{"id":6280,"date":"2023-07-12T18:43:56","date_gmt":"2023-07-12T16:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/predication.net\/?p=6280"},"modified":"2023-07-12T18:43:58","modified_gmt":"2023-07-12T16:43:58","slug":"francis-chose-his-ratzinger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/predication.net\/?p=6280","title":{"rendered":"Francis chose his &#8220;Ratzinger&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<section class=\"head-article head-article-longform-detail\">\n<article class=\"head-article-container\">\n<div class=\"head-article-text-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"heading-holder\">\n<h2 class=\"comment-holder\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">They started the summer in style in the Vatican. <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">First, on Saturday, July 1, Pope Francis appointed the new prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, his longtime collaborator, Argentine theologian V\u00edctor Manuel Fern\u00e1ndez.<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/section>\n<div class=\"container\">\n<div class=\"new-article-detail-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-8 col-md-12 pl-0 pr-0\">\n<div class=\"news-detail-layout-grid\">\n<div class=\"main-news-layout\">\n<div class=\"detail-article-p-wrapper postoy-photoGallery\">\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>A week later, the pontiff announced the apppointment\u00a0 of new\u00a0 cardinals<\/span><span>, and as expected, Fern\u00e1ndez was among them.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Since the name of the Argentine theologian was not very well known in our country, it might seem that he is an unknown person from the opposite side of the planet.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>However, it is not quite so.\u00a0Although Archbishop Fern\u00e1ndez was in Argentina &#8211; for several years the rector of the local Catholic University and from 2018 he led the Diocese of La Plate &#8211; so he was not in the eyes of Europe, but his influence on the pontificate of the current Pope in the last ten years is greater than it might seem.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>We have already covered Fern\u00e1ndez in a large\u00a0 profile article<\/span><span>.\u00a0He is considered a co-author of Francis&#8217; key works, first his &#8220;program&#8221; exhortation\u00a0<\/span><em><span>Evangelii gaudium<\/span><\/em><span>\u00a0, then the encyclical\u00a0<\/span><em><span>Laudatio si&#8217;<\/span><\/em><span>\u00a0and also the post-synodal exhortation\u00a0<\/span><em><span>Amoris laetitia<\/span><\/em><span>\u00a0.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>And at the same time, some people make fun of him.\u00a0Although he has 350 items of publishing activity to his credit, which &#8211; by the way &#8211; the Vatican emphasized in the announcement of his appointment as prefect, the Vaticanist Sandro Magister does not see among them any that would make a &#8220;hole in the world&#8221;.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>On the contrary, he ironically recalls that the theologian Fern\u00e1ndez&#8217;s\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.edlumen.net\/index.php?route=product\/product&amp;product_id=207\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>first book<\/span><\/a><span>\u00a0was about kissing.\u00a0It was published in 1995 under the title\u00a0<\/span><em><span>Heal me with your lips.\u00a0The art of kissing<\/span><\/em><span>\u00a0.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Immediately after the Vatican announced that the man would become head of one of the church&#8217;s most powerful offices, accusations surfaced that Fern\u00e1ndez had not properly handled a sexual abuse case in his diocese.\u00a0At the same time, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has this area on its agenda.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Archbishop Fern\u00e1ndez <\/span>\u00a0has already responded to these reservations<a href=\"https:\/\/svetkrestanstva.postoj.sk\/133609\/novy-prefekt-dikasteria-poprel-obvienia-ze-by-neveril-udajnym-obetiam\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span>,<\/span><\/a><span>\u00a0but in addition to this topic, some Vaticanists in recent days have also focused on evaluating the step taken by Francis when he significantly promoted Fern\u00e1ndez.\u00a0And indeed, they also used strong words.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><span>What do the Vaticanists say?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>According to Andrea Gagliarducci, it was not such a surprise that Francis chose Fern\u00e1ndez among the possible candidates for the post of head of the former Holy Office.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>He considers the letter of Pope Francis to Archbishop Fern\u00e1ndez, which accompanied the appointment, to be a real novelty.\u00a0The Press Center of the Holy See published it in Spanish and without any translation.