Rorate has tipped us off to something in Italia Oggi (Italy Today) about the possibility that H.E. Archbp. Amato will be moving to the Congregation for Divine Worship, which would mean also
My emphases and comments.
Curie e Curiali: Ranjith goes, but he could return
by Andrea Bevilacqua
The probable, if by now not yet certain, nomination of Archbishop Angelo Amato, number two of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (that which was once headed by Cardinal Ratzinger, and today by Cardinal William Levada), as new Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments at the position of Cardinal Francis Arinze, has considerably angered the one who is today the number two of this same congregation guided by Arinze: Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith. The latter, called a couple of years ago to Divine Worship with the promise to afterwards replace Arinze at the helm of the dicastery, having been almost certainly bypassed by Amato in the prestigious position of Prefect of one of the nine Vatican Congregations (the position also foresees the Cardinalatial birretta), seems to have asked Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone to leave the Roman Curia and return to his homeland (Sri Lanka), to become Archbishop of an important diocese and thus, afterwards, a Cardinal. All [of these events], if predictions are confirmed, should take place when the Pope returns from the United States … . [A couple things here. First, there is a claim that Archbp. Ranjith was "angered". I have met with Archbp. Ranjith a couple times. First, he is a level headed fellow who strikes me as being pretty humble. I don’t think he would have that reaction, frankly. Also, he is smart enough not to express it so that it would be put out in the press. Italian articles often dress up the circumstances.]
…Ranjith probably pays [the price] [No doubt of that!] for having exposed himself with great emphasis (interviews, declarations, publication of articles) in favor of the papal Motu Proprio "Summorum Pontificum", with which the Mass in Latin according to the ancient rite revised by Pope John XXIII in 1962 was liberalized. It seems that, due to his repeated interventions, part of the Roman Curia [You see… statements like this really undermine an article making these claims of such insider knowledge as how Archbp. Ranjith is "feeling".] may have explicitly asked Bertone, by way of a letter, that he should not become Prefect of a Congregation with such delicate tasks. And Bertone, [after] the due calculations were made, seems to have endorsed the signers of the letter. Signers who, two years ago, when Ranjith was nominated Secretary of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, did not accept well his arrival and the subsequent removal of Archbishop Domenico Sorrentino [previous Secretary] to the diocese of Assisi. The tally, however, must still be closed by Benedict XVI. [There is some true to this. There is a real war in the CDW between factions. You can guess how they are lined up.]
Ranjith was one of his first nominations once he became Pope. When Ranjith, a few years before, was displaced by Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe from the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, where he was Adjunct Secretary, Ratzinger (who was then Prefect of the former Holy Office) did not take it well, so much so that, once he became the Pontiff, promptly wished to show his own affection and esteem for Ranjith by calling him back to Rome and putting him in Sorrentino’s place. Today, the pressures against Ranjith in the Roman Curia are not small. Bertone seems to have surrendered. Benedict XVI is not so predictable as to do the same.
Honestly… there are times when one can also have nostalgia for the days of Card. Sodano.
Folks… this a fairly typical Italian article about the Curia. Take it cum grano salis.
