Free Republic

[Catholic Caucus] The St. Gallen Mafia and Orwellian FrancisIn George Orwell’s 1984, no one is supposed to know about anything predating the Revolution that put the now-dominant Party in power. In Orwell’s dystopian prophecy, the records must all be redacted, the memories must all be censored, and the statues must all be renamed to align with the Party’s official account of history. In an eerily similar way, under the current regime of Pope Francis, a dubious history of the 2005 conclave is now being recirculated. With his new interview on the 2005 papal election, Francis is retelling an edited version...

[Catholic Caucus] Former papal confidant says prelates who ‘criticize’ Pope Francis are a threat to Church ‘unity’Abp. Bruno Forte accused bishops who publicly oppose Pope Francis of usurping papal authority, lacking the Pope's supposed comprehensive perspective, and risking Church unity.A prominent Italian prelate has hit back at fellow bishops who “publicly criticize” Pope Francis, saying that they are “wrong” to do so, since they break the “unity of the Church.” In an interview published February 22 by Religion Digital, Archbishop Bruno Forte of the Archdiocese of Chieti-Vasto in eastern Italy issued a strong critique of what the interviewer described as...

Did a ‘mafia’ of liberal cardinals pressure Benedict to resign?In this episode of Holy Smoke, I interview Julia Meloni, author of The St Gallen Mafia: Exposing the Secret Reformist Group Within the Church. It's the first detailed study of the self-described 'mafia' of liberal cardinals who worked tirelessly to prevent and then undermine the pontificate of Benedict XVI. The book contains many disconcerting revelations, and also well-sourced speculation that the group's founder, the Jesuit scholar Cardinal Martini of Milan, may have visited Benedict shortly before his own death in order to pressure him to resign. By 2013, when that happened,...

On the evening of March 13, 2013, Cardinal Jean-Louis Pierre Tauran announced in Latin what the Church and the entire world had been anxiously awaiting: “Habemus Papam!” — “We have a Pope!” Cardinal Tauran went on to reveal the identity of the newly elected Pope according to the prescribed format: “The most eminent and reverend lord, Lord Jorge Mario, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, Bergoglio, who takes to himself the name Francis.” The initial signs of the first Jesuit Pope, at least in this writer’s opinion, seemed positive (granted, I knew nothing about the man at the time). His...

New book suggests St. Gallen Mafia agreement may have led to Pope Benedict XVI’s resignationAuthor Julia Meloni tells us that Martini's own confessor claimed that Benedict's resignation had been “scripted since his pontificate's beginning – because Martini had shifted his votes to Ratzinger at the 2005 Conclave."(LifeSiteNews) — The American scholar and columnist Julia Meloni has just published her long-awaited, excellent, and deeply researched history of the Sankt Gallen Mafia, a group of progressive bishops regularly meeting in Switzerland and plotting to further revolutionize the Catholic Church. The Sankt Gallen Mafia: Exposing the Secret Reformist Group Within the Church tells...

Pope’s biographer: Upcoming synod will transform Church in line with ‘St. Gallen mafia’ goals(LifeSiteNews) – The man who glowingly sketched Pope Francis as a “great reformer” only a year and a half into his papacy is now predicting the upcoming synod of bishops on synodality may bring a revolutionary transformation to the Catholic Church.Austen Ivereigh wrote Thursday about the objectives of the synod “For a Synodal Church,” set to begin in October, calling it a “historic shake-up” and “potentially the most transformative moment in Catholicism since the Second Vatican Council, which it seeks to embed permanently into the life of...

[Catholic Caucus] Cardinal Danneels admits being part of clerical ‘Mafia’ that plotted Francis’ election September 25, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) - The authorized biography of Cardinal Godfried Danneels, out next week, is even more of a bombshell than expected. Not only do the two authors, Jürgen Mettepenningen and Karim Schelkens, reveal that the Cardinal was a regular member of a secret pressure group of Churchmen that met in the Swiss town of Sankt-Gallen, but the Cardinal himself has publicly and good-humoredly admitted the fact. Danneels even said that what was officially but discreetly labeled “the Sankt-Gallen group” was referred to by its...

If You Always Wanted to Read The Dictator Pope… …but never quite found the time, take yourself over to Crisis Magazine and read the excellent overview of the Francis Pontificate from Julia Meloni entitled, Francis Allies Reveal Their Plans for Revolutionary Change.Here’s an excerpt, and yes, it’s all this well-written: For Murphy-O’Connor and other mafia alumni, including Cardinals Kasper and Danneels, had expertly toured pre-conclave gatherings promoting Bergoglio.  And according to Marco Politi, on the evening of March 9, Murphy-O’Connor had met with Cardinals Kasper, Coccopalmerio, Bertello, Nicola, and Tauran to strategize seeking the backing of others. It is unclear whether one of the Italians...

SWITZERLAND, August 28, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – The Swiss Diocese of St. Gallen posted on its official Facebook page a comment distancing itself from Bishop Marian Eleganti, who recently noted that homosexuality is the root cause of the sex abuse crisis. Bishop Eleganti had referred the Pennsylvania grand jury report when he made these comments in an August 22 interview with EWTN Germany while in Ireland for the World Meeting of Families. “The scandal of abuse shows clearly, it is related to homosexuality,” he said. “90% [of the abuse cases] are in direct connection with a homosexual inclination.” The bishop also...