The French-Canadian Ouellet, a member of the Sulpician Order (PSS), is one of the few “Ratzingerians” who have remained in top Roman positions. As a cardinal prefect he is officially responsible for the appointment of bishops. Although he was initially expected to be replaced after the conclave, Ouellet remained in office and dignity. However, it quickly became clear that his influence was reduced to a minimum. Pope Francis selects the candidates for the appointment of bishops according to his own criteria and through his own channels and above all by bypassing the official channels. Just like Francis the published the controversial post-synodal letter Amoris laetitia with complete circumvention of the then CDF Gerhard Müller and the Motu proprio Magnum Principium without any contact with Cardinal Robert Sarah, the competent prefect of the Office of Divine Worship, so it happens since 2013 with Cardinal Ouellet in the appointment of bishops.
Ouellet recently played a role in connection with the allegations made by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the former Apostolic Nuncio in the United States, in connection with the McCarrick case against Pope Francis. When the Holy See denied Archbishop Viganó's revelations in autumn 2018 and Pope Francis declared that he could not remember, the Apostolic Nuncio cited Cardinal Ouellet as a witness for the prosecution.
Cardinal Marc OuelletFor Cardinal Ouellet, after all the Pope's minister, this created a highly explosive situation. The Cardinal Prefect responded on October 7, 2018 with an open letter. In it he chose a double strategy. On the one hand, he vigorously reprimanded Archbishop Viganò for the nature of his approach. That sounded like a decided distancing and was communicated by the media. But that was only one aspect. At the same time, the Canadian purple bearer confirmed much of what Archbishop Viganò had revealed in the matter. He was silent about the rest. The former nuncio had attested to Cardinal Ouellet that he was not involved in the dirty McCarrick case, but at the same time urged him to "bear witness to the truth". In June 2013, the cardinal himself had received important information from Viganò and had such information on the McCarrick case, including as prefect of the Congregation of Bishops.
And Ouellet really did that: in his open letter he defended Pope Francis against the public accusations, but at the same time confirmed them. Katholisches.info wrote on October 8, 2018:
“Cardinal Ouellet did not contradict Viganò's statement that he had informed Pope Francis on June 23, 2013 about the 'perverse and diabolical' double life of Cardinal McCarrick. On the contrary. He accepts this statement by the former nuncio as fact. However, he exculpated the Pope, because on that day he received a number of nuncios in audience for the first time and would have received 'such a large amount of information' from them that with the best will in the world, he could not have noted all the names and concerns . "Ouellet's defense seemed like an indictment to Francis. As Pope he did not have to answer and thanks to the media protection he was able to sit out a McCarrick case himself.
On June 28th, the purple bearer from the Diocese of Amos in Québec will turn 77. Pope Francis tacitly granted him an extension in office beyond his 75th birthday. A sign of papal goodwill. Francis can accept the canonically required resignation that Ouellet submitted in June 2019. In the meantime the voices are growing that Francis should replace the cardinal with a loyal follower. The name of Cardinal Blase Cupich has recently been used for this, the Archbishop of Chicago. The reason for this is that on January 30th, on the same day, both Cardinal Ouellet and Cardinal Cupich were received in audience. A direct connection cannot be deduced from this. However, one was made by CNA on February 2nd.
The audience certainly served to ensure that Cupich informed the Pope about the current political situation in the USA ten days after Joe Biden was sworn in. It is characteristic of the current pontificate that Francis did not receive the President of the bishops' conference for it, but his confidants. Immediately after the inauguration, there was an indirect exchange of blows between the chairman of the Bishops' Conference, Archbishop José Horacio Gomez, and a group of progressive bishops around Cardinal Tobin. Monsignor Gomez had criticized Biden's abortion agenda as incompatible with Catholic teaching, while the progressive group made a statement in support of Biden's gay agenda.
The appointment of the " progressive outsider" as bishop of the most important diocese in the USA caused a sensation in September 2014. Since then Cupich is regarded as the leader of the American Bishops' Confernece, as Francis apppoints a monolithic group of progressive bishops.
Cupich is one of Pope Francis' confidants, which would speak for his appointment. Speaking against it is that he would have to vacate his position within the US Bishops' Conference. There the Redemptorist Joseph Cardinal Tobin has emerged as a progressive spokesman. Francis appointed Tobin to the Archdiocese of Newark at the end of 2016 and created him cardinal that same year, before his inauguration in his new diocese. Both Cupich and Tobin are representatives of a homophile agenda.
Msgr. Robert Prevost OSAThe unnamed Vatican source cited by the CNA named Msgr. Robert Francis Prevost from Chicago as another option that Francis considered. Prevost was Superior General of the Augustinian Order (OSA) for twelve years . He has headed the Peruvian Diocese of Chiclayo as Bishop since 2014 and has also been Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Callao since 2020. In November 2020, Francis appointed him one of the few purpless members of the Congregation of Bishops.
Overall, according to the same source quoted by CNA tend to Francis, however, more to the first option: the appointment of Cardinal Cupich the new Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops. That has to do not only with his rank, but even more to do with the signal associated with it, which type of bishop Francis wants.