Why the Príncipi case matters

The standoff between the pope's chief of staff and the DDF's disciplinary section could tell us everything about law and power in Francis' Vatican

The Vatican Secretariat of State’s “extraordinary procedure” to reinstate a laicized priest, blocked this week by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, may prove to be the most significant Vatican story of the year.

Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra meets with Pope Francis in 2017. Pillar file photo.

Little is known, as yet, about why sostituto Archbisho…