Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Papal Conclave starts - Did the raid by anti-mafia police this morning reflect an attempt to influence selection of the next Pope ? Is there an effort to sink the candidacy of Cardinal Scola and if so , by whom ?


http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2013/03/12/angelo_scola_mafia_ties_anti_mafia_police_raid_for_evidence_in_corruption.html


Angelo Scola, Papal Frontrunner, Gets Vatican Version of October Surprise

By 
 | 
Posted Tuesday, March 12, 2013, at 1:33 PM
163555760
Cardinal Angelo Scola attends the Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice Mass at St Peter's Basilica, before they enter the conclave
Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images
Just before the doors to the conclave closed on Tuesday, a story that might be the papabileequivalent of an "October surprise" popped up on the Guardian: Angelo Scola, rumored to be the leading candidate of the so-called "reformer" cardinals, was (very) tenuously connected to the mafia.
Scola is the Archbishop of Milan, in the region of Lombardy. According to the Guardian, police conducted a series of dawn raids this morning looking for evidence in an investigation of "corruption linked to tenders by, and supplies to, hospitals." Scola, it turns out, is a childhood friend of the guy in charge of the regional administration running Lombardy's health care system, Roberto Formigon. Since this is Italy, the connections here are convoluted but important: Formigon is one of the leading members of the Communion and Liberation movement, a conservative lay Catholic group that, among other things, lent substantial support to former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Until recently, Scola was the Communion and Liberation movement's biggest advocate among the cardinals.
But that changed to some extent recently. Scola started distancing himself from the movement last year, after one of its leaders complained directly to Pope Benedict XVI about the Archdiocese. That distance was well-timed for the cardinal contender, as the Guardianwrites:
The regional administration headed by Formigoni – a member of Silvio Berlusconi's party – collapsed last October amid a welter of accusations regarding alleged corruption and misconduct. The final blow came when one of his regional ministers was arrested, accused of buying votes from the 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia. Formigoni himself is a formal suspect in an investigation into corruption and conspiracy. He denies the accusations.
At the time Formigon's administration collapsed, 13 of its members were under investigation.
It's unclear whether the brewing controversy will sway the direction of the Vatican, scandal-ridden as it is itself, in conclave. But with Scola previously rumored to have about 50 of the 77 votes needed to take the papacy secured, the news will likely make some papal speculators take one giant step back before the white smoke.




http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/cardinal-scola-tarnished-papal-conclave-begins-article-1.1286510


Cardinal Scola, papal frontrunner, tarnished by anti-Mafia raids on healthcare companies linked to his Milan pal 

Once again, Scola has to distance himself from Roberto Formigoni. The former Milan governor is allegedly corrupt.

Comments (3)

BY / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

UPDATED: TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 2013, 4:16 PM
2
4
0
Print
Italian Cardinal Angelo Scola again found himself distancing himself from Roberto Formigoni, the former governor of Milan.

AFP/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Italian Cardinal Angelo Scola again found himself distancing himself from Roberto Formigoni, the former governor of Milan.

An Italian church leader seen as a papal frontrunner had his saintly image tarnished Tuesday when anti-Mafia investigators raided the offices of companies linked to his shady best friend.
The raids came hours before Angelo Cardinal Scola was locked with 114 other princes of the church inside the Sistine Chapel to pick a new Pope — sending potential shockwaves through the Vatican.
Investigators sweeped into offices of associates of former Milan regional governor Roberto Formigoni, Scola’s childhood pal, telling The Guardian newspaper the raids were related to “corruption linked to ... hospitals” that at one point had been under Formigoni’s control.
At least one crony of Formigoni was collared — putting Scola only one degree of separation from an alleged government corruption in the region of Scola’s archdiocese.
Scola and Formigoni have known each other for years and were early supporters of the Communion and Liberation movement, which first became popular in the 1970s as a way of encouraging the virtues of Catholicism in secular environments like the workplace.
But the movement’s proximity to the secular world has led to it often being associated with corruption, as The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.
Formigoni himself is under investigation for allegedly taking money from a lobbyist and using it for personal expenses. Scola has since distanced himself from his former pal.
It was unclear if Tuesday’s raids had to do with the investigation into Formigoni, but they were a reminder of Scola’s ties to the disgraced regional government, which had at least 13 members under investigation last year, according to The Guardian.
















