Posted on 02/06/2017 5:55:19 AM PST by annalex
On Saturday, posters appeared around Rome featuring a stern-looking Francis and questioning, "Where's your mercy?" Associated Press/Beatrice Larco |
A passerby lifts a paper sheet covering an anti-Pope Francis poster to read it, in central Rome, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017. On Saturday, posters appeared around Rome featuring a stern-looking Francis and questioning "Where's your mercy?" It referenced the "decapitation" of the Knights of Malta, Cardinal Raymond Burke's marginalization and other actions Francis has taken against conservative, tradition-minded groups. (AP Photo/Beatrice Larco) |
The posters appeared on the same day that Francis cemented his authority over the Knights by naming a top Vatican archbishop, Angelo Becciu, to be his special delegate to the ancient aristocratic order.
Francis gave Becciu, the No. 2 in the Vatican secretariat of state, all necessary powers to help lay the groundwork for a new constitution for the order, lead the spiritual renewal of its professed knights and prepare for the election of a new grand master, expected in three months.
The Vaticans intervention with the sovereign group had provided fuel for Francis conservative critics, who until Saturday had for the most part largely confined their concern with his mercy-over-morals papacy to blogs, interviews and conferences.
On Saturday, dozens of posters appeared around Rome featuring a stern-looking Francis and referencing the decapitation of the Knights and other actions he has taken against tradition-minded groups.
Within hours, the city of Rome had plastered over the posters. Police launched an investigation into the conservative circles believed responsible, aided by closed-circuit cameras, the ANSA news agency said.
The posters, written in Roman dialect, also cited the way Francis had ignored cardinals, a reference to the four cardinals who have publicly asked him to clarify whether divorced and civilly remarried Catholics can receive Holy Communion.
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