Ratzinger's Revolutionary-in-Chief
Jan 14, 2008
Benedetto è il Papa, ma Bertone è il Sommo Pontefice"-- "Benedict is the Pope, but Bertone is the Supreme Pontiff."
Whispers in the Loggia, Thursday, January 10, 2008
Ratzinger's Revolutionary-in-Chief
Benedetto è il Papa, ma Bertone è il Sommo Pontefice"
-- "Benedict is the Pope, but Bertone is the Supreme
Pontiff."
That's the word from Rome these days as Cardinal
Tarcisio Bertone keeps consolidating the sort of
all-powerful brief his recent predecessors as
Secretary of State could only dream of.
Every pontificate has one figure of overarching
influence: John Paul II had his private secretary of
four decades, now-Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz; Paul
VI's über-aide was his Sostituto, Giovanni Benelli,
who was rewarded shortly before his master's death
with the archbishopric of Florence and -- at a "snap"
consistory called with the prime intent of ensuring
his presence in the next conclave -- the red hat. (In
a historic irony, while Benelli died prematurely at 61
five years later, one of the other three cardinals
created with him was the freshly-ordained archbishop
of Munich and Freising, Joseph Ratzinger.)
For all these, it's been seven decades since the
official who's job is being the Pope's chief
lieutenant has actually been that, the last instance
being Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli, who succeeded Pope
Pius XI after serving as his predecessor's voice,
eyes, ears and, thanks to his unprecedented global
travel, his unchallenged messenger at home and abroad.
Almost 81, Benedict XVI "realizes he doesn't have the
energy to do everything," as one curial hand put it.
While the pontiff has devoted much of his time to
teaching -- writing his catecheses, letters and
homilies, to say nothing of the books -- he's reserved
the appointment of bishops and, to a lesser extent,
questions of liturgy as his prime ad intra pursuits.
The rest is largely left to Bertone, the 73 year-old
Salesian who served as Cardinal Ratzinger's #2 at the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (where the
former is still said to keep a more-than-gentle hand)
before being named archbishop of Genoa in 2002 and a
cardinal the following year.
Returning to his boss' side in 2006 as the Vatican's
"prime minister" and chief diplomat, the
football/soccer enthusiast with no diplomatic training
and a penchant for blunt talk has since carved himself
a purview including facets as the pontiff's chief
spokesman, loyalty enforcer, administrative delegate
and, most crucially, reinventor of the Roman Curia in
his own image.
Sixteen months on, the ripple-effects of the
"Vice-Pope" have only increased with time, and
exponentially at that.
Among other aspects, an unprecedented flood of
Salesians have been called to the episcopacy from the
community's ranks, the Vatican offices have become
more Italianized (with international veterans said to
be "feeling the chill"), his Genoa secretary and MC
Guido Marini has been brought in to implement the
"restoration" of papal liturgy, and after Monday's
strong message to the opening of their General
Congregation, one attuned Jesuit remarked that
Cardinal Franc Rode's homily bore "all the
fingerprints" of the Secretary of State. As concerns
these shores, Bertone's credited (or blamed) with
successfully persuading Benedict that the
initially-planned Boston stop on his first US visit in
mid-April would unwisely make the sex-abuse crisis the
frame of the entire six-day trip, and it's said that
his leanings have already been made known on the
Stateside church's Big Story of 2008: the appointment
of a new archbishop of New York.
Given the perceived resistance within the Curial ranks
from loyalists of his predecessor, Cardinal Angelo
Sodano -- who, after retiring, delayed his departure
from the Secretary's traditional apartment in the
Apostolic Palace, leaving Bertone consigned for months
to St John's Tower in the Vatican Gardens -- Bertone
chose a week in November to send two unmistakable
signals, exiling Sodano's "favorite son" from the
diplomatic corps and announcing plans for a first-ever
system of "merit-based" (read: loyalty-based) pay for
Curial employees.
That week in November just happened to coincide with
Sodano's 80th birthday.
Made Camerlengo by Benedict last April (and thus
responsible for the affairs of the Holy See in the
event of its vacancy), circles close to the papal
apartment have spoken to a sense that Bertone isn't
just being given the broad portfolio to carry it out
for the reigning Pope, but with a thought that, like
Pacelli before him, the deputy is being "groomed" to
ascend even further.
In the new edition of The Tablet, Robert Mickens
explores the Revolution and its leader:
Now in his seventeenth month in the post, the
northern Italian cardinal has not only had to deal
with the usual diplomatic controversies that come with
the territory, but he has also had to cope with
negative news reports that he himself has often
generated. These have mainly resulted from his own
personal penchant for frequently "issuing statements"
in informal press scrums only to chide reporters later
for quoting him "out of context". Thus he routinely
has accused the "secularist" media for waging an
"orchestrated campaign" to discredit, embarrass and
attack the Catholic Church. This, in turn, has helped
feed a growing victim mentality among many Catholics,
especially in Italy.
