Militant Bishop's Widow and Pope Friend, Clelia Luro is Dead

(Buenos Aires) Clelia Luro, the militant widow of former Catholic bishop Jeronimo Podesta is dead, the former bishop of the Diocese of Avellaneda, Argentina turned to the end of the 60s to Marxist Liberation Theology and the Soviet paradise of the workers and peasants. In 1967 the Vatican had urged him to resignation as diocesan bishop and made titular bishop. In 1971 Podesta turned his back on the Church and married his secretary, Clelia Luro. As "Tabernacle Bolshevik" Podesta worked, flattered, as a former Catholic bishop, in the Soviet-directed Christian Peace Conference (CFRP). In this medium, the Catholic left two fought for the abolition of celibacy, and for the "general" priesthood instead of the "ministerial priesthood" and a rebuilding of the Church in base communities.

Luro: "Bergoglio called me every Sunday"

As Podesta died in 2000 in great poverty, Archbishop Jorge Mario Bergoglio was the only member of the Argentine episcopacy who visited him. Since then, there had been a cordial relationship between the Archbishop and current Pope, with Podesta's widow. The two phoned each other once a week. A habit that Cardinal Bergoglio at least partially retained as Pope Francis. Luro, however, could not make friends with Pope Benedict XVI.. Luro wrote him several letters, even in her own name, other times in the name of this or that progressive "base community". However, she ran to Benedict XVI. with her demands for the abolition of celibacy, approval of remarried divorcees to the sacraments and the "democratization" of the Church and that does not open doors.

Clelia Luro died in hospital in Buenos Aires. She got to know Bishop Jeronimo Podesta in 1966. The then 39 year-old mother of six children lived separated from her husband. She went along with the bishop in a new relationship that caused Podesta after a long double life to give up the priesthood and episcopacy. Under Pope Paul VI. thousands of priests turned away from their calling, and were transported back to the lay state. Luro, meanwhile, had divorced. In 1972 they married. In one of the letters to Pope Benedict XVI. she emphasized that the known liberation theologian Archbishop Helder Camara of Olindo and Recife had "blessed" their marriage.

Podesta was Especially Important to Bergoglios Upon his Death 

A few days before the election of Pope Francis, Luro said in an interview: "A month before his death Jeronimo said to me, 'Clelia, I will speak with the Archbishop.'" The woman asked him why he wanted to do this since the predecessor of Bergoglio had refused any conversation. "He is a very intelligent Jesuit, he will listen to me," replied her Podesta. "The two spoke two hours together. Jeronimo was very happy then," so went Luros' story.

As Podesta was dying in San Camillo Hospital, Archbishop Bergoglio prematurely ended a commitment and rushed to the hospital. He gave Podesta Extreme Unction. The former bishop was no longer conscious, "but he held my hand firmly," Archbishop Bergoglio said according to her.

"I know what it meant for Jeronimo to be near Bergoglio at his departure from this life," said Luro. The Archbishop had told the nurses in the hospital. "Don't send Clelia away, let her be there with him to the end." "Before I was allowed to stay with my husband only 15 minutes. Since then sympathy and gratitude for Bergoglio has grown in me ... He is a man of gestures, and some believe because of these gestures," said Luro.

Luro "Prophecy": Pope Francis Will "Soon" to Abolish Priestly Celibacy

Luro was a crusader for her own right. But the Pope also served in this. In early July, Luro was spoke to the German-speaking world, as she told the press a few months after the papal election of the Austrian daily, Die Presse to be sure that Pope Francis will abolish celibacy priest "soon." As the widow of a former priest and bishop, the fight against celibacy was a hobbyhorse for Luros, as previously also that of her husband, which she rode up to her death.

In the beginning of early 2012, he published an interview book with his friend, the Rabbi of Buenos Aires, Abraham Skorka, "About Heaven and Earth" (the German edition was not published until after his election to the papacy), the then Cardinal Bergoglio said about priest celibacy: "It is an issue that will be discussed in Western Catholicism at the insistence of some organizations. Currently it holds fast to the discipline of celibacy. Some say with a certain pragmatism that we lose workers. Suppose western Catholicism would reconsider the issue of celibacy, so I think it would do it for cultural reasons (as in the East) and not so much as a universal option. At the moment I am in favor of maintaining celibacy, with all the pros and cons that it brings with it, because there are ten centuries with more positive than negative experiences ... The tradition has its weight and validity. The Catholic priest chose celibacy gradually. In 1100 some elected to, others were not ... it's a matter of discipline, not of faith. You can change it. Personally, I never came to mind to marry."

