Tucho's Travails
Thoughts from a Vatican Press Conference
On Tuesday, November 4th, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith presented the latest Vatican document on proper titles for the Virgin Mary, called Mater Populi Fidelis (Mother of the Faithful People
A Vatican press conference with Cardinal Victor “Tucho” Fernandez is not to be missed and this one did not disappoint.
It was held, unusually, at the Jesuit headquarters in Rome and not in the Vatican Press Office, just across the street, which would be the normal venue for the presentation of official documents.
The invitation said it was open to the public and refreshments would be served.
Cardinal Tucho sauntered up the small hill of the Jesuit Curia, a five minute walk from his office at the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, tall and elegantly traditional in his black cardinal cassock with red piping.
A few of us waited for him outside, as journalists do, hoping to get a comment on other questions. Without stopping, he said that “they’re working” on the notorious case of Marko Rupnick.
The main conference room of the Jesuit headquarters, a bland wooden amphitheater with unfortunate modern art, was filled mostly with priests and journalists. A small statue of Mary had been placed on the dais in honor of the event.
Right away, Tucho explained that the reason for the change of venue was that the document “did not lend itself to dialogue between journalists and the Dicastery.”
As it turned out, it did not lend itself to dialogue with anyone, since no questions were allowed.
This may be part of the reason why a layman in the audience, a certain GianFilippo from Sardinia, shouted out objections several times during the Cardinal’s talk.
I suspect Cardinal Fernandez will be back at the Press Office for any future documents.
To be fair, GianFilippo, who told me he is not part of any formal group and just an interested lay person who regularly studies the Bible and Church documents with friends, had some valid points - he was not a crazy in the crowd.
And to be fair to Tucho, he responded graciously to the outburst citing various moments in history, including the Council of Trent, when Catholics came to physical blows over points of doctrine.
“There is no doubt that some people will not like this document, as we have seen,” Card. Fernandez said.
“God doesn’t like it, Your Eminence!” yelled out GianFilippo.
There may not have been dialogue, but the voice of the laity was heard.
The other presence that loomed large in the room was that of the spirit of the late Benedict XVI.
Tucho was never more grateful for Joseph Ratzinger than he was on this day, suddenly delighted to quote him at every turn in support of the document’s main contention: that Mary is not to be considered or called Co-Redemptrix.
He quoted a study on the subject conducted in 1996 when Cardinal Ratzinger was Prefect of the then Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in which Ratzinger expressed a negative judgment on the question.
“That study,” said Card. Fernandez, “concluded with a response which they did not make public.
“The moment has now come to publicly express the conclusions,” he said.
And with that, friends, my ears perked up and a natural curiosity took hold: why did Ratzinger choose not to make his decision public and Fernandez now thinks the moment is ripe?
Alas no questions were allowed so I can only give you my working theory which is fairly well supported by the Cardinal’s further remarks.
In short, Cardinal Fernandez is bothered by “some groups of Marian inspiration” on the Internet who are disturbing the faith of ordinary Catholics.
“This is a very, very important distinction,” Fernandez said, “because aside from a diffuse popular piety, there are some groups of Marian inspiration, some publications, new forms of devotion, even requests for Marian dogmas, that are very present on the Web and which create doubt for the simple faithful.”
The Cardinal was further upset by more Internet shenanigans of those who published his document early and only partially, causing the comments section to explode.
“We have a very big problem, a very big problem,” he said. “Some have not respected the embargo and have published our document only in part. But these paragraphs cannot be understood if you don’t read the whole document. They will be understood very badly.
“And then in the comments section people are saying, ‘but it doesn’t say this,’ ‘it doesn’t say that,’ but these questions are addressed five pages after, ten pages after, twenty pages after,” he lamented.
Leaving aside how numerous or influential these “groups of Marian inspiration,” are on the Web and leaving aside the dubious distinction between them and the simple faithful of popular piety (might they not be included among them?) it seems to me the Cardinal, like many of us, is probably spending too much time on the Internet and down the rabbit hole of the Comments section.
“It’s not about judging the intentions of these people,” he continued still on the Marian disruptors, “who are surely honest and full of faith and attempt to express the beauty of Mary in different ways. There is no judgment with regard to their behaviour.
“At the same time, it is the duty of the Magisterium to discern in order to safeguard the genuine faith of the people of God.”
And with that last statement we can hardly disagree.
