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PDF versionDiagnosing the 'implosion' of Benedict's Vatican
by John L Allen Jr on Feb. 28, 2011
ROME -- Perhaps the most telling index of the severity of the various PR and managerial catastrophes which have beset the papacy of Benedict XVI is that there’s now a budding literary genre attempting to explain them. It’s also a measure of the reduced global profile of the papacy these days that, to date, the Italians basically have a monopoly on it.
Last year brought Attaco a Ratzinger: Accuse e scandali, profezie e complotti contro Benedetto XVI (“Attack on Ratzinger: Accusations and Scandals, Prophecies and Plots against Benedict XVI”) by two of the best Italian Vatican writers going, Paolo Rodari and Andrea Tornielli. Though hardly blind to the Vatican’s own failures, Rodari and Tornielli also suggested there’s an effort afoot to damage the moral authority of the pope and the church, perhaps even of cosmic dimensions. (One chapter ponders whether Benedict’s woes were foretold by Fatima and other Marian apparitions.)
Now we have another take, in the form of 
C’era Una Volta Un Vaticano “Once Upon a Time, There was a Vatican” by Massimo Franco, a veteran political writer for Corriere della Sera, Italy’s most prestigious daily newspaper. Franco has long explored the intersection between faith and politics, as witnessed by his 2005 book Imperi paralleli (“Parallel Empires”) about relations between the Holy See and the United States.
In terms of the building blocks of his argument, Franco covers much the same ground as Rodari and Tornielli: the sexual abuse scandals; the crisis over lifting the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying bishop; conflicts within the Vatican, even among cardinals, “worthy of the epoch of the Borgias”; the notorious Boffo case, in which senior Vatican officials were accused of sabotaging the director of the Italian bishops’ newspaper by leaking false documents suggesting he harassed a woman because he wanted to pursue a gay affair with her boyfriend; and on and on.
“Implosion,” Franco suggests, is the word many Vatican-watchers apply to the current state of affairs. There’s a palpable sense of fin du régime in the Roman air, he says; Franco quotes diplomats accredited to the Holy See comparing themselves to the final ambassadors to the Republic of Venice just before its collapse in 1797.
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Yet Franco applies a different spin to this malaise. The meltdowns of the last five years are symptoms rather than causes, he says, of a much deeper crisis. They’re signs of the end of an epoch, in which the Vatican represented the religious and moral sentiments of Western civilization, and the dawn of a new era in which Catholicism has become a minority subculture. Neither the Vatican nor the hierarchy more generally has figured out how to respond to this new world, Franco argues, explaining the “profound confusion” one detects among all the pope’s men.
The day of reckoning was held at bay for a half-century by the Cold War, and for a quarter-century by the towering charisma of Pope John Paul II, Franco says, but now the bill has come due.
Franco refers to “a Vatican” in the book’s title because he doesn’t mean to suggest that the Vatican itself is passing away. In any conceivable scenario, it will continue to be an important global institution and a point of reference for Catholics everywhere. What’s now in decay, he argues, is instead a certain kind of Vatican – the Vatican as chaplain of the West, treated with deference by courts and governments, able to shape history by the exercise of its institutional power. Something new has to replace that Vatican, he says, and its outlines are still vague.
Franco’s diagnosis has ruffled feathers in some Vatican circles, especially those around Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Secretary of State. Franco not only faults Bertone for weak internal governance and a lack of geopolitical vision – due, Franco suggests, to a preoccupation with Italian affairs – but also says some of his early moves were animated by ambitions to be the next pope. (If that’s really true, most church-watchers would say it’s a long shot; fairly or not, Bertone is associated with such a string of disasters that some cardinals would regard it as akin to electing the captain of the Titanic as CEO of the steamship company.)
Yet in broad strokes, Franco’s argument is actually fairly Vatican-friendly, almost to the point of making excuses. He argues that its travails ought to be seen in tandem with the strategic and economic troubles of the United States, all indicators of profound mutations in the global order. The take-away might well be that the fault is not really in Bertone and Benedict’s other aides, but in their stars.
