[Desdemona]

One school of thought says that Bishop Martino was too rough in his administrative style. He was a bull in a china shop, constantly making new enemies, needlessly causing division, refusing to act in a collegial manner and respect the advice of his brother bishops. The other school of thought says that he was simply too conservative for the tastes of his brethren in the US bishops' conference-- and especially for his metropolitan, Cardinal Justin Rigali, who has emerged as the most influential prelate in America today.

Uh, I would go with the former here. Rigali doesn't complain about the orthodoxy of other bishops - or their outspokenness, for all of his quiet understatedness.

My guess is that administrative styles are coming under scrutiny. Last year's "removal", our very own Archbishop Raymond Burke, was a lightning rod on pro-life issues, but the general consensus around here is that he was Peter Principled up for reasons of job performance in the administrative arena. Now that he's been gone for a bit, the stories from the Chancery on leadership style are surfacing and they aren't pretty - from holding grudges, to denying promotions to men who are truly worthy, to really BAD personnel moves to fiscal irresponsibility. Get a couple drinks in the right people and all sorts of stuff comes out. My guess is Martino is more of the same.

Rigali is a VERY bright and astute - and under it all, very sweet - man. Yes, he is pretty much the most influential cardinal in the US right now, and he is very much a diplomat, but compromising Church teaching is not on the table for him. There's other reasons why this happened.

[fatima]

Shut the heck up and learn what you speak about.”On June 27, 2008 Pope Benedict XVI elevated Archbishop Burke to the office of Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, a position equivalent to that of Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, or President of the Conseil d’Etat of France. As such, immediately after the Roman Pontiff, Burke holds the highest judicial office in the entirety of the Roman Catholic Church.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Leo_Burke

[dangus]

From what you say about Burke, it sounds perhaps less like Peter’s Principle and more like finding a job better suited his strengths. Burke was, if nothing else, a keen intellect and avid defender of truth.

After living near Giuliani’s New York, I can tell you I’m very glad he was mayor, but I’m also very glad he’ll never make it to the Supreme Court. Contrarily, I doubt Roberts or Scalia or just about anyone could do in New York what Giuliani did, which was to rescue it from third-world status.

It sounds like Burke makes a great Supreme Court justice, but made a mediocre governor, if those complaints are true.