Sandro Magister is going to town on curial cardinals lately. First, it was his analysis that Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican Secretary of State, is out of favor with Pope Benedict because of his blunders over the re-appointment of Cardinal Camillo Ruini as head of the Italian bishops’ conference. Now, he’s characterizing Cardinal Renato Martino as a “loose cannon.” He comes at it backward.
Martino, who was heading the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, has been tasked by the Pope with also assuming the presidency of the Council for Migrants, in what most people assume is the first step in merging the two. The biggest Italian newspaper, Corriere della Sera says this is proof that Martino’s “extroverted character and his penchant for rocking the boat” have not displeased Pope Benedict. Magister turns that around and says, Yes, Martino is a bit out of control.
On the eve of the war in Iraq, for example, his pacifist and anti-American quips were so frequent and so unbalanced that he forced the secretariat of state – even though it was against the war – to impose silence upon him: a silence he observed for a few months.
But as soon as he began speaking again, in December of 2003, he wreaked havoc once more. He was to present to the international press the pope’s message for the World Day of Peace. And instead, the following day the media spoke of something completely different: the accusation Martino had made on the occasion against the United States, charging it with having treated the imprisoned Saddam Hussein “like a cow.”
Praise for Islamic instruction in Italian schools
Technorati Tags: bishops, cardinal, Catholic, Church-politics, Islam, Italy, pope benedict, vatican
One thing that grates on me with Cdl. Martino is that he never seems to miss an opportunity to knock the United States – loudly and publicly. You get the impression that he relishes taking shots at us. Then I recalled that when I lived there many years ago there were ambivalent feelings about the US among the populace – especially those in public life.
On the one hand there were those who, remembering Word War II, always had warm feelings for all things – and people – American. They would speak with pride about the US saving Italy (and Rome…) and point to all the American graves at places like Anzio and Monte Cassino. Most likely they also had relatives here in the US who were an additional source of pride for them.
Then there were those who never had a good word to say about anything American. You got a sense of resentment – jealousy even – where the US was concerned (the PCI, Italian Communist Party, was pretty strong back then…). But while they were extremely critical of America, at the same time they wanted to emulate us in many things and would point to this or that aspect of life or the economy which was “just as good” as in the US.
I suspect Martino belongs in the latter camp – and that his sentiments are not shared by Benedict XVI. His recent acquisition of additional responsibilities – per ora – may be of short duration…
This was another appointment that left me scratching my head and saying “He did what…?!” Right up there with Levada and the meeting with Kung.
Martino and Sodano should both be given rooms at a nice retirement monastary on capri.
He will meet his politcal end shortly unless there’s a reason Benedict wants him close at hand—so he can watch him more closely?? I believe that this is the case with the American at the CDF—he’s a handle, that’s all.