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>&#8220;The letter is key, because in it we find all the intentions of Pope Francis to define the church&#8217;s change of course and to close the path on which he appointed Fern\u00e1ndez as archbishop ten years ago, when he was still rector of the Catholic University of Buenos Aires,&#8221; Gagliarducci wrote on his\u00a0blog\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mondayvatican.com\/vatican\/pope-francis-and-the-race-to-secure-his-legacy\"><span>.<\/span><\/a><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>In this letter, the Pope describes<\/span><span>\u00a0the role of the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith and states that the Church &#8220;appreciates and supports the charism of theologians and their efforts in the field of theological research&#8221; (\u00a0<\/span><em><span>Evangelii Gaudium<\/span><\/em><span>\u00a0, 133), as long as it &#8220;is not satisfied with the theology from the green table&#8221; (ibid. ) with a &#8220;cold and hard logic that tries to control everything&#8221; (\u00a0<\/span><em><span>Gaudete et exsult<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>He also wrote to Archbishop Fern\u00e1ndez to avoid using &#8220;immoral methods&#8221; in defense of the faith, but did not define exactly what he considered those methods to be.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>According to the Pope, the Dicastery also pursued possible &#8220;doctrinal errors&#8221; in the past instead of &#8220;supporting theological knowledge&#8221;.\u00a0&#8220;What I expect from you is definitely something completely different,&#8221; Franti\u0161ek wrote to his Argentinian colleague.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>It is not clear from the letter which period Franti\u0161ek is referring to.\u00a0Among the last prefects were the Spanish Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer and before him Cardinals Gerhard Ludwig M\u00fcller, William Joseph Levada and Joseph Ratzinger.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Vaticanist Gagliarducci sees the appointment of Fern\u00e1ndez as head of the dicastery as a certain personal revenge of the Pope, who as archbishop of Buenos Aires &#8220;fought for Fern\u00e1ndez to be rector (of the Catholic University of Argentina, note) against the opinion of the Congregation for Catholic Education, especially the secretary of Archbishop Brugu\u00e9s at the time.&#8221; .\u00a0Pope Francis later appointed him to the position of librarian of the Holy Roman Church, and never appointed him a cardinal.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Another Vaticanist, Edward Pentin, usually critical of Francis, returned to the episode about the rector&#8217;s post these days.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><span>Controversy surrounding the post of rector<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Last week, Pentin\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncregister.com\/news\/cardinal-mueller-confirms-vatican-doctrinal-office-had-file-warning-about-archbishop-fernandez\"><span>wrote on the National Catholic Register<\/span><\/a><span>\u00a0that Cardinal Gerhard M\u00fcller confirmed to him the information that the Vatican doctrinal office had in the past a file containing theological doubts about Archbishop Fern\u00e1ndez.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>The file, the existence of which, according to Pentino, was also confirmed by a second high-ranking church source, dates from the period when Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio of Buenos Aires in 2009 appointed the then Father Fern\u00e1ndez as rector of the Pontifical Catholic University in Argentina.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Cardinal M\u00fcller, who was prefect of the Dicastery, formerly the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, from 2012 to 2017, said the document was drawn up sometime in the late 2000s by Archbishop Jean-Louis Brugu\u00e8s, secretary of the Congregation for Catholic Education.\u00a0This happened after Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio proposed Fern\u00e1ndez as rector.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>It was about the fact that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was deciding whether to grant the so-called\u00a0<\/span><em><span>nihil obstat<\/span><\/em><span>\u00a0, that is, church approval for the nomination of a new rector of a Catholic university.\u00a0The Congregation, then led by Cardinal William Levada, postponed the publication of\u00a0<\/span><em><span>the nihil obstat<\/span><\/em><span>\u00a0.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Fern\u00e1ndez was thus only able to take the rector&#8217;s oath in May 2011, two and a half years after his unofficial appointment, because of persistent concerns raised in the file regarding some of his theological views, Pentin writes.