De Omnibus Dubitandum Est.

I can hardly bring myself to write about yesterday's announcement that Pope Francis has appointed Archbishop Victor Manuel Fernández to be the new head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith replacing Cardinal Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer, S.J. (now 79) who was previously the secretary to Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Muller. Fernández is certainly one of the Pope's men, his whole career has been crafted and guided by Jorge Bergoglio. He headed the Faculty of Theology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina (CUA) and then on December 15, 2009, the then Cardinal Bergoglio appointed Fernandez as rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina. However, much to the frustration of Cardinal Bergoglio, Fernandez was not able to take the oath of office until May 20, 2011, after he had answered objections to his appointment raised by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which assessed concerns about the orthodoxy of certain elements of his scholarship...

Just before Christmas, rumours abounded that Pope Francis was about to appoint a German radical to the head of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. Cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, the prefect for the Doctrine of the Faith has been in post since the Summer of 2017, when Pope Francis removed Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the former bishop of Regensburg. Mandates at the Roman Curia are for five years. On July 1, 2022, Ladaria's term expired. Since it was not renewed, it has been clear since then that Francis is looking for a successor. Reliable voices from the Vatican already stated that it was certain that Ladaria's successor would be the German bishop Heiner Wilmer of Hildesheim. Bishop Wilmer is also firmly within the consensus of the German episcopate that the radical reinvention of Catholicism being proposed by the German Synodal Way is necessary. Writing in Catholic World Report, George Weigel stated that such an appointment would seem a papal repudiation of the man Pope ...