I noticed Pope Leo’s replacement of Sister Natalie Becquart and wondered what it meant, but I felt it was significant. Until now it was under reported or went unnoticed.
But it tells us something about Pope Leo’s understanding of synodality which differs from Cardinal Grech and His Eminence’s right hand woman, Sister Natalie. She’s gone now and unceremoniously.
I used to complain about anything and any document coming the the Synodal way. Usually no mention of God, Father, Son or Holy Spirit was made; nothing about salvation, sin and redemption; nothing about the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Communion of Saints and Angels—nothing!
And what Sister Natalie wrote was often a word salad that would make Kamala Harris proud.
Serre Verweij writes this about Sister Natalie:
Pope Leo unexpectedly ended Sister Nathalie Becquart’s tenure undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops and appointed both a replacement for her and for Marín de San Martín, who had been given a different position on 12 March with his position vacant since. Jesuit Father Giacomo Costa and Salesian Sister Elena Massimi were appointed as the new undersecretaries. This preserves the current status quo of one female religious and one male religious priest as undersecretaries.
Nathalie Becquart was an openly activist progressive and an important ally of Cardinal Grech. Her removal is the first real strike taken at the core liberal block. At the same time Father Costa is about as liberal as Becquart. He has been involved in several synods since 2017 as a Special Secretary, steering so called experts and topics dealt with and was officially made Consultor in 2019. Through these roles he inserted a powerful behind the scenes influence promoting LGBT talking points amongst other things. His new role ironically forces him more into the open and requires accountability, and decreases his influence on the experts and content of synodal assemblies themselves. Whether this is a case of being kicked upstairs remains to be seen.
Sister Massimi appears to be a generic centrist outsider concerned with church music. She has rejected relativism in music and quoted Cardinal Ratzinger, yet paid very basic lip service to Traditionis Custodes when meeting with Francis. She has praised lay ministries involving women as well as synodality, but spoke of healthy progress within tradition.
Overall these appointments fit a pattern of Pope Leo only removing very select liberal figures from the Vatican institutions they dominate, internally promoting some others but refusing to bring fresh progressives into Rome. Yet, the new figures he does appoint to these institutions for now appear to be harmless centrists.
The Latin Mass and the Struggle for Power in the Vatican
by Serre Verweij
When Pope Leo was elected, many traditionalists were initially cautious or did not know what to expect. Then, in his first real interview (with Crux), Pope Leo declined to stand behind Traditionis Custodes; next, his nuncio in the United Kingdom told bishops that they could request exemptions from Traditionis Custodes and that these would be granted automatically, while the persecution of traditionalist religious communities and of bishops who refused to enforce Custodes fizzled out.
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