Sights and Sounds from the Iowa Caucuses of the Catholic Church
By Ines San Martin
A consistory week in Rome, when a pope creates new cardinals, is a bit like the Iowa caucuses of the Catholic Church. All the heavy-hitters of both parties are gathered in one place at one time, followed around by media scrums eager to collect the next explosive soundbite. Much can be learned about the cardinals, new and old, from what they say during those days, but the overload and multiplicity of languages makes it hard to keep track of it all. Want proof? Consider that US Cardinal Raymond Burke told a French TV outlet last week that he’s ready to “resist” Pope Francis on divorce and gay marriage, and it barely made headlines. Here, then, is a sampling of the sights and sounds of consistory week 2015, which featured a meeting of the pope’s “G9” council of cardinal advisors, a meeting of all the cardinals of the world that discussed Vatican reform and sex abuse, and the Saturday ceremony in which Francis inducted 20 new members into the Church’s most exclusive club. An open war on capitalism Italian Cardinal Edoardo Menichelli, from the diocese of Ancona, spoke to the Italian site Vatican Insider and promised a fight against capitalism similar to the one against communism under Pope St. John Paul II. Echoing Pope Francis, Menichelli said that if money is the center of the universe, the human person loses meaning and society becomes a desert of values. “If economy is reduced to finances, it kills,” Menichelli said. “We need to start from those who are last to return dignity to the people [and to] eliminate injustices.” The prelate said that the social dimension is an integral part of the faith, and quoted Francis’ apostolic exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, in which the pontiff warned against ideologies that defend absolute market freedom and financial speculation. “Benedict XVI called for a world political authority for the financial and monetary system to grant credit to workers, families, businesses, and local communities,” Menicelli said. When asked about the role of the Church, the prelate said that mercy should guide every action, to bring assistance to those who have lost their jobs, living a human discomfort and at risk of losing sight of their social identity. “Political oligarchies that ignore the needs of civil society and create a rift between those in power and the people shouldn’t prevail,” he said “Globalization must serve the good, and the Church should always be on the pitch against selfishness and relativism.” Related Pope urges cardinals to seek out people at the margins Pope Francis arrived in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2015. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) Photos: Pope Francis inducts 20 new cardinals into the Church Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, vice president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, was recently elected by US bishops as one of four US delegates to an October Synod of Bishops at the Vatican. US cardinal voices doubts on Vatican reform, Communion for divorced More No doctrinal changes in the synod on the family Cardinal Luis Villalba, the emeritus prelate of Tucuman and one of the five cardinals Francis created who are over 80 (and therefore will be ineligible to choose his successor), predicted no doctrinal breakthroughs at October’s Synod of Bishops on the family in an interview with the Argentinian journal La Nacion. The lone Argentinian in the crop of new cardinals is a close acquaintance of the pope. He served as vice president of the Argentinian Bishop’s Conference during the six years then-Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was its president. Villalba considers it “evident” that his fellow countryman won’t change Catholic doctrine at the close of the synod. “Noooo!” Villalba told journalist Elisabetta Pique. “He (Pope Francis) won’t touch doctrine,” he said. “What happens is that not everything is doctrine, and there are things that are debatable, and have always been so and will always be so. There are different accents, perspectives, and this is good. These might change, but doctrine will remain the same.” The Argentinian wouldn’t venture an answer to a possible case-by-case consideration on the matter of Communion for divorced Catholics who remarry without an annulment, as German Cardinal Walter Kasper suggested last year. He did insist on the fact that “the sacramentality of marriage, its indissolubility, won’t change, as the pope has always said.” On-the-ground experience in Rome John Dew, the new cardinal from New Zealand, spoke to Vatican Radio Thursday, before the meetings of the College of Cardinals and before being briefed on the status of reform of the Roman Curia, the Vatican’s main administrative bureaucracy. Dew said Pope Francis’ choice of new cardinals not only reflects his reaching out to local churches, but also his desire to bring the voice of peripheral churches to the heart of the Vatican. “My