Posted on 03/02/2019 7:12:35 PM PST by ebb tide
but never quite found the time, take yourself over to Crisis Magazine and read the excellent overview of the Francis Pontificate from Julia Meloni entitled, Francis Allies Reveal Their Plans for Revolutionary Change.
Heres an excerpt, and yes, its all this well-written:
For Murphy-OConnor and other mafia alumni, including Cardinals Kasper and Danneels, had expertly toured pre-conclave gatherings promoting Bergoglio. And according to Marco Politi, on the evening of March 9, Murphy-OConnor had met with Cardinals Kasper, Coccopalmerio, Bertello, Nicola, and Tauran to strategize seeking the backing of others. It is unclear whether one of the Italians in the group was the influential Italian gentleman who asked then-Cardinal McCarrick to talk up Bergoglio, but both McCarrick and Coccopalmerio gave early interviews pushing for a Latin American pope.
On March 12, before the conclaves start that evening, Murphy-OConnor fell into step beside Bergoglio.
Watch out, now its your turn, Murphy-OConnor said.
I understand, Bergoglio replied. He was calm, said Murphy-OConnor, and was aware that he was probably going to be a candidate going in.
The next day, Pope Francis emerged at St. Peters Loggia flanked by Danneels, the mafia popemaker who had told a king to legalize abortion and a sexual abuse victim to seek forgiveness. A year later, Murphy-OConnor boasted that a Pandoras box had been opened and that the cardinals did not know what a steely character [Bergoglio] was, they did not know that he was a Jesuit in very deep ways, they did not know who they were electing.
For the new pope shared Martinis dream of permanent synodalitypermanent revolution, via synods, on knots such as marriage and sexuality. Murphy-OConnor said Pope Francis told him how crucial synods were for enstructuring collegialitymafia code for a decentralized Church authority. Eugenio Scalfari, too, said Francis told him how long and difficult Martinis synodal road would be and how gently, but firmly and tenaciously he would need to proceed.
All this talk about long, inexorable marches sounded ominously Gramscian, ominously like a cultural Marxist revolution by stealth. When Humanae Vitae was released, Murphy-OConnor let the leash out artfully, paying lip service to the Vatican position on contraception while dispensing pastoral compassion to dissenters. Later, amidst the family synods, he would let the leash extend again, saying that doctrine changes indirectly and could develop on adultery.
Long ago, Murphy-OConnor and his mafia predecessor, Cardinal Basil Hume, received letters from Rome after saying vaguely provocative things about ordaining married men to the priesthood. Later, Hume would write a document on homosexuality in which he softened the harsh term objectively disordered and Murphy-OConnor would crusade for gay Masses, calling them a route back to the sacraments with rather better music to boot.
In 2013, Murphy-OConnor said how brilliant it was that Pope Francis had quipped, Who am I to judge?a response to a question about Franciss promotion of a clericwith a history of homosexual scandals. Historian Henry Sire argues that such patronage fits a patternone well established during Bergoglios time in Argentinawhereby he surrounds himself with morally weak people so as to have them under his thumb.
Asked, before the conclave, whether he would advise that the new pope be free from any kind of taint of cover-up, Murphy-OConnor at one point said: Youre not going to get a saint straight away, you know; were all sort of, were all sinners (31:31). Murphy-OConnor had himself covered up for a notorious abuser who went on to molest other young victims, some disabled. One of the priests confirmed victims claimed that when he abused her Murphy-OConnor and others were present and involvedyet the CDFs 2013 investigation into Murphy-OConnor was stopped because it lacked Pope Franciss approval. Sources for a respected Vaticanist claim that an angry Francis interrupted Cardinal Müller while he was saying Mass, ordering the investigations shutdown.
Murphy-OConnor died in 2017, too soon to witness what lay beyond four years of Bergoglio. After five years of Francis, the pro-LGBT Fr. James Martin and alumni of the gay Masses were speaking officially at the World Meeting of Familieswhile Archbishop Viganò was claiming that Pope Francis had knowingly rehabilitated McCarrick and that Coccopalmerio was part of a homosexual current trying to subvert doctrine on homosexuality.
Make a note of all those links. Lots of people make claims about what has happened in and around the Francis pontificate, but documenting it at the granular level is an essential and painstaking part of the work. There are times I put together articles and spend about as much time finding links and connecting dots as I do on the actual writing. Meloni is thorough and to the point, and her work marks an excellent addition to the scholarship and journalism already being done on FrancisChurch.
Please read the whole thing. Its very much worth your time, and its great to see such a hard-hitting piece at the magazine that launched my professional Catholic writing career over a decade ago.
Ping
Dr. Sire’s 2015 book “Phoenix From the Ashes” will be more noteworthy for the long run, after this Pontificate’s noxious burp times are not even a memory.
Good read. It sounds like Murphy-O’Connor’s memoirs are a possible must-have like Bugnini’s. Things that would seem incredible coming from hostile sources are virtually indisputable when candidly and artlessly presented by some one who thinks they are doing the Church a favour as they do things that, from many perspectives, are both naive and idiotic.
Bookmark for Julia Meloni’s excellent documentation.
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