BALTIMORE (MD)
Whispers in the Loggia
At his first November Meeting in 2006, the late, beloved Archbishop Pietro Sambi – blessings and peace be upon him – took the Nuncio’s customary speaking slot by storm to chide the US bishops on, among other things, an inadequate focus on Scripture in ecclesial life and “the loss of credibility” the church had suffered due to the clergy sex-abuse scandals.
Asked afterward for his reaction, one senior hierarch said that the china-shattering diplomat “turned the knife on us”… and seven years later – at least for some – it’d seem that, at the dawn of another new pontificate, history’s repeated itself here in the Premier See.
Arguably the most respected and appreciated legate to these shores since Pio Laghi – among the bench, that is – Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò unleashed a remarkable message at the body in this morning’s Opening Session, implicitly responding to months of criticism of Pope Francis to various degrees among a notable share of the Stateside bishops (most of it expressed in private) and implying the negative effects of the body’s polarization on the life and standing of the American church.
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