La Civiltà Cattolica is a Jesuit run, Secretariat of State approved journal with semi-official status. Spadaro has been at LCC for 25 years, 12 as director.
The “Dicastery” – that’s what Congregations are now called. All offices of the Curia were/are in a sense “dicasteries”, but the titles are formalized now. The Congregation for Catholic Education (and what a great job they did) was merged with the Pontifical Council for Culture (such accomplishments!) to form one Dicastery. The Council was, however, the overseer of the Vatican Cricket Team. Not sure how they are doing.
The new head of La Civiltà Cattolica is another Jesuit, the rector of the Gregorian University, Fr Nuno da Silva Gonçalves, SJ.
During his time at LCC, Spadaro co-authored with a protestant Miguel Figueroa one of the craziest things we’ve ever seen for which he owes virtually every American an apology: “Evangelical Fundamentalism and Catholic Integralism: A Surprising Ecumenism”. In effect: Evangelicals and Catholic are haters, that is, that their social/political alliance is really an “ecumenism of hate”. More HERE
So, off he goes to be Under-Secretary, a position whence he will be able to report all the inner doings of the Dicastery to Francis.
There was a time when we couldn’t see anything newsy about Rome without seeing Spadaro in it. Then he sort of faded, or was shoved, into the background. He remerged, made a real splash, and is now off to a new job, so near and yet so far from Casa Santa Marta.
It is interesting that this appointment come so quickly after Spadaro’s blasphemous sermon/article about the Lord and the Syrophoenician woman in Matthew 15. HERE
Il Messaggero opines that this new position will still allow Spadaro to travel with the papal entourage and transcribe every precious and greatly anticipated gab session with local Jesuits along the way. The article relates many and various weird things Spadaro has gotten into in his years at LCC, a journal which historically was the conscious consummation of intellect and diplomacy.
I wonder if Spadaro will still have the time to maintain his website about Pier Antonio Tondelli.
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Just because it is not openly called the Dicastry for Deculturation and Re-education does not mean…
The Education Dicastery? Really? Wasn’t it Spadaro who said, “In theology 2 + 2 can equal 5.”
It strikes me as funny that anybody can – with a straight face – name a dicastery in terms of “Culture and Education”, after the downfall of the Soviets. Don’t they see the close resemblance to the soviet style here? Who the heck are these people?
I suppose that we will eventually find out that Spadaro and his ilk were, in fact, the marxist-sympathizers in the Vatican / Church, and it is entirely understandable that they be appointed to a propaganda organ. (Again, using propaganda in the soviet sense.) Oh, the irony of it all. I await the day that the members will be titled “commissars” of the dicastery.
Which reminds me: if we absolutely MUST go around inventing new names to give the old congregations, can we make this one “die-cast-ery”? Is there anything more pitiful than grown men spending all that energy deciding that “congregation” isn’t adequate any more for what these things are…’dicastery’ is so much more meaningful!