New Secretary of State

Pope Francis has appointed a new Secretary of State to replace Cardinal Bertone.
Archbishop Pietro Parolin, a 58 yo Italian with ample experience in Vatican diplomacy, and currently Nunctio in Venezuela.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-names-italian-archbishop-to-top-vatican-post/

A Google translation from Spanish with a picture of the new Secretary of State:
http://translate.google.com/transla....php/1308311256-mons-parolin-un-secretario-de

 

see me dancing??? wooo-hooooo!!!

 

Yee Haw!!!

 

Wish I could, but don't start the salsa too soon ... the present incumbent of the Secretary of State's office is still there for six weeks (I don't know what's been agreed as to whether he'll have an ongoing role in retirement), which is more than enough for much to happen. Especially if, as many people are suggesting, he feels that his power base is eroding and the protection afforded him against his critics by his position is about to disappear. People in that kind of situation can be tempted to do something desperate ...

 

Could this be 'Peter the Roman'?

 

I have been reading some great things about this Bishop (unambitious, clever, easy going, likeable, witty and pious) Wow, and young so eventually ........who knows? He is certainly not part of the Vatican establishment which gives one confidence.

 

One question I have not heard addressed. Is he orthodox or another feel good social justice man?

 

No, Peter the Roman has to be Pope Francis if he fits into the numbering system of Malachi's predictions.

 

Two things I want to know. !. Is he a homosexual? 2. Is he a mason?

 

1. I don't think that the Pope would make the same mistake twice! 2. If reports are true that he is widely regarded as self-effacing and unambitious, I think we can rule that out too.

 

Well you know Pope Francis said we are not to judge a gay person. I wonder if that goes for Masonry as well?

 

Just awful that these are legitimate questions.

 

Are they???
Or are they just awful -and not legitimate- questions?

 

From Whispers in the Loggia:
Reports: For Stato, Peter Taps Pietro

​

Given this month's traditional quiet on the beat, lest anyone forgot, August has meant these pages' traditional hiatus... with a Pope rearing in the gate, however, indications are we're off to an early launch for what's looking to be a wild fall cycle.

According to multiple Italian reports this Friday, Pope Francis is tipped to name Archbishop Pietro Parolin – the 58 year-old nuncio to Venezuela, who served as the Vatican's "deputy foreign minister" from 2002-09 – as his Secretary of State, the formal announcement expected in some quarters "as soon as tomorrow."

Should the buzz pan out, Parolin would succeed Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone SDB – the formidable "Vice-Pope" of Benedict XVI – whose ascent to the post in 2006 without any experience in Vatican diplomacy caused apoplectic fits among the natives and created an enduring set of institutional grudges that arguably sabotaged Joseph Ratzinger's pontificate.

While no shortage of speculation on the nod has made the rounds over these last several months – with Parolin in pole position throughout – an even more crucial question has largely gone ignored: namely, what the function of the Secretariat of State will be in a Roman Curia reshaped by a widely expected Franciscan shake-up, a project likely to be launched in earnest come early October following the Pope's first formal summit with his "Super 8" group of cardinal-assistants hand-picked from around the globe.

Along these lines, it is telling that the choice has reputedly fallen to a decorated hand from State's Second Section – the part that deals with "Relations with States," as opposed to the First Section for "General Affairs," which has served as the Curia's de facto central nervous system since the Regimini reforms of Paul VI (himself a Stato chief) in 1967. At the same time, Parolin's quietly deft presence on Papa Bergoglio's home continent, and in what's been Latin America's most charged posting over recent years, cannot be discounted.

​

Even if handling a Curia in suspended animation would make for quite a high-wire challenge all its own, to be sure, Parolin is no stranger to sticky situations. As Undersecretary for Relations with States during a tumultuous decade on the geopolitical stage, the then-monsingor – fluent in at least four languages and a veteran of postings in Latin America, Africa and Europe – was the Holy See's prime handler of contentious ad extra issues and delicate negotiations with regimes ranging from China and Iran to, most prominently, Vietnam (left), where tensions between the church and the country's Communist government only flared following his departure from the Rome post.
(Adding to the intrigue of recent months, Benedict quietly shipped off Parolin's successor as Undersecretary, Ettore Balestrero, to the Nunciature in Colombia as an archbishop in the wake of the German Pope's historic resignation – and, by extension, the "Vatileaks" fiasco that engulfed the final chapter of Papa Ratzinger's reign, a furore in which Balestrero had tangentially been implicated by some.)