particular hope … is the hope that those who work in the Curia have pastoral experience and know what it’s like to work in a diocese and work with people,” Dew said. Considered among the more “liberal” of the new prelates, the New Zealander said he wanted the Vatican to be run by prelates who have had the chance to meet people who are struggling in life for one thing or another. “I often think that people in the Curia don’t get this opportunity, [because] they speak to other bishops day in, day out. So where is their opportunity for real on-the-ground experience?” Another hope Dew expressed in the interview is that some of the bureaucracy is “tightened up a bit” so that it is “much more effective” and maybe “not quite as costly.” A strong stand against clerical sex abuse Ricardo Blazquez Perez, from the diocese of Valladolid, is the president of Spain’s Bishops Conference, and shortly after being created a cardinal, he told reporters he’s committed to strong collaboration with the civil and criminal justice systems in cases of clerical sex abuse, and stressed that “apologizing isn’t enough.” The issue had barely made headlines in Spain until last year, when Pope Francis intervened in a case of abuse in the diocese of Granada by urging the victim to come forward and denounced a group of priests that had abused him. The case seemed to have a domino effect, with other dioceses facing similar charges. In this regard, Blazquez Perez said that it’s a major issue that has to be taken seriously, but denied an “epidemic of child abuse” by priests in Spain. He defended the response of the Spanish bishops, saying that so far, it’s been “quick and effective.” Blazquez Perez said he’ll cooperate fully with the civil authorities and also with the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, created by Francis and headed by Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley. On Friday afternoon, O’Malley gave the cardinals a rundown of what the commission has done and what’s expected from each local church, such as the appointment of a referent for cases of clerical sex abuse. On this, Blazquez Perez said they’re ready to designate such intermediary as soon as he receives “concrete guidance” from the Vatican on what this person will do. Burke says he’s ready for battle; Wuerl calls it old news Burke, the US cardinal who has long been considered a hero to Catholicism’s more traditional wing, gave an interview to France2 television saying he would be willing to “resist” Pope Francis if the pontiff were to attempt to change the Church’s practice of denying Communion to those in “second marriages.” Last November, Francis removed Burke as head of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican’s Supreme Court, and named him patron of the Order of the Knights of Malta. During the interview, Burke said that he can’t accept that Communion could be given to a person in an irregular union “because it’s adultery.” Asked about what he’d do if Francis persists in this direction, Burke replied: “I shall resist, I can do nothing else. There is no doubt that it is a difficult time; this is clear, this is clear.” The cardinal agreed that the situation is “painful” and “worrisome.” He then said that although the “classic formulation” is that the pope has the plenitude and fullness of power, “it is not absolute power.” “His power is at the service of the doctrine of the faith,” Burke said. “Thus the pope does not have the power to change teaching, doctrine.” Washington’s Cardinal Donald Wuerl replied to Burke through a post on his personal blog, although he refrained from naming him specifically. Wuerl wrote in general terms about criticisms directed at Francis, saying other popes have faced much the same backlash. “They disagree with the Pope because he does not agree with them and therefore follow their position,’ Wuerl wrote. Wuerl argued that a “current of dissent” that goes as high as the College of Cardinals isn’t exactly new. He pointed to an early 20th century French cardinal named Louis Billot who was less than discreet in his opposition to Pope Pius XI. “In 1927, as the Catholic Encyclopedia puts it, Cardinal Billot ‘was persuaded to renounce his cardinalitial dignity’,” Wuerl wrote. He then proceeded to list criticisms other popes have faced, from Blessed Paul VI’s decision to do away with things such as the cappa magna (an outer garment with a long train that Burke has been known to use), as well as John Paul I, criticized for smiling too much, or St. John Paul II, who was faulted for his constant traveling. “I will not belabor the point by going through the critiques, challenges, disapproval and dissent that faced so much of what Pope Benedict XVI taught and published during his pontificate,” Wuerl wrote. As a closing line, Wuerl wrote: “Dissent is perhaps something we will always have, lamentable as it is, but we will also always have Peter and his successor as the rock and touchstone of both our faith and our unity.”
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