John Paul I expected to return to Venice before he was elected pope, letter shows

Mother Veronica of the Holy Faith (left) shows some of the hosts that will be consecrated during the International Eucharistic Congress; portrait of St. Mariana of Jesus (right). / Credit: Eduardo Berdejo/EWTN News

Quito, Ecuador, Sep 11, 2024 … […]

Vatican City, Mar 17, 2018 / 12:36 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Amid accusations of concealment, the Vatican’s communications department has released the entirety of a letter written by Benedict XVI, revealing a previously unpublished paragraph which contains Benedict’s comments about a theologian known for his “anti-papal initiatives.”
 
The Secretariat for Communications published the full letter March 17, after questions were raised following the letter’s presentation during a press event March 12 for the release of a newly-published series of booklets on the theological formation of Pope Francis.
 
The series is published by Libreria Editrice Vaticana, the Vatican publishing house overseen by the secretariat.

#Vatican has now released the full contents of Benedict XVI’s letter to +Vigano, saying there was no intention to censor but parts were left out as it was confidential. Earlier today it emerged that more had been omitted from the letter (see end here: https://t.co/aXlyXH71Sg) pic.twitter.com/P6fld8eA21

— Edward Pentin (@EdwardPentin) March 17, 2018

The secretariat’s press release on the letter quoted portions of the letter praising the booklets, but included neither Benedict’s admission that he has not read them in full, nor the final paragraph published today.
 
In the paragraph, Benedict notes his “surprise” that an author of one of the new booklets is the German theologian Peter Hünermann, who, Benedict notes, “was highlighted for leading anti-papal initiatives” during the two preceding papacies.
 
In the letter, dated Feb. 7 and addressed to the prefect of the Secretariat for Communications, Msgr. Dario Vigano, Benedict also notes Hünermann’s involvement in the release of the 1989 Cologne Declaration, which “virulently attacked the magisterial authority of the Pope, especially on matters of moral theology.”
 
The previously undisclosed paragraph reads, as translated by Ed Pentin of the National Catholic Register, in full: “Only as an aside, I would like to note my surprise at the fact that among the authors is also Professor Hünermann, who during my pontificate had been shown to have led anti-papal initiatives. He played a major part in the release of the ‘Kölner Erklärung’, which, in relation to the encyclical ‘Veritatis splendor’, virulently attacked the magisterial authority of the Pope, especially on questions of moral theology. Also the ‘Europaische Theologengesellschaft’, which he founded, initially came to be thought of as an organization in opposition to the papal magisterium. Later, the ecclesial sentiment of many theologians prevented this orientation, making that organization a normal instrument of encounter among theologians.”
 
“I am sure that you will understand me for my denial and I greet you cordially,” the letter concludes. Earlier in the letter, Benedict acknowledged that he could not write a requested reflection on the booklets because he had not read them and had other, more pressing, commitments.
 
A March 17 press release from the Secretariat for Communications said there had been “much polemics” around its “alleged censorial manipulation of photography.”

“What was read out from the letter, which was confidential, was considered appropriate and related to the sole initiative, and in particular to what the Pope Emeritus says about the philosophical and theological formation of the present Pontiff and the inner union between the two pontificates, leaving out some notes regarding contributors to the series.”

“The choice was motivated by confidentiality and not by any intent of censorship,” the secretariat added.

The Vatican office wrote that it had now chosen to publish the letter in its entirety “in order to dispel any doubts.”
 
The National Catholic Register requested March 14 a copy of the letter Vigano sent to Benedict, but the request has not been answered.
 
Controversy about the letter heightened March 14 when the Associated Press reported that the Vatican had acknowledged obscuring two lines of the letter in a photo released to the press.
 
The AP’s Nicole Winfield wrote that the Vatican has admitted “that it altered a photo sent to the media of a letter from retired Pope Benedict XVI about Pope Francis. The manipulation changed the meaning of the image in a way that violated photojournalist industry standards.”

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Vatican City, Jun 15, 2020 / 08:05 am (CNA).- Pope Francis Monday appointed Fabio Gasperini, an Italian financial adviser working at Ernst & Young, to the second-ranking position at the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA).

This is the first time in its history that the secretary of APSA will be a layperson. Gasperini fills the position following the end of the five-year term of Msgr. Mauro Rivella in April.

Gasperini is well known in the banking and finance world, with 25 years’ experience advising financial services institutions across a broad range of areas, from retail banking to asset management, investment banking, insurance, and capital markets.

For 16 years, he has been president of financial business advisory services at Ernst & Young, one of the largest professional services firms in the world.

CNA first reported Gasperini’s possible appointment June 12. 

Very early in his career, after graduating from Rome’s La Sapienza University with a degree in business economics and commerce, Gasperini worked in the administration of Vatican City State.

APSA, which operates like the Vatican’s central bank, oversees real estate holdings and other sovereign assets.

Bishop Nunzio Galantino is president of APSA. In addition to Secretary Gasperini, there is an undersecretary, an official for management control, and 13 offices and services. 

APSA has around 95 employees and 10 collaborators, as well as a commission of eight cardinals who work alongside the president. Pope Francis recently appointed Cardinal Daniel Sturla, archbishop of Montevideo, to the commission to replace Cardinal Agostino Vallini, who has turned 80 and is no longer eligible to hold a curial position.

In June 2019, APSA’s councilor Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta was charged with the sexual abuse of two seminarians in his former Diocese of Orán in Argentina. The previous January, the Vatican said Zanchetta had been suspended from his APSA position.

On June 15, a Vatican spokesman confirmed to CNA that Zanchetta has returned to his job at APSA, despite the ongoing trial against him in Argentina. 

At the end of May, Pope Francis moved the office of the Vatican’s financial records database from the management of APSA to the Secretariat for the Economy.

The Secretariat for the Economy has oversight of the Vatican’s administrative and financial structures and activities, including monitoring the work of APSA.

Other recent appointments by Pope Francis have also gone to Italian laypeople.

June 12, the pope named Antonella Sciarrone Alibrandi a member of the directive counsel of the Financial Information Authority (AIF).

Alibrandi is vice-rector of Sacred Heart Catholic University in Milan, a lawyer, and a professor of banking law and financial markets law.

Another laywoman, Raffaella Vincenti, was named office head of the Vatican’s Apostolic Library, after serving as the library’s secretary.

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