Though the competence of the office has been refined over centuries of papal documents, at the heart of things, every Pope determines the role of his Secretary of State with an understanding that isn't spoken, but becomes clear over time. Accordingly, some reports have indicated Francis' prior leaning toward appointing the "coordinator" of his "crown council," the Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga SDB, as his SegStat, before eventually deciding to keep the "Great Elector" of the March Conclave in his current spot, a move which enables Rodriguez to continue his travels in the pontiff's shadow without the formal baggage of running a Vatican department.
Per Roman custom, any non-cardinal named to lead the principal dicastery would be placed in line to receive the first red hat given by Francis – at least, barring yet another new innovation by the everprotocol-changing pontiff.

 

Also from Whispers in the Loggia:

For Parolin, The Keys to the Kingdom

​

The expected is now the reality – at Roman Noon this Saturday, the Pope named Archbishop Pietro Parolin as his Secretary of State on the retirement of Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone SDB.

There is, however, a hitch: while most Vatican appointments take immediate effect upon their announcement, the handover of Stato to Parolin won't occur until Tuesday, October 15th, to give the new holder of the Curia's oldest office sufficient time to return from his posting until now in Venezuela.

A similar transition period was provided for in 2006 as Cardinal Angelo Sodano made way for Bertone, but that one extended for a week shy of three months – not to mention that Benedict XVI's longtime top gun was only returning from Genoa. (It reportedly took even longer for Sodano to yield the Secretary's traditional apartment in the Apostolic Palace to his successor, leaving Bertone cooped up for months in St John's Tower in the Gardens.)
While today's move restores the custom of a distinguished Stato veteran at the first dicastery's helm, the last time a nuncio was launched into the top post from an assignment in the trenches came in 1929, when Eugenio Pacelli was recalled from Berlin to become Cardinal-Secretary to Pius XI.
Of course, nine years later Pacelli was elected to succeed his mentor, taking the name Pius XII.

On his official rollout as Francis' principal on-site collaborator and the Holy See's top diplomat, Parolin released the following statement, here in a Vatican-issued translation:

At this moment, in which my appointment as Secretary of State is made public, I desire to express deep and affectionate gratitude to the Holy Father, Francis, for the unmerited trust he is showing me, and to make known to him once again my willingness and complete availability to work with him and under his guidance for the greater glory of God, the good of the Holy Church, and the progress and peace of humanity, that humanity might find reasons to live and to hope.​

I feel very strongly the grace of this call, which is yet another and the latest of God’s surprises in my life. Above all, I feel the full weight of the responsibility placed upon me: this call entrusts to me a difficult and challenging mission, before which my powers are weak and my abilities poor. For this reason, I entrust myself to the merciful love of the Lord, from whom nothing and no one can ever separate me, and to the prayers of all. I thank all those who have shown and who, starting now, will show me understanding, as well as for any and all manner of help that anyone might desire to offer me in my new undertaking. ​

My thoughts go to my family and to all the persons who have been part of my life: in the parishes into which I was born and in which I served; in the dear Diocese of Vicenza; at Rome; in the countries in which I have worked – from Nigeria, to Mexico, and most recently in Venezuela, which I am sorry to leave. I think also of Pope-emeritus Benedict XVI, who ordained me bishop, I think of the Secretariat of State, which was my home for many years, of His Eminence, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, of the other Superiors, colleagues and collaborators and of the whole Roman Curia, as well as of all those who represent the Holy Father and the Holy See diplomatically around the world. I owe a great debt to all.​

It is with trepidation that I place myself in this new service to the Gospel, to the Church and to Pope Francis, but also with trust and serenity – disposed – as the Holy Father asked us at the beginning [of his pontificate] – to walk, to build and to profess.​

