Op-Ed: If Homosexual Militancy can even dictate the agenda in the Church

Il Blog di Costanza Miriano

September 1, 2018

 

James Martin’s article* in his finest disguise –  as victim – obliges me to reflect somewhat on this agonizing McCarrick affair; the Jesuit priest is increasingly more explicit in his “homosexual” militancy. Here he is complaining about the witch-hunt against “homosexual” priests in an article re-tweeted by Spadaro, who, also, I supposed, was “very loyal” to that Pope who says that at the least suspicion,  homosexuals, must not even enter the seminary.  Unfortunately, complaining and victimhood are the hobbyhorses of these militants (no coincidence often  feminine personality traits more than masculine). By means of this complaining and  victimhood, by means of this talk about discrimination and non-acceptance, homosexual people, on the contrary, have imposed their agenda at all levels with extreme aggressiveness and ideological violence. 

OP-ED - "The McCarrick Affair: The Pope knew. Here is why he must resign."

by Aldo Maria Valli

August 26, 2018

[Rorate note: journalist Aldo Maria Valli is probably the best-known Vaticanist in Italy, since for many years he commented on the papacy in the main Italian television network RAI1, and also for RAI 3.]

“Bishops and priests, abusing their authority, have committed horrendous crimes to the detriment of their faithful, minors, innocent victims, and young men eager to offer their lives to the Church, or by their silence have not prevented that such crimes continue to be perpetrated.”

Writing these words is an Archbishop, former Apostolic Nuncio of the United States from 2011 to 2016.   Now retired, he has decided to open his heart and tell all he came to know about the sequence of events regarding  sexual abuses in the Church. A testimony which concludes with a hard and peremptory ‘invitation’: Pope Francis should step down.  Because also he knew, but covered up. 

The Vatican "Gay Lobby" - a Timeline - Full translation of article: former Swiss Guard chief confirms existence of secret homosexual network in the Vatican - Vatican stonewalls

Here are the main episodes of this ongoing story.

1. June 11, 2013: "Gay lobby" mentioned. Rorate was the first venue to lift the matter from an obscure Chilean source: the content of the Pope's informal conversation with the leaders of the Latin American Conference of Religious (CLAR), in which the Pope himself spoke of a "gay lobby"; we were also the first bring it to worldwide attention with our translation. For more detail, see our original post.

2. July 18, 2013: Sandro Magister mentions strong hints of homosexual liaisons of one of the most powerful men in the Vatican, Msgr. Battista Mario Salvatore Ricca, manager of the Domus Sanctae Marthae (where the Pope lives) and named for relevant overseeing positions in the Vatican  - in a series of posts, see here, here, and here.

Sandro Magister's several articles and the evidence detained by his magazine, L'Espresso, have never been publicly refuted.

3. July 28, 2013: Pope downplays "gay lobby".

During the press conference in the return flight from Brazil, the Pope is asked about Msgr. Ricca. He says the following:

In this case, I conducted the preliminary investigation and we didn’t find anything. This is the first question. Then, you spoke about the gay lobby. So much is written about the gay lobby. I still haven’t found anyone with an identity card in the Vatican with “gay” on it. They say there are some there. I believe that when you are dealing with such a person, you must distinguish between the fact of a person being gay and the fact of someone forming a lobby, because not all lobbies are good. This one is not good. If someone is gay and is searching for the Lord and has good will, then who am I to judge him?

As it can be seen, the now famous "Who am I to judge?" was indeed a specific answer to Sandro Magister's accusation, and to the "gay lobby" expression mentioned by the Pope himself to CLAR.

4. January 4, 2014: In revelations published by Swiss weekly Schweiz am Sonntag (a summary of the publication available here at the Daily Mail), an anonymous former member of the Swiss Guard makes breathtaking declarations:

A former Swiss Guard has claimed he was regularly asked for sex by a 'gay lobby' of high-ranking clergy in the Vatican.

Cardinals, bishops, priests and other officials in the Vatican had regularly attempted to engage the unnamed man, who was responsible for the Pope's security, in illicit rendezvous, according to new claims.

