Marcantonio Colonna, the pseudonymous author of The Dictator Pope, has said that the Vatican is trying to discover his identity.
The book, published as an ebook earlier this month, has caused consternation with its claims about Pope Francis’s reign.
Speaking to the Catholic Herald via email, Colonna claimed that the Pope had been given a list of possible names.
“A person in England was misidentified as the author at one point and immediately received threatening telephone calls from Rome,” Colonna said. “I now hear that Vatican officials have laid before the Pope a shortlist of six people who they think may be the possible author. I suspect that it’s not for the purpose of awarding a literary prize.”
Asked whether he thought his anonymity would last, Colonna said: “Under the present Pope, the Vatican machine has taken espionage to a new level, and I have little doubt that they will unmask me eventually, perhaps after a few more false casts. But they will need to ask themselves whether it is at the cost of giving me more publicity.”
Colonna believes his book has “hit a vein of disillusionment with Francis’s papacy which the mainstream media have missed”.
Some critics have suggested that Colonna’s book is mere gossip. For instance, it draws on a supposed report by the Jesuit superior general Fr Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, commissioned when Fr Jorge Bergoglio was proposed as a bishop in Argentina. Fr Kolvenbach’s report allegedly stated that Fr Bergoglio was “unsuitable for such an appointment” because of character defects, which he went on to describe. The report has since disappeared.
Asked why the reader should believe this, Colonna replied: “The account I give of the report in my book is not based on rumour. It’s based on first-hand information I received from a priest who read the report when it was first issued, and who was fully in the know of the ecclesiastical process involved.”
Colonna said his concern was not primarily to cover the recent doctrinal controversies in the Church.
“My purpose was simply to show the gulf that exists between the image of the liberal, democratic Pope Francis and the true character of this pontificate,” he said. “That is something that ought to give all Catholics cause for concern.”
Belgian bishop to sue alleged child abuse victim
A bishop who has previously been embroiled in a sex abuse scandal has said he will sue a new complainant for slander.
Bishop Roger Vangheluwe of Bruges resigned in 2010 following revelations that he had sexually abused his own nephew. Now he faces fresh allegations from a 36-year-old man, known only as Michael, who claims to have been “rented” for eight years as a child, especially to clergymen.
Michael, who has a criminal and drug history, alleges that he was abused from the age of five.
Bishop Vangheluwe’s lawyer said he would be filing a legal complaint. “It will be the only way to stop these whimsical people,” he said. “This is the umpteenth story and, as time passes, their stories are fantastic. The worst thing is that these people are once again enjoying a platform and I’m afraid it will continue until one of them is sentenced for slander.”
When Bishop Vangheluwe’s previous abuse was disclosed in 2010 it emerged that Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels had urged the victim not to go public. His spokesman at the time said this was not a cover-up but that the cardinal had been trying to “help the family reach a reconciliation”.
Homeless bishop seeks peace
The bishop of a city in the Philippines devastated by conflict has said his priority is not to rebuild his destroyed cathedral and home but to help restore peace.
Bishop Edwin de la Peña of Marawi told Aid to the Church in Need his task was now to train teenage Muslims to become “peace catalysts” and to set up counselling centres for people traumatised by war.
Marawi suffered a five-month siege after Islamists affiliated to ISIS tried to take control of the city.
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