An Appointment that Francis Should Withdraw

Catholic Culture ^ | 8/28/14 | Dr. Jeff Mirus

[marshmallow]

At his Wednesday audience, Pope Francis lamented divisions in Catholic parishes, so often caused by gossip and other sins of the tongue. He also explained that the unity of the Church has its origins in the unity and communion of the Trinity itself.

But last December he appointed Bishop Nunzio Galantino as General Secretary of the Italian Episcopal Conference. Which of these things is not like the others?

I’m sure there are plenty of divisions in the Church caused by the kind of pettiness and vanity that create cliques and express themselves in endless gossip. But in my experience over the past forty years, by far the greatest divisions within the Church have been created by bishops and priests who have failed to explain and defend Catholic doctrine. By their verbal contradictions, their administrative policies, and their failure to staff teaching positions with those who think with the Church, such clergy have created the deepest divisions of all.

And now we have this loose cannon, Bishop Nunzio Galantino. In May he raised eyebrows by expressing the hope that Church leaders would “listen without any taboo to the arguments in favor of married priests, the Eucharist for the divorced, and homosexuality.” He also noted, somewhat gratuitously, that he cannot identify “with the expressionless person who stands outside the abortion clinic reciting their rosary”. Such remarks seem almost deliberately calculated to push the buttons of those who are most deeply committed to Catholic faith and life.

Still worse, this week Bishop Galantino crossed a fairly clear line when he made this comment in anticipation of the Fall Synod on the Family:

Couples in irregular matrimonial situations are also Christians, but they are sometimes looked upon with prejudice. The burden of exclusion from the sacraments is an unjustified price to.....

[cloudmountain]

It's so interesting. WHY would anyone CARE who Pope Francis appoints to ANY position?
The Church isn't going to anywhere different than it is now. Church Fathers don't make the big changes anymore, so who cares?
Have YOU ever had your life changed by some cardinal in Rome? I haven't.

Stan Musial is the only cardinal I ever knew. I DID get his autograph the last year he played baseball.

[RitaOK]

I am indebted to the writer, Dr. Mirus, for the clarity he brings to the plethora of mixed signals coming from the Vatican, and also for addressing the elephant in the room, ie., these appointments to influential positions of those most adverse to Church teaching and the odd tolerance for the heretical musings they bring with them that are gobbled up and circulated by the media pack, and used to try and beat orthodox Catholics into silence.