The former guard said he received up to 20 'unambiguous requests' from members of the clergy and was asked for sex by a dignitary close to Pope John Paul II, a Swiss weekly newspaper Schweiz am Sonntag reported.

The former guard said his experiences, several years ago, added weight to allegations of a 'gay lobby' being active in the Vatican.

5. January 18, 2014: First, a note: we tweeted about this on Sunday, soon after Mäder's interview was published in Schweiz am Sonntag.

Probably because no stern reaction came from the Vatican, the team of Schweiz am Sonntag went looking for Swiss Guards who would agree to go on record. And they found not just one Swiss Guard, but a former high Commander himself, former Kommandant Elmar Theodor Mäder, who served in the Guard for ten long years (1998-2008), and served in the highest position for six years (2002-2008). Despite denying the wilder details of the anonymous Guard to the same paper a fortnight earlier, his revelations are nothing short of explosive. Here is our translation of the actual article:

Ex-guard chief warns of secret society

Saturday, January 18, 2014 23:28

Elmar Mäder sees security problem in the Vatican.

He knows the Vatican and its secrets from his own experience: 50-year-old Elmar Mäder served ten years as a Swiss Guard. In 1998 Pope John Paul II appointed him Deputy Commander of the Pontifical Swiss Guards, which he then headed from 2002 to 2008 as Commander.

The man from Saint-Gall was responsible, along with his over 100 Guards, for the security of the Holy Father. He was therefore able to gain deep insights of the inner workings of the Roman Curia. Mäder denies statements by former Guards to Schweiz am Sonntag that they had been on the receiving end of sexual advances by clerics. In his opinion these somewhat "wild tales" that were told "obviously lacked any factual basis."

But the former Commander does not deny the existence of the much mentioned gay lobby in the Vatican, quite the contrary: "I cannot refute the claim that there is a homosexual network," Mäder affirms. "My experience speaks for the existence of such [a network]."

You should be aware of the following: according to Schweiz am Sonntag's own investigation, Mäder was the Commander who is said to have warned the Guards about some lustful clerics, telling them to stay away from the latter. It is even said that Mäder intervened in writing in the Curia [regarding this matter]. This fact would not have been much appreciated in the Vatican, and might have been one reason for his resignation. Mäder, who today is the CEO of a medical technology corporation will not comment on this himself: "It is not my intention to speak publicly about my conversations and correspondence with my superiors."

However, unrelated to former [specific] events, Mäder talks "generally speaking about the homosexual network." And these statements are themselves significant. "A work environment in which the vast majority consists of unmarried men is by itself a magnet for homosexuals, whether they seek it consciously or are unconsciously following an urge," says the former Commander of the Swiss Guards. "The Roman Curia is certainly this kind of environment. Just as it is unsurprising that pedophiles are to be found in many environments such as schools or sports clubs."

Mackey makes it clear that homosexuality itself poses no problem for him. Even the Church does not condemn «Homosexuality itself, because they are there, obviously."

But Mäder sees threats to the security of the Pope. His statement is explosive: "I have learned that many homosexuals tend to be loyal to each other rather than to other persons or institutions. If this loyalty goes so far as to become a network, or even a kind of secret society, I would not be able to tolerate within my decision-making area. In the Vatican, decisive people now seem to feel the same way."

This clearly means Mäder agrees with Pope Francis, who said at a private audience: "Yes, there is a 'gay lobby' [in the Curia]. We need to see what we can do about it." That even a man with a deep knowledge of the Vatican as Mäder called the network a "secret society" will lead to turmoil in Rome.

The mistrust of the former Commander of the Swiss Guards [regarding homosexuals] is clear in his following statement: "I have even asked myself the hypothetical question, would I have promoted a homosexual? No, I would not have." Mäder explained this difficult statement as follows: "Not in fact because of his homosexuality, but because I can only have an absolutely loyal cadre in the security profession. The risk of disloyalty would have been too great for me."

6. January 21, 2014: The sostituto of the Secretariat of State, Abp. Becciu, says to La Repubblica "enough" (basta!) to "anonymous accusations".

_____________________________

Note: It looks like stonewalling... 

