Benedict makes minor changes
in the next Pope's installation rite
and makes a few new appointments
By NICOLE WINFIELD
VATICAN CITY, February 22, 2013 (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI is clearing the decks of his pontificate, tweaking the rules of the Conclave, finessing the religious rites used to launch the next papacy and making some eyebrow-raising final appointments before he retires next week.
[The 'eyebrow-raising' is an allusion to the appointment of Mons. Ettore Balestrero, considered the right-hand man of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone at the Secretariat of State, to be the apostolic nuncio to Colombia. Obviously any papal appointments announced by the Vatican this week while the Pope is on retreat were not decided in the past few days, but part of the scheduled appointments intended by the Pope even if he had not decided to retire.
However, the timing of the announcement is unfortunate because yesterday's Repubblica tabloid account - from which the media that picked up the story have concluded that the most 'significant' part of the cardinals' inquiry into Vatileaks is the supposed existence of a secular gay lobby intent on blackmailing members of the Curia who are vulnerable. Not all the MSM have run with the story, so far, but the usual malicious minds are buying the Repubblica narrative that the homosexual angle pushed Benedict XVI into deciding to retire.
In another part of the story, Mons. Balestrero is named as among the officials interviewed by the cardinals about financial matters in the Vatican, given that he led the Vatican delegation dealing with Moneyval on negotiations to get the Holy See onto the 'white list' of financial establishments that pass international muster. From that mention of Balestrero, who happens to be young and good-looking, to connecting him with the alleged gay plot, is a despicable leap.
In the absence of any 'front runner' in the Conclave so far, media are understandably antsy to get any juicy Vatican story going, and I am very much afraid that the last six days of Benedict XVI's Pontificate will be smeared all over with a new 'scandal', which was the objective all along, I believe, of Repubblica's prize piece of yellow journalism yesterday. ]
The Vatican newspaper
L'Osservatore Romano said in editions published late Friday that Benedict had signed a decree earlier in the week making some changes to the papal installation Mass, separating out the actual rite of installation from the liturgy itself.
[This is entirely consistent with what he did earlier to the rites of ordination and the even more elaborate multi-stage rite of inatalling new cardinals, separating the sacrament of ordination (and the cardinal 'installation' rite, for want of a better word) from the Eucharistic liturgy. Much earlier in his Pontificate, he separated the venerable Vigil rites on Easter and on Christmas from the Vigil Masses themselves, so that they now take place before the Mass, in preparation for it, rather than 'interrupting' the canon.]
He is also studying the text of a separate document governing the rules of the conclave, though it's not known if it will address the thorny issue of whether the election can begin earlier than March 15, by some interpretations the earliest the vote can start under the current rules.
[I do believe that the main purpose of any such motu proprio is to authorize the cardinals, just for this singular circumstance, to set a Conclave starting date earlier than the 15-20 days after the Chair of Peter is vacated, as provided for in the 1996 Apostolic Constitution that spells out the rules for the sede vacante and the Conclave. The statutory period was formulated for the usual cause of a sede vacante, i.e., a Pope dies, as it would allow the Church to observe a nine-day novena of suffrage Masses, even as it gives time for cardinals who live abroad to arrive in Rome. But even if the Pope authorizes the College of Cardinals - who constitute the governing body of the Church during the interregnum - to set an earlier date, it is up to the cardinals to vote whether they want to start the Conclave earlier than March 15, and they are expected to do this at their first General Congregation which will probably take place shortly after February 28.]
And on Friday, the Vatican announced Benedict had transferred a top official in the secretariat of state, Monsignor Ettore Balestrero, to Colombia — an appointment that came amid swirling media speculation about the contents of a confidential report into the Vatican's leaks scandal.
Italian newspapers have been rife for days with unsourced reports about the contents of the secret dossier that three cardinals prepared for Benedict after investigating the origins of the leaks. The scandal erupted last year after papers taken from the Pope's desk were published in a blockbuster book. The pope's butler was convicted in October of aggravated theft, and later pardoned.
