "now people have trust again".

In July 2014, in the changing climate of the new pontificate, Hummes gave the Brazilian newspaper Zero Hora a deeper insight into the intellectual world of a “popemaker”, in which “gay marriage”, the abolition of celibacy and women’s priesthood do not pose problems, but play an essential role.

Humme's most important project: the Amazon Synod

This explains why the revolutionary Austrian missionary Bishop Erwin Kräutler found in Hummes the decisive companion for the project "Amazon workshop" with the main goal of eliminating "forced celibacy". It was Hummes who opened the door to Santa Marta and the Amazon Synod. Hummes and Kräutler then also controlled the umbrella organization REPAM, which was founded especially for the synod: Kräutler as chairman for Brazil, Hummes as overall chairman.

It was Hummes who, before the Amazon Synod, alternately announced in cryptic tones that the synod “may become historic” and openly declared that the synod would “decide on married priests” . After all, the Amazon Synod "is not convened to repeat what the Church is already saying, but to move forward," Hummes said in the summer of 2018.

The major goal of the Brazilian purple wearer was the abolition of “forced celibacy”, as he had contemptuously called priestly celibacy back in 2010. Other solutions were out of the question for him. He vigorously rejected such a proposal in the late summer of 2016, when the proposal was made at a conference to solve the problem of the shortage of priests in the Amazon jungle by asking each missionary order to send two priests. Hummes had an allergic reaction: " No, no, the Pope doesn't want that ". He certainly didn't want it.

Everything was prepared by the Amazon Synod to overturn priestly celibacy. Hummes wrote a letter to all in January 2020 announcing Francis' post-synodal exhortation and urging it to be "accepted." It was generally expected that the letter would contain a softening of priestly celibacy. At a secret meeting in June 2019, the leaders of the synod had already found a name for the new ordained ministry: It should be “ Presbyter". Austria's bishops declared three months before the start of the synod – prematurely – that they would “ implement ” the resolutions for the Amazon in Austria. In Austria? It really didn't need more signals to grasp the deeper agenda of the Amazon Synod.

Hummes with Francis at the "Witches' Dance in the Vatican"

The Synod of “Indigenists, Modernists, Anti-Natalists and Ecologists” took place as planned. On the margins of the synod, Hummes celebrated a new edition of the catacomb synod of 1965, October 4, what became known as the “witches’ dance in the Vatican due to the scandalous introduction of the Pachamama which took place there.

But then everything turned out differently.

Benedict XVI published in early 2020, together with Cardinal Robert Sarah, then still Prefect of the Congregation for Worship, a plea for the priesthood and priestly celibacy. Outbursts of anger erupted in Santa Marta, but the surprise turnaround on celibacy was perfect. The subject was dropped at the last minute.

Hummes, Francis and Brazil's Socialists

Francis' conspicuous commitment to Lula da Silva also goes back to Hummes. The pope supported the “Free Lula” campaign when the former president was put in prison on suspicion of corruption, sent messages of solidarity to his prison cell, and was outraged by an alleged “white-glove coup d’état” when Lula’s socialists were about to lose their elections in 2018.

Monsignor Hummes with Socialist leader Lula da Silva (right) during strikes in 1979: the dream of reconciling socialism and Christianity

After the unexpected defeat on the celibacy issue, things had calmed down around Cardinal Hummes, at least on an international level. In Brazil he worked to the end on the project of a "Church with Amazonian roots". The post-synodal letter Querida Amazonia did not bring about the abolition of celibacy that he and the West hoped for, but it was a Bergoglian instrument that, given the “right” conditions and the necessary backing, offers a lot of leeway – also in the future. In the end, Hummes eagerly supported the establishment of the Conferencia Eclesial de la Amazonia as a parallel church structure. Katholisches.Info wrote on July 10, 2020 about the “ revolution through the back door” :

“The creation of completely new institutions opens the way to shedding the most 'obstructive' considerations possible and to being able to strive for the targeted goals more consistently and directly. (...) The new facility is a seamless continuation of the revolutionary agenda that some saw as shelved, or at least wanted to see. The new institution has been commissioned to submit "an important paper" to the Vatican on the question of how "married men in areas without priests" could be ordained. 