Why is this network dangerous? Not because homosexuals are dangerous people themselves or bound to promote "conspiracies", but because, as Mäder describes, in order to protect themselves, active homosexuals and their friends end up trading their loyalties to their superiors and the Institution founded by Christ for personal loyalties and blackmail. That is, since they know it is both wrong and condemned by permanent Catholic doctrine and practice, they create an underground loyalty network, and their loyalties go to their accomplices rather than to the Bride of Christ.

Why would revealing names make any difference? Sandro Magister could not have been more explicit in name-revealing and not much happened. All signs and hints seem to indicate that in the immense dossier that in all likelihood prompted Benedict XVI to consider his abdication and was personally handed by him to Francis in Castel Gandolfo there was information on the networks of influence inside the Vatican, in particular a "homosexual network". And no network seems to be more powerful there than the homosexual network - precisely for the reasons indicated by Mäder, that is, because, barring strict moral discipline and permanent enforcement at admission, an environment dominated by single men is bound to attract a disproportionate amount of homosexuals looking for likeminded people.

Instead of stonewalling (no pun intended), the Vatican should once and for all really start investigating and extirpating the secret network revealed by former Commander Mäder.

On "Gay Lobby", Sandro Magister challenges the Vatican: "We have the evidence"

Questioned on L'Espresso's cover story on the prominent promotion by Pope Francis of a supposed member of the Vatican "Gay Lobby" (previous post), Fr. Federico Lombardi, Holy See spokesman, called the accusation "untrustworthy" (non attendibile). Not only that, according to journalist Matteo Matzuzzi on Twitter, Lombardi said today that, "the Pope has had the chance to verify whether the accusations against Msgr. Ricca were consistent or not," and that "Pope Francis is aware of the accusations made against Msgr. Ricca but has decided to keep him in his position".

Sandro Magister, the well-known Vaticanist and article author, and L'Espresso (institutionally) fired back:

Poor Father Lombardi, the things that he has to say

...

This was the immediate reply of L'Espresso:

"To Father Lombardi, who defines as 'not trustworthy' what was published regarding Msgr. Ricca, L'Espresso replies reaffirming point by point the facts referred by Sandro Magister in his piece, confirmed by several primary sources and, as a whole, considered at the time of such gravity by the same Vatican authorities that forced them to remove the Monsignor from the Uruguay nunciature, in which he rendered his service, giving scandal to bishops,priests, religious and lay persons in that country.

"It can be added that the Vatican authorities, instead of making up improbable and ad-lib denials, could verify the trustworthiness of all that was published by L'Espresso by simply consulting the exhaustive documentation in their possession on the affair, in particular that related to his time in the Montevideo nunciature. Further documentation is available from the Uruguayan authorities, from security forces to fire brigades. Not to mention the numerous bishops, priests, religious, laymen in Uruguay who were direct witnesses of the scandal and are ready to speak."

How the "Gay Lobby" tricked Francis into making his first major mistake

[Update: Vatican denies; L'Espresso replies, "we have the evidence"]

From Sandro Magister's cover story for Italian weekly L'Espresso - excerpts of the Magister article:

"In the curia there is talk of a 'gay lobby.' And it is true, it's there. Let's see what we can do," Francis said on June 6 to Latin American religious received in audience.

And again: "It is not easy. Here there are many of the pope's 'bosses' with great seniority of service," he confided a few days ago to his Argentine friend and former student Jorge Milia.

In effect, some of these 'bosses' have hatched against Jorge Mario Bergoglio the cruelest and most subtle deception since he was elected pope.

They kept in the dark important information that, if he had known it before, would have kept him from appointing Monsignor Battista Ricca "prelate” of the Institute for Works of Religion.

...

Pope Francis and the drama of sodomy in the Church and in the Diocese of Rome The explosive report by La7 network

The affirmation by Pope Francis that there is a “gay lobby” in the Vatican, should not be reduced to an extemporaneous quip, but evaluated and weighed in all of its tragic consequences. “There are truly some saintly people in the Curia, but there is also a current of corruption. There is talk of a “gay lobby” , and it is true, it exists. We have to see what we can do about it.”

