It is strongly rumoured that the current Papal Nuncio to Ireland,
Giuseppe Leanza, who has been recalled to Rome for "consulations", is to be shifted by the Vatican to the Czech Republic.
This may not be as dramatic as it seems as
(i) the Vatican will need some considerable help in crafting its reply to the recent "request" from the Irish Government for an explanation of why it obstructed Government Commission Enquiries into clerical child sex abuse, and why it was apparently involved in a cover up of these practices over the years
(ii) Archbishop Leanza was due to finish his term as Nuncio to Ireland in mid-2011 anyway
(iii) Leanza may stay long enough in the job to return to Dublin and present the Vatican's reply in person to the Tánaiste
Nevertheless, Leanza's removal will create a vacancy at Nuncio level, and who better to fill it than
Fr. Vincent Twomey. Fr. Vincent has been calling for various Episcopal resignations over the last while, but here is a chance to aim higher, with this unique vacancy arising at a propitious moment.
Why Fr. Twomey?
(i) He is a former student of Joseph Ratzinger
(ii) He defends his former mentor at every turn
(iii) He has written profusely and prolifically on Benedict XVI
(v) He has the gravitas
(vi) He is both e-literate and e-humble, having downgraded his earlier pontifical style website to one more in keeping with the workmanlike requirements of the next Nuncio. And let's hope, for his sake, that there will be one, even if he has to be subsequently run out of town
Gaudium Magnum
4 comments:
What a beautiful portrait.
Positively "papabile" :)
Should Fr. Vincent fail to be appointed Nuncio (PBUH) I think he would make a great President of Ireland.
The Áras would be a fitting abode and he would need the permission of the Government to travel or open his mouth on any matter deemed political.
We might even manage to boost tourism by having the Ratzinger Circle meet in the Áras.
The possibilities are endless.
Ideas on how to get him nominated are welcome, now that excommunication has lost its sheen.
Tempus fugit, laudetur Jesus Christus.
My attention has been drawn to Patsy McGarry's (bless him) piece in yesterday's Irish Times where he quotes Fr. Hoban on Fr. Twomey.
Fr. Twomey was chairing a conference on the new translation of the missal and criticised the Association of Catholic Priests for being afraid to show their faces at the conference despite their public criticisms of the new missal.
Fr. Hoban, PP Ballina, replying on behalf of the Association, said they were unaware of the conference and had not been invited. In fact he went further and took a shot at Fr. Twomey, whose main claims to fame at present seem to be his Vatican connections, which he flaunts at the least provocation, and his instant readiness to take up the cudgel on behalf of his former mentor Joseph Ratzinger.
This piece of dynamitic religious reporting is disappointingly short but no doubt there will be other rounds in this ongoing heavyweight contest of the Irish ecclesiastical world.
I seem to remember Fr. Twomey ducking a debate in UCC on Gay Adoption some while ago, but then he was able to come up with a stem cell of an excuse, to his own satisfaction at least.
Mind you he was invited. Can't imagine why.
The announcement of the appointment of a new papal nuncio to Ireland has now closed off this avenue of opportunity for Fr. Twomey.
With the filling of the offices of President of Ireland and Papal Nuncio it is not clear what will be the next milestone in Fr. Twomey's career.
Time to resuscitate the DIVINE WORD, perhaps.
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