Posters protest against the Pope, a bogus edition of L’Osservatore Romano.... Who are these people who are criticizing Francis?
During the night of February 3-4, 2017, around 200 unsigned posters were put up in center-city Rome. It shows the Pope, scowling, above text that challenges him in these terms: “Hey, Francis, you’ve intervened in Congregations, fired priests, decapitated the Order of Malta and the Franciscans of the Immaculate, ignored Cardinals... but where’s your mercy?” The municipality of Rome announced on February 5 that it had taken down the 200 posters, with a rapidity that is unusual in the Eternal City. An investigation has been opened to try to find, by means of surveillance cameras, the perpetrators of the crime.
The reference to the Order of Malta on these posters reflects the recent eviction of the Grand Master, Fra Matthew Festing, who was driven to “present his resignation” on January 24, a resignation accepted the following day by the Pope, for “the good of the Order and of the Church”. For two months relations between the Order and the Holy See have been tense: on December 6 of last year, the Grand Master had demanded the resignation of the Grand Chancellor Albrecht von Boeselager. The exact reasons for sidelining the latter remain for the moment vague. The fact remains that on February 4 Francis appointed Abp. Giovanni Angelo Becciu, current Substitute for the general affairs of the Secretariat of State, as special delegate of the Holy See to the Order of Malta. Until the end of his mandate, in other words until the conclusion of the next Extraordinary Chapter that will elect a new Grand Master, Abp. Becciu will be the Pope’s “exclusive spokesman” for everything pertaining to relations between the Apostolic See and the Order. Pope Francis is delegating to him all the necessary powers to decide any questions that might arise concerning the implementation of his mandate. The Pope has thus withdrawn all competence from Cardinal Raymond Burke, the Pope’s representative to the Order and normally in charge of relations between the Supreme Pontiff and the Knights of Malta.
Just as the posters were put up, in early February 2017, some cardinals received by e-mail a bogus edition of the Vatican daily newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano. According to the Italian press, the Vatican has started an investigation to discover those responsible for this hoax.
The publication criticizes Pope Francis, especially for his manner of not taking into consideration the dubia, the “doubts” that were addressed to him on September 19, 2016, by Cardinals Walter Brandmüller, President emeritus of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, Raymond L. Burke, patronus of the Order of Malta, Carlo Caffarra, Archbishop emeritus of Bologna, Italy, and Joachim Meisner, Archbishop emeritus of Cologne, Germany, concerning the Exhortation Amoris laetitia. These dubia ask the Holy Father for a “clarification” of Amoris laetitia, in particular with regard to the possibility of divorced-and-“remarried” Catholics receiving the Eucharist. For now the Pope has given no answer to this request. (See DICI no. 345 dated November 25, 2016, and DICI no. 346 dated December 9, 2016)
“He answered!” is the banner headline of this bogus L’Osservatore Romano, which is dated January 17, 2017. “Let your yes mean yes and your no mean no,” the text declares, alluding to the Scripture verse: “Let your speech be: Yea, Yea; No, No. And that which is over and above these is of evil” (Mt 5:37). According to the anonymous author of this “newspaper” article, Francis answered the five questions that were posed to him about Amoris laetitia Yes and No at the same time. Which would be the expression of the “ambiguous” character of his magisterium.
Who are these people who are criticizing Pope Francis?
These critiques of the Pope that are multiplying in broad daylight prompt us to wonder about the identity of their authors. So it is that on January 26, during the Saint Francis de Sales Days that bring Catholic journalists together in Annecy, France, Romilda Ferrauto, former editor-in-chief of Vatican Radio, tried to sketch the portrait of those who do not like Francis. According to the Swiss news agency cath.ch which reported her remarks on January 27, the journalist who was responsible for the French-speaking programs of Radio Vatican for 20 years rejects the simple contrast between progressive who side with the Pope and hostile conservatives. The situation is, according to her, more complex.
From the communications angle, the critiques of Pope Francis fall into three categories: the first group thinks that the Argentine Pope is insincere and that he is conducting a well-orchestrated campaign to please people. They see a contradiction between the display of good-natured casualness and his deeper personality that is rather severe and authoritarian, even intransigent. This group of opponents complains that Francis has little consideration for the clergy and the personnel of the Curia. The reform with its changes of positions is going badly. These critics are also astonished at the change of style between the Archbishop of Buenos Aires and the Pope in Rome.
The second category includes those who think that Pope Francis is sincere and spontaneous, but that his attitude creates confusion among believers and causes trouble. They think that the Supreme Pontiff is favoring image over substance, and that the Church is therefore bypassing what is essential. In their view the best proof is that churches are not as full as before.
The third group consists of those who do not like Pope Francis “and that’s that.” Taking the analysis a bit further, it is clear that they are skeptical of the Pope’s broad vision of brotherhood and contrast it with the search for a stronger, better articulated Catholic identity. They feel that they have been let down by this Pope, whereas they expected support in dealing with a society in which they are in the minority. In bringing back families of Muslim refugees from his visit to Lesbos, Pope Francis, in their view, broadcast his disdain for the persecuted Christians of the Middle East.
(Sources: cath.ch/imedia/riposte catholique – DICI no. 349 dated February 17, 2017)