The Holy Father pronounced these words during a private audience with the leaders of the Confederation of Latin American Religious (CLAR) which took place in Rome on the 6th of June 2013. It was a private meeting, and the interlocutor was an authoritative body, which [afterwards] drew up a written report of the Pontiff’s conversation. This text was not destined for publication, but it is authentic, demonstrated by the fact that it went all round the world without any refutation from the Holy See.

The "Gay Lobby": confirmations all around- Bergoglio ends Vatican omertà- Fr. Oko: "The true challenge of the Pontiff is the heresy of homosexuality"

From today's article of Paolo Rodari for La Repubblica:

The embarrassment of the Roman Curia exists for various reasons. On the one had, for the distance that seems to be always greater between a Pope who decides to live in Santa Marta and not in the pontifical palace in order to be freer in the work of cleaning the Curia itself from those who work against it, and who worked against it during the pontificate of Benedict XVI. On the other hand, for the shock [caused] by the peculiar fashion [of announcing the news, that is through CLAR], that seems to have been almost chosen on purpose by the Pope in order to make known a real concern of his.

...

Gian Franco Svidercoschi, former vice-director of [Holy See daily] L'Osservatore Romano, knows how to read behind what was left unsaid by the Vatican. He explains: "The embarrassed silence of the Curia shows that the Pope's words are true. This lobby which is talked about evidently has existed for a while, though I believe it to be composed by mid-level characters of the Roman Curia itself. We know for a fact that during the General Congregations that preceded the Conclave, the three Cardinals in charge of the work on Vatileaks reported on it. If, among the persons involved, there had been any cardinals, these would not have been allowed to take part in the Conclave, as it happened with Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien."

Fr. Dariusz Oko speaks to Il Giornale:

But the problem of the homosexual lobby in the sacred palaces could be just the tip of the iceberg: there are those who are convinced that the great challenge of the new Pope is to tackle the problem. One of those is Fr. Dariusz Oko, theology progessor at the Pontifical University John Paul II, in Krakow, who in December had publicly denounced the gay lobby in the Vatican, and who reaffirms it today: "The Holy Father has confirmed that which everyone had known for many years," he explains, "I think that the wall of omertà that has existed for a long time is destroyed. But now, how to demolish that other wall of omertà that exists inside the seminaries? Who is concerned with the revolution of Benedict XVI who forbade the ordination of homosexual priests?" The Polish priest is convinced that on this matter the Pope has a great battle to wage: "The problem of the gay lobby in the Vatican is important, but marginal," he explains. "The true challenge of the Pontiff is the heresy of homosexuality, what I call the 'homoheresy, that is, the rejection of the Magisterium of the Catholic Church on homosexuality, whose defenders are in favor of priesthood for gays. The Holy Father must combat this heresy that has spread throughout the Church.". And the root of the problem, Fr. Oko confirms, is to be found in the places of formation: "Who, in Italy, is interested in the current situation of the seminaries?", the theologian asks. "And there is where the future of the Church is decided! The only way forward is to continue the revolution of Ratzinger, who wished to 'free' the seminaries from gay educators and homosexual seminarians." ...

Storm in the Vatican

While some dismiss the words of Pope Francis to his dear and close friends of the CLAR on June 6, as reported by those present, as "nothing", no subject has been more explosive than this within the Vatican walls since the beginning of the Bergoglian pontificate.

Carlo Marroni, the religious correspondent for Il Sole-24Ore, the main national business newspaper  and most sober daily in the country, owned by the Italian industrial confederation Confindustria, reports on how the revelation of the Pope's words was received by some in the Vatican.

Storm in the Sacred Palaces after the words on the "gay lobby" attributed to the Pope

analysis by Carlo Marroni 

June 12, 2013 

The words attributed to the Pope on the 'gay lobby' in the Vatican and on the 'stream of corruption' - not denied neither by the Holy See not by Bergoglio's interlocutors, the South American religious welcomed a few days ago - generated an underground storm in the Sacred Palaces, that is coming out shily at the moment. ...[Pope Francis], however, does not seem to be disturbed by the incident. Quite the opposite.