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"article-gallery-img\" src=\"https:\/\/svetkrestanstva.postoj.sk\/vendor\/laravel-filemanager\/images\/pohreb-tkac\/vf-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-gallery=\"true\" data-image-order=\"2\" \/><\/h2>\n<h2 class=\"image-description\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Archbishop V\u00edctor Fern\u00e1ndez celebrates mass at the cathedral in the Argentine city of La Plata on Sunday, July 9, 2023. Photo: TASR\/AP<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Archbishop Fern\u00e1ndez said in a statement to the NC Register on July 5 that the Vatican&#8217;s concerns &#8220;didn&#8217;t carry much weight&#8221; and that after exchanging letters with Vatican officials in which he &#8220;clarified&#8221; his &#8220;true thinking, everything was resolved peacefully.&#8221;<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>According to Fern\u00e1ndez, for example, they questioned a half-page article he wrote in a small Argentinian newspaper.\u00a0In the text, he explained that priests cannot bless homosexual unions because they recognize a certain concept of marriage, but they should still not condemn people.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Finally, V\u00edctor Fern\u00e1ndez was rector of the university until 2018.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><span>He was afraid of the subject of abuse<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Speaking of Fern\u00e1ndez&#8217;s views, we mentioned some\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/svetkrestanstva.postoj.sk\/20948\/chcete-viac-pochopit-papeza-frantiska-spoznajte-tohto-muza\"><span>in the profile article<\/span><\/a><span>\u00a0, but Fern\u00e1ndez himself also gave several media interviews after the current appointment.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>The editorial director of the Vatican media, Andrea Tornielli, also\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tkkbs.sk\/view.php?cisloclanku=20230708007\"><span>spoke<\/span><\/a><span>\u00a0with the appointed prefect about the aforementioned Pope&#8217;s letter.\u00a0According to Fern\u00e1ndez, the letter offers at least six strong points that are thought-provoking.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>&#8220;It calls for a theology that matures, grows, deepens in dialogue between theologians and in conversation with science and society.\u00a0But all this in the service of evangelization,&#8221; said Fern\u00e1ndez.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>When asked what it means to &#8220;guard&#8221; the faith today, the Argentinian theologian answers by saying that, according to Pope Francis, the term &#8220;guard&#8221; is rich in meanings.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>&#8220;It certainly does not rule out vigilance, but it does express that the teachings of the faith are preserved primarily by growing in our understanding of them.\u00a0Even a situation where it is necessary to deal with a possible heresy should lead to a new theological development that matures in the understanding of doctrine, and this is the best way to guard the faith,&#8221; stated V\u00edctor Fern\u00e1ndez.<\/span><\/h2>\n<div id=\"\" class=\"cft--body\">\n<div id=\"cr0wdWidgetContent-article_advanced\" class=\"cft--background ng-star-inserted\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"cft--body ng-star-inserted\">\n<div class=\"cft--fixed--main\">\n<div class=\"cft--text-container\">\n<div class=\"cft--additional-text\">\u00a0<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h5 id=\"scripts--article_advanced\"><a style=\"font-size: 1.8em;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/254739\/archbishop-fernandez-on-new-role-as-vatican-s-doctrinal-chief-i-will-do-it-my-way\">As reported by the Catholic News Agency<\/a><span style=\"font-size: 1.8em;\">\u00a0, the archbishop of La Plata, Argentina, said in an interview that he wrote a letter to the members of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, in which he explained that he admires the previous prefect, Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, as a theologian and his style of work.\u00a0&#8220;I repeat, I tell them that I will learn from history, I will respect the processes, I will have a dialogue, but I will do it &#8216;my way'&#8221;.<\/span><\/h5>\n<\/div>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>In an interview, Fern\u00e1ndez admitted that when Pope Francis first offered him the post of prefect, he declined.\u00a0&#8220;Primarily because I did not consider myself fit to manage in a disciplinary area,&#8221; he said.\u00a0&#8220;I&#8217;m not a canonist, and in fact, when I came to La Plata, I had little idea how to deal with these questions.&#8221;<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>The agenda of cases of sexual abuse in the church also falls under the dicastery, which he will soon lead.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>According to Fern\u00e1ndez, who himself faces accusations <\/span><span>that he did not act properly in handling such a case in his diocese, this is a difficult area because &#8220;basically you have to believe those who make allegations of child abuse, and on the other hand, you cannot condemn a priest without due process, which requires time&#8217;.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>He also said that during the leadership of the diocese, he allowed himself to be guided by the ecclesiastical lawyers and also educated himself, &#8220;but with great suffering for fear of being unjust to one or the other&#8221;.