Indeed, with the possible exception of the use of the too-trendy word “discern,” Ratzinger himself could have said it.
Yet Cardinal Ratzinger, with all of his attention toward doctrinal correctness, did not see fit to issue a Nota on the issue of Mary as Co-Redemptrix.
We cannot know his reasons but it might not be far-fetched to think that one of them was that he did not wish to cause scandal, confuse the faithful, with such a fine point of theology, especially given the revered position of Mary in the minds of most Catholics. He likely would have also been sensitive to John Paul II’s great devotion to Mary as well as the repercussions theologically and ecumenically for the Magisterium to be seen to be “demoting” Our Lady, however theologically sound.
We may not know Ratzinger’s reasons for not publishing, but we do know Fernandez’s reasons for doing the opposite because he has told us.
For Cardinal Fernandez it is the faithful who are confusing the faithful, all being exacerbated by the Internet and so it is time to step in.
He may not be wrong, but it is a curious fact that the first group of faithful which so concern him are also surely conservative faithful. Perhaps even traditionalist faithful. I don’t know any liberals who are clamoring for more Marian dogmas.
In short, I think a large part of the reason for this document is that Cardinal Fernandez is inordinately bothered by traditional Catholics. That he readily and at length singled out “these people,” in his talk and in the document, is testament to this likelihood.
Pitting traditional faithful against the “ordinary” faithful was also a lamentable mark of Pope Francis’ style, and it is clearly replicated here in Tucho’s categorization of Marian enthusiasts who are disturbing the faith of ordinary Catholics.
An astute follower of mine on X responded to my musings suggesting that it was something similar to the document on the Traditional Latin Mass - which is not far wrong, I think. There are differences of course, but the similarity is this: is this really necessary? Is the threat of TLM lovers or Mary Co-Redemptrix supporters really that dangerous to other Catholic faithful or the unity of the Church?
The document was, of course, signed by Pope Leo. In this first year of Leo’s pontificate, there are many documents, meetings and events that were arranged during Francis’ pontificate which Pope Leo inherits. That is to say it is still too early to get a true sense of Pope Leo based on what is coming out of the Vatican right now. Understanding a Pope and a pontificate is the work of years.
Cardinal Fernandez did specify, however, that although Mater Populi Fidelis was discussed and approved by the DDF on March 26, before Francis died, then-Cardinal Prevost, who was head of the Dicastery for Bishops at the time, participated in the discussions:
“As a member of our Dicastery,” Fernandez said referring to Prevost, “he participated in the Feria IV in which we discussed this Nota and he agreed with it and then later signed off on it as Pontiff.”
The presser closed with the news that we would soon have another DDF document - this one on monogamy, entitled: “We Two: In Praise of Monogamy, Doctrinal Note on the Value of Marriage, Exclusive Communion and Mutual Belonging.”
The issue was raised at the Synod, we were told, and the African bishops were asked to prepare an official document on polygamy which then led to the idea that an official document on monogamy would also be a good thing.
The document is due to be released at the end of November so we will soon be able to continue our analysis of Tucho’s travails…
If you have gotten this far you probably have some thoughts so do leave a comment - unlike the document, my musings are open for dialogue!
I appreciate a first-hand report of the actual doings of those who administer these documents. The context matters a lot. Thank you!
Thanks Delia for sharing your insights as one who was 'there'.
One wonders if Fernandez really has any idea of the scandal he is causing amongst the faithful with his odd (and uncalled for) revisionism?
He seems to see himself as an elevated schoolmaster whose job is to tell off naughty children and slap punishing long-winded 'corrections' on them. The aim seems to be to humiliate the faithful and bring them into line with his eccentric new 'orthodoxy'.
He's clearly completely out of line with the historic church (it's uncontentious to say this - witness a plethora of papal and other statements) and is trying to reinvent how Catholics see things. How he's got into a position to do this is extremely unnerving!
Please keep feeding us your insights - it's good to know what's happening from Rome, to get your personal view which helps produce clarity to weather the storm.
As an aside: In spite of all that Fernandez and his collaborators (including popes!) throw at us, the little church I attend is absolutely thriving thanks to the TLM, and full of young families with babies and children. It's an example of the safe and stable social/moral space that the ancient liturgy creates, and of course we are all happy with Mary's central collaboration with God in the narrative of redemption. We don't recognise the issues which so concern Fernandez that he's willing to hurl huge stumbling blocks infront of the faithful!