Since then it has been established that the objectives have not changed and continue to be: creation of a new Amazonian rite, abolition of celibacy, admission of married men to the priesthood, admission of women to the sacrament of Holy Orders as deaconesses – for the time being – and other progressive burdens of the past.”

 

Cardinal Hummes became chairman of the new parallel structure.

Hummes supported the unprecedented attack by 152 Brazilian bishops on President Jair Bolsonaro in the summer of 2020. The "Church with an Amazonian face" is too important to Santa Marta for such a frontal attack against a friendly, democratically elected legitimate government by parts of the episcopate to be launched single-handedly. Cardinal Hummes, Francis' personal friend, vouched for this.

May God have mercy on his soul.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image : MiL/arquisp.org.br/VaticanNews/Youtube/Wikicommons (Screenshots)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

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Brazilian Intelligence Service Warns Amazon Synod Will Be Abused by “Leftist Clergy”

(Rom / Brasilia) The Amazon Synod, convened by Pope Francis this coming October, wants to use the "progressive clergy" to attack the new Brazilian government. A report by the Brazilian secret service warns.

Yesterday's edition of the Brazilian daily O Estado de Sao Paulo opened with a big headline on the front page.

"The upper echelon is to fight the action for the 'left clergy'".

According to information from the Brazilian intelligence agency Agência Brasileira de Inteligência (ABIN), the "progressive clergy" wanted to use the Amazon synod to attack the new Brazilian government of President Jair Bolsonaro.

Bolsanaro’s Vice President  is Antônio Hamilton Mourão. Mourão was general of the Brazilian army. He is from the state of Amazonas and is of indigenous descent. The Amazon as a space and the indigenous peoples are, according to official Church information, the central themes of the synod.

Conflict between Brazil's government and leftist clergy. 

Report of "O Estado de S. Paulo".

It is not part of the Synodmakers' Amazon image that the state of Amazonas was won by Bolsonaro and his coalition last fall. Since January 1, Wilson Lima of the Christian Social Party (PSC) is Governor of Amazonas. The Partido Social Cristão was also Bolsonaro’s party, until he founded in 2018 for the presidential elections his own party ticket. The Deputy Governor of Amazon represents with Carlos Almeida, the party of Vice President Mourão.

The state of Amazon spreads over a gigantic expanse of more than 1.5 million square kilometers, but is inhabited by only four million people. According to the Brazilian statistics office, only 0.1 percent of them refer to themselves as members of indigenous peoples. The Brazilian statistics office lists five "races". A quarter of the population are whites, three quarters are pardos ("browns"), which in Brazil means the different mixes of the other four races (whites, blacks, Asians and Indians).

The figures have prompted observers to assume that there is a "deeper agenda" behind the synod topics that are publicly mentioned.

The Brazilian intelligence service ABIN bases its report on its own findings and information from various military commands. The secret service report, says the daily O Estado de Sao Paulo, also discusses Pope Francis' recent meeting with Brazilian cardinals at the Vatican, which discussed the themes of the upcoming synod.

Organizer of the Amazon Synod is founded in 2014 Church network REPAM, which consists of an umbrella organization and national offshoots in the Amazon riparian states. Of real weight is only REPAM Brazil. The umbrella organization and the Brazilian offshoot are led by two Church representatives belonging to the progressive fringe of the Church. The umbrella organization is headed by Claudio Cardinal Hummes and REPAM Brazil, and emeritus missionary bishop Erwin Kräutler from Austria. Hummes and Kräutler are in favor of the abolition of priestly celibacy  nd the admission of married priests. Both have spoken repeatedly in the past for the introduction of women's priesthood. Both are close to the political left. Hummes is a personal friend of ex-President Lula, who has been imprisoned for corruption since April 2018. Kräutler is a darling of the left-wing media, as every home visit to Austria has confirmed.