"Repent, Observe Celibacy" and Not a Double Life - Archbishop Bergoglio and Celibacy

What the Archbishop of Buenos Aires did not brook, was a priest living a double life. "If someone comes to me and tells me that he has impregnated a woman, I listen to him, I try to calm him down and slowly, slowly I make him understand that the natural law comes before his right as a priest. Consequently, he must give up his priesthood and to accept his child, even if he should decide not to marry the woman. For just as this child has the right to have a mother, so it also has the right to have a father with a face. I take care of his papers in Rome, but he must give up everything. Now, if a priest tells me that he was carried away that he made a mistake, then I will help him to deal better with passion. There are priests, some better, but not others. Unfortunately, some won't even to say it to the bishop. "With the better," said Cardinal Bergoglio, "repent and observe celibacy. The double life is not good for us, I do not like, it means yielding to falsehood. Sometimes I tell them, 'If you are unable to tolerate it, then make a decision,'" said Cardinal Bergoglio in his conversation with Rabbi Skorka in the book.

So was Clelia Luros' assertion last summer merely wishful thinking? How Pope Francis responded in telephone conversations with the window, of the particularly joyful interview after his election, is not known, nor when the Pope called for the last time. The two telephoned anyway on the 7th of September according to Luro. It was then she accused Gustavo Gutierrez, the "Father" of liberation theology, of having treated her husband poorly in the 90s once (see own contribution Cardinal Cipriani: "Müller is a Bit Naive" - Impulsive Clelia Luro: Has Liberation Theology Really Changed? ).

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
 Picture: Priest Renta
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com
Link to Katholisches...
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Cardinal Cipriani: "Müller is a Bit Naive" -- Impulsive Clelia Luro: Has Liberation Theology Really Changed?

Ripping my Collar Off to do some "Real" Theology!

(Rome) on 11 September, Pope Francis received the "Father of Liberation Theology," the Peruvian Gustavo Gutierrez, in audience. Gutierrez had been invited to Rome by his friend, the new Prefect of the CDF Gerhard Archbishop Ludwig Müller. Müller presented with Gutierrez the recently published Italian edition of a book jointly written by the two. There was very little enthusiasm about it given by the highest representative of the Peruvian church, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne, Archbishop of Lima. He described Müller's pretense toward the topic of Liberation Theology as, "a bit naive". The Papal reception for Gutierrez, was also announced by the impulsive-progressive "Bishop's Widow" Clelia Luro, according to her own definition describing herself as a "Pope-friend".

Cardinal Cipriani Behind Cardinal Bergolio

Cardinal Cipriani Criticizes New "Courting" of Gutierrez and Liberation Theology in Rome

Cardinal Cipriani was critical in courting the new Liberation Theology in Rome. It is a purified form of Marxism and Liberation Theology that has become quite toothless, but the word still evokes bad memories, as the "Liberation Theology" in the 70s and 80s, worked as a Marxist idea-gate into the Catholic Church. To those who have concerns, include the Archbishop of Lima, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani Thorne. As a Latin American and a Peruvian, in particular,  he really knows exactly  the left slogans that reinterpreted a liberation from sin into a liberation of "social oppression". The South American cardinal is therefore also curt to the Roman "approach" to the theology of liberation, at least on Gutierrez. When asked about Archbishop Curia Müller the archbishop of Lima said, he is "a good German, a good theologian, a little naive." Thus, the unflattering commentary by Cardinal Cipriani last Friday on RPP radio .

"Bishop's"  Widow.

About the audience between  Gutierrez and  Pope Francis, the Cardinal said: "My reading is that he [Müller] wanted to do a favor for his friend [Gutierrez], who is dear to him, wanted to do a favor, and wants to help him in any way, to correct himself and incorporate him in the Catholic Church." According to Cardinal Cipriani, the Pope had only received Gutierrez at the request of Curial Archbishop Müller and not officially.

Francis Pope (front), Cardinal Cipriani Thorne (rear) Cardinal Cipriani: Liberation Theology Caused the Church "Great Harm"

The Cardinal is of the opinion that the unofficial audience was abused last Thursday in order to gain recognition of a theology which has done "great harm to the Church". The cardinal recalled that Gutierrez was never actually found guilty of that in the first half of the 80s by the then Prefect of the Congregation of the Faith,  Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, but he asked him, to "correct two of his books", one of which was the book "Theology of Liberation" which was to give the whole movement  the name. Whether Gutierrez is now "corrected, I do not know," said the Peruvian Cardinal.

The Church, says Cipriani Thorne, had never been closed to the social question and the misery of the people. It belongs to the distortion of liberation theology, claiming to have such an impact, in order to present itself as being the only truly "evangelical" theology. In fact, the liberation theologians, however, have swapped basic truths of the faith.

Pope Francis Has not Forgiven Gutierrez a Discourtesy

The Vatican expert Sandro Magister noted that Pope Francis, has truly received Gustavo Gutierrez but that the position of the Pope nevertheless is clearly distinct from that of the Prefect of the Congregation, Curial Archbishop Müller. As Latin Americans know, Pope Francis is very well aquatinted with Liberation Theology and its seduction. As a Jesuit provincial and even as a bishop in Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio sharply criticized  Liberation Theology. In addition, still playing into a personal touch, there is that the distant relationship to the head of the Catholic Church with Gutierrez, says Magister.

