The publication of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum led at least one Italian bishop to tears.
Now, a popular Italian theologian (Gianni Gennari, a "Conservative Catholic" and laicized priest, now married, who is a columnist for Catholic daily Avvenire, under the pseudonym "Rosso Malpelo") cannot hold back his own tears.
Now, a popular Italian theologian (Gianni Gennari, a "Conservative Catholic" and laicized priest, now married, who is a columnist for Catholic daily Avvenire, under the pseudonym "Rosso Malpelo") cannot hold back his own tears.
Genari: "I am disappointed, stunned, scandalized"
«A swipe at John Paul II. It is the complete debacle of the Church»
by Laurence Figà-Talamanca
CITTÀ DEL VATICANO
"A swipe at John Paul II", who, up to the end, "begged" Anti-Conciliar Bishop Marcel Lefebvre not to consecrate new bishops. Gianni Gennari, former priest of dissent, is, to say little, "troubled", and he does not spare words in condemning the removal of the excommunication imposed by Pope Wojtyla, on June 30 1988 [sic], to the four Lefebvrist [sic] bishops: "It is a tragedy, the complete debacle of the Church!". "I am ashamed by the result of this act. I am disappointed, stunned, scandalized!", affirms Gennari to Ansa [news agency], holding back his anger and his tears with difficulty, and declaring he has a wide documentation of what took place at the time, "including a telegram of then-Cardinal Ratzinger" to Lefebvre.
"I don't know if the Pope himself should also be ashamed, that belongs to his conscience. He is a great theologian, and I do not understand what may have happened. It displeases me because I like him," adds the former priest, now married and a well-liked journalist in the columns of Avvenire under the pseudonym of "Rosso Malpelo".
"I don't know if anyone has fooled the Pope, but in this case there is no place for the mercy of Christ, because mercy is used for those who repent". But the Lefebvrists have never repented, even "for 40 years they have spoken of 'bastard popes', 'bastard Mass', they even called Paul VI a bastard, spewing venom and calumny."
Poor Gennari: he does not know what just hit him.
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Meanwhile, Bishops speaking anonymously to Il Messaggero cannot stop complaining about the Pope's decision:
Even though the gesture is motivated by the will to achieve unity, the consequences of the entry of the ultra-Traditionalists who "do not believe in Vatican II" and who have fought for the rehabilitation of the Latin Mass according to the ancient rite will lead "inevitably to some imbalance".
The liturgical experts sound more than skeptical and agree."I ask myself" - a prelate declares - "at what cost will the reentry come. I fear that it will consolidate what two years ago was only an extraordinary rite. The entry of the Lefebvrists cannot but undermine the path made since Vatican II. Moreover, it is like ignoring the work of Paul VI and John Paul II". Pope Montini did what he could to understand the gesture of Archbishop Lefebvre, while Pope Wojtyla, before reaching the decision of excommunicating him, promoted a kind of internal query within the episcopate, ending at the 1984 indult. "The gesture of Pope Ratzinger will cause a certain instability" - a Cardinal adds. "It will expand even the movement towards the ancient rite, creating ulterior uneasiness, at a theological and pastoral level, in the parishes."
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