11 Comments
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Bisbee's avatar

Good, hubris knows no end with some.folks.

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eric's avatar

Thank you so much for following this. Right or not, this has become for me a bellwether of just how far the corruption goes.

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Maddox's avatar

Did Francis often sign letters with a single letter F? I’m trying to understand why you’ve reported this detail. Do you feel is significant? Indicative of a possible forgery?

I don’t want Becciu in the Conclave any more than Ed does, but in the face of a looming legal battle, a signed letter is awfully convenient.

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Daniel's avatar

It was previously mentioned (I believe by the Pillar but maybe also Vatican News or other announcements) that when he was in the hospital and perhaps other times of ill health he was signing things simply with the single letter F.

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Brian Crane's avatar

Doesn’t that seem a little…problematic?

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Shane's avatar

F for Farrell ….?

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KP's avatar

Maybe now he’ll quit while his behind?

Drop the shovel?

Have the scales fall from his eyes and repent?

Dare we hope?

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Kevin M. James's avatar

These reported letters suggest some intriguing possibilities.

Imagine a future Pope emerging from a long, bitterly-divided conclave. It seems to the new pontiff that the election of his main rival would have been a disaster, and came all too close to happening. He hopes and intends to have a long enough pontificate that he will be able to replace most of that rival's supporters in the natural course of things...but of course there are no guarantees. He could be called home as quickly as Blessed John Paul I was.

Therefore, as a hedge, he privately draws up a letter stripping several dozen cardinals of the right to participate in the next conclave, and seals it up together with his will...again, hoping that he will be able to replace the bulk of them normally as they age out--at which point the letter can be destroyed without ever seeing the light of day--but if not, stacking the deck dramatically via this final testamentary act.

Would this gambit work canonically? Practically? What sort of paroxysms might it provoke?

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Garth, OPL's avatar

I mean, as tempting as it might be, it would be a terrible precedent to remove cardinals from office without due process. Even singly, let alone en masse!

Don't get me wrong, I personally wouldn't mind seeing heresy trials for certain cardinals. But I think we've had enough of raw exercises of papal power.

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Bill's avatar

What if he was promised to be reinstated by the future?

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Sue Korlan's avatar

After he was found guilty and there were forgeries for the charitable goods his brother supposedly bought with the money Becciu gave him? Highly unlikely.

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