Just the fact that Gutierrez does not appear in the official audience schedule of the Vatican and the Holy See after the meeting with the Pope, issued no opinion as to whether there is evidence of a benevolent attitude that the Curial Archbishop has toward his friend Gutierrez is shared by Pope Francis.

Impulsive "Bishop Widow" and "Pope friend" Clelia Luro Speaks Again

Clelia Luro appears with the picture of her husband Jeronimo Podesta, a former priest, ex-bishop, Marxist Liberation Theologian and probably excommunicated. The rudeness, that the Pope believes Gutierrez to be guilty of, according to Magister, is a grudge, which is admittedly a bit confused because it plays on a very personal level. The source is again, the impulsive Clelia Luro, who, however, shall not be the only one since the election of Pope Bergoglio who was used as a media tool, will call attention to their own interests. In early July, the Argentine widow received a certain noteriety in the German speaking world when the Austrian newspaper, Die Presse quoted her as saying that - in her opinion - Pope Francis will "soon" abolish priestly celibacy. It's a hobby horse of Luros' that has to do with her own personal flaw. A battle the now 87-year-old woman has led for decades. She proudly says that she had called the current Pope as Archbishop of Buenos Aires every Sunday. It's a practice that apparently arose after the death of her husband. Also, since his election as Pope, he had already called her several times, most recently on the 7th of September.

Clelia Luros message was not treated with disinterest. She is primarily a crusader on her own behalf or that of her late husband, around whom everything revolves with her ​​and seeks the "honor" to defend it. Luro is immediately, not only the widow of a former Catholic priest, but a bishop. Her husband, Jose Jeronimo Podesta (1920-2000) was ordained a priest in 1962 and bishop in 1946. As the Diocesan Bishop of Avellaneda, located as a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, Podesta mixed heavily in politics. The President Juan Carlos Ongania, who gained power through a military coup in 1966, urged his removal. In order to avoid a diplomatic clash, Podesta was led to resign as Bishop of Avellaneda in 1967 and appointed a titular bishop. Podesta continued his political activities, including the Union Christian Peace Conference  (CFRP) steered by the Soviet Union. His political and religious radicalization led to an increasing distance from the Catholic Church. In 1971 he returned back to the Church back and in 1972 he married his secretary Clelia Luro that coincided with his anti-Church, Marxist political and religious struggle in the name of Liberation Theology.

"Bishopess" Mayr-Lumetzberger Received "Apostolic Succession" from Luros Mann

In old age, Jeronimo Podesta was discovered in all sorts of strange circles. These included the Austrian Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger from Linz and the German, Gisela Forster in Munich, both of whom happen to be for women priests in the Catholic Church. They were ordained by a "bishop" Romulo Braschi to become "priestesses" and consecrated "bishops". Braschi maintains for his side to have been illicitly but validly ordained by "Bishop" Podesta. But this in turn is contested by Podesta's widow, Clelia Luro, however. Besides the fact that the "apostolic succession" of would-be bishops is on thin ground, all parties, "consecration" and "sanctified" received excommunication anyway.

Podesta died in 2000 in poverty, but, the tradition, that the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio had hurried to his deathbed, who was the only one of the ecclesiastical hierarchy to do so. It is not known whether Podesta had died reconciled with the Church. Clelia Luro anyway confirms in Bergoglio, this gesture as an example of great humanity. From their previous battle positions, however, they have moved little.

Pope to Call Luro on the 7th of September? - Liberation from Liberation Theology?

Clelia Luro made this event public in a letter to Gustavo Gutierrez.  Her letter was published on the progressive Catholic website Redes Cristiana. Luro writes this that she had received a phone call from Pope Francis on the 7th of September. The Pope told her he had not forgotten the impoliteness Gutierrez had shown to her husband, Podesta.

As Gutierrez was to have held a lecture at a meeting of the Association of Priests of the Third World in Cordoba, which also included the former Bishop Jeronimo Podesta, the Peruvian Liberation Theologian was invited to speak, but he refused to give his presentation, "if Jeronimo would have remained in the hall." Gutierrez only began to speak as Podesta had left the room.

In the same letter, Clelia Luro, makes accusations against Gutierrez but also equally against other famous Liberation Theologians, and also ex-priest Leonardo Boff. "If liberation theology brings us to be the judge our brothers, then we would also need liberation from this theology," this was what the "bishop's" widow wrote, utterly moralizing about the ideologues, as she still seems to have militant Liberation Theologians close by her. [Divide et Impera?]

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Iglesia Descalza / Marco Longari / Triregnum
Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com


Link to katholisches...
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