The Vatican has refused to comment on the reports, which have claimed the contents of the dossier, delivered to Benedict in December, were a factor in his decision to resign. Benedict himself has said he simply no longer has the "strength of mind and body" to carry on.
[Specifically, Repubblica's shoddy story - it's almost worth wasting the time to translate it just to show how awful it is by any criterion - claims the decision to resign was taken on December 17, mark the date!, when the three cardinals supposedly submitted their final report to the Pope - the day, the writer claims with as much melodrama as she could muster, that the word 'homosexuality' was ever mentioned in the papal apartment! Really? what does she know! And yet, the entire tale of innuendo and conjecture is told in omniscient mode. But the cardinals' report was submitted much earlier, in late summer, before Paolo Gabriele's trial even went underway.
One gathers from what Georg Ratzinger has said that the Pope may have informed his brother of his decision some time earlier than that - not over the telephone but sitting together one evening - when Georg Ratzinger spent August in Castel Gandolfo with him, as he has done every summer since 2005. Or he could have told his brother during the latter's New Year visit to the Vatican, but that would put it before the March trip to Mexico and Cuba, during which, we now learn, he had another nighttime fall or stumble that could have had more serious consequences than just a superficial head wound. Even a major fracture, of a leg bone or the hip, is potentially lethal for older people.]
The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, has indicated that Benedict would meet with the three cardinals before stepping down Feb. 28, in one of his final private audiences.
[It is said he may want them to provide the cardinals with a copy of their report before they meet in conclave. Another sign of Benedict's wisdom and foresight. Someone has to avail of the findings and insights. But since it won't be him, why not the College of Cardinals, one of whom will be Pope? Could there be a grander act of collegiality? To give them an exact idea of how things are run in the Roman Curia, not just rumor or conjecture, but based on the observations and opinions of a wide variety of Curial representatives. One might even think Benedict did not order the inquiry for his own benefit, because at the time he ordered it in June, after Gabriele's arrest, he was already laying the groundwork for his renunciation. He must have wanted to leave behind something concrete and practical that his successor could use when determining what to do with the Curia. Or to be more precise, with the Curial bureaucracy who are responsible for making it run, so they could either oil the machinery or put a spoke in its gears, as they please.
Given the rivalries, turf battles and
allegations of corruption in the Vatican exposed by the leaks themselves, there is some speculation that cardinals entering the conclave might want to know the contents of the dossier before choosing a new Pope. ..
['Might want to know'? Of course they would want to know. They can't forever be relying only on the gossip and surmise peddled by the media and the professional Vatican bashers. At least, this report comes from three respected octogenarian cardinals who have no turf to defend or interests to protect... Also remarkable in that sentence is the use of the phrase 'allegations of corruption' by AP. That surprised me, but it's what MSM has never done before, gleefully attributing (nay, accusing!) unqualified 'evil and corruption' in the Vatican without citing one example that they could well investigate and expose if there really were something worth anyone's while. All they needed as 'proof' were the dicta of Vigano and Gabriele ('They said so - it must be true!'), whom they have since canonized.]
Balestrero was head of the Holy See's delegation to the Council of Europe's Moneyval committee, which evaluated the Vatican's anti-money laundering and anti-terror financing measures. He has had a hand in the efforts by the Vatican bank to be more transparent and is close to Benedict's No. 2, the Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
The Vatican submitted itself to Moneyval's evaluation in a bid to improve its reputation in the financial world.
The Vatican passed the test on the first try in August, and Moneyval said it had made great progress in a short amount of time. But the Holy See received poor or failing grades for its financial watchdog agency and its bank, long the source of some of the Vatican's more storied scandals.
Some of the documents leaked in the midst of the Vatileaks scandal concerned differences of opinion about the level of financial transparency the Holy See should provide about the bank, the Institute for Religious Works. However, Balestrero himself wasn't named in any significant way in the leaks.
The Vatican is now working to comply with Moneyval's recommendations before the next round of evaluation. Lombardi said the lengthy Moneyval process would simply be handled by someone else now that Balestrero is leaving.
Lombardi said Balestrero's transfer had been months in the works, was a clear promotion and had nothing to do with what the Vatican considers baseless reporting.
