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Authors: Gianluigi Nuzzi
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archbishop of Lubljana, he had been a personal friend of Marcial Maciel, the disgraced founder of the Legionnaires of Christ, who had been suspended from the ministry for pedophilia. 2 Rodé is also a member of the Pontifical Council on Culture. Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, had to settle for a house of 356 square meters. 3
Another group of cardinals lives not far away, on the opposite side of St. Peterâs Square, in a beautiful building, in the heart of the Eternal City. This is the residence of the Canadian Marc Ouellet, born in 1944, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. His apartment is almost 500 square meters. Cardinal Sergio Sebastiani, eighty-four, also a member of the Congregation for Bishops and of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, lives in a 424-square-meter apartment. (Let us not forget that all cardinals older than eighty have a role that is primarily symbolic, and do not have the right to vote in the Conclave.)
Raymond Burke, an American cardinal born in 1948 and a patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, is quite comfortable in his 417 square meters, as is the Polish cardinal, Zenon Grocholewski, born in 1939, who had been the Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Catholic Education until March 2015. His residence is 405 square meters. A stoneâs throw away, in the Borgo Pio neighborhood, is the 524-square-meter princely residence of the American Cardinal William Joseph Levada, born in Long Beach, California, in 1939, a loyalist of Ratzinger, who appointed him as his successor at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In 2006, Levada was summoned to testify, in San Francisco, about the sexual abuse of minors by priests in the archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, where he had been Archbishop from 1986 to 1995. The priests were later found guilty of abuse. By comparison to these sumptuous quarters, Room 201 of the Casa Santa Marta, the home of the Pope, was almost a closet, barely 50 square meters.
The cardinalsâ privileges do not end there. The cardinals did not have to pay any rent, only the utilities, for as long as they hold an official post in the Curia, after which they are charged a monthly rental fee of 7â10 euros per square meter. In reality, however, even after the mandatory retirement age of eighty, some cardinals hold onto a dicastery assignment that allows them to continue to benefit from the no-rent policy. The typical response to criticisms of the sizes of these apartments is that various rooms are needed to accommodate the two, three, and even four nuns who live with the cardinal to administer to his domestic needs.
The cardinals of the Curia administer the most important departments of the Holy See, however: they control the heart of the universal Church. And it was from here that Francis felt that the evangelical and charitable work of the Church should begin and emanate throughout the world. But I have to use the conditional âshould,â because the reality is a different matter completely.
Where Does the Money for the Poor End Up?
According to the Vatican website, the Peterâs Pence is
the financial support offered by the faithful to the Holy Father as a sign of their sharing in the concern of the Successor of Peter for the many different needs of the Universal Church and for the relief of those most in need ⦠The faithfulâs offerings to the Holy Father are destined for Church needs, to humanitarian initiatives and social promotion projects, as well as for the support of the Holy See. The Pope, being Pastor of the whole Church, is attentive to the material needs of poor dioceses, religious institutes and of faithful in grave difficulties (the poor, children, the elderly, those marginalized and the victims of war or natural disasters; concrete aid to Bishops or dioceses in need, Catholic
Another group of cardinals lives not far away, on the opposite side of St. Peterâs Square, in a beautiful building, in the heart of the Eternal City. This is the residence of the Canadian Marc Ouellet, born in 1944, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America. His apartment is almost 500 square meters. Cardinal Sergio Sebastiani, eighty-four, also a member of the Congregation for Bishops and of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, lives in a 424-square-meter apartment. (Let us not forget that all cardinals older than eighty have a role that is primarily symbolic, and do not have the right to vote in the Conclave.)
Raymond Burke, an American cardinal born in 1948 and a patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, is quite comfortable in his 417 square meters, as is the Polish cardinal, Zenon Grocholewski, born in 1939, who had been the Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for Catholic Education until March 2015. His residence is 405 square meters. A stoneâs throw away, in the Borgo Pio neighborhood, is the 524-square-meter princely residence of the American Cardinal William Joseph Levada, born in Long Beach, California, in 1939, a loyalist of Ratzinger, who appointed him as his successor at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In 2006, Levada was summoned to testify, in San Francisco, about the sexual abuse of minors by priests in the archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, where he had been Archbishop from 1986 to 1995. The priests were later found guilty of abuse. By comparison to these sumptuous quarters, Room 201 of the Casa Santa Marta, the home of the Pope, was almost a closet, barely 50 square meters.
The cardinalsâ privileges do not end there. The cardinals did not have to pay any rent, only the utilities, for as long as they hold an official post in the Curia, after which they are charged a monthly rental fee of 7â10 euros per square meter. In reality, however, even after the mandatory retirement age of eighty, some cardinals hold onto a dicastery assignment that allows them to continue to benefit from the no-rent policy. The typical response to criticisms of the sizes of these apartments is that various rooms are needed to accommodate the two, three, and even four nuns who live with the cardinal to administer to his domestic needs.
The cardinals of the Curia administer the most important departments of the Holy See, however: they control the heart of the universal Church. And it was from here that Francis felt that the evangelical and charitable work of the Church should begin and emanate throughout the world. But I have to use the conditional âshould,â because the reality is a different matter completely.
Where Does the Money for the Poor End Up?
According to the Vatican website, the Peterâs Pence is
the financial support offered by the faithful to the Holy Father as a sign of their sharing in the concern of the Successor of Peter for the many different needs of the Universal Church and for the relief of those most in need ⦠The faithfulâs offerings to the Holy Father are destined for Church needs, to humanitarian initiatives and social promotion projects, as well as for the support of the Holy See. The Pope, being Pastor of the whole Church, is attentive to the material needs of poor dioceses, religious institutes and of faithful in grave difficulties (the poor, children, the elderly, those marginalized and the victims of war or natural disasters; concrete aid to Bishops or dioceses in need, Catholic
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