Pope names top Franciscan in first Vatican appointment

[onehandle]

Source: AFP



Pope Francis on Saturday appointed the leader of the main Franciscan order in his first nomination to the scandal-hit Vatican bureaucracy, the Holy See said in a statement, ahead of an expected overhaul of the administration. Spain's Jose Rodriguez Carballo, 59, will be number two at the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, which oversees all Catholic religious orders.

The Vatican department is headed up by Brazilian cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz and is part of the Roman Curia -- the Catholic Church administration, which analysts say is badly in need of reform. Friar Carballo is minister general of the Order of Friars Minor, a post whose holder is regarded as the successor of founder St Francis of Assisi.

Carballo, who comes from a poor family of Spanish farmers who emigrated to Germany, spoke with Rome Reports television news agency when he was re-elected minister general in 2009. He said he had been inspired in his youth by a friar who was "simple and close to the people" and added that "this secular Europe needs Franciscan and evangelical values now more than ever".

The Argentine pope has told Catholics he named himself after St Francis because of the famous mediaeval Italian saint's dedication to alleviating poverty and promoting peace. Francis has called for a "poor Church for the poor" and has shown an informal style unusual in the Vatican.

Read more: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/pope-names-top-franciscan-first-vatican-appointment-105716766.html

[Berlum]

1. The world... "needs evangelical values now more than ever..."

Puh-lease, dear Lord, knowing how much confusion, pain and sorrow evangelicals of various flavors & stripes have brought upon the world, spare us the enduringly smug arrogance of all the religions & all the zealots who are trying to sell us their particular Brand (TM) of "truth."

[hrmjustin]

4. He was not talking about evangelicals like protestants we have in this nation.

He meant clergy and lay people in the RCC that spread the gospel.

[Bluenorthwest]

2. And what did Fred Phelps in robes do next?

Did he eat a peach while speaking with his staff of criminal defense attorneys about the corruption and abuse so rife in his institution?

[hrmjustin]

3. The story of my cousin.

In 1981, as the battle between conservatives and liberals in the Jesuits intensified, the order's superior general, Pedro Arrupe, suffered a stroke. The Jesuits nominated the Rev. O'Keefe, an ardent American liberal, to run the order until a successor could be found. O'Keefe had been a senior aide to Arrupe. The pope, in a highly unusual and historic decision, intervened and appointed instead Father Paolo Dezza, who was known as a brilliant scholar and also a traditionalist, as a special pontifical delegate to serve as the Jesuits' interim leader.[2]

In 2004, O'Keefe responded to criticisms from Malachi Martin and stated that Martin had been released from all his priestly vows save the vow of chastity. It is claimed that attacks were mounted on Martin in retaliation for his book The Jesuits, which is hostile to the Jesuit order of which he had formerly been a member. In the book, he accuses the Jesuits of deviating from their original character and mission by embracing Liberation Theology.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_O'Keefe

[Octafish]

5. ''Alleviate poverty and promote peace.''

Wish more world leaders followed those precepts rather than "Money trumps peace."

[JNelson6563]

6. +1