Some of the Cardinal College resume their attacks on Pope Francis’ inheritance and debates on the future of the Catholic Church are heated, both during closed and pre-breaches and in interviews in the world media.
In a dramatic session of the seventh plenary assembly before the contractive on April 30, Cardinal Beniamino Stella, 84, publicly criticized Pope Francis for what he described as a break with the “long -standing tradition” in the Catholic church, reported the magazine America.
Stella is one of several Italian cardinals, inadmissible to vote because they are over 80 years old, who, in recent days, has been frank in the media trying to influence cardinal voters to slow down the reforms that Pope Francis began. The Conservatives, Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, 82, and Cardinal Camillo Ruini, 94, both former presidents of the Italian Conference of Bishops.
It is not clear if one of these speeches will affect the overall result of the pope’s election. The Italian media reported that Stella is considered a donor of the former Secretary of State of the Vatican, the Italian Cardinal Pietro Paroline.
The news will probably be digested by cardinal voters today, May 1, because they rest and take informal meals; The pre-breaches congregations do not meet because it is a national holiday, a labor festival and the feast of Saint-Joseph the worker.
Stella, who has become disagreement with Francis, accused Francis of imposing her own ideas “by divorcing the governance of the Church of ordination when the deceased pontiff allowed men and women to hold posts of authority in the Roman Curia.
The story about Stella’s remarks has been reported by the Vatican correspondent of the American magazine belonging to the Jesuit, Gerard O’Connell, a veteran journalist with a solid reputation among the Holy See Press Corps.
The cardinal who shared Stella’s remarks, who was not appointed by America based in New York due to the Oath of Secret imposed on the rally, described the remarks of Stella the most difficult criticisms against François expressed during the sessions.
Stella’s comments are also remarkable because it was Francis who raised Cardinal in 2014 and appointed it in 2013 as the prefect of the Dicastery for the clergy. He left this work in 2021, after being 80 years old.
Stella’s speech advocating that the Church exploits the brakes on the progressive reforms of the Papacy Francis was even more serious than that of the American Cardinal Raymond Burke, a Francis Francis critic. Burke’s previous discourse was legalistic and a doctrine -focused criticism, said the unnamed cardinal in America.
Stella cannot vote because of her age, so it is the moment when he and other cardinals over 80 can assert their arguments to young cardinals who can vote in the conclave.
Another Italian pushing for a correction of the course is Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, 82, former archbishop of Genoa. Bagnasco labeled modernity in the face of the Catholic Church today “apocalyptic”.
In an interview with the record of the Italian newspaper Corriere Della will be, Bagnasco launched a tirade against Western culture, which he describes as “a virus” which propagates the emptiness of the soul, supported by consumerism and motivated by “the few” towards a submissive society.
And then there is Cardinal Ruini.
Also quoted by Corriere Della will be, the unaggernary cardinal said that the future pope had to “restore the church to the Catholics”.
A main figure on the traditionalist front, Ruini stressed what he calls “the Catholic form of the Church”: the doctrine and the structure, which both believe threatened.
“The rules do not provide for former tutors that educate young morons. So this activism that continued has so many reasons to exist,” Alberto Melloni, historian of the Italian Catholic Church and a great international expert on conclaves told the National Catholic Church.
Bagnasco and Ruini openly express themselves on Italian newspapers and televisions these days, he said, raises “the question of a disruptive action in relation to the training of patients of a program for tomorrow”.
A source close to the current management of the Italian bishops’ conference, which spoke to the RCN provided that it is not appointed, said that one or two Italian cardinal voters, at most, are likely to be influenced by the words of Stella, Bagnasco and Ruini.
“Italians over 80 years old could not be more distant from the three Italian cardinal voters at the center of conversations these days, namely Paroline, Zuppi and Pizzaballa,” said this person. “But it is already clear for many that they are part of a church of the past which will find it difficult to take a breakthrough,” said the person.
On another front, the idea of an American pope is gaining ground with Cardinal Robert Prevost emerging as a serious favorite, reported Christopher White and Rhina Guidos of NCR. Born in Chicago but shaped by decades of service in Latin America and Europe, the 69 -year -old Augustinian brother now directs the Vatican office who oversees Bishop’s appointments in the world.
His mixture of work on the pastoral field and curial experience has drawn attention, especially since the candidacy of Cardinal Pietro Parolin vacillates, according to several Italian media today, May 1.
The Corriere Della will also report that Prevost had been seen on April 30 entering the conservative apartment of the American cardinal Burke in Rome to participate in “a top secret summit”.
For Andrea Riccardi, founder of the community of Sant’Egidio and expert in the Dynamics of the Vatican, the alignments of the conclave will not be pigeoned in the traditional categories of progressives and conservatives.
“They no longer hold in today’s church,” he said. Rather than an ideological fracture, the real problem will be to decide to stabilize the institution after Francis, or to continue on the path of a charismatic and evangelizing pastor.
The conservative cardinal Gerhard Müller, a frank opponent of initiatives in the Papacy of Francis, returned to speak to the Italian press after having already given two ardent interviews while Pope Francis was still in his coffin opened in the Saint-Pierre basilica.
In an interview with the Italian daily newspaper Il Fatto Daily on May 1, he expressed his desire for a pope without lobby pressures and not a copy of his predecessor, a pontiff company in doctrine, capable of resisting what he called cultural and ideological modes such as globalism or gender ideology.
Christopher White and Rhina Guidos contributed to this report.
The Rome Office of the National Catholic Reporter is made possible in part by the generosity of Joan and Bob McGrath.