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Fern\u00e1ndez added that he felt &#8220;more confident&#8221; when Pope Francis told him that, as prefect, he was to delegate this task to the disciplinary section and that he should personally devote himself to theology and the transmission of the faith.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><span>Confusion should be avoided when blessing couples<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>When asked how the new head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith wants to manage the German synodal journey, Fern\u00e1ndez replied that now is the time for him to &#8220;catch up on this matter, listen, speak, consult&#8221;.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>&#8220;For now I have to tell you that I don&#8217;t believe there is anything good in this German &#8216;movement,'&#8221; he said.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>&#8220;Cardinal Ladaria (former prefect, note) once told me that he wished there was a heretic who would force us to deepen our faith,&#8221; added Fern\u00e1ndez.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Delegates of the so-called\u00a0of the German synodal route voted several controversial proposals in Frankfurt in March, among them the controversial practice of blessing homosexual partnerships.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued an opinion in 2021 stating that this is not allowed.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Asked if he agreed with the dicastery&#8217;s statement, Fern\u00e1ndez said that if the blessing could be given in a way &#8220;that does not cause confusion,&#8221; it would have to be &#8220;analyzed.&#8221;<\/span><\/h2>\n<article class=\"main-article-grid rdz-main-article-deff\">\n<div class=\"main-article-grid-image\">\n<div class=\"main-article-grid-image-box\"><em><strong><span style=\"font-size: 16px;\">According to Fern\u00e1ndez, marriage in the narrower sense is only one thing, and that is the stable union of two beings as different as man and woman, who in this difference are able to give birth to new life.<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>&#8220;There is nothing that compares to it, and using that name to mean something else is not right,&#8221; he continued.\u00a0&#8220;At the same time, I think we have to avoid gestures or actions that could express something else.\u00a0Therefore, I think the greatest care should be taken to avoid ceremonies or blessings that might feed this confusion.&#8217;<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>According to him, &#8220;if the blessing is given in such a way that it does not cause this confusion, it will have to be analyzed and confirmed.&#8221;<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>In an interview with a Spanish website, he also commented on his book about kissing from 1995, for which many criticize him.\u00a0She says she doesn&#8217;t regret her release.\u00a0&#8220;It was not a theological manual, but a pastoral attempt that I will never regret,&#8221; Fern\u00e1ndez said, adding that he asked the publisher not to republish it.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>According to his own words, the Argentine archbishop wrote the book with an interest in young people who tried to explain to their peers why they should avoid premarital sex.\u00a0He added that kissing is &#8220;an example of one of those displays of affection that can happen without the need for sex.&#8221;<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong><span>Ratzinger versus Fern\u00e1ndez<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Italian Vaticanist Andrea Gagliarducci believes that we are in the third phase of the Pope&#8217;s pontificate.\u00a0&#8220;It is a phase in which the pontificate tries to consolidate itself before the inevitable decline.\u00a0And Pope Francis carries out this consolidation precisely by appointing bishops and prefects, giving preference to the most faithful,&#8221; he stated.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Also the leading American Vaticanist John L. Allen Jr.\u00a0perceives the choice of Fern\u00e1ndez to head a key dicastery in the context of the &#8220;legacy&#8221; of Pope Francis.\u00a0According to Allen, the clear mission of this decision is to &#8220;institutionalize Francis&#8217; vision in the intellectual life of the church.&#8221;<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>John L. Allen Jr.\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cruxnow.com\/news-analysis\/2023\/07\/pope-francis-has-just-given-the-vatican-his-ratzinger\"><span>in his article on Crux Now,<\/span><\/a><span>\u00a0he compares V\u00edctor Fern\u00e1ndez to Joseph Ratzinger, although he admits that he is not comparing the quality or intellectual performance of Ratzinger and Fern\u00e1ndez.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>&#8220;It is rather to suggest that, politically and personally, Fern\u00e1ndez is now poised to be roughly what Ratzinger once was to John Paul II, albeit with some important differences,&#8221; he wrote.