Papal Nuncio to Canada abruptly resigns

Sources close to this writer advised a few days ago that the Papal Nuncio to Canada would be replaced sometime in October, perhaps around the 15th. In an unexpected occurrence, the Most Rev. Pedro López Quintana, Apostolic Nuncio to Canada and Titular Archbishop of Agropoli resigned earlier today. No reason is yet known for the rumoured replacement or now, the sudden resignation and no announcement from the Holy See or the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops has been made.  

Born in Barbastro, Spain, on July 27, 1953. He was ordained to the priesthood by His Holiness Pope John Paul II for the Archdiocese of Compostella, Spain on June 15, 1980.

He entered the diplomatic service of the Holy See on February 10, 1984 and has served in the Apostolic Nunciatures of Madagascar, the Philippines and India. He was appointed Assessor for General Affairs for the Secretariat of State of the Holy See on February 7, 1998.

He was appointed Titular Archbishop of Agropoli and Apostolic Nuncio on December 12, 2002, and received episcopal ordination by His Holiness Pope John Paul II on January 6, 2003. He was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to India and Nepal on February 8, 2003. Then Holy Father Benedict XVI named him Apostolic Nuncio to Canada on December 10, 2009.

Below is the chronology of Archbishop Luigi Ventura. It is worth noting that the "Events" between Apostolic Nucicature's were "appointments," not resignations. This was also the case with Archbishop Quintana's previous appointments and the Nuncio previous to +Ventura. 

Date	Age	Event	Title
9 Dec 1944	68.80	Born	Borgosatollo, Italy
14 Jun 1969	24.5	Ordained Priest	Priest of Brescia, Italy
25 Mar 1995	50.3	Appointed	Titular Archbishop of Equilium
25 Mar 1995	50.3	Appointed	Apostolic Nuncio to Côte d’Ivoire
25 Mar 1995	50.3	Appointed	Apostolic Nuncio to Burkina Faso
25 Mar 1995	50.3	Appointed	Apostolic Nuncio to Niger
29 Apr 1995	50.4	Ordained Bishop	Titular Archbishop of Equilium
25 Mar 1999	54.3	Appointed	Apostolic Nuncio to Chile
22 Jun 2001	56.5	Appointed	Apostolic Nuncio to Canada
22 Sep 2009	64.8	Appointed	Apostolic Nuncio to France

In an article logged in the comment box to this report, the Archbishop spoke last week at the CCCB Annual Plenary and indicated that he was being "called back to Rome."

Let us remember Archbishop Ventura in our prayers.

As information becomes available this post will be updated.

Blow-Back Blogging

Courtesy of the combox at Seraphic in Scotland which should be on your daily list, comes this salient commentary on the issues this week in Canada regarding Catholics' blogs:

The blogosphere/internet is a Revolution comparable to Gutenberg. But I would emphasize that it is not technology per se that is wholly responsible for all the blow-back now occurring. The internet is just a more efficient and quicker means of communication over more expansive distances. Between words printed on paper and words posted on a blog is only a difference in degree, not kind. So the question that the cleric under scrutiny in your post (including the bishops, theologians, Catholic MSM etc.) that constitute the "professional Catholic" class in Canada have to ask themselves is this: Why is there even blow-back at all? That is the question.

If there were no apostate bishops, if there were no Baum's composing Marxist-inspired tracts, if RCIA directors had been properly catechizing, if school kids were not politicized by baby-booming "Catholic" teachers enraptured by whatever trendy cause, if homilies were not exclusively devoted to "God is love", if nuns weren't worshiping the rain forests, if power hungry parish tyrants would understand that they are not consecrated priests ... if these (and more) had not occurred over the last 4 to 5 decades, I will confidently say that there would not have been any blow-back from the Catholic blogosphere in the modern day. Support and a defense thereof from the secular world would have been the mainstays. If there was a sufficient degree of faithfulness to the Magisterium in the first place, there would be no need to revolt.

When for decades you have a very select group of "professional Catholics" running the show, leftist and skewed to heterodoxy in approach and viewpoint, when for years letters to the editor are ignored, when time after time you have qualified and knowledgeable people (academics, writers, etc., not just the "plebeian" types you mention) continually shut out from the newspapers, journals, publishers and other educational/apologetic programs because they are too "orthodox" or "judgmental" or "uncharitable"... and then when the blogosphere emerges, you at last have an outlet slay the dragon.

The current situation of the "professional Catholic" class in Canada can be analogized with Hugh Hefner as he exists today: a fossilizing, self-absorbed, smelly old man wandering around a mansion in a gaudy smoking jacket, stupid enough to think that the chicks are still attracted to him.

The comment comes from TH2 and hits the nail on the head, especially the point about Hugh Hefner.

Salt + Light C.E.O. slags LifeSiteNews

Once again, the head of Salt + Light, Your Catholic Channel of Hope has found it necessary to harshly criticise the good people, Catholic and non-Catholic at LifeSiteNews. This time in the B.C. Catholic:

"...American bishops are upset about the division it has caused in the Church. "One of the American cardinals asked me where the headquarters was and I said, `It's somebody's basement in the Ottawa Valley.' He thought it was a tower in downtown Toronto, so it's extremely deceiving."

"...a study of Catholic blogs involving non-Catholics and non-Christians looking at Catholic blogs found they were filled with "filth, hate, conjecture, and innuendo." He added some blogs attempt to claim they are official, using the Vatican crest or a picture of the Pope."

"...American bishops are upset about the division it has caused in the Church. "One of the American cardinals asked me where the headquarters was and I said, `It's somebody's basement in the Ottawa Valley.' He thought it was a tower in downtown Toronto, so it's extremely deceiving."

"Some blogs have coarsened Catholic dialogue in the past years: the anti-Obama Catholic blogs; the so-called pro-life blogs, that may be advocating pro-life, but they are decimating persons and reputations..."

You're a grown-up Catholic.

Read it all yourself.

You decide. d

CCCB distorts comment by Archbishop Prendergast

Here is the Archbishop's statement. Here's the story on Socon. Here's the salient point in the combox.

According to this CCCB spin memo, Archbishop Prendergast has cancelled the speaker’s engagements based on allegations and the fear of “prayer protests”. That is a gross misrepresentation of what the Archbishop stated in his letter on Fr. Arriaga.

According to the statement he published (on the archdiocese website), the Archbishop was not at all manipulated by allegations and the fear of public opinion (prayer protests). Rather, he followed a very evangelical course of action in dealing with this controversy (see Matthew 18:15-17).

From the Archbishop’s statement :

“The Archbishop met with Father Luis Arriaga, director of the Miguel Pro Centre for Human Rights (PRODH) on his arrival in Ottawa and discussed with him, and with representatives of Development and Peace, the Centre’s support of groups espousing abortion.”

He met directly with Fr. Arriaga, asked questions and then concluded that he could not endorse this speaker’s engagements in his archdiocese. That’s not basing a decision on allegations and the fear of protests.

That may be the modus operandi of the career cath’lics at the CCCB, but that is not how a true Shepherd of the Church behaves. Thank you Archbishop, for being a good shepherd.

You're a grown-up Catholic.

Read it for yourself.

You decide.

Update: Hat-tip to Mike: Does D & P not get it? Written by Fr. Raymond J. de Souza Tuesday, 05 April 2011