News from Europe

From a correspondent [with link fixed now]:

This Spanish article states that the archbishop of Bilbao - Blazquez -- who is investigating the Legion in Europe (except for in Italy) -- knew about these scandals. It does not quote him directly but says that this is one of the conclusions that he has arrived at.

"Among the conclusions that he will present in breve to Rome, Blazquez seems to understand clearly that the the intermediate command of the Legion knew about the double life of Maciel as well as as some scandals which occured in Spain, and not only did they do nothing to stop him, they silenced some of the victims."

While almost every single Legionary [in Spain] is collaborating with Ricardo Blazquez, a good part of the leadership has tried to put as many obstacles as they can for the prelate, while declaring themselves innocent of all crime of cover-up.

The article claims that Blazquez will reccommend that those responsible for the Legion AND Regnum Christi in Spain stand down and that a pontificial commissary take its place until a more permanent decision is made re the Legion's future.

It claims that there are some 600 LC priests in Spain, which I find hard to believe. There just might be 600 LCs including apostolics, novices, humanists etc.

UPDATE: My [lack of] response to this is the same as the America article below. This is all speculation as the commenters readily agree. I'm just letting you know what's out there beyond our shores.

Comments

[Frances]

Giselle,

I tried the "article" and this was the result:
DNS error occurred. Server cannot be found. The link may be broken.

I will also try posting this comment!

[THE_Br._Dan]

Well, it isn't just the wrong doing but the cover up that will get them... I was just following orders...yeah right.

[M.I.]

I wonder 'who says' all this...

Please people!... The Apostolic Visitators DO NOT share their conclusions with anyone except the Pope, much less discuss 'what they will recommend' and end up in the local newspaper!
Comme on!...
You know better... What kind of person -what kind of professional- do you think the Archbishop is???

I strongly suggest that we don't buy and get involved with this type of information. I think that this has been a very serious effort on the part of Giselle and the rest of us to discuss and analyze the objective facts.
Please, let's not distract ourselves from this. It will not help the cause.

[Anonymous]

Good point MI. The Visitators are all charged to carry out all under 'pontifical secret' which means conclusions and findings only go to the Holy See. The same was true in the first visitation. I was wondering in that aspect how Casandra's history is able to cite texts of reports from the first round in the Apostolic Visitation that ordinarily would never have been permitted to leave the archives of the Holy See. Did the sources she uses have in their possession facimiles of those texts? Are these on the web anywhere? It would be a big help to have as much first hand evidence posted so that it can be cited more directly. I am always a trust but verify type of reader.
Additionally this being the second posting about the visitation in Spain, it seems the source citations are very very weak for claims that no Church official has even hinted at yet. From a journalistic point of view this is not worth two nickels.

[Aaron]

While it is true that we must all be cautious about what we read in the news, I believe we should not take the LC approach of not reading it.

The Legion would have its members stay clear of this kind of journalism and not read a word of it but instead get the "truth" from the LC.

I don't think that we should do that, but that we should read and re-read and question and think about the implications of this particular article.

On further searching, the journalist who wrote this article has clout - he was the spokesperson for several religious communities in spain, he was in charge of the society and religion section of the conservative spanish newspaper ABC - which LCs read - and is a professional with standing in the religious journalism field in Spain.

He has also written a book about the Pope.

In my opinion he is a good candidate to have insider information.

Whether it is true or not remains to be seen.

[Jane]

Anonymous said -
"from a journalistic point of view this is not worth two nickels"

On the other hand, this is not a journalistic publication, it's a blog. Furthermore, Giselle is careful to present it as "the Spanish article states..." and "the article claims...", she is not stating facts.

I think it goes without saying that we all weigh the information given for credibility, at least, I hope we all have that good sense.

[Aaron]

While it is true that we must all be cautious about what we read in the news, I believe we should not take the LC approach of not reading it.

The Legion would have its members stay clear of this kind of journalism and not read a word of it but instead get the "truth" from the LC.

I don't think that we should do that, but that we should read and re-read and question and think about the implications of this particular article.

On further searching, the journalist who wrote this article has clout - he was the spokesperson for several religious communities in Spain, he was in charge of the society and religion section of the conservative Spanish newspaper ABC - which LCs read - and is a professional with standing in the religious journalism field in Spain.

He has also written a book about the Pope.

In my opinion he is a good candidate to have insider information.

Whether it is true or not remains to be seen.

[M.I.]

Jane, I guess Anonymous was talking about the newspaper article, not this blog, when he said 'this is not worth two nickels'.

I also don't think that we should NOT read!!! I just said we have to keep our senses very keen and our minds very clear...

I insist, the 'inside information' one would need to write this article (regardless of all the previous journalistic work on ecclesial matters) would be that the Archbishop himself would be sharing his insights... and I really, really, really doubt it has or is happening.

I don't think he'd break the Pontifical Secret just like that. Sorry, but that would be underestimating the men of God that the Pope has chosen for this task.

That said, I love this blog and I'm an enthusiastic follower. I thank Giselle and she knows it well... :-)

[giselle]

ça ne fait rien -- je comprends tout!

[Anonymous]

If Archbishop Blazquez has already written down his thoughts on the matter, it's possible somebody within his office has read such things and come up with their own interpretation. Some staffer reading these conclusions wouldn't be under the Pontifical Secret, right? It would be the same with overheard (eavesdropped? LOL) conversations. Not saying this is what happened, just coming up with possible theories. I doubt the Archbishop is able to keep all his thoughts entirely to himself. He is human, after all, and may have trusted confidantes (who aren't necessarily that trustworthy!).

I don't believe most of what I read when it comes to predictions. I wait until the chips fall; speculation is rampant. But I do think that this kind of article does indicate one thing for sure: more and more people are realizing what serious trouble RC/LC is in. More people are researching and reading internet blogs and educating themselves.

And that can only be a good thing.