Cardinal Re: "Paul VI. Had Prepared Two Letters of Resignation"

Cardinal Re and Cardinal Sodano (right) -- Today Deacon and
Subdeacon of the Cardinal Collegium -- Immediately After Pope Benedict's Resignation

(Rome) Had Pope Paul VI. already prepared for resignation? This is what Giovanni Battista Cardinal Re claimed in a long interview with the magazine Araberara, which was released yesterday.

The former prefect of the Congregation for the Bishops and the present Subdeacon of the Cardinal Collegium tells of "his" six popes, revealing a hitherto unknown detail.

Pope Paul VI, who ruled from 1963, died on 6 August 1978 of a heart attack. According to his closest collaborators, the abduction of his personal friend, the Italian Prime Minister and Christian Democrat politician Aldo Moro by the Communist Red Brigades (BR) had crushed him. The Pope had publicly offered himself to the terrorists as a hostage in exchange for Moro, but he was found murdered in a car on 9 May 1978.

Cardinal Re now revealed that Paul VI. had written two letters of resignation. The Cardinal does not make any connections. It is, however, to be assumed that they are directly related to the abduction of Moro and his readiness to be held hostage. Cardinal Re seems to be less concerned with the historical context, but with the current reference to a resignation of the Pope, which has been a subject of controversy since the unexpected resignation of Benedict XVI.

"At that time," said the Cardinal, church law did not foresee an apostate in the office of the Church, with the exception of the fact that the Cardinal's collegium assented to this. For this reason, Paul VI. wrote a letter of resignation, and sent a second letter to the Cardinal Dean, asking him to convince the Cardinal's collegium of the necessity releasing him from the Office.

Cardinal Re knew of these letters "because Pope John Paul II showed them to me."

The cardinal subdeacon  confirmed in the interview also a grueling stalemate, which was given in the two conclaves of the year 1978. Cardinal Secretary of State Giovanni Benelli and Cardinal Giuseppe Siri of Genoa were opposed to each other as opponents. Since neither Benelli nor Siri received sufficient votes to create the breakthrough, Patriarch Albino Luciani (John Paul I) and then the Archbishop of Krakow Karol Wojtyla (John Paul II) were elected as pope.

John Paul I said Cardinal Re: "He wanted to meet me and told me that he thought the papacy was too great a burden."

Text: Giuseppe Nardi
Photo: Vatican.va (screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG

Revelations Over Papal Elections -- Invalid Ballot

Rome (kath.net / KNA) The Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio and current Pope Francis have, according to a new book release, located at his election in Conclave in March during initial ballots behind Milanese Cardinal Angelo Scola. Bergoglio's choice was foreseeable by the third ballot, and in the sixth ballot he received the required majority.

This was by the Argentine journalist Elisabetta Pique in a biography of the new pope: "Francis, Life and Revolution," which appears next week in bookstores. The fifth round was invalid meanwhile and has been then canceled, according to the book which knew details in advance.

According to Pique, who claims to have known Bergolio for more than ten years and has good contacts in Argentinian church circles, Scola had received approximately 30 and Bergoglio 25 votes of the 115 cardinal electors on the first ballot. Around noon of the second day of the election, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires had obtained a numerical majority over the Italian churchman.

During the fourth ballot he had not quite reached the required majority of 77. The fifth round of the afternoon was invalid because too many ballots had been found in the urn, says Pique. Apparently, two ballots were stuck together. They were not even counted but immediately burned, it says in the book. In the last and sixth ballot then, Bergoglio had received "90 votes".

The papal election is generally under high secrecy. The participating Cardinals must undertake to maintain secrecy about the election. But in the past details of votes and voters movements during the papal elections had always penetrated to the outside. However, there has never been a religious opinion or even acknowledgment of such revelations.

Link to kath.news... (C) 2013 Catholic News Agency KNA GmbH All rights reserved.

Translation: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMGD

Bishop Tawadoros per Los is the New Pope of the Copts

Pope Shenouda III
keystone/archiv 

In Egypt, the Coptic Christian minority has elected a new Pope.  At a Liturgy in the Markus Cathedral of Cairo, Bishop Tawadros per Los was elected as the 118th church head.

Odds on the office have favored Bishop Raphael from the capital of Cairo and Tawadros from Beheria in the Nile Delta as well as the Monk Raphael Awa Mina.

A small boy, blindfolded, drew the name out of a glass bowl with the new Pope's name on it, which was sealed in red wax. Thus the Copts considered this also as "God's Will".  There were three candidates for the election.

The 60 year old from the Nile Delta will be solemnly installed on the 18th of November.  He follows in the footsteps of Pope Shenuda III after 40 years at the head of the largest Christian community in the Middle East.

Fear of Expulsion

The Copts make up about 10 percent of the 83 million Egyptians, of which the largest part are Sunni Muslims.  This also makes the Copts the largest Christian community in the Near East.

At present they are concerned about the impending Islamization of Egypt.  There are increasingly violent conflicts between the Copts and the Muslim majority.

Link to ... tageschau...