...

The doubt remains if he wished in some way that the words expressed in private on the "lobby" (a theme that would have been treated, as far as it is said, also in the voluminous dossier on Vatileaks) come out in the open - even if perhaps not in this way - in order to signal clearly within the Curia that it is a theme that he wants to tackle. "Bergoglio certainly does not have behind him a career as a Curia prelate dedicated solely to the management of political matters - a monsignore from beyond the Tiber affirms - but he remains always a Jesuit, and as all his confreres used to administer skillfully delicate matters."  Francis's upcoming moves will have to be studied with great attention.

And from Matteo Mattuzzi in Il Foglio today:

But, if Bergoglio's words have raised some embarrassment beyond the Tiber - the "no comment" of Father Lombardi indicated it -, in the episcopate there are also those who applaud the papal remark: "Finally, he has said it," says an Italian bishop who prefers to remain anonymous.

.

The Mighty Lobby: a tip for journalists

For those journalists reading us now, and who wish to know more about the "lobby" mentioned by Pope Francis in his talk with the Latin American religious, here is a tip.

On April 3, 2013, the conservative Catholic Italian website Corrispondenza Romana published a short article on the widespread problem of homosexuality in the Diocese of Rome. Its title was "Il dramma della sodomia nella diocesi di Roma" ("The drama of sodomy in the Diocese of Rome"), and its author was Emanuele Barbieri. The post made references to the famous article by Fr. Dariusz Oko, also published by us, and to some specific events in Rome, particularly priests supposedly protected by a bishop, and the apparently scandalous situation of that venerable and historic Roman seminary called Almo Collegio Capranica.

"Was"? Well, in what must be a record-breaking event in the incredibly slow Italian judicial system, in just a couple of weeks the website received a judicial order to remove the post, that was available at this page. Who was interested in the removal of this information? Why? Well, there is your lead, just follow the signs.

Comment: the Mighty Lobby and fear of the Past Plus: the pains of a spiteful Vaticanist

With the storm less strong at the moment, we will be quite honest: we were not very bothered by the words pronounced by Pope Francis to the religious of CLAR and that we were the first to bring to worldwide attention. Considering the whole text, we are pleased with most of it: on the "gay lobby" that is mighty and powerful within the Vatican and his denunciation of it, on Vatican corruption, on new age sisters, on old orders with no vocations and a Materialistic approach to the assets given to them by Catholics for the work of God and not for their own selves... Was he critical of an apparently Traditionalist group? Possibly (we do not know to which specific organizations he was referring). On the other hand, he never stops talking of his greatest spiritual influence, his grandmother, who could only be counted as a Traditional Catholic these days... 

So, while he is strong in his call for Catholics not to be afraid of the future, he seems to be somewhat very afraid of the past. In his own meditation for his daily mass at Domus Sanctae Marthae today, the Pope said, "We take the values of this culture a little bit from here, a little bit from there ... They want to make this law? All right, let’s go ahead and make this law. Let’s broaden the boundaries here a little. In the end, let me tell you, this is not true progress. It is adolescent progressivism: just like teenagers who in their enthusiasm want to have everything and in the end? You slip up ... It’s like when the road is covered in ice and the car slips and go off track... This is the other temptation at the moment! We, at this moment in the history of the Church, we cannot go backwards or go off the track!"

Quite true about "teen Progressivism". But would it be so bad to move backwards if that meant having more Catholics with as firm a faith as that of his own nonna?... Better than having a powerful "lobby" manipulating this same faith...

______________________________

In a very belated article on the Pope's words to CLAR, a certain Vaticanist who has not had a big story for some time says today:

The reference to traditionalism sparked an immediate reaction among professed Ratzingerians who pointed to a discontinuity with Benedict XVI. But these censors got it wrong. It was the then cardinal Joseph Ratzinger himself who spoke about the “Pelagianism of the pious".

Traditionalists are very grateful to Benedict XVI, but they are surely not "Ratzingerians". Which is why no Traditional website spoke of any "discontinuity" with the previous pontificate because of these specific words.

