VATICAN CITY
Religion News Service
David Gibson | October 12, 2015
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Tensions already roiling a high level Vatican summit spilled into the open on Monday (Oct. 12) with the publication of a letter allegedly sent to Pope Francis from 13 conservative cardinals — including Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York — warning of plots by progressives to hijack the proceedings.
In the letter, the senior churchmen said that if the reformers succeeded in changing the church’s approach to modern families it could send the Catholic Church down the path of Protestant denominations that abandoned “key elements of Christian belief and practice in the name of pastoral adaptation.”
But within hours of the letter’s release four of the cardinals denied having signed the letter.
Two other cardinals said they signed the letter but that its contents were somewhat different from the version that emerged Monday. Meanwhile, a spokesman for Dolan said the cardinal declined comment.
The outright denials – from the archbishops of Paris, Milan and Budapest, plus an Italian cardinal who works in the Roman Curia – and uncertainty about who signed what, raised questions about the legitimacy of the letter, which was published by an Italian Vatican-watcher, Sandro Magister, a persistent critic of Francis.
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