Rorate Caeli

Tosatti: "De-Ratzingerization" purge moving full steam ahead
- If you're too "conservative", get out of the Roman Curia!


De-Ratzingerization underway
Marco Tosatti
[Senior Religion Correspondent for Italian Daily] La Stampa
September 15, 2014

From Spain we hear that the Secretary of the Congregation for the Clergy, the Spaniard, [Archbishop] Celso Morga, would be about to end his stay in the Vatican; twenty six years in all, but only four in the important office that he presently holds.

We are talking here about a [leaked] letter from the Secretariat of State to the Congregation of Bishops, where they are asked to verify the possibilities of a diocese becoming available soon (the level would not be relevant), so as to send the Archbishop there.

Archbishop Morga might have some characteristics that may not make him at all suitable for the present atmosphere in the papal entourage. He is known to be “conservative”, whatever that’s supposed to mean; and to have been Secretary of the Congregation at the time of Ratzinger. Celso Morga is close to Opus Dei, and this seems to be an element of further interest.

The latest rumors make him Coadjutor Bishop in Mérida-Badajoz. Others speak of Santiago de Compostela; while the Barcelona succession seems less likely, as it would involve a Cardinal’s hat.

Yet, if Celso Morga’s departure from a position was judged extremely “sensitive” by the Pontiff’s entourage, it’s already finding space in the media, the Spanish one for the moment and when announced internationally, it will appear to be a purge at all levels in some Congregations of people judged too close to the Ratzinger line, or “conservatives.” Transfers, removals, variations of appointments of small or medium caliber, [all of] which however, help to understand that perhaps we are not talking about something casual: on the contrary.

[Source, in Italian. Translation: contributor Francesca Romana]

[Much more on De-Ratzingerization here.]