more John L. Allen's remarks about CL

NCR - Pondering the 'what,' not the 'who,' of Vatileaks

A more combative side of Carrón comes through in a lengthy private letter to Benedict XVI from March 2011, published in Nuzzi's book. Asked to provide his thoughts on who should succeed Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi as the archbishop of Milan, Carrón wrote, "the only candidate that I feel in conscience able to present to the attention of the Holy Father is that of the Patriarch of Venice, Cardinal Angelo Scola." Although it's hard to say how decisive Carrón's opinion was, Scola, who comes out of Communion and Liberation, was named to Milan in June 2011. Carrón presents a blistering indictment of the Milan archdiocese under both Tettamanzi and his predecessor, Jesuit Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, a hero of the church's liberal wing...

NCR - Recognize martyrs around the world by canonizing one of their own

I published an article Wednesday about the current discussion in Italy regarding the Catholic movement Communion and Liberation, involving scandals around a handful of its members who play prominent roles in Italian politics. The article gave the impression that Roberto Formigoni, the conservative governor of the Italian region of Lombardy and a member of the Memores Domini movement linked to Communion and Liberation, is under investigation by Italian authorities for bribery and corruption. That is not true; while Formigoni's name has been linked to an expanding corruption probe in media reports, he has not been formally charged with any wrongdoing. I regret the error. For the record, I have attended the annual Communion and Liberation meeting in Rimini in the past, and find much to admire in the group's passionate conviction that Christian faith cannot be a purely private affair, but must have consequences in all of life -- not just politics, of course, but also art, culture, science and so on. I'm also well aware of the injustice of tarring an entire group for the failures, real or perceived, of some of its members. I intended my story to be more about the dynamics of a scandal than about the inner reality of Communion and Liberation or the teachings of its founder, Fr. Luigi Guissani. The teachings, naturally, deserve to be considered on their own terms...

Related Post - CL in Italy gripped by scandal