VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
by John L Allen Jr on Jun. 29, 2012 All Things Catholic
For those who can only see the world in terms of left vs. right, recent personnel moves in the Vatican undoubtedly look like the same old stuff on a different day. They include:
•The president of the Vatican Bank was dumped by a supervisory council led by the head of the Knights of Columbus, known for its fierce papal loyalty and its substantial financial contributions to the Vatican.
•A Fox News reporter and Opus Dei member was tapped as the Vatican’s new PR guru.
•The pope appointed a trusted aide to lead the Vatican’s relations with Catholic traditionalists — a further sign of how seriously Benedict wants them back.
Politically, all this may seem like just another string of victories for the conservatives. (Alternatively, some of it might be styled as struggles within the conservative camp, since the Vatican Bank president who got bounced was himself a member of Opus Dei.)
Yet if I may make the bold suggestion that we set aside ideology for a moment, there’s another lens through which to view what’s going on. In effect, we’re witnessing the dawn of a new “American moment” in the Vatican.
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