In truth, the stumbles of Benedict’s papacy are probably fueled by a combination of factors: the personal characteristics of Benedict’s team, including an emphasis on family spirit which, at times, comes at the expense of subject-matter competence; cultural hostility to the church’s teaching and to Benedict XVI, sketched by Rodari and Tornielli, which circulates in the media, the academy, the legal profession, and even in some sectors of the church; and broad global transformations, especially the emergence of a fragmented post-modern culture in the West, highlighted by Franco.
In that complicated mix, C’era Una Volta un Vaticano is an important contribution, exposing a shift in the historical plates which lies beneath the occasional earthquakes in Rome. One hopes the book will eventually find an English publisher.
Later this week, I’ll have an interview with Franco on the book and the reactions it’s generated.
| John Allen is in Rome for the next week. Check back to NCRonline.org frequently for more reports and exclusive coverage. |
It is probably time to call
It is probably time to call another ecumenical council, a world synod of bishops or at least for Pope Benedict to resign and let the Holy Spirit take it course. There is no opportunity left for this papacy unless Benedict pulls a Nixon (i.e. his desperate trip to China to save his legacy) and Benedict takes a totally different direction.
As a convert to Catholicism
As a convert to Catholicism from fundamentalism I can say that Pope Benedict was paramount in my journey across the Fiber. I have noticed that cradle Catholics do not seem to recognize the genius of BXVI. He may not be the worlds greatest politician, but his importance in terms of ecumenism cannot be understated. Let the old church pass away, the new Catholic church will be far more robust and BXVI will be its herald.
There is no sign of that
There is no sign of that "robust" church yet and many signs of the contrary. Converts tend to be a little over enthusiastic and unrealistic in their early stages. But, good luck landing back on earth.
No signs? I beg to differ;
No signs? I beg to differ; he's the Pope of Christian Unity. Anglicans, Lutherans and the Orthodox will be coming in droves within the church.
The positive impacts by His Papacy will be greater than his predecessor.
I love Pope Benedict may he reign for many years to come.
Pax Tecum.
Hmmm - Anglicans in droves?
Hmmm - Anglicans in droves? Interesting concept of Church unity that everyone has to become Roman Catholic! Whatever about Lutherans and Orthodox the new ordinariate isn't even drawing a trickle of Anglicans in the UK let alone a flood.
If you even would bother to
If you even would bother to compare The One, holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church which IS The church of Christ with the missal, Holy Mass, Sacraments, Catechism and Thomistic theology of the Church before the conciliar revolution of Vatican II, honestly and earnestly, what you have said would cause you to shake in your boots - getting "caught up" in the "feel good" passions of man and "social justice" is not enough for Salvation, which comes from Jesus Christ and His Catholic Church, through no other church or venue can this be achieved. Take the time to educate yourself on what has been lost, and you will not be so hasty to, "Let the old church pass away...".
The True Church is not a Democracy; it is The Tradition handed down by The Apostles given to them by Jesus Christ Himself - it has been corrupted and made seductive as to place people as to be worshiped instead of Sacrifice Himself.
The Way to Heaven is difficult; The Way to Perdition is easy. What church did you enter: the Easy one or The Tough One?
AMEN! I'm a cradle catholic
AMEN! I'm a cradle catholic and I agree with you absolutely. The old Church has no need to pass away and never will... Jesus Himself said the gates of Hell will not prevail... Jesus does NOT lie, and he gave us a great man in Pope Benedict, just what the Church needed for these times.
Another Ecumenical Council
Another Ecumenical Council would be manned by the reactionary appointees of JP2 and B16, and even if they underwent a conversion their findings would be confiscated by the Curia as soon as they's gone home.
I'm not sure that enough
I'm not sure that enough Vatican prelates truly believe in the holy spirit.
The real cause of this is the
The real cause of this is the Vatican's move toward more and more central authority and control especially as led by Pope John Paul. Powere corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutey. The Vatican and the popes are not immune to this truism. It is all over the news these days, autocratic control does not last. Sooner or later the poeple revolt. The arch conservatives are circling the wagons. Even if they drive more people out of the church they will be happy with a smaller but more conservative church. The 144 theologians in Germany have it right. We need reform and renewal of the church governance structure and we need to get at it soon before more damage is done.
Do you even understand your
Do you even understand your faith? It is thinking like yours that has all but destroyed the Church in the Western world. If you don't believe in the primacy of the Holy Father as the successor to St. Peter, then go be a Protestant. For the record, those German "theologians" that you hold in such high regard are a bunch of apostates. Their opinions are nothing but heresy, and a the last gasp of a bunch of failed progressive revolutionaries.