The political left in Brazil, Latin America and beyond refuses to recognize Lula's condemnation. It claims that it was a political process to repress the influence of the left. Pope Francis expressed his sympathy and closeness to Lula. Even more unforgivable was Bolsonaro's election victory. The Brazilian left suffered a defeat in the fall of 2018, comparable to that of the Democratic Party in the US against Donald Trump.

Above all, Pope Francis again bet on "the wrong horse". His warning of a political electoral defeat in Brazil led to the new leadership recognizing the Catholic Church, significant parts of the Brazilian hierarchy, and the church leadership in Rome as declared government opponents.

Bolsonaro is a Catholic, his wife is a free-church member. In the election campaign, the new president has relied mainly on the Protestant free churches. Behind it is a massive emigration movement from the Catholic Church to the Free Churches. The reason is the massive political and theological left pressure in the nation’s Catholic Church which has been developing for decades and has led to an alienation of the faithful from their Church.

The Amazon Synod is pushing, as the intelligence report shows,  the intention of the world Church to install a new "other", "second" priesthood, the secular political dimension to score also by social and environmental statements in the left-liberal mainstream, but also an intra-Brazilian dimension of political explosiveness.

The impression is confirmed, with friends and opponents, that Pope Francis acts more as a politician than as a Church leader.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi

Image: Wikicommons

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

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priestly celibacy

Francis, Cardinal Hummes and the Amazon -- "Workshop" of a New Priesthood?

Hummes Future Vision

(Rome) Last November 7, Cardinal Claudio Hummes was received in Santa Marta by Pope Francis. The former Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for Clergy is today delegate of the Brazilian Bishops' Conference for Amazonia. Is it only the "long friendship" (Vatican Radio, German Section), both of which can meet so regularly, or  is something  up in the Amazon?

Hummes was Archbishop of Sao Paolo from 1998-2006 and it was he who himself suggested  the name of Francis   to him - according to a statement by the Pope.  The new pope wanted him at any rate on the central loggia at his side when he was first shown to the world. Cardinal Hummes is counted among the inner circle of the  Pope makers of this pontificate.

Yes to "Gay Marriage" and Priestesses - No to Celibacy and "Preconciliar Priest Image"

Hummes is known, however, not only as pope whisperer, but also because of his heterodox views. Last July 27, the Cardinal spoke in the Brazilian newspaper Zero Hora in favor of "gay marriage", women priests and the abolition of priestly celibacy. Likewise, he himself resisted the proposal of Benedict XVI., to make the  Curé of Ars as a model of the priest. A "preconciliar priest  image", which Hummes flatly rejects. In June 2010, the Brazilian could only marvel, shaking his head at the 17,000 priests from around the world who came to Rome with Benedict XVI. to participate  the off-hook representation of St. John Mary Vianney on the facade of St. Peter's  in the Prayer Vigil and the Pontifical Mass concluding the Year for Priests.

The Pope and the Interest for the Amazon Basin

Kraeutler (left) with Hummes (3rd from left)

Vatican Radio (Italian editors) spoke with the Cardinal, who reported on the audience. Hummes reported that he visited 56 dioceses and territorial prelacies in the vast but sparsely populated areas. "I have come again to the Pope to tell a bit what you do there, of which there are many things to tell about this beautiful, vibrant church, which still has big needs.There is a great lack of missionaries, missionaries and also material needs, as they do not have what is necessary for the most basic structures."

He continued: "We know how much he [Pope Francis] estimates the matter of the Amazon basin  and how attentive he is that the Church in Amazonia is a huge responsibility."  

Although the cardinal said nothing about it,  yet "it seems unlikely that on this occasion, they didn't discuss about priestly ordination,  the great shortage of missionaries, and even the approval of viri probati, " said Secretum meum mihi .

Negotiations on ordination for viri probati ?

