De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

*SIGH* This was last week's big scandal which I sort of covered here . As reported in ALL the secular press, here in The Tablet , every Chilean bishop has offered his resignation to Pope Francis after a series of closed-door meetings with all 34 bishops at the Vatican this week, to discuss the abuse crisis in the country. The dramatic announcement followed the leaking of a 10-page letter to television channel T13, reportedly handed to the bishops at the start of this week’s discussions, in which Francis said removing bishops may be needed but would not be sufficient to solve the abuse crisis in Chile. In the letter Francis cites clericalist, elitist and authoritarian attitudes dominating in the Church and an urgent need to put Christ back at the “ecclesial centre”. "It would be irresponsible on our part not to delve into looking for the roots and the structures that allowed these [abuses] to happen and to be perpetuated,” the Latin American Pope explained. ...

So yesterday brought another great shock as ALL the Chilean Cardinals offered to resign en masse . Some background to this can be gleaned from  this post . If you are cynically minded, you might be thinking that is rather convenient. A resignation accepted closes the narrative without full process or assignment of culpability and application of penalty, it merely allows malefactors to assume indistinct responsibility and go quietly into retirement. Pope Francis' Motu Proprio - As A loving Mother  written by the Pope and published by the Vatican on 4th June 2016 makes it clear bishops CAN be removed from office, so why is this process not being used in regard to the guilty bishops in Chile? It would lead a cynical person to consider that this could even be some sort of stage managed PR stunt. Indeed, one might think this is a way for the Chilean bishops to avoid culpability, but it also leads to bigger questions. The whole debacle is about a priest, Father Ferna...

Marie Collins handing the letter detailing victims’ complaints of a sex abuse cover up in Chile to Cardinal Seán O’Malley on April 12th 2015. I can't believe I am reading the Tablet these days but it is born of some sort of morbid curiosity as I watch the Pope's former buddies organise themselves into a firing squad. You may remember I drew your attention to an article by Robert Mickens in La Croix on Jan 20th. Mickens continues to chase this story writing yesterday in the Tablet. The latest revelation is that, despite Pope Francis claim that "No one has come forward" he actually received an 8-page letter in 2015 detailing the abuse suffered at the hands of Fr Karadima (pictured above is the letter being given to Cardinal Sean O’Malley). The existence of this letter contradicts the Pope’s insistence that victims of Fr Fernando Karadima had not come forward to complain about a cover-up by Bishop Juan Barros, who Francis appointed to lead the Diocese...

In the latest Spectator Podcast, Dr. Ed Condon and Dr. Damian Thompson discuss recent calamitous developments in the Pontificate of Pope Francis: Chile and China . I am especially glad they talk about Cardinal Danneels inclusion in the synod on the family as Pope Francis' special guest, despite serious questions about his cardinalate, see here and here  as I can't believe more questions haven't been asked about this, especially given his claims about Pope Francis' election in his autobiography ( see here for the details ). There's also analysis of the Chinese betrayal: Thompson concludes "the bad guys have won", Condon says there are faithful priests and bishops within the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, however he points out that many are opposed to any deal and the CPCA bishops incur automatic excommunication under canon 1382 . Huang was also publicly excommunicated by Benedict XVI in 2011. Another example of Pope Francis' flagrant d...