http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/12/cardinals-overcome-divisions-conclave-pope


Papal conclave: anti-mafia police raid offices in diocese of frontrunner

Cardinals urged to overcome divisions at special mass shortly after detectives mount dawn raids in diocese of Angelo Scola

Papal conclave chooses new pope – live coverage 
Choose your own pope with our Pontifficator
The dean of the college of cardinals, Angelo Sodano
The dean of the college of cardinals, Angelo Sodano, leads a grand mass in St Peter's Basilica. Photograph: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images
Roman Catholic cardinals have been urged to overcome divisions at a special mass ahead of the papal conclave, just hours after anti-mafia investigators carried out a string of raids in the diocese of the leading candidate.
In a homily before thousands of pilgrims and the most senior figures in the church, Angelo Sodano, the dean of the college of cardinals, made a last-ditch attempt to banish infighting, as he extolled the virtues of unity amid diversity.
But even as preparations for the mass were being made, Cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan – and reportedly the hot favourite to be the next pope – suffered a blow.
Anti-mafia detectives swooped on homes, offices, clinics and hospitals in Lombardy, the region around Milan, and elsewhere. A statement said the dawn raids were part of an investigation into "corruption linked to tenders by, and supplies to, hospitals".
Healthcare in Lombardy is the principal responsibility of the regional administration, which for the past 18 years has been run by Roberto Formigoni, a childhood friend of Scola and the leading political representative of the Communion and Liberation fellowship. Until recently, Scola was seen as the conservative group's most distinguished ecclesiastical spokesman.
But he has progressively loosened his ties to Communion and Liberation, and in early 2012 publicly rebuked the movement after its leader was found to have written to Pope Benedict, implicitly criticising the cardinal's liberal predecessors in the Milan archdiocese.
The regional administration headed by Formigoni – a member of Silvio Berlusconi's party – collapsed last October amid a welter of accusations regarding alleged corruption and misconduct. The final blow came when one of his regional ministers was arrested, accused of buying votes from the 'Ndrangheta, the Calabrian mafia.
Formigoni himself is a formal suspect in an investigation into corruption and conspiracy. He denies the accusations.
Among those arrested on Tuesday was Massimo Guarischi, who in 2009 was given a five-year jail sentence after being convicted of conspiracy and auction-rigging. Guarischi is said to have organised expensive holidays for Formigoni that are central to the investigation into the former governor's affairs.
Scola, who has headed the Milan archdiocese since 2011, is regarded as the champion of a largely non-Italian faction that is challenging the entrenched power of the Vatican cardinals. He was close to the last pope, whose household was run by women members of Communion and Liberation.
He entered the conclave as favourite after the Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported that his supporters were confident he had the support of up to 50 of the 115 cardinal-electors.
But Scola's candidacy has been overshadowed by his past links to a movement that has been linked with pervasive sleaze in Lombardy. By the time Formigoni dissolved the regional assembly last year, 13 members of the governing majority were under investigation, suspected of offences ranging from taking bribes to incitement to violence.
Formigoni belongs to the Memores Domini, a core group of Communion and Liberation members pledged to live by the values of fraternal love, obedience and poverty.
At the pre-conclave mass in St Peter's basilica in Rome, Sodano called on the faithful and electors to overcome divisions and unite behind the next pope.
"Each of us is … called to co-operate with the successor of Peter, the visible foundation of such an ecclesial unity," he said, quoting St Paul's letter to the Ephesians.
The basilica erupted in applause when Sodano, who is 85 and therefore not eligible to vote in the conclave, paid tribute to the "brilliant" leadership of Benedict XVI.
"At the same time today, we implore the Lord, that through the pastoral solicitude of the cardinal fathers, he may soon grant another good shepherd to his holy church," he said.
In his homily, Sodano, who is seen as representing the "old guard" of the Vatican, stressed the pastoral and charitable role of the papacy, amid warnings from many that Benedict's successor should primarily be a good manager capable of reforming the troubled Roman curia.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)