God help us if we get an Opus
God help us if we get an Opus Dei pope!!! Now that would make sense - for those who are aware of Peter the Roman!
Re-read some of the comments folks. they are actually calling on for Pope Benedict's ousting. I never thought the moderators of a so called Catholic site like the NCR would allow for such dissent. OR, is the purpose of this site and this article in particular meant for the spreading of such deadly poison? I AM POSITIVE of IT!!!
I am suspecting that your
I am suspecting that your suspitions are not too far off. Readind this article reminds me of wolves in sheeps clothing that we are warned about does it not? Is this really a Catholic Site? hmmm gotta wonder about the poisons within and without the Church, this being one of them. An "implosion"? Yeah right, the only implosion is in the minds of those "catholics" and non catholics who are doing some wishful thinking.
"We need reform and renewal
"We need reform and renewal of the church governance structure"
How very Western, this reductionist idea that everything can be solved by making changes to institutions, to outer structures. I have met people involved in health systems restructuring in Southeast Asia, and it was an integrated part of their reform process even in this secular field that decision-makers must spend time in meditation: if we cannot bring order in our inner lives, they argued, how can we order our outer societal structures properly?
The Church needs reform. But the reform she needs is first of all an internal reform; all of her members must look inwards and ask "what in me is hindering the work of the Holy Spirit and stifling the full potential of the Body of Christ?" As a famous singer would say, "Start with the man in the mirror." What is destroying the Church at the moment is not outdated or unhelpful institutional structures, it is the sins of men. Likewise, institutions will not build up the Church again; they are dead things, they cannot act for either good or ill. People can.
Jesus Christ is He who makes all things new. In times past, renewal in the Church could only be accomplished when men turned to Him, repented of their wrongdoings, and opened themselves to His grace. So also this time. We can do nothing without God's grace. But with it we can do everything.
Amen! Reform of the Church
Amen! Reform of the Church means reform of its members...returning to the true faith...righting our course...becoming more Catholic, not less.
Maybe it's time that the
Maybe it's time that the Vatican becomes MORE Christian, acknowledges Her vast sins, throws away Medieval trappings of arrogance and reexamines the Gospels of Christ. We've had enough of them "being MORE Catholic" than the rest of us!
D'accord! But we must ALSO
D'accord! But we must ALSO reform those ways of doing things and organizing power that have proven to be occaisions of sin to those in power. And it is completely orthodox and loyal to hope the pope and bishops will listen to a wider range of opinion (not regarding settled doctrine, but rather prudential decisions, manner of governance, and views on how things should be done). Perhaps too often the papal ear has been given to an inner circle made up of yes men, synchophants and the frankly dishonest (who, after all, was feeding John Paul the lies which led him to declare Marcel Maciel "an efficacious guide for youth"?). Infallibilty concerns only our essential teachings on faith and morals. Any good catechism will point out that it does not extend to how the Church is managed and led. Given the weakness of human nature, wouldn't this fact require concern over structures and governance, and not only internal conversion?
I've got to agree with
I've got to agree with Michel's comments, at least to a great extent. Liberals in the Church many times take the Rahm Emmanuel motto "let no crisis go to waste" when it comes to so-called reforms. However, it has been my experience that conservatives almost always have their own method of overreaction, almost acting like the church in its prudential decisions is above listening or evolving in how it handles such things as sex abuse, evangelization, liturgy, or any other practical matter...
I'm not in favor of attacking a Pope or the Vatican, but let's get real. There is no good reason why the Vatican was not working toward some sort of concrete plan to handle sex abuse cases worldwide (with some nuances for the various circumstances in different countries). There is no reason why bishops who, in this day and age, were not removed for clear cover-ups or clergy shifting. And frankly, there is no excuse for John Paul not moving against Archbishop Groen of Austria in the mid-1990s (or at least looking into the matter). Ratzinger pushed to have him axed.