Ten days before the Hummes-audience with Pope Francis  the Vatican expert Marco Tosatti reported  of a communication from Brazil that  would be  "a veritable revolution in the Church" would be. The Brazilian Bishops' Conference with the lead established by Pope Francis new leadership of the Congregation for the Clergy is in talks about the ordination ad experimentum for viri probati to resolve the shortage of priests in the Amazon region.

"Conversations" with the congregation, Cardinal Hummes leads, who has been commuting back and forth for the last one and a half years between Brazil and Rome. Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, who rejected the ordination of viri probati, was dismissed by the new Pope as Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy on his 69th birthday. In his place sat Francis his confidant, the diplomats Beniamino Stella, which he created last February, also a cardinal.

Cardinal Hummes said in an interview with Vatican Radio, the Pope lay the Amazon "very important" as the regular audiences would show.

The Amazon Basin as a "Workshop" for a New Priesthood?

"The Amazon could be the first region of the world where there are priests with a family in the Latin rite," said Marco Tosatti.  The Amazon basin as a "workshop" for a new priesthood?

Hummes had already tried as Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy under John Paul II., to advance the ordination of viri probati, but failed in his intention and it was due to his deficient understanding of the priesthood that  Benedict XVI. replaced him. Unlike his successor, Francis, this  the the German pope did not do brusquely, but in each case after the end of a regular passage of time.

Besides Hummes, there is primarily the Austrian Mission Bishop Erwin Kraeutler CSSP of the Roman Catholic Territorial Prelature of Xingu, as an advocate of broad-based ordinations. Bishop Kraeutler, in Austria,  is a favorite of the left spectrum, at home makes a good job of anything in the media, which could strengthen his self-portrait as a liberal (in the North American sense), open-minded, socially engaged bishop.

Pope Francis intensified the retirement provisions for bishops in early November. A new regulation, which was called for in no time by Cardinal Sardi, in order to facilitate the deportation of Cardinal Burke to the Order of Malta. Bishop Kraeutler, who has completed his 75th year on July 12, however, is not on the list of papal Pensionabili . [!]

No to Prayer for Vocations - Yes to Structural Reforms

75th birthday of Bishop Kräutler

Xingu is the area's largest diocese in Brazil. In an area that is as large as the Federal Republic of Germany, but where  only just  400,000 people live. In the Prelature, there are 800 "base communities" and 27 priests. Their pastoral care has been, since the establishment of the Xingu in 1934 as Apostolic Administration, then is entrusted as a territorial prelature  of the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood (CPPS). Before Erwin Kraeutler took over  the territorial   prelature in 1981, it was   already headed by his uncle, Erwin Kraeutler.

Last April 4 Kraeutler was received by Pope Francis. The missionary bishop urged attention to the ordination of viri probati to ensure the pastoral care of the faithful. These were suggested by Kräutler to the pope before, "decouple celibacy and Eucharist". That a Eucharistic celebration should depend on  a celibate priest is something "I don't do," Kraeutler said at the time to the Austrian daily newspaper Die Presse .

Would that Kraeutler knows something of Church history, he would know that the current situation in the Amazon is no different, as it was sometime in each area  newly Christianized. In the Early Middle Ages and High Middle Ages, the location itself in his native Austria was exactly the same.

About the Pope the Austrian missionary said, he wanted "a process set in motion" because "this process was not previously allowed. Benedict XVI. has said, we pray for priestly vocations. This pope is different ". Now the doors may open.

Leftmost canting, Bishop Kräutler can not do anything with prayer for priestly vocations, but relies on structural reforms.

So what's in the bush in the Amazon basin? With Cardinal Hummes and Bishop Kräutler  the question is being dragged by two men  in the same direction and Pope Francis is eagerly keen  about information on the  Amazon.  You will see why.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
image: padrescasados ​​/ Noticia da terra / Prelatura Xingu

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

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Who Advises the Pope? -- The "Privy Council" of Pope Francis

(Vatican) Who advises the Pope? The question is the most talked about whenever the Pope is mentioned since last March. It has been busy because the pontificate raises many questions. The advisers of the Pope could contribute to the unraveling. The progressive Vaticanist Marco Tosatti has published his travel log on Vatican Insider his reading.

