How aptly our proverb says it! “Love means deeds, not good reasons.” (The Way, 933) However sound the reasons may be, if the actions contradict them, the persuasive power of those reasons is exhausted. And it is clear that a Pope's most decisive actions are not his trips (including World Youth Day, always with enormous media coverage), nor are they his sermons, speeches, and documents of varying quality. Nor are they the convocations of consistories and synods, more or less synodal, so easily manipulated that they always produce predetermined results. What is most decisive, and with far-reaching repercussions, are his appointments.
Among the highly controversial appointments, we have Cardinal Fernández placed at the head of nothing less than the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Roche, tasked with keeping alive and constantly activating the liturgical conflict that, by the grace of God, is the most visible one persisting in the Church, overshadowing other nefarious conflicts that have generated so much media attention. Of course, these are Bergoglian appointments; but keeping them in their positions is now entirely the decision of Leo XIV: at this point (nearly a year after his election), they can no longer be attributed to the previous pontiff. Much less so the designation of Cardinal Fernández (we will soon see what this is all about) as the interlocutor for the SSPX.
Since the election of Cardinal Prevost as the new Supreme Pontiff of the Church, who chose the papal name Leo XIV, the first question on everyone's mind regarding the new pope is whether he will follow in the footsteps of his predecessor Francis (with whom he collaborated closely in the appointment of bishops), effectively becoming a Francis II; or whether he will prefer to leave his own mark on the name he chose, attempting to be a successor (in and for the 21st century) to Pope Leo XIII. This choice of name, incidentally, aroused great hopes, precisely because of the impressive trajectory of that pontiff. And let's not forget Saint Leo the Great, the first pope of this name, who created a legend by daring to confront Attila, the bloodthirsty Attila, to save the city of Rome from his formidable army. We must confess that the great name chosen by the new pope filled us all with hope. Above all, the hope that he would not hide behind the legacy of the previous pontiff to leave things as they were.
It must be acknowledged that the Dicastery in which Cardinal Prevost worked under Pope Francis did not begin its decline with the latter pope, but rather aggravated it with tremendously controversial appointments that, during the last two years of his pontificate, passed through the hands of the last prefect of that Dicastery, Cardinal Prevost.
We are certainly aware of the disastrous appointments that Cardinal Prevost approved and confirmed for Pope Francis. But I want to believe that the number of appointments (perhaps even more disastrous) that the new Prefect thwarted for the Pope must not be small. I fear we will never know.
But what is certain is that the dicastery Satan chose with absolute preference to obscure with his noxious smoke was the Dicastery for the Election of Bishops. And we've been dealing with this for quite a few pontificates: perhaps since John XXIII. Let us remember that it was Paul VI, the pope who had to emerge from the Council as best he could, who said, more than half a century ago (June 29, 1972) , that “ it was believed that after the Council a sunny day would come for the history of the Church; instead, a day of clouds, storms, darkness, investigation, and uncertainty has arrived .” It was Paul VI who stated with sorrow: “ We no longer trust the Church.” Exactly. And he said all this in the same speech in which he declared, desolate, that “ Through some crack the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God .” A crack? The Second Vatican Council was a gaping hole in the walls of the Church. Like the hole the Trojans opened in their walls to "welcome" the famous "Trojan horse" that the Achaeans presented to them.
It was the backlash of the Council, which, as we see in that famous 1972 homily commemorating the 10th anniversary of his pontificate, he viewed with bitter pessimism. Let us not forget the tremendously bitter weight of the majority rejection (yes, majority) of his Humanae Vitae .
The undeniable truth is that the "smoke of Satan" had already infiltrated the Second Vatican Council itself. There was already a great deal of tares mixed in with the pure wheat. And it is quite possible that those who brought the tares, who openly displayed their true colors because they came to be seen as "the good guys," and who also developed a spectacular capacity for proselytizing, launched themselves at that very moment to conquer the highest bastions of power within the Church. And among these, obviously, were the two great powers to elect bishops, and to regulate seminary training.
Since then, we know very well how things have gone; and above all, we have before our eyes the state of both the election of bishops and the norms governing the formation of future priests. This is not some devilish scheme. What we see before us is the result of a dark storm that has swept away what, until the Council, were the dominant characteristics of the men and women (religious orders) of the Church. Pure desolation.
And so, amidst this desolation, we find ourselves faced with one final appointment precisely in the episcopate and seminary appointments: that of Roberto Maria Radaelli, Archbishop of Gorizia, as Secretary (he may well succeed the current Prefect, who is about to retire) of the Dicastery for the Clergy. This appointment is as crucial for the future of the Church as the appointment of Cardinal Fernández to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith was in its day. In fact, it is likely to be even more so, because all seminaries, and therefore the formation of future priests, depend on it. Granted, Tucho was appointed by Francis; but Radaelli, to mention only his most recent appointment, was appointed by Leo XIV.
And who is this Roberto Maria Radaelli? Just another member of the LGBT+ community (those in this camp are called "homosexualists" to avoid causing offense), to whom this pope seems to show a deference similar to that shown by his predecessor (we'll never know if it's out of conviction or due to pressure: the lobby is incredibly powerful). And he also has a history of being a staunch supporter of the Vetus Ordo. He believes and states that Benedict XVI's Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum lacks sufficient canonical support.
In short, love is in appointments, not in good reasons.
Virtelius Temerarius
