(An
edited version of this article appeared in the Scottish Catholic Observer)
The
infallibility which comes with papal election does not bring with it absolution
for past faults and failings, a guarantee that those will have no bearing on
the future, and a certainty that that future will in all other respects be
additional mistakes-free.
If
it did, His Excellency Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, in all likelihood England’s
next cardinal — and first non-residential one since Francis Aidan Cardinal
Gasquet OSB, the last cardinal created by Pope St Pius X, in 1914 — priest of
the Archdiocese of Liverpool but a Scottish bishop (? See below), would not have
been appointed, on November 2014, the Holy See’s Secretary for Relations with
States (usually described as the Pope’s Foreign Secretary) the third highest
ranking prelate of the Secretariat of State behind the Cardinal Secretary of
State His Eminence Pietro Parolin, and the sostituto,
the Secretary of State Substitute for General Affairs, His Excellncy Archbishop
Edgar Peña Parra).
For
months prior to Mgr Gallagher’s advancement, there had been speculation that
Pope Francis intended to remove His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke, an old
Roman student- days’ friend of Glasgow’s Archbishop Philip Tartaglia, from his
post as Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the
ultimate court of appeal in the Catholic world. Cardinal Burke’s great sin? His
face didn’t fit. It did not matter to Pope Francis that here was one of the
finest legal minds ever to have graced his high office, a prelate who over the
next 9 years at least — might have made a substantial contribution to the
massive legislative work that will be required to implement any fruits of the
labours of the Council of Nine Cardinals.
No,
he had to go. That autocratic tendency which Pope Francis had noted in his
younger self as Jesuit superior in Argentina and which he had lamented during
his interview with Fr Antonio Spadaro SJ in La Civiltà Cattolica (A Big Heart
Open to God, September 30, 2013) is alive and well. I have no desire to labour
this point but if further proof be needed that it rages still within the papal bosom
then see: the appointment of Rainer Maria Cardinal Woelki as Archbishop of
Cologne over the heads of the Cathedral Chapter and in clear breach of the law,
and; the appointment of Blase Joseph Cupich as Archbishop of Chicago without
taking advice of anyone with a legitimate say in the matter.
Then
see also his refusal of the red hats that are the traditional due to: Francesco
Moraglia, Patriarch of Venice; Archbishop Cesare Nosiglia of Turin and, and
most scandalously; Archbishop Jean-Louis Bruguès OP, Prefect of the Secret
Archives and Librarian of the Holy See. Most scandalously? Going
back to 1700, only 4 prelates appointed to head the Secret Archives were not
yet Cardinals. All were created Cardinal at the next consistory (and these all
in recent years).
To
the surprise of many, when Pope Francis finally decided to remove Cardinal
Burke he appointed the “Foreign Secretary” he had inherited from Pope Benedict,
Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, to replace him. Really it should have been no surprise.
Of Archbishop Mamberti’s 23 predecessors going back to 1878 and the beginning
of the Pontificate of Pope Leo XIII (and the restoration of the Scottish
Catholic episcopal hierarchy; which point I always take as the beginning of
“the Church in the Modern World”) roughly one-third, 7 in all, have been former
diplomats, including Achille Cardinal Silvestrini who was also promoted from
being Secretary for Relations with States. But it was a surprise, a genuine
surprise, when at the same time it was announced that Archbishop Gallagher was
to replace Archbishop Mamberti.
It
is hard to offer a typical example of what Archbishop Gallagher’s usual daily routine
is in the Secretariat of State but take as an example a week following the end
of his first six months in office. The English language bollettino, the press release issued each day by the Vatican Press
Office at noon (11 am here), recorded the following: “The Pope received in
audience… (Thursday) the Prime Minister of Canada, Mr. Stephen Harper… (Friday,
June 12, 2015) the President of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of
Poland, Ms. Ewa Kopacz” who both “subsequently met with Archbishop Paul R.
Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States.” And when on the Thursday
President Putin came to call on Pope Francis, at the same time “a meeting was
held between Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher… and Minister of Foreign Affairs
of the Russian Federation, Sergey Lavrov during which the topics of the
conflict in the Ukraine and the worrying situation in the Middle East were also
discussed.”
Earlier
in the week, on Tuesday, June 9, 2015, Archbishop Gallagher had addressed a seminar,
“Building inclusive societies together: contributions to Sarajevo’s exchange on
the religious dimension of intercultural dialogue”, organised by the Council of
Europe. He spoke on the religious dimension of intercultural dialogue. If I may
be excused for putting it this way, Archbishop Gallagher is now very much
playing with the big boys. And we, and not just our coreligionists south of the
border, should be proud of him.
When
Mgr Gallagher received episcopal consecration on Saturday, March 13, 2004 at
the hands of the then Cardinal Secretary of State, Angelo Sodano, he was not to
be the ordinary of a diocese but Apostolic Nuncio in Burundi, in succession to
the martyred Irish prelate, Archbishop Michael Aidan Courtney (Saint Andrew and
Edinburgh’s Archbishop Leo Cushley was Second Secretary during Archbishop
Courtney’s first year resident in Bujumbura). Thus Archbishop Gallagher was
provided, as the quaint expression has it, as titular to Hodelm, more commonly
known as Hoddom.
