In Rome the climate has acquired new tensions. These have become more vocal. Sectors of the Curia, the apparatus of central power, are not disposed to abandon the leadership of the Church to a Pope who appears to be both foreign and a threat to their privileges and solemnities. On the occasion of a Synod on the family, a rebellion has been unleashed, more open and public, on the part of ultraconservative sectors of the Catholic Church. There is an uprising of traditionalists who can no longer tolerate the statements nor the insinuations of Pope Francis, along with his way of governing, which is backed up by his enormous popularity. Conservative insubordination has openly launched a campaign against Francis, through the media, web sites, social networks, books and journalistic declarations that attack the reformist attitude of the Argentine Pope.

 

In last Sunday’s homily, with which the Synod on the family was inaugurated, Francis did not bother to hide his anger in the face of the continuous attacks from the conservative wing of the clergy and he declared: “The temptation of greed is always present. The greed for money and power. To satisfy these desires, evil pastors lay intolerable burdens on the backs of people, that they themselves cannot touch with a finger (cfr. Mt. 23,4). We ourselves can be tempted to “take charge” of the vineyard, because of the avarice that is never absent from us human beings. The dream of God is always faced with the hypocrisy of some of His servants”. The tone of this recalls Benedict XVI, who had noted that the worst enemies are not outside but within the Church itself, since in recent weeks the Pope has been subjected to an intense attack mixed with negative statements that seek to undermine not only his moral but his ecclesiastical authority in the life of the Church.

 

A few days before the Synod, two defiant books appeared, challenging Francis. The first, with the title Follow the Truth of Christ, defends the tradition of the norms of the Church for those who have been divorced and marry again.  The authors of the book are five cardinals: two Germans, Gerhard Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, that is to say, the Guardian of Catholic orthodoxy, and Walter Brandmuller, emeritus president of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences; US Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, Prefect of the Signatura Apostolica, and two Italians, Carlo Cafarra, Emeritus Archbishop of Bologna and a theologian who was close to John Paul II, and Velasio de Paolis, Emeritus President of the Prefecture of Economic Affairs, who had under his mandate the supposed and questioned renovation of the Legionaries of Christ. The book was presented some days before the Synod in which the bishops of the whole world will revise the teachings of the Church with respect to the family, and in particular themes related to the treatment of divorced people. The debate on family themes had intensified after various international surveys had shown that many Catholics did not accept the teachings of the Church on birth control, sex before marriage and the acceptance of homosexuality.

 

The second polemical book bore the title Non è Francesco: la Chiesta nella grande tempestà (Not Francis: the Church in the big storm), edited by Mondadori. The author of the text is the journalist Antonio Socci, a writer close to the lay movement Communione e liberazione, who advances the hypothesis that the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio to the papacy is invalid, since in the conclave the rules of the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis were not respected. In addition, Socci puts in doubt the juridical legitimacy of the pontificate of Francis, concluding that Benedict XVI had renounced the ministerium, but not the papacy. Hence Benedict XVI is still the legitimate Roman Pontiff, although without the exercise of the Petrine ministry. This leads to the conclusion that the Church has two popes, even though Francis is the reigning pope.

 

As if the picture were not already delicate, the Slovene Cardinal Franc Rodé declared to the press that Francis is excessively leftist; Rodé was Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life until January of 2011. In an interview with the Slovene agency STA, he added that Bergoglio is a Latin American and that these people talk a lot but do not resolve problems. Rodé, it must be recalled, was one of the principal protectors of Marcial Maciel, as well as one of the principal beneficiaries of the corruption with which the legionaries defended themselves according to the investigations of Jason Berry.

 

Although the tensions in the Curia have always existed, they have tended to stay below the surface, with the exception of polarized situations in which those involved made their antagonism visible, as happened in the process that culminated with the resignation of Benedict XVI in 2013. Now there are new divisions against Francis; this breach puts the Church in a risky position since the unity of the Church is shown to be vulnerable. Francis needs to act soon, negotiating and disciplining those in dispute, because his authority could be divided. In this sense the Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet had called for unity, saying that bishops divided into the parties is not part of the Church and that this should be avoided during the coming Synod. Ouellet, the current Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops, declared himself in favour of a necessary conciliation of positions in a discourse to prelates assembled in Rome for the meeting of the Council of Episcopal Conferences of Europe. For observers of the Vatican, one of the cards in the hands of Francis is the conclusion of the Roman anti-corruption public prosecution report, which realized an important investigation of hundreds of documents that tie Vatican finances – and some important persons – to the Italian Mafia, and to important operations of laundering and diversion of funds. How many Curial personalities will be there?

 

(Published in Spanish in La Jornada, Mexico City, 8-10-14)

(Translated for ALAI by Jordan Bishop)