Let's get real. We owe obedience and deference to the hierarchy, but they ought to have open eyes and open ears. On a more practical level, I've experienced even in very normal dioceses how difficult it is getting support for a radio station, a theology on tap, or a FOCUS-type campus ministry...it's ridiculous...either we cede total control over to some idiot diocesan bureaucrat in the midst of a mid-life crisis (usually a liberal, btw) or we get the cold shoulder. Meanwhile, Campus Crusade for Christ poaches half of the Catholics at the university level while the clergy sit on their thumbs and say, "duuuuhhhr, well they'll come back when they want to have their children baptized." It's absurd.
Obviously, the answer is to
Obviously, the answer is to just quote Vatican II a few million more times. After all, it is the One True Council--and superseded the Bible, the writings of the Saints, etc.
I mostly agree. The II
I mostly agree. The II Vatican Council was a new Pentacost. The movement of the Holy Spirit changed the hearts of thousands of rather conservative old and elderly white celibate Bishops and cardinals. It was THE church experience of the milenium. We need to absorb its spirit. Sadly the current folks in Rome are busy fighting it with all their strength. their battle cry might as well be, "Out witht he Holy Spirit, In with clericalism and careerism."
Now that will surely witness to a secular world!
I wonder if reaction was
I wonder if reaction was similar after Napoleon conquered the Papal states, and took the crown out of the then-Pope's hands to crown himself emperor. The New York Times and the principal TV networks in the USA have an anti-papal and anti-catholic agenda, and have spared no effort in trying to diminish moral authority of the Pope. Most of the commentators in the USA press and TV in recent decades have been agnostics or atheists, and don't like someone telling them that the way they live their lives - casual sex, etc. - is evil or wrong. If you don't like what someone tells you, try to find ways to show that their statements don't matter. Blaming Pius XII for not preventing the Holocaust in WW II was the first tactic in this battle, but certainly not the last.
TeaPot562
Pius XII would have shut down
Pius XII would have shut down the National Catholic Reporter if it had operated in Germany during the Holocaust. Why Because in the Reich Concordat he agreed with Hitler that the 400+ INDEPENDENT, Catholic presses of Germany would be shut down! He did so, because he wanted the Vatican paper to be the ONLY source of "cleaned-up" news that the German people would read. If you don't believe me, Google the "Reich Concordat" and read about all of the deals that Pius XII made with Hitler. Read for yourselves how "Catholic Youth" was shut down so "Hitler Youth" could take its place. Now, wasn't that a good substitute for moral leadership that would turn the youths of Germany into good little Nazis. Read it and weep! Then, take a new look at Pius XII.
The key question is what
The key question is what should people[laity] of faith do while the meltdown slowly happens. Ignore the Church Center. IMO Flee toward the margins of the Faith. As Francis, Patrick, Boniface, Xavier, North. American Jesuits did while the Church center slowly becomes irrelevant to ones Faith life. ....Now the margins are not far away in distant lands.. the margins are in the poor sections of the cities. give up the same ole, same ole suburban parishes and worship with the marginalized .. no liturgical wars, no fund raisers for a new 'center',just people struggling to find a God who watches over them. better parking too.
htpp://thegubbioproject.org/video.html
Before anyone is so quick to
Before anyone is so quick to judge the papacy of Pope Benedict, I would offer two things. 1) If you think he is doing a poor job, perhaps you should be praying for him more and attribute whatever he does that you disagree with to your lack of spiritual support. 2) I would also ask you to think about how you would have criticized Christ. The pharisees' thought He had a little PR problem, analyzed His every move, and eventually moved to get rid of Him. I see a similar disposition in this blog and some of the comments. God bless Pope Benedict.
Ratzinger's an old man with
Ratzinger's an old man with big problems. You think lying about the rape of thousands of little catholic boys wasn't(isn't) bad enough? By adopting the code of silence demanded by the power structure of the Roman catholic church (the Mafia has a similar 'code') you are aiding and abetting these criminals. Don't think it's that bad? Stay tuned. The bottom is about to fall out. Step by step American attorney Jeff Anderson is locating the 'hidden' door that will allow for the pursuit of Ratzinger in the courts of the world. The vatican treasury will be left empty. No more fancy luncheons for Bernie Law on the piazza. Prosciutto i melone cardinale? Jesus lived in poverty so that these 'good ole boys' could live on Park Avenue like Mr. Dolan? Nope, it's over. The Vatican will make an awesome museum. The rest is up for grabs.
