Wednesday, March 06, 2013

USA CARDINALS WERE NOT READY TO START CONCLAVE YET

KING JESUS IS COMING FOR US ANY TIME NOW. THE RAPTURE. BE PREPARED TO GO.

Short and formal message to Benedict from cardinals.Cardinal electors Naguib, Lehmann, Tong Hon, Pham Minh Man and Nycz are expected to arrive in Rome tonight.(MAR 5).Canadian Cardinal Marc #Ouellet arrives for the third cardinals meeting, at the #Vatican, Tuesday, March 5, 2013. Cardinal Marc Ouellet once said that being #Pope "would be a nightmare".He who gives up the papal ministry for any reason other than death, remains a bishop of course, but is no longer pope as he loses all primatial power because he did not gain this through Episcopal consecration but directly from Christ, after his legitimate election "Pope Emeritus" or "Bishop Emeritus of Rome"? A debate on Benedict XVI.The Cardinals cannot decide date of conclave today(March 5), because at least one cardinal (Tong) does not arrive until tomorrow morning.

Franciscan friar Vladimiro Penev with Benedict XVI coat of arms, just removed from St.Francis Basilica in Assisi. Father Vladimiro, the eldest friar in Assisi, will prepare the coat of arms of the next pope. He has already done the same job for other four popes.
da Marco.Bardazzion Mar 5, 2013 at 2:57 PM


03/ 6/2013 VATICAN INSIDER

Curia is in the firing line. Bertone stresses importance of cardinal secrecy during pre-Conclave meetings

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Cardinals in the lead-up to the Conclave
Cardinals in the lead-up to the Conclave

 Cardinals are calling for stronger communication between the Pope and his “ministers” and between the Church headquarters in Rome and the local Churches

Andrea Tornielli vatican city
After asking for more information on the Vatileaks affair, cardinals are calling for reforms in the Curia. There needs to be better communication between the Pope and his “ministers”, improved coordination between dicasteries and stronger links between the central Church in Rome and the local Churches. These were some of the issues discussed during the third General Congregation session yesterday morning. The Conclave start date is still to be decided and a number of cardinals have asked for the discussion phase to be extended to the beginning of next week. They are eager to get to know each other, to examine the state of the Church across the world and to find out what the state of affairs within the Roman Curia is, given the various scandals it has recently been at the centre of.Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio, President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts gave a speech on the last of these issues. The Milanese cardinal spoke of the need for better communication between the Pope and dicastery leaders: there needs to be constant contact and exchanges with the Pope. Once upon a time, the Pope used to hold pre-scheduled audiences throughout the year, not just with prefects of Congregations, but also with secretaries; so even deputies had contact with the Pope and could get a first hand idea of the problems the Church was facing, helping them in their decision-making.In recent decades, the number of pre-scheduled audiences has been reduced and were only attended by some heads of dicasteries such as prefects of bishops and of the former Holy Office. The Secretariat of State has increasingly acted as a buffer: recently one dicastery leader/cardinal had to wait several months before he was able to meet with the Pope.
Cardinal Cocopalmerio therefore spoke of the need for an improved coordination and exchange of information within the Curia itself, between the various “ministries”. The cardinal also touched on the subject of relations between the Holy See in Rome and the Episcopal Conferences across the world: he emphasised that it is important for more consideration to be given to the needs of local Churches. Finally, Coccopalmerio said it was high time the Apostolic Constitution Pastor Bonus was updated. This was the document with which John Paul II reformed the Curia in 1988.The cardinal did not go into the details but many now agree that streamlining and rationalisation are crucial.Krakow's Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwizs who was personal secretary to John Paul II also called for greater coordination and collegiality in the Church. Tarcisio Bertone also gave a detailed speech on the management of the Secretariat of State over the past few years. This has been and still is the focal point of criticism. As Camerlengo, Bertone has asked cardinals a number of times to respect their oath of secrecy during the discussions.Another cardinal who gave a speech during yesterday's General Congregation was the Archbishop Emeritus of Los Angeles, Roger Mahony, who is in the cross-hairs for his handling of the sex abuse scandal in his diocese. Of the cardinals considered potential candidates for the papacy, Angelo Scola and Odilo Pedro Scherer – both of whom have made speeches during the congregations – are worth pointing out. Scherer adds himself to the list of cardinals who would like more information on the Vatileaks scandal. But the issue was given no further focus in yesterday's discussions. All cardinals wishing to receive more detailed information about the Vatileaks scandal have been asked to put their questions to the three cardinals who were in charge of investigating the case.One of the recurring themes of the discussions has been the subject of Evangelisation: cardinals have been exchanging ideas on hos to go about announcing the Gospel in a positive and propositional way. “The discussions have been interesting, with no major surprises – one cardinal said towards late morning – so far tehre are no figures in particular that has attracted our attention.” The list of papabili gets longer by the day, there are many issues to be discussed and there is still a great deal of uncertainty.

