On abuse

adminonJanuary 10, 2022January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

On abuse

Cross against overcast sky © a. m. dan (shutterstock)

Is Bishop Michel Dubost, who had administered the Lyon diocese until 2020, coming to French Guyana? The French newspaper "La Croix" reports that the 78-year-old is to help investigate abuses there.

After his successful mission as diocesan administrator in Lyon (2019-2020) in the wake of the investigation against Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, Bishop Michel Dubost is now to help the church in French Guyana, according to the newspaper "La Croix" (online Friday).

Clarification in abuse scandal?

She claims to have learned that the Vatican's Congregation for Missions is sending Dubost to the Cayenne diocese as apostolic administrator (interim leader). His recently retired bishop, Emmanuel Lafont, 75, is under investigation by the Cayenne prosecutor's office for possible sexual favors. Until then, the bishop emeritus is presumed innocent. The Vatican also launched a canonical investigation in early April.

Commitment already pledged

Dubost has already accepted the mission and pledged full commitment, it said. Until his retirement for reasons of age, he was French military bishop (1989-2000) and bishop of Evry in the greater Paris area (until 2017). Dubost, born in Morocco in 1942, already knows French Guyana from his time as military bishop.

The diocese of Cayenne is located in the vicinity of Brazil and Suriname. It belongs to the ecclesiastical province of the Antilles and Guyana and is thus subordinate to the Missionary Congregation. Nevertheless, as a French territory it is also a full member of the French Bishops' Conference.

Unclear handling of final document

Pope Francis © Fabio Campana

Unclear handling of final document

Bishops in the synod hall © Cristian Gennari (KNA)

For about ten days, the Synod on the Family has been deliberating in Rome on ies related to marriage and the family. So half of the three-week synod is already over. However, controversial ies have hardly come up so far.

This is to be achieved in the remaining time until the 25. October however change. Then, in the plenary session and then in the small groups organized by language, there is also discussion about the parts of the preparatory document that deal, for example, with communion for remarried people or with the treatment of homosexuals.

Panel already preparing final report

At the same time, a ten-member panel nominated by the pope is already working on the final report. For this purpose, the changes and suggestions from the small groups will be incorporated into the preparatory document "Instrumentum Laboris". On Thursday, the 22. The report will finally be presented on October 1, after which the synod fathers will have more time to discuss it and make changes and suggestions.

After a day off, the final document will finally be published on 24. The proposal will be read out in the synod assembly hall on October 1, followed by a vote. After that, Pope Francis gets the document and can decide what happens. Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi specified what will happen in a week and a half, at the end of the deliberations, with the final report of the Synod Fathers. He had received several inquiries about this, the Jesuit explained:

Pope decides on publication of final report

"What we don't know exactly today is what the pope's decision will be – whether he'll tell us 'publish this immediately' like he did last year, or whether he'll say 'thank you very much, I'll keep the report and make an Apostolic Exhortation out of it'. He could also say: 'I'll think about it for a few days and then we'll publish it."

The fact that the pope could simply let the report disappear into a drawer is apparently not an option for the Vatican spokesman.

Efficient doer and excellent organizer

For 30 years, Giovanni Battista Re was an influential mover and shaker in the Vatican: "Minister of the Interior," head of personnel, and election director at the conclave that produced Francis. This Wednesday Re completes his 85th birthday. Birthday.

For three decades, Giovanni Battista Re was one of the most influential figures in the Vatican. As "Minister of the Interior" he was one of the closest collaborators of John Paul II. (1978-2005). From 2000, he headed the Congregation of Bishops with the rank of cardinal, making him a kind of chief of staff of the Church.

His most prominent appearance, of course, came after his retirement, when he presided over the conclave in March 2013 that produced Pope Francis. This Wednesday, the still spry churchman from northern Italy celebrates his 85th birthday. Birthday.

Efficient doer and excellent organizer

In his 28 years at the Secretariat of State, Re earned a reputation as an efficient doer and excellent organizer. He was first an assessor there and from 1979 a substitute – the "number three" in the Vatican after the pope and the secretary of state. All important Vatican procedures passed over his desk. Re decided swiftly and decisively. In the evening, his desk was always empty, staff reported.

Giovanni Battista Re was born on 30. Born in Borno near Lake Garda in January 1934. His father was a carpenter; one of his sisters joined the Canossian Order. After ordination to the priesthood in 1957, Re earned a doctorate in canon law at the Gregorian University. Three years as a lecturer at the seminary of his native diocese of Brescia and as chaplain of a suburban parish there followed before he graduated from the Pontifical Diplomatic Academy in Rome. Stations abroad were Panama and Iran. In 1971 he came to the headquarters in Rome.

After years in the Secretariat of State, the Vatican's "Ministry of the Interior," he moved to the Congregation of Bishops as secretary for two years in 1987 before aming the post of Minister of the Interior.

How much John Paul II. appreciated his loyal collaborator was evident from the fact that in 1998, during a summer vacation in the northern Italian Alps, he made a detour to Res' hometown of Borno to visit his family privately.

Head of the Congregation of Bishops

Also Benedict XVI. (2005-2013) continued to use Res' services as head of the Congregation of Bishops for four years. However, in the last year of service, a shadow fell on his administration: Res signature is written under the decree of 21. January 2009, with which the Vatican lifted the excommunication of the four bishops of the Pius Brotherhood, including that of Holocaust denier Richard Williamson.

The commission "Ecclesia Dei" was primarily responsible for the failed initiative. Re also loudly vented his anger in a larger, admittedly internal, circle.

What part Re played in the appointment of Theodore McCarrick (88) as archbishop of Washington – despite rumors of McCarrick's sexual misconduct – is to be revealed by an internal Vatican investigation currently underway. Re had then been head of the Congregation of Bishops for three months when McCarrick moved from Newark to Washington in November 2000. Re is said to have opposed McCarrick's appointment.

Leadership of the conclave

The leadership of the March 2013 conclave after Benedict XVI's surprise resignation. Re owed his leadership to the fact that Cardinal Dean Angelo Sodano and Vice-Dean Roger Etchegaray were already over 80 and could no longer vote for reasons of age.

With that, the task went to the oldest of the voting cardinal bishops. Re took oath of secrecy and adherence to rules from 115 voters. And once elected, he addressed the question to Jorge Mario Bergoglio: "Do you accept your canonical election as Pope?"

At 85, the emeritus cardinal of the Curia enjoys good health, maintains lively contacts. He occupies one of the most sought-after apartments in the Vatican; the roof terrace on the archpriest's palazzo, converted into a penthouse by former Cardinal Secretary of State Agostino Casaroli (1914-1998), offers a view of the Vatican Gardens. From there, it's not far to the Santa Marta guesthouse, where he frequently meets with guests. And where he could then also meet the Pope.

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