But Cardinal Bertone's biggest obstacles are not
from the outside world. Rather, they are found among
certain segments of the Roman Curia where a wall of
passive-aggressive opposition to him was already
forming in the weeks when his appointment as Secretary
of State was still just a rumour.
The curial "obstructionists" and other critics are
still convinced that the cardinal lacks essential
qualifications for such an internationally important
job. Some of them quietly bristle at his lack of
experience as a papal diplomat; for example, he was
not groomed at the prestigious Accademia
Ecclesiastica, as were they and most of the cardinal's
predecessors of the past 300 years. Some point to what
they call the cardinal's unspectacular academic
career; one of his former confrères claims that
professors at the Rome-based Salesian University
awarded the then-Fr Bertone (also a professor at the
time) his canon law doctorate behind closed doors,
rather than requiring him to defend his thesis in the
more customary setting of a "public defence". And
still others consider the Secretary of State's
cultural background as far too limited for his post;
he has only ever lived in Italy and, while he claims
familiarity with several foreign languages (but not
English), he is not known to speak any of them with
proficiency....
The Pope probably has few genuine and long-time
admirers or supporters more eager to serve him than
the strapping Salesian cardinal. During nearly eight
years (1995-2003) as secretary of the Congregation for
the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), the then-Archbishop
Bertone proved his worth. It is well known that he did
much of the so-called "heavy lifting" for the prefect
at the time - Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. And evidently
the then future Pope never forgot it. As Benedict XVI
approaches the third anniversary of his pontificate,
it appears increasingly more plausible that he may
have picked Cardinal Bertone as his Secretary of State
for the very reasons the curial "obstructionists" have
opposed him.
In choosing an Accademia "outsider", the Pope was
perhaps hoping for a right-hand man that would help
him rid the Roman Curia of "church bureaucrats" and
bring in new personnel more in line with his own
theological and ecclesiological thinking. And while
few people are under the illusion that the cardinal
alone is making the major personnel decisions, his
influence on the Pope cannot be discounted. How else
does one explain the ever-increasing Italian
population in the middle and upper ranks of the Curia?
Or the fact that Italian continues to become more and
more the only accepted language in what the Second
Vatican Council hoped would be a fully
"internationalised" papal curia?
Cardinal Bertone's view on this is conditioned by
the fact that he is a Salesian. "I am and remain a
priest of Don Bosco," he never tires of repeating.
Although now present all over the world, the Salesians
are undoubtedly the "most Italian" of all the major
religious orders in the Church - even more so than the
Franciscans. And having an especially outgoing
Salesian as his top aide adds extra punch to the more
cerebral Pope Benedict's main cultural project;
namely, strengthening the Catholic Church's influence
in Italy and, even more importantly, reawakening the
Christian identity of Europe....
Cardinal Bertone has tried to emulate some of the
style of Pacelli, the future Pius XII. Despite the
enormous intellectual, diplomatic and temperamental
differences between the two churchmen, the current
Secretary of State has been playing a ubiquitous
public role in the past few months in much the same
way his predecessor did in the 1930s. He has carried
out high-profile and much-publicised travels
throughout Eastern and Western Europe. He went to Peru
last summer on a scheduled visit that happened to
coincide with post-earthquake clean-up efforts. And he
was the keynote speaker at a Knights of Columbus
convention in the United States, despite not speaking
English. He has spoken at universities, business
clubs, the annual gathering of Communion and
Liberation, and just about any other event that his
schedule permits.
He says: "In response to the critics I have to say
that from the beginning of my academic activities I
have never wanted to close myself in an office to
study papers." He adds that even people who hold "the
highest and most important roles" in the Church should
be out "meeting the people".
This populist touch has won him praise from many
people - certainly at the beginning of his
appointment. And it has marked a major change from his
most recent predecessor, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who
was seen (perhaps unfairly) as a grey Vatican
statesman, formal and distant from ordinary people.
Most curial officials from the Sodano school of
thought - and there are many - are not comfortable
with their current boss' activism and are more
convinced than ever that the Holy See's diplomatic
work is most effective when it is done meticulously
and without attracting headlines.
As mentioned above, on his first US visit last year,
Bertone served as papal legate to the 125th Supreme
Convention of the Knights of Columbus.
With an intended audience of the entire church in the
United States, his keynote address to the Nashville
gathering is arguably the most authoritative preview
you'll find to April's papal visit, lest anyone hasn't
yet read it.
In a press conference during the trip, he also gave
his blessing to the burgeoning community of the
Nashville Dominicans, calling the "incredibly young"
sisters "very beautiful and very intelligent," also
hailing Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice's work for
peace as being "accompanied by the angels."
The "Vice-Pope" then lashed out at "the business
created around" the sex abuse scandals, terming it
"really unbearable" and praising the US church for
"fac[ing] this trial with dignity and courage."
Ratzinger's Revolutionary-in-Chief