"lying about the rape of
"lying about the rape of thousands of little catholic boys wasn't(isn't) bad enough?" especialy lying with aim on big money from church for ostensible rape? Real is only 1 from 10 reported cases of "rape". And it was Pope Benedict, who started serious investigations into these crimes. So he is "an old man with big problems" for fightingg with crimes?
This idea of an implosion
This idea of an implosion that has happened at the Vatican in the pontificate of Benedict XVI seems to misrepresent what is actually going on. A more realistic assessment of the 'the various PR and managerial catastrophes which have beset the papacy of Benedict XVI' is that Benedict, unlike his predecessor, has actually been trying to do something substantive about the problems besetting the Church, and that the fallout from these efforts has included opposition and sabotage within and without the Roman curia. John Paul II, by contrast, focused on essentially public relations efforts (World Youth Day, the millenium of evangelisation - remember that? - and apologising for the crimes of every pope except himself), while ignoring internal problems. As long as his public relations efforts worked and the problems were kept quiet, of course everything seemed to be going fairly well, and there was no talk of an 'implosion'. Here are some things that John Paul II did nothing about but that Benedict has been addressing:
- sexual abuse
- the Legionaries of Christ and their satanic founder (and some other lesser dysfunctional groups)
- bad liturgy
- the status of the SSPX
- the status of people outside the SSPX attached to the old liturgy.
This is not a complete list of the initiatives of the current pope, but it is enough to make him a lot of enemies within the church. This change of strategy had to be undertaken in a Rome where John Paul II had left things to drift for over twenty years. Of course, beginning to reform such a calamitous situation will lead to turmoil, and the men available to implement a reform will be few and not always that competent.
AS for the 'end of an epoch in which the Vatican represented the religious and moral sentiments of Western civilization', that happened in the sixteenth century at the latest, and probably earlier in the Great Schism; it is not the problem now.
Hi John , not sure if you
Hi John , not sure if you will read this. You talked with me and two friends in Rome during Pope John Paul II funeral week on the streets of Rome.Your article and our quotes made it into our Vancouver papers. If you were thinking of doing any kind of follow up for the Beatification ceremony I would love to tell you the affect that week had on us. Take Care.
There is a certain mindset
There is a certain mindset that does not want to hear the truth so they bend it and change it and make it into something it is not. They have been doing that to the holy and the prophetic for thousands of year. Didn't you know that?
Benedict XVI's papacy has
Benedict XVI's papacy has been refreshingly humble in many aspects: his willingness to publish scholarly works with which others may disagree; his addressing communications problems forthrightly in his letter to bishops after lifting the excomunication of the four Pius X bishops; his contacting personally so many at all levels of Church and Church dissent. However, his romantic vision of the spirituality of the past (so tied into his extending the Latin Mass, his multiplying "pious" gestures at the liturgies over which he presides, and his "reforming the reform," questioning whether the reforms of the Second Vatican Council could be spiritually fruitful) coupled with a Eurocentric vision of Church and a continual philosophical point of reference to his critique of the modern world, all lend more creditability to Franco's book than to that written by Tornielli and Rodari, who often are no more than "fans" of this Pope and pontificate.
The main problem with the
The main problem with the Catholic Church was stated very nicely by GK Chesterton, "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried."
The Vatican has many individuals that seem to match Chesterton's saying. When the Pope is surrounded by these type of people the Vatican will not function well.
Tripe like this article would
Tripe like this article would cause me to cancel my Subscription. Fortunately, I do not subscribe. Why this dope Allen gets ink from people is a puzzle. But God bless us all.
The main problem with the
The main problem with the Catholic Church was stated very nicely by GK Chesterton, "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried."
The Vatican has many individuals that seem to match Chesterton's saying. When the Pope is surrounded by these type of people the Vatican will not function well.
I think the Vatican in the
I think the Vatican in the present form is over. The corruption has overpowered whatever cultural gift this institution created for the west. I believe that the role of the Bishop of Rome will continue but maybe more like a pilgrim along the line of the Dalai Lama rather than the head of a state, however small.
Molly, If only we could see a
Molly, If only we could see a spiritulaity like that of the current Dalai Lama coming from Rome!!
