CNA: Card Castrillon denies he has been asked to step down

From CNA.

Cardinal Castrillon denies he has been asked to step down

Vatican City, Apr 8, 2009 / 04:07 pm (CNA).- Responding to reports in the media, the president of the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei, Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, said that he has not received any letter from Pope Benedict XVI asking him to step down from the post.

This is news to me,” he said. “As far as I know, at least, Pope Benedict XVI has not removed me…Maybe the letter just hasn’t arrived yet, but the Holy Father has absolutely not asked me to step down,” he told RCN Radio.

“That’s the news I have received up to now from Colombia, although anything is possible,” the cardinal said.

 

Step down for…  what… doing his job?

The Pontifical Commission of which he is the President, has a mandate.  He has worked to fulfill that mandate.

Of course he serves at the pleasure of the Holy Father.

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21 Comments

  1. TJM says:

    Sounds like wishful thinking on someone’s part. Tom

  2. Jackson says:

    Yes, I can indeed verify that Cardinal Castrillon has in fact, been asked to step down….by hans kung.

  3. Cal says:

    If indeed questions of a liturgical nature regarding the EF are going to be dealt with (as seems proper) by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, and questions relative to the readmission to full communion (if possible) of the SSPX and its adherents are going to be dealt with by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, as has already been announced, it may well be that Cardinal Castrillon may well lose his post in large measure due to that reorganization. Of course, in that he is over 75, his age could play into such a decision as well.

  4. Oh, I’m sure it must be true if the source is the heretic, hans kung.

  5. Michael Fudge says:

    I believe that this is in reference to the fact he turns 80 on July 4, 2009

  6. LCB says:

    Cdl. Castrillon is very loyal to the Holy Father (or so I am told).

    If it were the will of Peter that Cdl. Castrillon step down, it would already have been done.

  7. michigancatholic says:

    Even when Cdl Hoyos does retire at last, he will have done what he needed to do and what God wanted done. And we are grateful for him, now–and we will be then. He has done well.

  8. Piers-the-Ploughman says:

    “maybe the letter hasn’t arrived yet”

    lol, it sounds like the good cardinal is playing rope-a-dope.

    pretty weak attempt to get under the Cardinal’s skin, surely they can do better

  9. Miseno says:

    I really enjoy Cardinal Castrillon’s leadership style. I think he has done a good job trying to reconcile the SSPX while knowing this is unpopular with many in the Curia. When he does eventually step down, I think the Curia will be a much less interesting.

  10. Kaneohe says:

    Just last week I sent Cardinal Castrillon a letter thanking him for his tireless work for the Church and our Holy Father. He has been much maligned these past months, and thought he should know many of us support, thank, and pray for him.

  11. Jeremy says:

    I am sure this is nothing but disinformation put about by his detractors.

    I was there for the solemn High Mass at Westmninster Cathedral (EF)last year and it was the most thrilling thing I can remember for years and years. He spoke clearly and eloquently and his press conference even got reported favourably by the British Press.

    I don’t see why he should go. He is the best news (apart from the Holy Father himself) we have had for decades. We couldn’t wish for a better man for the job.

  12. Sal says:

    I also sent a card to Cardinal Castrillon, thanking
    him for what he has done for the traditional Latin
    Mass and for his efforts to reconcile the SSPX and
    received a nice acknowledgement in return.

    I have trouble believing that the Cardinal has been
    asked to step down when Cardinals Re, Kasper, et al.,
    have not been asked to.

  13. Paul Haley says:

    Sounds like the “wolves”, have more than one target in mind. Cardinal Hoyos has done more than anyone I can think of, other than the Holy Father himself, to advance the cause of Tradition and reconciliation in these times. Ad multos annos, Your Eminence.

  14. Robert says:

    Of course in his letter re the Williamson affair, the pope did announce that ED would become part of the CDF. Presumably to have a Cardinal (Hoyos) serving under another Cardinal (Levada) would be a bit odd? But what do I know.

  15. RBrown says:

    Sounds like wishful thinking on someone’s part. Tom
    Comment by TJM

    It’s a combination of that and maneuvering to try to undermine what the Pope wants to do.

    It’s a bit like the snake who put out the word that BXVI really didn’t receive all that many votes at the conclave–he was barely elected.

  16. Jayna says:

    “This is news to me,” he said. “As far as I know, at least, Pope Benedict XVI has not removed me…Maybe the letter just hasn’t arrived yet, but the Holy Father has absolutely not asked me to step down,” he told RCN Radio.

    I don’t know about anyone else, but I laughed pretty hard when I read that. “Maybe the letter just hasn’t arrived yet” – I think the Cardinal missed his calling!

  17. DarkKnight says:

    In the business world, people get put out to pasture all of the time for faithfully doing what they were told to do when the management deems it necessary to change its public face.

    I pray that is not the case with the Holy Father.

  18. Mila says:

    The good Cardinal Castrillon has dealt with the Colombian narcoguerrillas. He knows what it means to stand fast. If I recall correctly, he summoned to Rome because hisi life had been threatened. May God grant him many more years in the service of the Church.

  19. Joe says:

    I can back up what Mila posted. The Catholic Church hierarchy in Colombia has been targeted by the drug cartels, the ELN and the FARC (who John Kerry made excuses for) – not to mention ordinary criminals, like the murderer who killed the Archbishop of Cali.

    The Curia has nothing on the wolves in Colombia (who are in retreat mode now).

  20. Tim says:

    Interesting.

  21. prof. basto says:

    Anyway, we should brace ourselves for the Cardinal’s retirement, since he will be 80 in July, and at 80, all curial appointments cease.

    So, if the Holy Father were to appoint his sucessor between now and July, it would be part of the normal process of finding a replacement for a head of dicastery that is reaching the age limit.

    Nothing necessarily related to the recent uproar over Williamson and the SSPX. That the Cardinal’s upcoming 80th birthday just happens to occur shortly after that crisis is pure coincidence.

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