Pope Taking Swipe at Legacy of Pope Benedict

Benedict XVI. with Pope Francis

"Two More Threads That Connect Pope Francis With His Predecessor Are Severed"

(Rome) The Italian daily Libero today published the following text, which is reproduced in full.

"The thesis is one of the most serious. This is also shown by the evidence. Pope Francis has a plan to eliminate the legacy and disciples of Benedict XVI. The operation has stirred up the Vatican, which has not by any means significantly opposed the incumbent Pope.

The thesis is voiced by Riccardo Cascioli [chief editor of the Catholic Internet newspaper Nuova Bussola Quotidiana ] in the daily Il Giornale:

"It's just a matter of days and two more threads that connect Pope Francis with his predecessor are severed. More voices are being raised that the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household is being abolished, its incumbent - and at the same time personal secretary to Benedict XVI. - Msgr. Georg Gänswein, and the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, established in 1988 for dialogue with the Society of St. Pius X (the Lefebvrians), is today the reference point for the application of Summorum Pontifiicum, the motu proprio of Benedict XVI, with which the Latin Mass in the traditional rite was freed."

These are two decisions of very grave symbolic value, similar to the expulsion of Cardinal Raymond Burke, whom Joseph Ratzinger had called to Rome in 2008 as Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura. In November 2014, he was deposed by Pope Francis, who had already replaced him as a member of the Congregation of Bishops the year before. The same fate befell Cardinal Gerhard Müller.

Now one has arrived at the last link, with Msgr. Gänswein, a person inconvenient to Francis. The abolition of the Prefecture of the Pontifical Household, with the relocation of duties (appointments and audiences of the Pope) to a section of the Secretariat of State, would allow the Pope to get rid of Gänswein and to justify the operation with the need for a reform of the Curia.

As for the end of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, which has been talked about for some time: The consequences are explosive. This would give more weight to those who want to eliminate Summorum Pontificum and Mass in the 'Extraordinary Form' of the one Roman rite whose 'proper form' is the Missal enacted in 1969. This is the next blow against Ratzinger's legacy, which Francis seems to want to eradicate.

Translation: Giuseppe Nardi
Image: Libero (screenshot)

Trans: Tancred vekron99@hotmail.com

AMDG