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"article-gallery-img\" src=\"https:\/\/svetkrestanstva.postoj.sk\/vendor\/laravel-filemanager\/images\/pohreb-tkac\/vf-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-gallery=\"true\" data-image-order=\"4\" \/><\/h2>\n<h2 class=\"image-description\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Archbishop V\u00edctor Fern\u00e1ndez celebrates mass at the cathedral in the Argentine city of La Plata on Sunday, July 9, 2023.\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>He also noted that the relationship between Bergoglio and Fern\u00e1ndez is even deeper than that of Ratzinger and Wojtyla.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>&#8220;During the ten years of Francis&#8217; pontificate, when the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was headed by German Cardinal Gerhard M\u00fcller, widely regarded as a conservative, and then by Spanish Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, seen as more of a moderate, most observers considered them less influential than Fern\u00e1ndez in shaping the papal theological positions,&#8221; Allen points out.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Now Pope Francis has pulled Fern\u00e1ndez out of his theological &#8220;kitchen&#8221;, put him in the spotlight and is also giving him formal power and a powerful office.\u00a0And as we learned last Sunday <\/span><span>, also a cardinal&#8217;s hat.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>John L. Allen Jr.\u00a0notices one more interesting detail.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>In the aforementioned letter to Fern\u00e1ndez, the Pope states that &#8220;your task also implies special care in verifying whether the documents of the Dicastery itself and others have adequate theological support, whether they are in accordance with the richness of the eternal teaching of the Church and at the same time whether they accept the latest Magisterium&#8221;.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Vaticanist Allen draws attention to the phrase &#8220;and others,&#8221; which he says indicates that Fern\u00e1ndez will now fill the role that Ratzinger filled in his heyday under John Paul II.\u00a0and which consists in theological assessment of the outputs of other Vatican departments, while in fact he will act as the Pope&#8217;s &#8220;quality controller&#8221;.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>And there is another similarity between the German and Argentinian theologians, although in the opposite guard.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>Joseph Ratzinger was the star of the conservatives, progressives in the church had reservations about him.\u00a0In the case of Fern\u00e1ndez, it is the opposite, according to Allen.\u00a0The Argentinian theologian already has his &#8220;profile&#8221; among Catholic conservatives, &#8220;and as they get to know him better, it will only grow.&#8221;<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>At the consistory in September, Archbishop V\u00edctor Manuel Fern\u00e1ndez will be created a cardinal, potentially giving him the opportunity to become Francis&#8217; successor.<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span>John Allen Jr.\u00a0has one comment: &#8220;Sure, his candidacy will seem inconceivable to the Pope&#8217;s critics, who will not be able to believe that the majority of cardinals would vote for such a controversial figure &#8211; but I remind you that exactly the same was said about Joseph Ratzinger&#8217;s chances 18 years ago .\u201d<\/span><\/h2>\n<h2 style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em><span>In the cover photo, Archbishop V\u00edctor Fern\u00e1ndez celebrates mass at the cathedral in the Argentine city of La Plata on Sunday, July 9, 2023.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/h2>\n<h2 id=\"cr0wdfundingToolbox-locked\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00a0<\/h2>\n<h2 id=\"cr0wdfundingToolbox-custom\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00a0<\/h2>\n<div id=\"cr0wdfundingToolbox-article_advanced\" data-position=\"BOTTOM\">\n<div id=\"\" class=\"cft--body\">\n<div id=\"cr0wdWidgetContent-article_advanced\" class=\"cft--background ng-star-inserted\">\n<h2 class=\"cft--overlay\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u00a0<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They started the summer in style in the Vatican. First, on Saturday, July 1, Pope Francis appointed the new prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, his longtime collaborator, Argentine theologian V\u00edctor Manuel Fern\u00e1ndez. A week later, &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/predication.net\/?p=6280\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nezaradene"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Francis chose his &quot;Ratzinger&quot; - predication.net<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/predication.net\/?p=6280\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Francis chose his &quot;Ratzinger&quot; - predication.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"They started the summer in style in the Vatican. 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