Cambalache de Obispos: the Bible and the water heater

From the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (DRAE):

cambalache

5. m. Arg., Par. y Ur. prendería. ("Store in which used goods, objects, or pieces of furniture are bought and sold.")

Cambalache, of course, is the name of a famous tango by Enrique Santos Discepolo (the one that, after criticizing life in the twentieth century, mentions "la Biblia junto al calefón", a Bible near the water heater, in a shop of used goods). And, we sadly have to admit, it often seems that many Bishops are chosen not from regular ternas, but from actual cambalaches of candidates.

Many have generally been - rightly - critical of the trend, in recent decades, of making Metropolitan Archbishops truly careerist positions which can only be reached by those who have been previously non-Metropolitan Bishops elsewhere. This particularly because it is well-known that so many good priests were named directly as heads of great Metropolitan Sees: to name just two 20th century examples, among several, Blessed Ildefonso Schuster, previously an abbot, in Milan, and the reigning Pontiff himself, a priest and professor, in Munich-Freising.

So it was with good expectation that one could see the nomination of a priest directly to a Metropolitan See in Argentina, last week: but, alas, the chosen man was Monsignor Alfredo Zecca, former President of the (not exactly orthodox) Universidad Católica Argentina, named Archbishop of Tucumán. (Image gently found in Spanish blog La Cigüeña.)

Mons. Zecca is a spiritual son, close disciple and follower of Cardinal Bergoglio - not exactly a friend of Traditional-minded Catholics -, and, naturally, did nothing to stem serious problems in his University. This comes soon after the unbelievable nomination of François Fonlupt as Bishop of Rodez (in the Aveyron region of France) - more at Valle Adurni and reaction at Catholic Oasis.