FROM THE PILLAR: Super Mario?
Cardinal Mario Grech is a fascinating character who is now, in the words of one curial official I spoke with this week, “in the middle of everything.”
The secretary general of the permanent secretariat of the Synod of Bishops isn’t technically part of the Roman curia at all — the synod is something formally apart from the Vatican, and isn’t even listed in the curia constitution.
It’s a controversial concept. The cardinal insisted this week that the synodal process is the “mature fruit” of Vatican Council II, of which he also set himself out as the authentic interpreter: “A correct reception of the Council’s ecclesiology,” Grech said, is “to open up scenarios that not even the Council had imagined.”
Given the current stand-offs between the Vatican and the bishops of Germany and Belgium on issues like church blessings for same-sex unions, intercommunion with Protestants, and the ordination of women, the unimaginable is becoming an ever more central part of preparations for next year’s final synodal session, and it will be Grech, more than any other person, who can shape the final text sent to the pope when it concludes.
All this has meant that Grech is increasingly seen, including by himself I’ve been told more than once, as the natural heir to Pope Francis in the event of a conclave.
As one friend in Rome put it to me, the cardinal is being positioned so that “voting for Grech will be like voting for the synod itself.”
There’s no doubt Grech is becoming ever-more obviously papabile, and he has come to outshine the other names often mentioned as potential Francis II’s, like Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, president of the Italian bishops’ conference.
But his viability may hinge on his ability to bring the synod in to land. Bishops in places like Germany and Belgium appear set on taking the Church in a radical new direction, and they have been accused of using the synod’s somewhat anemic participation rates of around 1% as some kind of new doctrinal revelation.
If Grech can bring them back into line with the Vatican and the rest of the Church through the synod’s final text, he could stand himself up as the architect of a grand compromise. But if the whole idea of a “synodal Church” becomes synonymous with permanent crisis, it might be Grech who gets the blame.
3 comments:
I am supposed to be on leave and paying attention to family, etc. however, my reaction, delayed and considered several times, is that if the position of the Germans l, and Cardinal Grech specifically, is not satanic it follows satanic reasoning straight from Genesis. They aim to outwit the Creator and change law to suit their personal desires. If we follow them or allow it we are fools.
RCG, I think it is indeed the spirit of the anti Christ which the faithful must resist in every age. What Cardinal Muller says in his EWTN interview hits the nail on the head. I pray a significant number of cardinals and bishops agree with him and lead the resistance!
Attended Mass at St MaryyParish, Oak Ridge, TN. 8 am NO with young priest who came across ot only sincere but motivated. Homily was on the essence of Man and relationship to God. Discussed manifestations of God qua burning bush, etc like he had read this blog. What io liked, besides being ‘home’ in TN was to be greeted by two pleasant Benedictine nuns from Nashville. There were six attending. Many ladies wore mantillas, there were a few young folks there and children. No one balked that I received on the tongue, in fact over half estimated did same. Altar servers were ready with the paten, prayer to St Michael at the end before recess. I would like that parish if I end up back there.
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