Impulsive Pope: Did Francis Interrupt Prefect Müller During Mass, Because He Immediately Wanted to Talk to Him?

The Vaticanist Tosatti was the one recently in the newspaper La Stampa who told of an ​​episode he received that apparently left even this die-hard progressive shivering, "always assuming that it is true," he added. The subjunctive is imperative because the message went through several corners and has found no confirmation from another source. Tosatti attended a Sunday Mass at the German National Church dell'Anima Santa Maria in Rome in the second half of September.  He then learned that Pope Francis is supposed to have called at the Congregation at the end of June to speak on the spot to the Prefect Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller. But he was then celebrating a Mass for German seminarians in a nearby chapel. The Pope had insisted that the Archbishop interrupt the celebration and talk to him. An official of the Congregation was rushed to the chapel and informed Müller about the dictates of the Pope. He had interrupted the celebration and went into the sacristy to take a phone call with the Pope. The major concerns of the Pope? He told me  of an investigation against a Cardinal underway at the CDF against an old friend of the Pope. The Pope ordered the Prefect of the Congregation of Doctrine and the Faith, Müller, to immediately discontinue the investigation and close the case immediately.

Should the incident have happened, then it would indeed be shocking. Tosatti released it despite his reservations.

Whoever Finds the Ear of Pope Francis?

According to Tosatti it is "certainly" Monsignor Fabian Fedacchio Leaniz who is among the "consultants" of the Pope. The prelate has been working at the Congregation for Bishops, but works unofficially, "without assignment" but "effectively" for the post of secretary of the Pope.

Regarded as friend and adviser from the first hour in the Conclave, the Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes is Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Clergy. Hummes quickly let it be known that he had been involved, according to his own intervention, and instrumental in the election of Pope Bergoglio. Accordingly, he went to the side of the new Pope at the central loggia on the facade of St. Peter's, as he was shown to the world for the first time.

Less obvious is the role of the former Primate of England, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor. The Cardinal was allowed, as he was born in 1932, to participate in the conclave.  His reservations about Benedict XVI. were known. With Pope Francis, the Briton is understood to be, however, excellent. The new Pope, says Tosatti "often" gets council from him. The same also does the Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain. Because he knows the good rapport of the Cardinal with the Pope, the Cardinal was an important contact person.

Then there's the Honduran Cardinal Oscar Maradiaga. The Salesian was appointed by Pope Francis to the C8 Cardinals Council and represents Central America. He could also be called to Rome and take over the management of a Congregation. Since 2007, the Cardinal has good German skills already as President of Caritas Internationalis. Maradiaga was, after his appointment to the newly created eight-member Cardinalsrat, the most enthusiastic and talkative, to perform a "fundamental reform" of the Roman Curia. A sign that the Honduran is among the eight cardinals (excluding the Chilean Cardinal Ossa) is closest to the thinking of the new pope. His word is to have great weight with Pope Francis, says Tosatti. This has to do not only with aspects of content, but also with the common language and common Latin American origin.

Therefore, Archbishop Emeritus of Santiago, Cardinal Francisco Javier Errazuriz Ossa also fits in this category. The Cardinal from the neighboring country of Argentina was an elector in the March conclave. On the 5th of September he completed his 80th Year and retired from the circle of papal electors. But not from the circle of papal consultants.

A conspicuous number of non-friends of Benedict XVI.

The "Privy Council" of the Pope, as Tosatti has called the circle of men who have direct access to the Pope and whose word counts for him is also the Italian Giuseppe Cardinal Bertello, the President of the Governorate of Vatican City. Cardinal Bertello until 2007 was nuncio to Italy and San Marino. Actually, he had then hoped to be Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, but Benedict XVI. preferred the French-Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet. Also, when you post "Red Pope", the head of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples did not come to Bertello in train, but Cardinal Fernando Filoni. For Bertello remained under Benedict XVI. next to the dignity of Cardinal "only" in a ranking administrative task. Now he belongs to the group of advisers of Pope Francis.

