{"id":17072,"date":"2015-08-01T20:30:44","date_gmt":"2015-08-01T20:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cimdev8.com\/?p=17072"},"modified":"2015-08-01T20:30:44","modified_gmt":"2015-08-01T20:30:44","slug":"try-and-reform-the-curia-if-not-you-leave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insidethevatican.com\/news\/try-and-reform-the-curia-if-not-you-leave\/","title":{"rendered":"Try and Reform the Curia; If Not, You Leave"},"content":{"rendered":"

Confidant of the late Cardinal Martini of Milan says Pope Benedict\u2019s resignation was a possibility from the very beginning…<\/em><\/p>\n

\"In<\/a>

In the circle, the late Cardinal Martini<\/p><\/div>\n

The confessor and confidant of Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the deceased former archbishop of Milan, revealed before his own death this year that, according to Cardinal Martini, the resignation of Benedict was \u201cprogrammed\u201d from the very beginning of his pontificate.<\/p>\n

The story first appeared in the Milan daily Corriere della Sera on July 16. (What follows draws on this published report, which has not been confirmed or denied by other sources.)<\/p>\n

Fr. Silvano Fausti, a prominent biblical scholar and theologian, is described as having been the \u201cclosest person to Cardinal Martini,\u201d an influential prelate of the \u201cprogressive\u201d wing of the Church (he once called the Church \u201c200 years out of date\u201d) who garnered a number of votes in the first round at the 2005 papal conclave. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the \u201cconservative\u201d favorite, also had a considerable number of supporters in the conclave\u2019s initial vote.<\/p>\n

Fr. Fausti said in a video interview three months before his June 24, 2015 death that Cardinal Martini had realized a plan was afoot at the conclave to \u201cmake them both fall\u201d and then to elect a \u201cvery slippery\u201d cardinal from the Roman Curia.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce the trickery was uncovered,\u201d said Fr. Fausti, \u201cMartini that evening went to Ratzinger and said: \u2018Tomorrow, accept the papacy with my votes.\u2019\u201d For Cardinal Martini, said Fr. Fausti, \u201cit was all about \u2018housecleaning\u2019\u201d: attempting to reform a Curia riddled, in some precincts, with entrenched private interests.<\/p>\n

Martini and Ratzinger, he said, held each other in esteem, despite their differences, but said Fr. Fausti, \u201cto create news, [the media] were always trying to play them against each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Fr. Fausti, Cardinal Martini said to Cardinal Ratzinger, \u201cYou accept, since you have been in the Curia for 30 years, you\u2019re intelligent and honest: try and reform the Curia, and if not, you leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cardinal Martini revealed, said Fr. Fausti, that Benedict had made a speech during that period \u201cwhich denounced these dirty maneuvers and embarrassed a lot of cardinals.\u201d Benedict had said, \u201cPray for me that I may not flee for fear of the wolves.\u201d<\/p>\n

As further evidence of the agreement that Benedict had made with Cardinal Martini, Fr. Fausti cited the dramatic gesture of the Pope entering the unstable basilica of Collemaggio in Aquila, after an April 2009 earthquake there; he laid his lamb\u2019s wool pallium \u2014 the symbol of the bishop\u2019s role as \u201cshepherd\u201d \u2014 on the tomb of Pope St. Celestine V, the Pope of the \u201cGreat No,\u201d who affirmed the right of a Pope to abdicate, and then did so.<\/p>\n

\"Pope<\/a>

Pope Benedict XVI places a white stole on the remains of 13th-century Pope St. Celestine V during an April 28, 2009 visit to the Basilica of Santa Maria di Collemaggio in L\u2019Aquila, Italy. On February 11, 2013, Benedict said he would resign at the end of the month because he no longer had the energy to exercise his ministry over the Universal Church. St. Celestine V, a hermit who was elected at the age of 80, was the last Pope freely to resign from the papacy (CNS photo\/L\u2019Osservatore Romano via Reuters).<\/p><\/div>\n

After almost eight years as Pope, Benedict\u2019s strength began to flag, as his papacy suffered attacks that included blame for clerical sexual abuse scandals and the \u201cVatileaks\u201d controversy. According to Fr. Fausti, Cardinal Martini said that the last time the Cardinal and the Pope met, at the World Meeting of Families in Milan in June 2012 \u2014 by this time Cardinal Martini had been ill with Parkinson\u2019s disease for some time and would be dead within months \u2014 they looked each other in the eyes and Martini said, \u201cThe Curia is not going to change; you have no choice but to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martini was convinced that Benedict was no longer in a position to be an effective reformer. \u201cThe time is now,\u201d he said to the Pope; \u201cnothing can be done here any more.\u201d<\/p>\n

At around that time, Cardinal Martini gave his last interview, in which he said, \u201cOur culture has aged, our churches are big and empty and the Church bureaucracy rises up. The Church must admit its mistakes and begin a radical change, starting from the Pope and the bishops. The pedophilia scandals oblige us to take a journey of transformation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benedict began talking to his closest collaborators about the prospect of his resignation, said Martini; they tried to dissuade him.<\/p>\n

But on February 11, 2013, Benedict announced the \u201crenunciation\u201d of his pontificate. Resigning \u201cin full liberty,\u201d he said that \u201cto govern the Barque of Peter and proclaim the Gospel, vigor of both soul and body are necessary,\u201d and that \u201cin the last months\u201d he had begun to lose them.<\/p>\n

The papal conclave a month later elected Jorge Mario Bergoglio.<\/p>\n

Fr. Fausti says in his video interview, \u201cWhen I saw Francis, Bishop of Rome, I sang the Nunc Dimittis \u2014 at last! I had longed for a Pope like this\u2026 since the pontificate of Greg\u00adory the Great (A.D. 590-604)…\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Confidant of the late Cardinal Martini of Milan says Pope Benedict\u2019s resignation was a possibility from the very beginning… The confessor and confidant of Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, the deceased former archbishop of Milan, revealed before his own death this year that, according to Cardinal Martini, the resignation of Benedict was \u201cprogrammed\u201d from the very beginning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":334,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nTry and Reform the Curia; If Not, You Leave - Inside The Vatican<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Confidant of the late Cardinal Martini of Milan says Pope Benedict\u2019s resignation was a possibility from the very beginning...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/insidethevatican.com\/news\/try-and-reform-the-curia-if-not-you-leave\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Try and Reform the Curia; 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