May our Lady, whom I like to invoke under her titles as Our Lady of Monte Berico, Guadalupe and Coromoto, give us, “The courage, to walk in the presence of the Lord, with the Lord’s Cross; to build the Church on the Lord’s blood which was poured out on the Cross; and to profess the one glory: Christ crucified. And in this way, the Church will go forward.”​

And, as they say in Venezuela, “¡Que Dios les bendiga!” [God bless you!].​

Caracas, 31 August 2013 ​

As he prepares to take the top post of a Curia likely to undergo a sweeping systematic reform over the coming months, one element of the incoming Secretary's biography particularly sticks out: as a student at the Gregorian, Parolin wrote his doctoral thesis in canon law on the Synod of Bishops, an organ which Francis has alreadygone on-record as looking to bulk up in terms of its clout and responsibilities.

* * *​

Alongside the much-anticipated Stato nod, Papa Bergoglio issued his first round of confirmations for Curial officials in their posts this morning, keeping Bertone's four lead deputies in their current slots, as well as retaining Archbishop Georg Gänswein as prefect of the Papal Household.

By contrast, Bertone replaced his twin top lieutenants – theSostituto (Curia chief of staff) and Secretary for Relations with States (foreign minister) – within a year of his appointment as SegStat. Beyond the task of arranging papal audiences and other large Vatican events, Gänswein likewise continues as private secretary to the now Pope-emeritus Benedict.

Normally a pro forma piece of a new Pope's first days in office, Francis held off on reconfirming his Curia in the immediate wake of his election, a Holy See statement saying at the time that he "desire[d] a certain period for reflection, prayer and dialogue before making appointments or definitive confirmations" of his officials. The 266th bishop of Rome will mark a half-year in office on September 13th.

In tandem with today's announcements, the pontiff met this morning with the top five officials of State: Bertone, the Sostitutoand Foreign Secretary – Archbishops Angelo Becciu and Dominique Mamberti – and their respective deputies, the (Oklahoma-born) Assessore Msgr Peter Wells and the Undersecretary for Relations with States, Msgr Antoine Camilleri. Signaling a return to the appointment files after the summer slowdown, Francis also received the prefect of Bishops, the Quebecois Cardinal Marc Ouellet.

On a final note, conspicuously left off the confirmation list was Gänswein's deputy – formally termed the "Regent" – at the Papal Household, Msgr Leonardo Sapienza, a member of the Rogationist Fathers.

Often seen at Francis' side in lieu of his boss, the elision could indicate Sapienza's transition to another post in the short-term future.

 

Padraig, look into those eyes and tell me what you see??

 

These words struck me from the statement of Archbishop Parolin:

"I feel very strongly the grace of this call, which is yet another and the latest of God’s surprises in my life. Above all, I feel the full weight of the responsibility placed upon me: this call entrusts to me a difficult and challenging mission, before which my powers are weak and my abilities poor. For this reason, I entrust myself to the merciful love of the Lord, from whom nothing and no one can ever separate me, and to the prayers of all. I thank all those who have shown and who, starting now, will show me understanding, as well as for any and all manner of help that anyone might desire to offer me in my new undertaking. "

We can all help him! I say we storm heaven:

Oh Divine Holy Spirit, please give Archbishop Parolin supernatural discernment to tell the wolves from the lambs, and to remain always dead center in the divine will of the Father.

Oh, Blessed Mother, Queen of angels, please send a fresh squadron of angels to protect and guide our new Secretary of State.

Amen

 

Im afraid the World is watching every move and every appointment Pope Francis makes, And since he wishes to clean up the Curia ,rightly so. It is sad, but would be naive to think otherwise.
Or do you think there are no gays and masons in the Curia? Of course it is a legitimate question!

 

I just got a thought and it stopped me in my tracks. IF the Pope dies in Jerusalem like locutions.org says, will they have a conclave or will this Sec. of State step in as Pope? A POPE HAS TO BE ELECTED CORRECT???