Last Friday I remarked that John Allen had provided us with a
very interesting way to measure the intentions of Pope Francis. The results are now in.
Allen observed (near the end of a column mostly devoted to Cardinal
Gualtiero Bassetti) that during his May 27 visit to Genoa, the Pontiff
would be hosted by Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the outgoing president of
the Italian episcopal conference, who was regarded as a close ally of
Pope Benedict XVI. Allen reasoned that if the Pope “appears gracious and
respectful, finding occasions to voice appreciation for Bagnasco’s
contributions, then the take-away may be that Francis is not so much
trying to reverse what came before but to round it out.” Whereas if the
Pope ignored the cardinal, that “may accent the impression in some
quarters that Francis is trying to ‘roll back’ the legacy of his
predecessors.”
So what happened?
Here, the Vatican summaries provided by the Vatican press office, are
the complimentary things the Pope said about Cardinal Bagnasco during
his day in Genoa:
...
...
[crickets]
...
...
It wasn’t for lack of an opportunity. When Pope Francis visited the
Ilva factory, a manager asked him a question, mentioning that “we are
encouraged by our archbishop Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco,” and asking the
Pontiff for “a word of closeness.” The Holy Father
gave a 1,200-word reply. Not one of those words was “Bagnasco.”
If Allen’s test was valid, the results were crystal clear.
Phil
Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has
edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of
Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at
CatholicCulture.org.
See full bio.
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