Peace,
R. Dennis Porch, MD
Allen the journalist is
Allen the journalist is forever concerned about the Vatican's "PR and managerial catastrophes," but the real catastrophe is the loss of tens of millions of Catholics in the West. More and more, as Franco suggests, the Pope is no longer chaplain of the West because his following is gone -- except for both Catholic and Christian fundamentalists, a culturally declining minority however much they post on this website.
Personally, I'm praying to
Personally, I'm praying to Blessed John XXIII for a miracle to save the Church. He needs one to be canonized, and we need one to survive.
Now there is one smart lady,
Now there is one smart lady, excuse me woman. In the argot of the 60's, "Right ON!"
Blessed Anna Catherine
Blessed Anna Catherine Emmerich in a vision was shown a procession leaving Rome and going out into the wilderness - leading the procession was the Holy Father, Cardinals, Bishops, Clergy, religious and faithful - as they processed out into a desert and wasteland the Holy Father looke back to see many had fallen out of the procession (left the Church) and he then said to all "we must go back" (that is go back to tradition and what the Church has taught for near 2000 years) and one third of the Church said "no" we will not go back to the past and to tradition and those one third of Apostates were replaced by the conversion of many of those outside of the Church.
Rev. Herman Kramer in his book "The book of Destiny" written in 1956, after 30 years of preparation, on a commentary of the Apocalypse says: tat a "bad Council" will throw the Church into confusion and that there will be a disputed election (coming up) whereby the Church will be torn in two for a time. Our Lady at Akita, Japan, in 1976 said that a revolution was coming to the Church and what is going to happen is so disasterous that none has seen anything like it in the history of the world. That Cardinal will be against Cardinal and all who are on Our Lady's side will be ridiculed and marginalized in the Church where only those against her and whose ambition for rank and position will be elevated in the Church.
Simply remarkable that none
Simply remarkable that none of these predictions included information about the priests who would assault children and the bishops and popes who would protect those priests. The obstacle in our day are those in leadership who wish to go forward without acknowledging what they have done and what they have failed to do, and then repenting. The implosion is being fueled by this lack of repentance.
If Pope Benedict XVI were not
If Pope Benedict XVI were not striking fear in the hearts of the world, he would not be attacked endlessly by the mouthpieces of anti-Christ.
"but his importance in terms
"but his importance in terms of ecumenism cannot be understated. Let the old church pass away, the new Catholic church will be far more robust and BXVI will be its herald."
This comment reflects a profound failure to discern that it is the novus ordo of the 1960s councils that is passing away because it is a failed experiment. This is the church that is passing away. The pope reflects this revolution which has become tired and out-of-date because it was built on change, novelty and adaptation to modern man. It is this church which is a singular failure and which is out-of-touch with its traditional & grass roots foundations.
So, what do I think is the
So, what do I think is the problem with the Roman Catholic Church' supremacy? Sex, money and power. People want all of these in a way not before seen.
People want sex without the commitment of marriage and no longer in the normal heterosexual way; and chastity is not considered necessary or laudatory. Sex is twisted up with a Death Wish like what Sigmund Freud coined where sex is for mere gratification and the offspring are seen as unimportant and dispensable.
People don't want to give money to charity, since probably most think the poor should be left to die off. People no longer want glorious churches while they live in poverty because of tithing.
People want power. They don't want their religious views given them so graciously by the Magisterium anymore. "All they like sheep have gone astray." People want to make up their own rules now, whether they go to church or not.
So, the delights of sex, money and power now rule the world. Just turn on the television, the center of modern life, and see...
Re: God help us if we get an
Re: God help us if we get an Opus
Submitted by PatandGab (not verified) on Feb. 28, 2011.
I have come forth from the tomb in which I was buried by my disciples. I am the resurrected Prophet of the Most High, St. John the Baptist, whom Jesus Christ called "the Elias who was to come", enjoying the Rapture in the duty of Petrus Romanus. Having been born by the power of the Holy Spirit without normal consummation, I have received the surname Edward Palamar through rebirth in normal consummation.
What has really happened is a departure from the norm as of late in the Vicarage of leadership in the Catholic Church in that it is being led much in the way as in the days of Avignon, even the days of Rome and Constantinople. Read the "Prophecy of Five Popes" concerning the years 1939-1978. You will realize that there is another leading the Church with firm grip besides Cardinal Ratzinger, His Holiness Nicholas de Prospero.
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