On the other hand, the Vaticanist above is the one, in fact, who can be numbered among the "widows" of the past pontificate: he used to fed big stories in those years, provided by those who thought he was a friend of the Pope, when he was nothing of the sort. It is not our fault that he and other Italian Vaticanists (and a famous American one) slept on the job for almost 24 hours in one of the most exciting stories of the young Pontificate - actually, the most exciting story, because it is in fact the first one that bridges the critical events of 2011 and 2012 (including, but not limited, to "Vatileaks") and the current Pontificate, through the mention of the mighty Vatican "lobby" by the new Pope; a lobby that, all things seem to point, was not exactly foreign to those events...

Pope to Latin American Religious: Full text Update: Religious confirm they were the source

[First post: traditional groups; second post: "gay lobby" in the Curia]
[Original source: Reflexion y Liberacion; in case of dead link, copy in our repository]

On June 6, 2013, the Pope received the presiding board of the CLAR (the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women - Confederación Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Religiosos y Religiosas). A transcript of the pope's words was made by those present, and given to the Chilean ultra-progressive page Reflexión y Liberación (Reflection and Liberation) for exclusive publication.

Whoever knows the Pope and who knew the words and demeanor of former Cardinal Bergoglio can have no doubts about the accuracy of the words below - in which different groups within the Church and the Curia are specifically mentioned. Words in (parentheses) are part of the original transcript to provide the context. Words in [square brackets] were added by us to clarify language difficulties and explain a few points. All ellipses are part of the original Spanish transcript. We hold no public opinion on any part of the text: we report, you decide.

_____________________

In an unprecedented gesture, Pope Francis received and held a dialogue of one hour with the board of the Confederación Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Religiosas y Religiosos (CLAR). They spoke in a circle, among equals, as it happened in the first communities founded by Jesus...

In an environment of trust and simplicity, Francis prompted the leaders of the CLAR to not be afraid of continuing to carrying on their mission to the boundaries and to the borders.... "Courage! Advance towards new horizons! Do not be afraid to run risks going to the poor, and to new emerging subjects in the continent," said Pope Bergoglio, who at the end of the meeting emphatically thanked religious life for being "sign and witness of the Gospel" in many places in Latin America and the Caribbean.

We offer our readers - exclusively - this short synthesis of this historical meeting held in the Holy See.

Audience with Pope Francis

CLAR, 06.06.13

"Open the doors... Open the doors!"

They will make mistakes, they will make a blunder [meter la pata], this will pass! Perhaps even a letter of the Congregation for the Doctrine (of the Faith) will arrive for you, telling you that you said such or such thing... But do not worry. Explain whatever you have to explain, but move forward... Open the doors, do something there where life calls for it. I would rather have a Church that makes mistakes for doing something than one that gets sick for being closed up...

(on his election) I did not lose my peace [of mind - no perdí la paz] at any moment, you know? And this is not from myself, I am of the kind that gets worried, that gets upset... But I did not lose my peace at any moment. This confirms to me that this comes from God...

(upon mentioning to him the hope that his gestures at this time have brought us, he makes reference to having stayed at Santa Marta) ....these gestures... they have not come from me. They have not occurred to me. It is not as if I had brought a plan, nor that I have made one myself once elected. I do it because I felt this was what the Lord wanted. But these gestures are not mine, there is Someone else here... this gives me confidence.

I came [to Rome] only with the necessary clothes, I washed them at night, and suddenly this... And I did not have any chance! In the London betting houses I was in 44th place, look at that, the one who bet on me won a lot, of course...! This does not come from me...

It is necessary to shake things up [flip things over, lit. dar vuelta (a) la tortilla]. It is not news that an old man dies of cold in Ottaviano [Rorate note: referring to the surroundings of via Ottaviano and the Ottaviano Rome Metro station, near the Vatican], or that there be so many children with no education, or hungry, I think of Argentina...On the other hand, the main stock exchanges go up or down 3 points, and this is a world event. One must shake things up! This cannot be. Computers are not made in the image and likeness of God; they are an instrument, yes, but nothing more. Money is not image and likeness of God. Only the person is image and likeness of God. It is necessary to flip it over. This is the gospel.