This circle is "udite, udite" [Hush, hush] as Tosatti notes, also there is the Curial Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who was sent packing with a loud noise as Apostolic Nuncio to the United States to Washington DC.. Viganò was not then a noted "friend" of Benedict XVI.. Another outspoken opponent of Pope Benedict has an ear: the former papal master of ceremonies, Curial Archbishop Piero Marini, whom Pope Benedict XVI. dismissed in 2007 from his function. Despite elevation to archbishop and one post of his choice, Piero Marini opted for the post of President of the International Eucharistic Congresses. Marini has never forgiven him the dismissal as master of ceremonies. And he also made ​​no secret, as when Francis was elected as Pope, Piero Marini rejoiced to be finally rid of Benedict XVI..

Do the Heads of the Liturgy Consultants Have the Handwriting of Piero Marini?

The liturgical sensibility and the desire of Benedict XVI. to reclaim the sacredness of worship, gave Piero Marini no pleasure. Something he has in common with Pope Francis. The liturgy was previously not an issue for the new Pope. At least not in his speeches. The situation is different in the decisions in the field of Liturgy, as recently, another Vatican expert, Sandro Magister pointed out. Piero Marini's handwriting wants many changes with the complete replacement of all consultants for the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Papal See. The liturgical renewal staff of Benedict XVI. was beheaded without exception.

To Pope Francis' circle of advisors, according to Tosatti, belong the Spaniard Juan Ignacio Arrieta Ochoa de Chinchetru. The Opus Dei Bishop, a professor at the Opus Dei University of the Holy Cross in Rome and Canon Lawyer, was appointed by the new Pope to the be the coordinator of the commission of inquiry into the Vatican bank IOR.

Enterprising Francesca Chaoqui in the circle of Papal Consultants? - Multiple Meetings with Pope

Astonishment is likely about who has already been allowed to sit "several times" at the table of the Pope in the Domus Santa Marta, one of whom "recently" means the enterprising Francesca Immacolata Chaoqui (see report Francesca Chaouqui: always on the go, lobbyist, Nuzzi-admirer, new Papal Commissioner ). Each time she was in the company of other people who wanted to be presented to the Pope. A privilege, which Pope Francis clearly guards, since at the Vatican his employees do not have access to the Pope, as only recently the weekly magazine Focus reported. A "distant" attitude toward his subordinates is summarized in one of the recent sensational interviews in an unflattering manner with "leprosy".

The appointment of lobbyist Francesca Chaouqui as the member of the new Commission for Financial and Economic Affairs of the Holy made for astonished head shaking (Chaouqui to see their own reports below). Sandro Magister wrote in vain against the appointment Chaouquis equally pointing to the problem, as against the equally controversial appointment of Monsignor Battista Ricca, director of Santa Marta, the special representative of the Pope in the Vatican Bank.

Those who believed that Pope Francis could withdraw a decision made, learned their lesson. This includes the fact that the new Pope, despite public doubts about the suitability of Chaouquis for her office with far-reaching emergency powers, met with the Italo-Moroccan "many times sociably",  says Tosatti.

And Then the Phone: "Some Journalists"

Finally, the Vatican expert mentions the phone that the Pope uses with "extreme impartiality". The "secret", who the Pope likes for advice, is greater here. "However, it seems that some journalists are among them, old friends of the former Cardinal," said Tosatti. The Vaticanist does not call him, but one of the "old friends” should,  the Argentine writer Jorge Milias (see report Jorge Milias 'regrets' that private telephone conversations with Francis Pope have been published ).

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
 Image: Vatican Insider
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
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Pope Francis Replaces Cardinal Piacenza as Prefect for the Congregation of Clergy

(Vatican) Pope Francis's serious move has begun with the conversion of the Roman Curia, by the appointment of men of his choice. On Saturday, two important personnel reshuffles in the Vatican will be announced. The most important change concerns the dismissal of Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy.

