Who will serve the Vicar of Christ?

I have disagreed passionately with George Weigel on a number of things, namely his belief in the moral justification for pre-emptive war and his analysis of the last election, for which Ross Douthat took him to task, but I agree with him on something: what the recent SSPX fiasco and the recent admission by the Legion of Christ concerning the sexual shenanigans of Fr. Marcial Maciel, their founder, shenanigans that include fathering a daughter and sexually molesting young men seeking to join the order, reveals about the Roman Curia. He gives some very salient analysis writing in First Things.

In the case of Maciel, the Roman Curia investigated these allegations, which we know now are true, for years while allowing him to continue his ministry uninhibited, despite the massive scandal going on in U.S. over this same issue, and never arriving at a judgment. It was not until 2006 that Pope Benedict XVI, in an act of courage and conviction typical of this great man, that Maciel was finally forced give up his public ministry as a priest, to resign as head of the Legion, and to retire and devote the remainder of his life to prayer and penance. Maciel died in 2008, let us sincerely hope and pray that he used his time well. It must be noted that he appears never to have personally acknowledged, either publicly or to his victims, his sinful behavior. Rather, he insisted to the end that he was the victim, patiently bearing the cross of Christ- this is but a slight paraphrase of his public statement after the Holy Father's sanctions were announced. Knowing what we know now, this seems to me outrageous; arrogance under the guise of humility.

To my mind, what all of this demonstrates is that the Roman Curia is in need of reform and a thorough house-cleaning. Surely there are people in the world-wide Church possessed of courage, conviction, theological acumen, who also have well-developed pastoral and political (in the best sense of that word) sensibility, people like the Holy Father himself. If the Church wishes to engage the world, then the Roman Curia needs to engage the world, which means doing things more transparently. I disagree with Fr. Lombardi, head of the Vatican Press Office, who, in an act of sincere humility and devotion to the Holy Father, accepted responsibility for the the tumult caused by the Holy Father's lifting the excommunications of the Lefebvre four, by saying it was a public relations failure. Rest easy Fr. Lombardi, you can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear.

As Weigel asks with regard to the decree lifting the excommunications, did no one in the curia, especially in the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, which was established in 1988 following the schism caused by Marcel Lebfebvre with his unauthorized ordination of these four, for the specific purpose of healing the schism, think "to Google 'Richard Williamson'"? Did "no subordinate [have]the nerve or capacity to compel the superiors to pay attention to a potential landmine?" In other words, what were they thinking? The Holy Father did not know that Williamson is a denier of the mass, systematic, murder of Jews by the German National Socialist regime. This is made even more delicate by the fact that the Holy Father is German. Had he known, I seriously doubt that the excommunications would have been lifted. It seems, as one can easily find out by visting various websites, that the whole of the SSPX is infected with anti-Semitism, of which the Church of Christ has repented and disavowed. This is a matter of being or not being in communion.

On a personal note, I am already tired of the revisionists who claim that people like me are overreacting. After all, what's a little Holocaust denial among friends? I stick by my words: not forgetting means actively remembering and actively remembering forms and informs how we live together, how we, as disciples of Jesus Christ, foster tolerance and peace between peoples. One cannot dismiss the implications of so public an act as the lifting of these excommunications in light of what has surfaced.

So, whose job was it to tell the Holy Father? Once this is determined that individual should be looking for a new way to serve God's people, perferably outside the Vatican in a position that requires no serious work. As one who is in the business of passing along information with analysis and recommending courses of action based on what I know, the worst thing in the world is to not have thought through the most obvious questions, or to have anticipated the questions of the boss, who one has to know in order to serve well. Failure to do that is failure to do my job. Let's be bold and name names, the head of Ecclesia Dei, from whom nothing public has been heard, is the Columbian cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos. Too bad Cardinal Law already has the sinecure at the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.

Fred, writing once again on la nouvelle, draws our attention to an article about courage in adversity, something that is encouraging, the story about a man who saved 20,000 Jews from the Nazis, The Ambassador.

It is heartening to learn this morning that, according to the Catholic News Agency, Pope Benedict's trip Israel in the Spring is a go!

A diaconal bow to my brother deacon, Greg Kandra, for bringing Weigel's piece, the CNS story, and the picture of the Pope to my attention. He provides Weigel's money quote.