Bergoglio's Reform Was Written Before. By Martin Luther

Edit: the lucidity and calm of Sandro Magister is something to be grateful for, as are the contributions by these academic voices we scarcely hear from in the US.
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Much has been written in sketching an appraisal of the first five years of the pontificate of Francis and of his real or imaginary “revolution.”
But rarely, if ever, with the acuteness and extensive scope of the analysis published below.
The author, Roberto Pertici, 66, is a professor of contemporary history at the university of Bergamo and has focused his studies on Italian culture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, with particular attention to relations between Church and state.
His essay is being issued for the very first time on Settimo Cielo.
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THE END OF “ROMAN CATHOLICISM?”

by Roberto Pertici
1. At this point in the pontificate of Francis, I believe it can be reasonably maintained that this marks the twilight of that imposing historical reality which can be defined as “Roman Catholicism.”
This does not mean, properly understood, that the Catholic Church is coming to an end, but that what is fading is the way in which it has historically structured and represented itself in recent centuries.
It seems evident to me, in fact, that this is the plan being deliberately pursued by the “brain trust” that has clustered around Francis: a plan understood both as an extreme response to the crisis in relations between the Church and the modern world, and as a precondition for a renewed ecumenical course together with the other Christian confessions, especially the Protestant.
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