Cardinal Piacenza was appointed only three years ago by Pope Benedict XVI. to this important post. He distinguished himself as a staunch defender of the traditional image of the priest. He saw the solution to the shortage of priests not in other relaxations, but the shortage of priests, among other things as a result of too many accomodations. Thus Cardinal Piacenza encouraged more discipline and tried to deepen the theological, spiritual and practical understanding of the priesthood.

Archbishop Piacenza is an Advocate of Priest Celibacy - They Hindered the Dedication of the Cure of Ars Patron of Priests to

The appointment of Monsignor Piacenza in 2007 as Secretary of the Congregation for the Clergy should have "neutralized" the influence of the then Prefect of the Congregation, the Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Humes. The replacement of Hummes by Piacenza as Prefect of the Congregation in 2010 had to do with the recently failed survey of Saint John Mary Vianney as the Patron of Priests. Pope Benedict XVI. wanted to give the parish priest of Ars to priests for an example. Against this "pre-Conciliar" priest's image great resistence rose to the top of the Church. Cardinal Hummes was one of the opponents.

In mid-January, Pope Benedict XVI. assigned the Congregation for the Clergy the supervision of the seminaries. Cardinal Piacenza had initiated visitations of the seminaries immediately, especially the numerous Roman seminaries. Under his administration, a new Board of Directors for the priests had been adopted. In connection with "50 years of Vatican II", he published texts that aimed to rid the image of priesthood and the priestly formation of distorting interpretations and - as Pope Benedict XVI. desired - back to a stronger bond to a spiritual perspective. Thus, a technical-practical reduction of the priest as an administrator was to be pushed back.

Cardinal Piacenza will be Apostolic Penitentiary - The Chief of the Diplomatic Academy New Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy

On the appointment of Archbishop Pietro Parolin to the Curia, as the new Secretary of State, he unleashed a discussion about the abolition of priestly celibacy with a new urgency, followed by the dismissal of Cardinal Piacenza, a resolute supporter of the priestly celibacy. Piacenza is to be assigned to the honorable but less influential post of the Cardinal Poenitentiary by Pope Francis and there, to succeeded the Portuguese Cardinal Manuel Monteiro de Castro.

The new Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, is a Vatican diplomatic Archbishop, Beniamino Stella. To be precise, the Italian Bishop Stella has been President of the Diplomatic Academy of the Holy See since 2007 and thus responsible for the training of diplomats of the Church.

Monsignor Eterović New Nuncio to Germany - Archbishop Baldisseri new Secretary of the Synod of Bishops

The second relates to the reshuffle of the Croatian Archbishop Nikola Eterovic. He will be replaced as Secretary of the Synod of Bishops, an office which he held for nine years. He will be replaced by Monsignor Lorenzo Baldisseri, the Secretary of the College of Cardinals. He placed the purple Pileolus on the Pope after his election. Since then, he is considered as a candidate for the dignity of Cardinal. Monsignor Eterović will be the new Apostolic Nuncio to Germany.

The appointment of the new Secretary of State and the reshuffles at the top of the Congregation for the Clergy and the Synod of Bishops took place just before the first meeting of the eight-member Council appointed by the Pope Francis, which is to assist in the reform of the Curia and in the governance of the Church. The announced personnel decisions are the result of considerations of the Cardinal advisors.

The Pope Has Filled Key positions with Intimates - tit for tat for the dismissal the Pope's Friend Cardinal Hummes?

The dismissal of Cardinal Piacenza and Archbishop Eterović seem to be related to the fact that Pope Francis intends to use personal confidantes in two key positions that are important for his further activities. Cardinal Piacenza's age is likely to have played a role in the dismissal but substantive differences of opinion as well. Moreover, as Vatican expert Andrea Tornielli suggests, the transfer of Archbishop Piacenza is a kind of tit for tat for the 2010 dismissal of Cardinal Hummes, who is a friend and elector of Pope Francis.

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
 Image: Vatican Insider
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

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