It is necessary to go to the causes, to the roots. Abortion is bad, but that is clear. But behind the approval of this law, what interests are behind it... they are at times the conditions posed by the great organizations to support with money, you know that? It is necessary to go to the causes, we cannot remain only in the symptoms. Do not be afraid to denounce... you will suffer, you will have problems, but do not be afraid to denounce, that is the prophecy of religious life...

I share with you two concerns. One is the Pelagian current that there is in the Church at this moment. There are some restorationist groups. I know some, it fell upon me to receive them in Buenos Aires. And one feels as if one goes back 60 years! Before the Council... One feels in 1940... An anecdote, just to illustrate this, it is not to laugh at it, I took it with respect, but it concerns me; when I was elected, I received a letter from one of these groups, and they said: "Your Holiness, we offer you this spiritual treasure: 3,525 rosaries." Why don't they say, 'we pray for you, we ask...', but this thing of counting... And these groups return to practices and to disciplines that I lived through - not you, because you are not old - to disciplines, to things that in that moment took place, but not now, they do not exist today...

The second [concern] is for a Gnostic current. Those Pantheisms... Both are elite currents, but this one is of a more educated elite... I heard of a superior general that prompted the sisters of her congregation to not pray in the morning, but to spiritually bathe in the cosmos, things like that... They concern me because they ignore the incarnation! And the Son of God became our flesh, the Word was made flesh, and in Latin America we have flesh abundantly [de tirar al techo]! What happens to the poor, their pains, this is our flesh...

The gospel is not the old rule, nor this Pantheism. If you look at the periphery; the destitute... the drug addicts! The traffic of people... This is the gospel. The poor are the gospel...

(upon mentioning the hardship of being in charge of the Roman Curia, and the commission of cardinals who will support him, etc.) And, yes... it is difficult. In the Curia, there are also holy people, really, there are holy people. But there also is a stream of corruption, there is that as well, it is true... The "gay lobby" is mentioned, and it is true, it is there... We need to see what we can do...

The reform of the Roman Curia is something that almost all Cardinals asked for in the Congregations preceding the Conclave. I also asked for it. I cannot promote the reform myself, these matters of administration... I am very disorganized, I have never been good at this. But the cardinals of the Commission will move it forward. There is Rodríguez Maradiaga, who is Latin American, who is in front of it, there is Errázuriz, they are very organized. The one from Munich is also very organized. They will move it forward.

Pray for me... that I make mistakes the least possible...

Aparecida is not over. [Rorate note: the reference is to the 5th General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate, held in the Marian shrine of Aparecida, Brazil, in 2007. See our lengthy coverage of the meeting in our Aparecida Notes series.] Aparecida is not simply a document. It was an event. Aparecida was a different thing. First, because there was no working draft. There were suggesions, but not a draft. And in the end, there was no document either, but on the eve of the final day, we had 2,300 "notes"... Aparecida moved towards the continental mission. There ends Aparecida, in the push towards mission.

What Aparecida had that was special was that it was not celebrated in a hotel, nor in a retreat house... it was celebrated in a Marian shrine. During the week, we celebrated the eucharist and there were some 250 people, because it was a regular workday. But on the weekends, it was full....! The people of God joined the Bishops, asking for the Holy Spirit...

I saw - I name him because I see him more standoffish, more like this, he is good, but he is like that - I saw the Prefect, João [Rorate note: João Braz de Aviz, then-Archbishop of Brasilia, now Cardinal-Prefect of Religious], who went out with his miter, and people got close to him, and they brought the children near, and he greeted them, and hugged them like this... This same bishop then voted. He could not have voted the same way as if he had been in a hotel!

We had the meeting rooms under the Shrine. So the background music were the chants, the celebrations in the Shrine... This made it very special.

There is something that concerns me, even though I do not know now to understand it. There are religious congregations, very, very tiny groups, a few persons, very old people... They have no vocations, what do I know, the Holy Spirit do not want them to go on, perhaps they have already fulfilled their mission in the Church, I do not know... But there they are, clinging to their buildings, clinging to money... I do not know why this happens, I do not know how to understand it. But I ask you to be concerned with these groups... The management of money... is something that needs to be reflected upon.

