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A note bout PCED Sec. Msgr. Camille Perl
I implore you, fellow writers… if you are going to write about the Pont. Comm. Ecclesia Dei and its Secretary Msgr. Camille Perl, get a fact straight.
The National Catholic Reporter, in its own "wishful thinking" article (which I will drill on later) called Msgr. Perl an Italian.
Robert Moynihan of Inside the Vatican identified Msgr. Perl as Belgian.
Folks… the long suffering and long serving Msgr. Camille Perl is from Luxembourg.
I can confirm both the good Monsignor’s status as long-suffering and the fact that as far as I know he is the only native of Luxembourg I have ever me.
Comment by Finbar — 8 July 2009 @ 12:18 pmOddly enough, when I lived in Belgium the media would describe news from Luxembourg as news from “le Grand Duché” whereas “Luxembourg” always meant the Belgian province. However, that hardly excuses the rest of the world misidentifying the Msgr’s nationality.
Comment by Eamonn — 8 July 2009 @ 12:30 pmDoes Mgr Camille Perl remain as Vice-President/Vice-Prefect?
And what about Mgr Arthur Burton Calkins?
Comment by Graham — 8 July 2009 @ 12:35 pm“I can confirm both the good Monsignor’s status as long-suffering and the fact that as far as I know he is the only native of Luxembourg I have ever me.”
Best comment in the history of the blog.
Comment by LCB — 8 July 2009 @ 12:47 pmI have just read on the new liturgical movement website that msgr Perl has been replaced by a long standing official of the CDF.
Comment by james — 8 July 2009 @ 1:11 pmYes, he is from Luxembourg but most Belgians would tell you that the Tiny (Grand) Duchy is part of their country.
Comment by Philippe — 8 July 2009 @ 2:06 pmMgr. Perl is the Vice-President of the Commission, not the Secretary. He has not been replaced by anyone; or at least, if he has, this has not been announced in today’s Bolletino.
Mgr. Pozzo of the CDF has been appointed Secretary of the Commission, in succession to Mgr. Mario Marini, who died recently.
As far as we know, Mgr. Calkins remains Under-Secretary of the Commission.
Comment by Oxoniensis — 8 July 2009 @ 5:31 pmPerhaps Msgr. Perl will be appointed archbishop of his native see, where the ordinary has just turned 75?
Comment by Andrew — 8 July 2009 @ 5:41 pmOxoniensis: Did you read that somewhere, or read that in the structure of the Commission there was a provision for a Vice-President?
I hope so! But I didn’t read that.
Comment by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf — 8 July 2009 @ 5:47 pmFather, it was simply a deduction from the facts that Mgr. Perl was certainly Vice-President until today, and that has his resignation or dismissal has not been officially announced. It is true that the Motu Proprio doesn’t mention explicitly the office of Vice-President, but nor does it abolish the office.
Presumably, therefore, Mgr. Perl retains his position until such time as his term expires, resigns or is dismissed. Perhaps this will happen shortly, but I see no sign that it has happened yet.
Comment by Oxoniensis — 8 July 2009 @ 6:00 pmOxoniensis makes some good points. Still, the new motu proprio makes no mention of a vice president being a part of the structure, unless that is one of the “officials” mentioned along with the secretary..
If Msgr. Perl has retired, though, why hasn’t it been announced by the Vatican?
Comment by Jordanes — 8 July 2009 @ 6:53 pmI notice that the authoritative Tornielli has not provided any coverage of this surprising aspect of the Motu Propria: The departure of Msgr. Perl, should have been big news, much bigger than the retirement of Cardinal Castrillon, the appointment of Cardinal Levada as his successor and the appointment of Msgr. Pozzo to succeed Msgr. Marini – those latter three were all foreseen by Tornielli on June 10. So, perhaps Oxoniensis is correct that the good monsignor will remain as vice-president; although the structure of the new commission doesn’t explicitly provide for this position, neither did the old one, since there was never a vice-president of PCED until March 13, 2008 when Msgr. Perl was promoted from secretary to vice-president and the late Msgr. Marini was promoted from adjunct-secretary to secretary.
Comment by Andrew — 8 July 2009 @ 8:21 pmAgainst what I just posted stands the reporting of Robert Moynihan and John Allen, both of whom are usually reliable – but they did get Msgr. Perl’s nationality wrong in this case…
Comment by Andrew — 8 July 2009 @ 8:24 pmI also had the impression that the vice-presidency was created in order to provide a convenient position for Mgr. Perl, that allowed responsibility to be transferred away from him without seeming to demote him. Perhaps another convenient promotion is to be found for him shortly, that will no longer require him to be on the staff of the Commission to save face?
Comment by Oxoniensis — 8 July 2009 @ 10:18 pmPerl [Msgr. Perl] no longer has a role at the PCED. See the comments made by Cardinal Levada. He discusses the new structure of the PCED which does not include a “vice-president” (the chief officials of each dicastery consist of the [cardinal] prefect or [archbishop] president and secretary):
http://212.77.1.245/news_services/bulletin/news/24142.php?index=24142&lang=it
This is precisely why Allen, Whispers and others see this as a “casualty” of the Williamson affair.
[And they would be wrong.]
Comment by CDN_Canonist — 9 July 2009 @ 8:54 amI am closing this combox, since I resolved some questions about what happened in another entry.
Comment by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf — 9 July 2009 @ 9:06 am