A month ago, on October 24, the Vatican issued a curious
document calling for the
creation of a “supranational global political Authority” and a central world
bank to manage and cure the ills of the world’s economies.
The proposal, “Note on the
reform of the international financial and monetary systems in the context of
global public authority” (henceforth, “The Note”), also calls for a
global “Robbin Hood” tax on financial transactions, called a “Tobin tax” after
the name of its creator. This idea immediately was picked up by the UK’s
Anglican primate Rowan Williams, who wrote an approving op/ed in the Financial
Times. At the G20 summit in Cannes, the idea of this tax also popped up in some
of the comments of Barack Obama and French president Nicholas Sarkozy, but
nothing concrete was done about it.
Given the timing as well as the substance of The Note, which
blames the ills of the global economy on the “excesses” of capitalism and reeks
of a redux of the revolutionary socialist Liberation Theology that the Catholic
Church under Pope John Paul II had explicitly abjured, many around the world
saw the Vatican as lending support to the Occupy Wall Street movement.
The Note was not authored by the Pope but by the left-wing
Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (PCJP), headed by 63-year-old native
of Ghana, Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson,
who had been appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009. Nevertheless,
the PCJP is a part of the Roman Curia or the Holy See
— the “episcopal jurisdiction” or central government of the Roman Catholic
Church — and The Note liberally references and quotes past and present popes.
Given all this, one could only conclude that The Note has the pope’s approval. Not so.
Ten days after the publication of The Note, on November 4 in the
Vatican, an emergency summit convened in the Roman Curia’s secretariat of
state. The reason for the meeting: to do damage control on The Note that had
disturbed many, inside and outside of the Vatican.
The secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, 76, complained that he
had not known about The Note until the last moment. Nor does the document have
his approval. The summit concluded with an issuance of a “binding order” that
would be transmitted to all of the offices of the curia: henceforth, nothing in
writing would be released unless it had been inspected and authorized by the
secretariat of state.
However, Chiesa Expresso’s reporter
Sandro Magister rightly points out that:
“Of course, the fact that Bertone and his colleagues had seen
that document only after its publication is astonishing in itself.
Already on October 19, in fact, five days ahead of time, the
Vatican press office – which reports directly to the secretary of state – had
made the announcement of the press conference to present the document, at which
the speakers would be Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, president of the
pontifical council for justice and peace, and Bishop Mario Toso, the council’s
secretary.
Toso, a Salesian like Bertone and his longtime friend, was
chosen for this office by the cardinal secretary of state himself.”
What all this means is I had suspected. The Catholic Church,
like every organization, is factionalized. The Note is the work of a liberal
faction within the Vatican, whose views, beliefs and prescriptions are not
those of the Church’s Secretariat of State.
Given the advanced age of Pope Benedict XVI (he will be 85 years
old next April), factional differences and contention as displayed in the
disagreement over The Note are not insignificant and promise to shape the
future direction of the Church itself.
As a footnote, the Holy See is located in
Vatican City, Rome. For the central government of the Catholic Church, the Holy
See has a very small staff of 2,750 employees, most of whom work in departments
and offices scattered throughout the city of Rome. Only one office — the
Secretariat of State — is situated within Vatican City.
For many months now, every day, without fail, our ClustrMap tells us that
Fellowship of the Minds (FOTM) is read by someone(s) in the Holy See, Vatican
City. Since the Secretariat of State is the only department of the Holy See
which is physically located in Vatican City, I can only assume that whoever
that checks in with FOTM every day is someone from the Secretariat of State.
This blog is honored to receive the attention.
Source: Vatican webaite, Posted on November 21, 2011 by Dr. Eowyn
~Eowyn
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