The Case of the Bishop Dismissed. a Reply
The Chiesa
Anna Hušcavová defends the correctness of her actions as administrative adviser of the archdiocese of Trnava. But the Vatican authorities hold firm their negative judgment, which has led to the removal of Archbishop Bezák ROME, October 1, 2012 – The article from www.chiesa on the removal of the archbishop of Trnava has vigorously rekindled, in Slovakia but not only there, the controversy ignited by the Vatican decision: > The Case of the "Bishop with a Human Face" Dismissed by the Pope In particular, reactions were prompted by what was written on www.chiesa – in reporting the results of the inspections by the Vatican authorities – concerning the administrative disorder of the assets of the archdiocese placed under the management of the commercial companies Ninett and Hanalex by deposed archbishop Róbert Bezák. The directors of these companies, Ondrej Studenec and Anna Hušcavová, have asked www.chiesa for a correction of the allegations made against them, which they both call "false and unfounded." Anna Hušcavová has gone into detail in a letter reproduced here in its essential passages. Dear Mr. Sandro Magister, My name is Anna Hušcavová and since you have published some unjustified personal accusations also against me in your article titled "The Case of the "Bishop with a Human Face" Dismissed by the Pope", I have to reply and request you to publish an apology. First of all, I have never been involved in any activity whatsoever in the Diocese Banska Bystrica and I have never provided any services to Diocese Banska Bystrica, directly or indirectly, or to any subject or entity controlled by Diocese Banska Bystrica. Secondly, it is not true that S.E. Mons. Róbert Bezák, C.SS.R. had entrusted the substantial diocesan portfolio to two commercial companies, Ninett and Hanalex. In fact, no assets whatsoever have been entrusted to the company Hanalex. The company Hanalex is a commercial company providing business consulting services. The Archdiocese of Trnava was one of the clients of the company Hanalex and this company provided the Archdiocese of Trnava with the consulting services upon duly agreed terms. All documents regarding to the provided consulting services have been duly registered and billed in accordance with the laws and regulations of the Slovak Republic in the evidence of the Archdiocese of Trnava as well as in the evidence of the company Hanalex. Regarding the company Ninett, no substantial diocesan portfolio had been entrusted to this company. The fact is that the Archdiocese of Trnava only provided a loan to this company for two investment projects. However, the Archdiocese of Trnava is the sole shareholder of the company Ninett, what means that the Archdiocese of Trnava is exclusively entitled to decide about disposing with the whole assets of the company Ninett. Thirdly, it is also not true that companies Ninett and Hanalex accumulated a debt with the Archdiocese of almost EUR 600,000, for loans not repaid and revenues not deposited and that this debt that is "unrecoverable". Regarding the company Hanalex, no asset of the Archdiocese of Trnava has been entrusted to Hanalex as I mentioned before and no loan was granted to this company. The company Ninett was founded by the Archdiocese of Trnava for the purpose of realization of the project of the restaurant in the premises of Archdiocese of Trnava and for a project of soil management of the tenantless agricultural land in possession of the Archdiocese of Trnava. In case that the funds invested to these projects will be unrecoverable in future this will be caused only due to the reason that these projects have been stopped by the new management of the Archdiocese of Trnava. The amount of EUR 600,000 is made-up and untrue as well. All financial flows in the company NINETT are duly documented in its accounting records in accordance with the accounting standards, laws and regulations of the Slovak Republic. Best regards, Ing. Anna Hušcavová, CSc. In the letter, Anna Hušcavová defends the correctness of her actions – which www.chiesa has no reason to doubt – and traces the origin of the debt of the archdiocese of Trnava back to the decision of the apostolic administrator who replaced the deposed archbishop Bezák to sever the relationship with the companies Ninett and Hanalex. Her reconstruction of the events is known to the Vatican authorities. But it has not induced them to modify their judgment, gathered from the investigations that culminated in the apostolic visitation of last January. For the sake of precision, the sum lost by the archdiocese of Trnava amounts to 577,213.09 euro, which is one fourth of the annual revenue of the archdiocese. And in the judgment of the Vatican authorities and of the current apostolic administrator, the responsibility for this loss falls upon the management of the assets of the archdiocese enacted by the deposed archbishop. This system of management – again in the judgment of the Vatican authorities – had shown poor results previously in the neighboring diocese of Banska Bystrica, which concluded with the liquidation of part of the real estate holdings of the diocese in order to repay the accumulated debt. Moreover, by entrusting the management of the assets of the archdiocese to the company Ninett, which was in turn assisted by the consulting firm Hanalex, the deposed archbishop of Trnava would have deprived the diocesan finance council of the prerogatives granted to it by the Code of Canon Law (canons 492-493). Nor had Archbishop Bezák appointed a financial officer, contrary to what is prescribed in the code at canon 494. The points of view of Anna Hušcavová and of the Vatican, therefore, are in conflict. In any case, the administrative disorder, investigated by the Vatican congregation for the clergy headed by Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, was not the sole cause of the removal of Archbishop Bezák. What concerned the Vatican authorities who above all some of his positions in the doctrinal and disciplinary fields, and his behaviors of open rupture with a large part of the clergy of his archdiocese and with the entire episcopacy of Slovakia. This aspect was attended to by the Vatican congregation for bishops, headed by Cardinal Marc Ouellet. This was reported in the previous article from www.chiesa. It can also be added that the relatively young age of Archbishop Bezák, 52, worked against him. The fear that such a deteriorated situation could continue for another quarter of a century, until the canonical age of 75 years in which every bishop is required to submit his resignation, induced the Vatican authorities to cut short the delay. And so, on July 2, Pope Benedict XVI "relieved" Archbishop Bezák of the pastoral care of the archdiocese of Trnava. English translation by Matthew Sherry, Ballwin, Missouri, U.S.A. The latest three articles from www.chiesa: 27.9.2012 > Church and Politics. The Italian Exception In Western Europe, Italy is a special case. With a strong presence of Catholics in government, in the administrations, in the institutions. But there are some who neither see them nor appreciate them 22.9.2012 > Vatican Diary / The pope's favorites They are the cardinals, the bishops, the priests whom Benedict XVI has wanted to add to the participants in the upcoming synod. Three of them are from Opus Dei. And another three from Communion and Liberation 20.9.2012 > The Case of the "Bishop with a Human Face" Dismissed by the Pope In Slovakia, Archbishop Bezák has the support of the media. He is seen as open and modern. But Benedict XVI has removed him. For bad management of the assets of the diocese and for infidelity to doctrine and discipline For more news and commentary, see the blog that Sandro Magister maintains, available only in Italian: > SETTIMO CIELO
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