What happened?
Pope Francis named a layman, Paolo Ruffini, as head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communications, a department that encompasses Vatican Radio, television, the Press Office and the publishing house, as well as online media. It is the first time in the 500-year history of the Curia that a lay person has been given a Vatican post equivalent to a prefect. Ruffini, 61, is head of the bishops’ conference television channel, TV2000, and has had decades of experience in broadcast and print media.
What the vaticanisti are saying
Rocco Palmo, writing at his blog Whispers in the Loggia, said Ruffini had shattered “the stained-glass ceiling” at the Vatican. While a handful of lay people and women religious had held number three posts in Vatican departments and St John Paul II had named a layman to lead the Vatican Press Office, no non-ordained person had ever risen to the level of prefect, Palmo explained.
“Put simply, the title represents the pinnacle of executive power in the Church’s central government – and the merged media arm’s massive spread of some 650 employees only amplifies the significance of the choice,” Palmo said.He described the appointment as an “attempted reboot at [the Pope’s] fraught reform” of Vatican media.
Challenges involved absorbing the semi-autonomous daily newspaper L’Osservatore Romano and keeping on side his two deputies: Argentine Mgr Lucio Ruiz, who has been running the department until now, and Mgr Dario Viganò, who was ousted as its head after misrepresenting a letter from Benedict XVI in a fiasco that became known as “Lettergate”.
Andrea Tornielli, Vatican watcher at La Stampa, reported that Ruffini was well regarded among colleagues at TV2000 – so much so that some people wept at his appointment. He noted that Ruffini’s father was a government minister and his great-uncle was a Cardinal Archbishop of Palermo.
He said Ruffini’s “most hidden quality is his ability to listen … and make the most of each person’s abilities”. Such qualities make his appointment a “significant” moment, Tornielli wrote.
✣Cardinal accused of mishandling rape claim
What happened?
Cardinal George Alencherry of the Syro-Malabar Church has been accused of ignoring a nun’s complaint that she had been raped and sexually abused by a bishop. A lay group, Movement for Transparency, claimed that the cardinal received the complaint six months ago but failed to report it to authorities. Police are now investigating.
Why was it under-reported
The case is mired in claims and counter-claims. The bishop, Franco Mulakkal, said the allegation was only made after Church authorities began disciplinary action against the nun for having an affair. He claimed he had received a death threat from the nun’s brother. “He sent me a letter saying that he would cut me into pieces if I dared to land in Kerala,” Mulakkal said. It is a difficult time for Cardinal Alencherry, who has only just been stripped of his decision-making power by the Vatican following accusations of financial mismanagement.
What will happen next?
Police in Kerala are investigating both the complaint from the nun and the death threat alleged by the bishop. (Mulakkal is Bishop of Jullundur, in northwest India, but the alleged abuse took place in a convent in Kerala.) The cardinal, meanwhile, may yet be vindicated. An apostolic administrator has been named for the Archdiocese of Ernakulam-Angamaly to look into allegations of corruption as well as the causes of division among clergy. But the appointment may be temporary, allowing the cardinal to return to his post.
✣The week ahead
the Church in Western Canada is marking its 200th birthday on Sunday. The date marks the arrival of two priests and a seminarian at Red River Colony. They had been asked to “reclaim [the land] from barbarism”. Cardinal Gérald Lacroix will be the papal delegate at celebrations – which will include a historical re-enactment – at St Boniface Cathedral in Winnipeg.
Britain’s Syro-Malabar Church, which was recently granted the status of an eparchy and given its first bishop, will make a pilgrimage to Walsingham on Sunday. The Eastern Catholic eparchy has 23 priests and 40,000 faithful.
A two-day conference entitled “Understanding Sex and Gender” is being held at St Mary’s University today and tomorrow. It is intended for anyone involved in educating and forming young people and its speakers include experts in theology, law, and medicine. Its keynote talk will be given by Fr Anthony Doe, spiritual director at the Venerable English College.
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