VATICAN CITY
Whispers in the Loggia
November 13, 2018
By Rocco Palmo
Especially as yesterday’s Vatican move to nix the US bishops’ votes on several crisis-spurred reforms had the effect of detonating an ecclesial bomb of confusion and outrage, this Tuesday’s latest salvo from Rome is all the more significant: six years since “The Most Dangerous Man in the Vatican” was quietly slipped out of town, Archbishop Charles Scicluna is coming home to the “Holy Office.”
At Roman Noon, the Pope named the 59 year-old Maltese (above right) as adjunct secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – a second #3 official, joining the Bronx-born Archbishop Gus DiNoia OP, another Ratzinger favorite alongside whom Scicluna worked closely during his first CDF tour. In a unique arrangement not seen for the Curia in a half-century, however, the announcement added that Scicluna “will remain archbishop of Malta,” where he was recently given an auxiliary to help balance his already increased Roman workload.
(Correcting an earlier part of this piece, while DiNoia reached the retirement age of 75 in July – and has already voiced a hope to return to the US upon its acceptance – earlier this year, Francis asked the Yale-trained theologian to remain in post for the time being. Considering CDF’s vastly expanded role as the global church’s clearinghouse of abuse cases – now including accusations against bishops – on top of its traditional role as guardian of doctrine, the provision of two additional top officers tracks with the rapid growth of the caseload and related issues.)
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