Posted on 10/14/2015 8:50:13 AM PDT by marshmallow
New York's Cardinal Timothy Dolan has acknowledged that he was one of a group of cardinals who sent a confidential letter to Pope Francis expressing concerns about the Synod process.
In an interview with Sirius Radio, Cardinal Dolan said that he joined the effort at the instigation of Cardinal George Pell. He observed that Pope Francis had encouraged the Synod fathers to express their opinions honestly, and the cardinals' letter was sent in that spirit.
However, the American cardinal disclosed that the letter, which came to light this week when a leaked (and apparently inaccurate) copy was published by a veteran Vatican journalist, had actually been sent to Pope Francis "a while ago-- before the Synod even began."
"I had forgotten it," Cardinal Dolan said. But he added that Pope Francis had addressed each of the concerns listed in the letter during an address to the Synod assembly.
The concerns expressed in the letter, Cardinal Dolan said, included: whether the working document for the Synod, the instrumentum laboris, should be the sole focus of the bishops' discussion; whether the process allowed for fair and open debate; and whether the bishops participating in the Synod should be given an opportunity to influence the selection of the bishops chosen to write the final text.
Yep, Pell led the revolt at last years Extraordinary Synod and he's in the vanguard of the resistance now, at least in the Anglophone word.
And kudos to Dolan. He stepped up to the plate here.
Don’t kid yourself, Dolan is right up there with the screwy ways of Pope Francis...
Maybe he "addressed" them, but he certainly didn't fix them (those described in the last paragraph). Sounds like Dolan's trying to have it both ways by admitting that he signed the letter, but downplaying its importance at the same time.
Look, this is an important story and Dolan is making a statement against Francis albeit with very nice words.
However does anyone think he forgot about the letter. No way. He lied. Maybe he was misquoted, but if not then he lied. It was a private letter meant never to see the light of day, and when Dolan was confronted he hedged and said he forgot.
Dolan is like a lot of us, hoping for Francis to change, but he clearly put himself against Francis’ attempt to create a “new” Catholic Church.
Dolan trying to have it both ways??? Say it isn’t so!
He had “forgotten it” ? Why it was so long ago and, besides, he probably writes lots of letters to His Holiness!!
This really begs credulity unless senility is setting in.
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