Same Old 'Mercy'

Fr Hunwicke weighs in with his thoughts on Francis's unjust and Canonically illegal dictatorial sacking of Bp Fernandez of Arecibo.

From Fr Hunwicke's Mutual Enrichment

A bishop in Puerto Rico has been summarily dismissed by PF. I find myself unsympathetic towards some of the views ascribed to that Bishop; but I am far more disturbed by the ecclesial and doctrinal  aspects of this episode. 

As Bishop Torres has said: "A successor of the apostles is now being replaced without even undertaking what would be due canonical process to remove a parish priest." Indeed so. I am continually irritated by repetition of the platitude that Vatican II enhanced the status of the episcopate, when simultaneously steps are taken diminishing the powers of diocesan bishops. Traditionis custodes sinned shamelessly in this way. 'Subsidiarity' and 'Parrhesia' may be favoured rhetoric, but they are far from being accepted praxis.

Perhaps we remember here the strong language rightly used publicly by Cardinal Mueller when three of his operatives in the CDF were dismissed without process by PF: H E pointed out that this was not how any organisation should treat its employees. Bergoglian 'Mercy' is less truly merciful than recognised 'good practice' within secular business systems.

Torres was asked 'informally' by the Nuncio to resign. This sort of way of doing business is a hall-mark of tyranny ... the sort of thing that goes on, I presume, behind closed doors in banana republics.

Torres was told that he "had not been obedient to the pope nor had I been in sufficient communion with my brother bishops of Puerto Rico." (1) We have here an autocratic model of papacy under which, apparently, a dissent from aspects of current papal policy counts as sackable disobedience to the Roman pontiff. How different this is from the exchanges recorded between Archbishop Errington and Blessed Pius IX, when Errington refused to 'do a favour' to Pio Nono! (2) Torres had been the sole dissentient voice with regard to a certain piece of policy desired by the rest of the Puerto Rico episcopate. Former, wiser, pontiffs set in place a normative provision to the effect that Episcopal Conferences need to be unanimous for their decisions to take effect. This is in accordance with Catholic ecclesiology.

I am reminded of a rumour which circulated when Mark Davis was nominated to Shrewsbury: it was to the effect that some English bishops had complained to Rome that Nuncio Mennini was creating an 'unbalanced' English bench of bishops. Individuals do sometimes need to be protected against collective bullying by an aging oligarchy.

Torres 'had his card marked' earlier for being unenthusiastic about sending his seminarians to a National seminary. Tight control of seminary training appears to be a standard method of tyrannical oppression ... the first big stick the bully reaches for. I recall that the Franciscans of the Immaculate had their seminaries suppressed in order to eliminate their charism and to smash the order up.

And, apparently, Bishop Torres has been less than enthusiastic about banning Catholic worship.

Torres has remarked that "in the Church where mercy is so much preached, in practice some lack a minimum sense of justice". It is true that before the dread Tribunal we shall all hope for Mercy rather than for Justice. But in this fallen world, juridical systems and concepts of 'rights' and codes of Canon Law exist to protect the individual from arbitrary injustice. In the Church, if Mercy is truly more powerful than Justice, well and good; I will not condemn PF for having promoted a paedophile bishop (now convicted and Doing Time) to a nice little office in Rome. But there is nothing well and good about any system on earth, even Christ's Mystical Body militant here in earth, where an individual is not even granted Justice.

The retired Argentinian Archbishop Hector Aguer summed it all up:

"As never before, Roman centrality is imposed in the name of unity. These positions make us yearn for the freedom that the great popes supported, supporting the episcopate that was committed to the growth of the Church, and the evangelization of those who were still outside it."

Bene dixti domne.