The Vatican Bollettino for today reports that Fr. Timothy Radcliffe OP, has been appointed by Pope Francis as Consultor to the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. The former Master General of the Dominican Order is a prominent supporter of the Kasperite proposal in favor of communion for the "divorced and remarried". He has also spoken out in favor of the ordination of women, if not to the priesthood, then at least to the diaconate (see this.) However he is more famous for his frequent public interventions pushing for greater acceptance of homosexuality, having been a frequent celebrant of the infamous "gay Masses" in Soho, London. Rorate has noted his blatant support for homosexuality a couple of times (see this and this - scroll to the bottom of each post).
It is true that Radcliffe has "opposed" "gay marriage", but his farcical "opposition" rests on grounds entirely contrary to those of the Church: Radcliffe opposes it because, in his words: "'gay marriage' ultimately, we believe, demeans gay people by forcing them to conform to the straight world." His support for civil "same sex unions" and his lavish praise of homosexual "love" are a matter of public record, and led to repeated attempts last year by good and devout Catholics to prevent him from talking at the Divine Mercy Conference in Ireland (see this and this) and in San Diego, California (see this report on the Wanderer), as well as in the Flame 2 Youth Conference this year in London (read this). All these attempts failed -- and Radcliffe's acceptability has just received a major upgrade with this latest appointment. A tremendous slap to the face of so many good Catholics who had opposed him out of fidelity to the faith...
Radcliffe is not the only Dominican liberal and dissident riding high these days. Today's appointment comes only 4 days after Fr. Gustavo Gutierrez OP starred as the main speaker at a Vatican press conference. Another rising Dominican dissident is Bishop Jean Paul Vesco of Oran (Algeria), a young bishop (53 years old) who was provincial of the French Province of the Order of Preachers from 2010 to 2012 and a high-profile supporter of the Kasper proposal since last year; he is set to be a delegate to the 2015 Synod of Bishops.