Lombardi noted that the nunciature in Bogota is one of the most important in Latin America, with the headquarters for the Latin American bishops' conference as well as the regional organization for religious orders, and is usually headed by someone who has had experience as a nuncio in at least two other postings.
"The procedure for this nomination was started some time ago, as evidenced by the fact that the agreement (with Colombia) has already been reached," Lombardi told The Associated Press. "It was started well before the Pope's resignation, so it's completely unfounded to link it to the news articles in recent days."
[It should not even have to be explained. It obviously was not decided by the Pope yesterday, reacting to the Repubblica hack job! When he made the decision, he might have taken into account that after he ceases to be Pope, there are some promising younger people who must be protected so that their way forward is not suppressed under a new dispensation, just as Benedict has taken steps to protect Georg Gaenswein. Balestrero, as a top aide to Cardinal Bertone, could conceivably be hexed by older, more experienced careerists in the Secretariat of State after Bertone is gone, so give him an important and relatively autonomous assignment now.]
Asked if the transfer had anything to do with the broader Vatileaks investigation, Lombardi said he was declining comment in line with the Vatican's decision not to confirm or deny any specifics of the investigation.
Spanish Cardinal Julian Herranz, the Opus Dei canon lawyer who headed the cardinal's commission, has spoken in vague terms about the report and the well-known divisions within the Vatican Curia that were exposed by the leaks.
"Certainly, it has been said that this was a hypothesis behind the pope's resignation, but I think we need to respect his conscience," Herranz told Radio24 last week. "Certainly, there are divisions and there have always been divisions, as well as clashes along ideological lines. These aren't new, but yes, they have a weight."
[Why Herranz had to say that at all is most unfortunate, but all those who now buy the line that 'Gay blackmail forced Pope to resign', as one headline put it = so the unwitting who only sees the headline would think the Pope himself was the blackmail victim - used it today to reinforce the Repubblica hypothesis.]
Pope Benedict modifies ritual
for next Pope’s inauguration
by Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY, Feb. 22, 2013 (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI has ordered several changes to the Mass and rituals that will mark the inauguration of the next Pontificate.
Rites and gestures that are not strictly sacramental will take place either before the Mass or in a ceremony not involving Mass, Msgr. Guido Marini, master of papal liturgical ceremonies, told the Vatican newspaper Feb. 22.
One of the most visual changes, he said, would be the restoration of the public “act of obedience” in which each cardinal present at the Pope’s inaugural Mass comes forward and offers his allegiance.
When Pope Benedict celebrated his inaugural Mass in 2005, 12 people were chosen to represent all Catholics: three cardinals, a bishop, a diocesan priest, a transitional deacon, a male religious, a female religious, a married couple and a young man and a young woman recently confirmed.
Msgr. Marini said Pope Benedict personally approved the changes Feb. 18; they include offering a wider choice of traditional Mass prayers in polyphony and chant, rather than the new musical repertoire composed for the 2005 book.
After having personally experienced the liturgical rites prepared by Msgr. (Guido) Marini’s predecessor[Mons. Piero Marini, at the time] — and approved by Pope Benedict immediately after his election — the Pope suggested “a few changes aimed at improving the text” of the rites for the beginning of a pontificate, formally known as the “Ordo Rituum pro Ministerii Petrini Initio Romae Episcopi.”
The changes, Msgr. Marini said, “follow in the line of the modifications made in papal liturgies” over the course of Pope Benedict’s papacy.
The previous edition of the ritual handbook also called for the next Pope to visit the basilicas of St. Paul Outside the Walls and St. Mary Major within two or three weeks of his installation.
The new book, Msgr. Marini said, leaves it up to the next Pope to decide “when it would be most opportune, even at some distance from his election, and under what form he judges best, whether it be a Mass, a celebration of the Liturgy of the Hours, or a particular liturgical act” like the one found in the 2005 ritual book.
In an email response to questions, Msgr. Marini told Catholic News Service that no significant modifications had been made to the “Ordo rituum conclavis” itself, the book of rituals, Masses and prayers that accompany the conclave to elect a new Pope.
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[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 27/02/2013 12:26]