Enjoy this moment that we live in the Congregation for Consecrated Life... It is a moment of sunshine... Enjoy. The Prefect [Cardinal Aviz] is good. And the Secretary [Abp. Rodríguez Carballo, OFM], that was "lobbied" by you! No, really, being the president of USG [Union of Superiors General], the logical thing was that it would be him! It's better...

Place all your effort in the dialogue with the Bishops. With CELAM [Latin American Episcopal Conference], with the national conferences... I know there are some who have a different idea of communion, but... Talk, speak with them, tell them...

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Update (1300 GMT): Il Sismografo, that frequently links to us, asked the Vatican spokesman directly today about the content of the report. Fr. Lombardi's answer was the following: "The meeting of the Holy Father with the members of the Presidency of the CLAR was a meeting of a private nature. I do not have therefore any declarations to make on the contents of the conversation." Grazie, Il Sismografo! / Following up on Lombardi's refusal to comment, the large Spanish broadsheet El Mundo added this moments ago: "Despite this, several Vaticanists asked by elmundo.es consider that it is perfectly plausible the Francis has pronounced them [these words], considering that the Pontiff is capable of speaking without restraint on any matter, as delicate as it may be."

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2nd Update (2000 GMT): The Presidency of CLAR confirms the content of the report, even though they regret it was made public. They do not vouch for every detail, but they do not deny those, either:

"Bogota, Colombia, June 11, 2013

"The Presidency of CLAR deeply regrets the publication of a text referring to the conversation held with the Holy Father Francis in the course of a meeting on this past June 6. A conversation that took place prompted by questions made by those present to the Pope.

"In that occasion, no recording of the conversation was made, but soon afterwards a summary of the same was made based on the recollections of those present. [Rorate notes: at least one of those present had a visible writing pad in his hands; maybe another device was also used to capture the conversation.] This summary, that does not include the questions posed to the Holy Father, was destined to the personal memory of the participants, and not for any reason meant for publication, something for which, on the other hand, no authorization had been requested.

"It is clear that, on this basis, the singular expressions contained in the text cannot be attributed to the Holy Father with certainty, but only their general sense.

"The Presidency of CLAR deeply regrets what has happened and the confusion it may have caused.

"Sister Mercedes Leticia Casas Sánchez, FSpS - President
Fr. Gabriel Naranjo Salazar, CM, - General Secretary" (Source)

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Pope to CLAR, part 2: "Yes, there is a 'gay lobby' in the Curia. We need to see what we can do about it"

[First part: Pope on Traditional groups]
[Third part: Full transcript]

Pope meets CLAR Presiding board (June 6, 2013, image: L'Osservatore Romano)

Among many other things said by His Holiness in his audience to the Presiding Board of CLAR (the Latin American and Caribbean Confederation of Religious Men and Women - Confederación Latinoamericana y Caribeña de Religiosos y Religiosas) on June 6, 2013, according to the transcript provided by those present to Chilean ultra-progressive website Reflexión y Liberación (Reflection and Liberation), was a reference to a supposed "gay lobby" inside the Roman Curia. Just a note: the words below, not at all happy from a progressive perspective, are a strong indication of the likeliness that the transcript is accurate - or as accurate as it is possible in the setting of a non-public audience.

And, yes... it is difficult. In the Curia, there are also holy people, really, there are holy people. But there also is a stream of corruption, there is that as well, it is true... The "gay lobby" is mentioned, and it is true, it is there... We need to see what we can do...

The reform of the Roman Curia is something that almost all Cardinals asked for in the Congregations preceding the Conclave. I also asked for it. I cannot promote the reform myself, these matters of administration... I am very disorganized, I have never been good at this. But the cardinals of the Commission will move it forward. There is Rodríguez Maradiaga, who is Latin American, who is in front of it, there is Errázuriz, they are very organized. The one from Munich is also very organized. They will move it forward.

Pray for me... that I make mistakes the least possible...

[All ellipses from the original transcript. Source: Reflexion y Liberacion]