The McCarrick Report is here -- But First, Remember This Video Where McCarrick Boasted of Helping to Elect Cardinal Bergoglio

 First things first.

In a speech at the liberal Villanova University in 2013, then-cardinal Ted McCarrick boasted of his decisive influence in the election of Cardinal Bergoglio as Pope. Other actors confirm that McCarrick's support was very important for the election:

 

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The full text of the Report released today by the Vatican (461 pages long!) is here.

Some initial observations:

1) The mainstream media has copied and pasted the Vatican's spin on McCarrick, that it was all Pope John Paul II's fault.  While traditional Catholics were certainly no fans of the late pontiff, isn't there more to the story?

2) Jorge Bergoglio, McCarrick's friend, was -- according to McCarrick in the above video -- identified as a liberal cardinal who could be elected pope.  McCarrick urged others in the college of cardinals to talk him up.  No mention of this, mainstream media?  Reading the early press reports, it seems as if Bergoglio had never heard of Uncle Ted.

3)  The JPII cult -- from George Weigel to Opus Dei -- has some serious explaining to do.

4) JPII's canonization is now a textbook example of why several decades should pass before even thinking about canonizing a pope -- or most anyone, for that matter.

"Uncle Ted McCarrick" no longer a Cardinal

He should have never been admitted to seminary. He should have never been ordained a priest. He should have never been in contact with boys and young men. He should have never been called to be a bishop. He should have never been made Archbishop of the capital of the most powerful nation in the world. He should have never been made a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church. He should have never been allowed inside or anywhere near a Conclave for the election of a new Roman Pontiff.

Theodore McCarrick has been removed, too late, from the College of Cardinals, by a decision of Pope Francis prompted by a "letter of resignation" that McCarrick was certainly "advised" to send before being kicked out. He was also barred from the exercise of any public ministry.

So, What About Maradiaga? -- The Answers Can Be Found in the Events of 2012 and 2013

Latin America has a recurring corruption problem, which has most recently reached vast proportions. Just this past couple of weeks, a vice-president was sentenced to a 6-year jail sentence (in Ecuador), a former president had an arrest warrant standing against her (in Argentina), and a standing president barely escaped an impeachment procedure (in Peru) -- all cases linked to endemic corrupt practices.

So naturally it is no surprise that local Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, the most powerful Cardinal in the Francis entourage, who had been known to -- shall we use a safe word? -- "facilitate" the election of Cardinal Bergoglio to the papacy in 2013, and who led the world federation of Catholic charities (Caritas Internationalis), and who was also chancellor of the local Catholic university with lots of access to lots of funding would find himself entangled with explosive accusations of financial malfeasance. It's how things work for many in power in the region.

Unfortunately, we cannot say anything else here. The pieces of the puzzle are all in the open, and all elements that need to be investigated by a serious journalist are mentioned in the previous paragraph. Who will find out what happened in 2012 and 2013?

Tosatti: The election of Jorge Bergoglio by the Martini-led "Mafia"

Pedophile-enabler and protector Danneels was Bergoglio's Godfather

Marco Tosatti

[Senior Religion Correspondent for Italian Daily] La Stampa

September 24, 2015

The election of Jorge Bergoglio was the fruit of secret meetings that cardinals and bishops, organized by Carlo Maria Martini, held for years at St. Gall in Switzerland.  This is what is claimed by Jürgen Mettepenningen and Karim Schelkens, the authors of a just published biography of the Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who refer to the group of cardinals and bishops as the “Mafia-club”.

Danneels, according to the authors, had worked for years in preparation for the election of Pope Francis, which happened in 2013.  He himself, however, in a video recorded during the presentation of the book admits that he had taken part in a secret club of cardinals that were in opposition to Joseph Ratzinger.  While laughing he calls it “a Mafia club whose name was St. Gall”. 

The group wanted a drastic reform of the Church, much more modern and up to date, with Jorge Bergoglio as Pope Francis at the head.  And this is just as things turned out.  In addition to Danneels and Martini, among the others who made up the group according to the book were the Dutch bishop Adriaan Van Luyn, the German cardinals Walter Kasper and Karl Lehman, the Italian cardinal AchilleSilvestrini and the English cardinal Basil Hume. [Rorate note: from the earliest days of the group, later replaced after his death.]

The Belgian newspaper “Le Vif” wrote:  “On March 13, 2013, an old acquaintance was at the side of the new Pope [at the St. Peter's Basilica loggia], Francis: Godfried Danneels.  Officially he stood there in his role as the dean of the cardinal-priests, but actually he had operated for years in secret as the king-maker.”

For the record: Linking some dots, on the record, regarding Ivereigh's "Team Bergoglio" and the 2013 Abdication and Conclave

1. Card. Murphy-O'Connor disclosed in an exclusive interview with the Herald last September:

A Dearth of Investigative Reporting on the Abdication and the Conclave - and a very important Parable to enlighten our friends in the media