Francis Appoints New Cardinals. First Thoughts.

Big mistake.

 

Francis has, then, appointed the first squad of his demolition troops. They are the avant garde of the army meant to make Catholicism barely recognisable in the years to come. My first thoughts in casual order:

1. No US Americans.

Chaput, head of the extremely prestigious Archdiocese of Philadelphia, might have been considered. Too Catholic, perhaps? On the other hand, one can not imagine Che Guevara would, if elected Pope, have done differently.  Perhaps some US observers hoped for a red hat for Archbishop Kurtz, the newly elected head of the US Bishops’ Conference. The latter won’t be waiting for long, I would say. On the former, I have more doubts.

2. Mueller makes it.

Further evidence it is good to be the text editor of a former Pope, even if you doubt (or, ahem, re-read) Catholic dogma. It is astonishing that this man manages to pass for somewhat “conservative” among the uninformed, though there are (even) worse people than him around. Mueller is a friend of Liberation Theology. This probably saved his skin when the new man came in power. At least one hopes his red hat will give him some weight in the months to come (see below).

3. No Other Germans.

This must be worth a bottle. Zollitsch, the Archbishop Emeritus of Freiburg and Head of the German Bishops’ Conference, is in the front line on the unholy battle to sanctify adultery. He is now retiring, but is clearly still very influential and very “exposed” as the main nuclear warhead of the German clergy. If he had received a red hat it would have been very bad indeed. A thought: the Germans might be just “lio” enough for Francis, but perhaps they are just too rich, too “First World”. No favelas by you? Tsk, tsk…

4. Loads of “periphery”.

Argentina, Brazil, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Philippines, Haiti, Nicaragua. Can’t imagine there are many “hawks” among them. Poli is most certainly one of the “Bergoglini”. I will have to read more about the others. Whilst this is a relatively small sample, it seems to be Central and South America fared pretty well. I think it’s fair to forecast an increase in populist statements and enthusiastic support of Francis’ confused anti-capitalist wannabe economics from these corners.

5. Four Italians.

I’d be glad if I could trust them as being orthodox Catholics. Nowadays, who can?

6. Quisling gets a hat.

Vincent “Quilsing” Nichols also made it. Unsurprisingly. He is just the kind of enemy of Christ Bergoglio would want to promote. Of course, Murphy O’Connor is now above 80 so one could say this is “expected”. But it is also generally “expected” that the archbishop in Philadelphia makes it to Cardinal, which doesn’t happen if the man in charge appears to be a Catholic.

It is, of course, too soon to see whether Francis wants to give a new balance to the college of Cardinals, away from powerful countries like US and Germany and on to the “peripheries” of the “oppressed” poor countries. 

In the next days, we will no doubt get a lot of coverage about the past statements of at least some of the new men. I don’t thing this will make good reading.

Mundabor

Prayer Request

Ars Orandi is, as I write this, still down.

As we do not know what is happening, a good idea could be to pray.

One or three Hail Marys for Mr Werling, who has done so much for so many of us, are certainly in order.

Mundabor

Archbishop Vincent Nichols Gives Scandal And Confuses The Faithful

Red Hat Reblog

Mundabor's Blog

And so the Pope came, saw and conquered. People were moved, crowds were gathered, even journalists felt stupid (which happens to them much less often than it should) and for some days toned down the Anti-Catholic propaganda.

Still, those accustomed to observe the British Catholic clergy knew that this wind of orthodoxy would not last long, with the local bishops bending to said winds like a birch and coming back to normal as soon as the nuisance ceases.

This is exactly what has happened; but in this case, the desire of the British clergy to show that the Papal visit was just an unwanted nuisance was so strong that the Head Scoundrel, Archbishop Nichols, couldn’t wait more than one day to launch himself in an open attack to the Teaching of the Church. Make no mistake, the message here is emphatically clear: I am still in charge and now it…

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