03/ 6/2013 VATICAN INSIDER

U.S. bishops: “We aren't ready to start the Conclave”

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Cardinal Francis George
Cardinal Francis George

The Archbishop of Chicago, George, admits U.S.S cardinals know very little about the Vatileaks case

Paolo Mastrolilli Rome
The Archbishop of Chicago, Francis George shakes his head, smiles and says: “It's not the rules that are the problem: even if all cardinal electors had arrived in Rome, I would not want to start the Conclave now, for one very simple reason: We are not ready yet.”



The sun is setting over the Pontifical North American College on Rome's Janiculum Hill where the powerful U.S. bishops' delegation is currently residing.New York's Cardinal Dolan returns from the Vatican and greets his colleague from Chicago who had led the U.S.S Episcopal Conference before him. Just a few metres away, the Archbishop of Boston, O'Malley, dressed in his Capuchin monk's robes, is getting ready to stroll into the city centre: “There are still too many questions that need to be answered and too many people to meet,” said the cardinal who tops the list of American papabili.” “It is still too soon to start the Conclave: whilst it is true that we would all like to return to our dioceses in time for Easter, we have a choice of historic dimensions to make here and we must take all the time we need to choose.” Also so that cardinals have time to familiarise themselves with all that has gone on in the Vatican recently: “I'm not saying the Vatileaks scandal will be the determining factor but I expect to familiarise myself with all relevant aspects of what we do,” Cardinal O'Malley added. Top Vatican correspondents reported behind-the-scenes information about the Curia, particularly its Italian members, wanting to speed up the voting process as this would give one of their candidates an advantage over others. This would explain the interpretation of the rules according to which the vote for the Conclave start-date can be held even if not all cardinal electors have arrived in Rome yet. Foreign cardinals, on the other hand, would like more time, to get to grips with the Vatileaks case and possibly reach a consensus on a foreign figure for Pope: a pastor, a surprise. O'Malley was more explicit about the behind-the-scenes situation: “It is true that there are two schools of thought. The first one claims that since the source of the Church's current problems is the Curia, we should go for a leader who comes from the outside; the second school of thought, however, says the future Pope needs to be someone from the Curia, because his number one task will be to reform this body.” The Boston friar is the first school of thought's favourite because he was efficient in reforming the archdiocese that was at the centre of the Church's sex abuse scandal in the U.S. He shielded himself, however, by saying: “I have worn these Capuchin robes for forty years and I plan to do so until the very end.” But he suggested looking close to home: “Latin America has a very dynamic Church. It will have a strong influence.” Until about a year ago when some were considering the unlikely possibility of an American being elected Pope, the first name that came to mind was George's. He is a competent intellectual but also an affable person. He is a leader who has a habit of speaking frankly: “I can tell you, without violating the oath of secrecy we are bound by in the general congregations, that the list of candidates for the papacy is getting longer rather than shorter. The names you have seen published in the newspapers make sense but we are also considering other candidates no one had discussed before.The Archbishop of Chicago was also frank in his description of the progress made in the discussions: “Everything is going according to plan, in the sense that there is no plan: the discussions are very free. But the congregations do have some very specific rules, so real contact between cardinals takes place outside these discussions. If a colleague approaches you and asks you what you think about a potential candidate it means he and the group he leads support that individual. So you reflect on the candidate, aware that he has a certain backing. But proof of this consensus will only be given when we start to vote.” But the voting process must not be hurried. It is better for long discussions to take before the votes are cast and keep the Conclave brief rather than the opposite: “I never thought we would have started on 10 or 11 March.”This is partly because George has not received all the information he wishes to know about the Vatileaks case: “We require all necessary information in order to make the right choice. What is it that went wrong, causing the trust in the Holy See's government to be broken? This is a concern we have not received a formal report on yet.”

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