Cardinal Baldisseri Has To Go

"Let us invoke openness to a sincere, open and fraternal exchange of views, that it might lead us to take pastoral responsibility for the questions that this changing time brings with it."  — Pope Francis on the Synod.

"Let no one say, 'This can't be said, they will think this or that about me.' Everything we feel must be said, with parrhesia," a Greek word meaning to speak candidly or boldly, and without fear. — Pope Francis on the Synod.

"... a cardinal wrote to me saying that it was a pity that some cardinals did not have the courage to say certain things out of respect for the pope, thinking perhaps that the pope thought differently. This is not good -- it is not synodality, because it is necessary to say everything that in the Lord we feel must be said: without human respect, without timidness." — Pope Francis on the Synod.

"I was the rapporteur of the 2001 synod and there was a cardinal who told us what should be discussed and what should not," the Pope told La Nacion, an Argentine newspaper. "That will not happen now." Francis is not afraid of discussion and disagreement." — Pope Francis on the Synod.

"And, at the same time, we must listen with humility and accept with an open heart all that our brothers say." — Pope Francis on the Synod.

To make sure that this frank, free, humble, and open exchange of ideas took place at the Synod, Pope Francis appointed as Secretariat of the synod of bishops, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri.  This is how he implemented Pope Francis' vision.

Via Ed Pentin
A Vatican department allegedly intercepted over a hundred copies of a new book written by five cardinals to prevent it being read by the majority of participants of a synod last October called by Pope Francis.
“Remaining in the Truth of Christ,” a commercially successful book reaffirming Catholic teaching on marriage and the family, was mailed to all the synod fathers in the Paul VI Hall, where the meeting was taking place.

Reliable and high level sources allege the head of secretariat of the synod of bishops, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, ordered they be intercepted because they would “interfere with the synod.”

A source told me that Baldisseri was “furious” the book had been mailed to the participants and ordered staff at the Vatican post office to ensure they did not reach the Paul VI Hall. Reports of the book’s interception have also appeared on German news sites in recent days.

So besides probably violating many laws, besides probably abusing his clerical office, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri clearly violated the spirit and the vision of the Synod promised us by the Vicar of Christ.

This is a complete betrayal of the Pope and of his brother bishops. Given the great import of the approaching Synod and the responsibility of the Pope to insure the integrity of the Synod, if these reports are true, I cannot see how the Pope can do anything other than immediately replace Cardinal Baldisseri as Secretariat of the synod of bishops.  

 

Quotes source.