Your first paragraph of post 15 is evidence of the low expectations that you accept from Church leadership. The Cardinal is being very diplomatic, but Guiliani has not only disobeyed Church teaching, he has flaunted his disobedience, and publicly rebuked the Cardinal’s good efforts to have an “understanding” with him. Guiliani threw down a gauntlet.
Mr. Guiliani is in sin, flagrantly so, and seemingly unrepentant. If Guiliani accepted the authority of the Cardinal, he would not have gone against the Cardinal, especially in such a public manner.
Why the waking on eggshells? Because Guiliani is a famous politician? What is that in light of a responsibility to Jesus Christ to faithfully lead and shepherd the flock, and to protect it from apostasy and those who cling to public sin?
In the greater context, all levels of the Catholic Church leadership have been timid in their stand against abortion and those in power who are Catholic and who publicly rail against the Church’s teaching and Scripture on the issue.
As for your second paragraph, your thinly veiled insult is very uncharitable. Have you walked this walk? Have you had direct responsibility for a group of believers as an elder or a bishop? Have you confronted sin in the flock and worked to restore an apostate to fellowship?
How do you know that I have not?
Paragraph 1 is a suggestion that charity would have you view this as a positive development. Egan had seemingly been dormant, but suddenly took public action. That is a sign of a wonderful and significant development.
Paragraph 2 is a rebuke of your glass-half-empty negativity in light of a very positive and unprecedented step by this cardinal. In light of this positive development, your reaction is to yelp. Most uncharitable of you. It is also a rebuke of your pretense that you have an inkling of what it takes to be a cardinal, the pressures faced in trying to faithfully carry out the duties of that office, or the way the world’s largest institution conducts its affairs. Egan is one of 200 of the very highest level leaders in a church with 1 billion members, and his own archdiocese has millions of believers and non-believers of all stripes. No one asks for or lobbies to get the job of cardinal. If one does, they are excluded from consideration. And no matter what your experience, you could not possibly have a cluse about these things, let alone be in a position to offer advice to him regarding a man you have never met.