And
so he became the second English prelate in recent years who, should he
experience a sudden yen to visit his titular See, wouldn’t have had far to
travel. When Bishop John Arnold (Salford) was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of
Westminster in December of 2005 he was provided to the titular see of
Lindisfarne. He was a lucky man as few titular bishops can accurately locate
their Sees on a map, never mind visit, celebrate Mass and chat to the locals in
his and their own native language. Just ask Archbishop Cushley’s former
Auxiliary, Bishop Stephen Robson, now Bishop of Dunkeld. When he was appointed
Auxiliary, I doubt if he had ever heard of Tunnuna (proconsular Africa as was,
modern-day Tunisia and the adjacent Mediterranean Coast of Western Libya, if
you must know).
Lindisfarne
is just on the English side of the border, Hoddom on ours; in Dumfriesshire.
Driving
north on the M6, when you hit the Scottish border at Gretna Green the road
becomes the A74(M). About five miles north of Gretna, you will see a sign
saying Kirtlebridge and you are now in what was once the Bishopric of Hoddom.
The territory of the old diocese stretches out a few miles to either side of
the road as it runs northwards from Kirtlebridge to just north of Lockerbie.
Indeed, about three or four miles on from Kirtlebridge you come to Ecclefechan
and here you will see a sign for Hoddom Castle and Caravan Park. In the late
6th century, St Mungo, founder of Glasgow and its patron saint, founded a
monastery on or about the land now occupied by Hoddom Castle, but long before
the original castle was built post-Norman Conquest by the Carlyle family. That
monastery was the seat of the first bishops of Hoddom.
And
Hoddom is not unimportant for other than its ecclesiastical association with St
Mungo. Thomas Carlyle, the great Scottish philosopher, mathematician, writer
and satirist was born within the See, at the aforementioned Ecclefechan
(December 4, 1795), and was buried there after his death in London (February 5,
1881) despite Westminster Abbey having been offered (it was his wish to be
buried beside his parents). William Paterson (1658-1719), founder of the Bank
of England, was also born here in the hamlet of Tinwald near Lochmaber, four
miles west of Lockerbie. And many believe that it was at Lochmaber Robert the
Bruce was born.
So
if we cannot quite claim Archbishop Gallagher as entirely our own, we can
certainly claim a measure of him. Perhaps now that he is well settled into his
new position, the Scottish Catholic Bishops’ Conference might care to offer this
newly illustrious servant of the Servant of the servants of God honorary
membership.
Archbishop
Gallagher a future cardinal?
I
will only go back as far as what I have mentioned above I take to be the
beginning of the Church in the Modern World, the beginning of the pontificate
of Pope Leo XIII. The department over which Mgr Gallagher now presides was
formerly the Sacred Congregation for the Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs
of the Holy See until, in August 1967 consequent upon changes in the Roman
Curia made by Blessed Pope Paul VI in response to the will of the Council
Fathers and informed by his many years of service in the curia, it became the Council
for the Public Affairs of the Church (Archbishop Agostino, later Cardinal
Secretary of State, Casaroli was Secretary at that time). Pope St John Paul II
made further changes to the Roman Curia as laid down in Pastor Bonus, now under
cardinalatial review, and this department took its present form and name on the
first day of March, 1989 (Archbishop Angelo, later Cardinal Secretary of State,
Sodano was Secretary at that time)
From
the beginning of Pope Leo XIII’s pontificate, there were seventeen (17)
Secretaries of the Sacred Congregation for Extraordinary the Ecclesiastical
Affairs of the Holy See: every one of them was subsequently created cardinal.
It should also be noted that only one of them was a non-Italian, the first one,
in place upon his election, the Pole Wlodzimierz Cardinal Czacki (an Earl and
relative of Pope St John Paul II’s mentor, the Prince Bishop Cardinal Adam Sapieha).
Of the three (3) (excluding Cardinal Casaroli) Secretaries of the Council for
the Public Affairs of the Church, all were subsequently created cardinal and
all were Italian.
Finally,
of the three Secretaries for Relations with States (excluding Cardinal Sodano) who
have preceded Mgr Gallagher, all have been created cardinal. It should be noted
that two of these three were non-Italin, both being French: Cardinal Mamberti,
as noted above, and Jean-Louis Cardinal Tauran.
How
long will it be before Mgr Gallagher has to revisit fratelli Gammarelli? Anything between eight to twelve years would
be normal. It could be a good bit less, it won’t be much more.
NB:
Since I drafted the original of this article on June 15, 2015 Mgr Bruguès has
retired and Archbishop José Tolentino Calaça de Mendonça was appointed on June
28, 2018, the day of Pope Francis’s 5th consistory for the creation of new
cardinals. He is to be created cardinal at his 6th next month. This raises a
troubling question. Since Mgr Bruguès resigned on the 26th June, two days
before the consistory — I have to confess I did not clock this at the time as
my wife, Nancy, was very, very seriously ill, recovering from emergency bowel
surgery (30 nearly gangrenous centimetres had to be removed) — two days before
the consistory did he finally just have enough of the contemptible way he was
being treated by Pope Francis? Who could blame him?