Francis 2.0: Archbishop Reaches Ground Level

Naples Archbishop Domenico Battaglia, 58, presided over an April 19 vigil for vocations in the Madre del Buon Consiglio Basilica in Capodimonte, a church designed after the model of Saint Peter's.

A chair was placed for him in front of the altar but a grey-haired Battaglia preferred to sit on the stairs leading up to the altar, his legs crossed. Likely, Battaglia considered this to be "cool," in reality it was embarrassing.

The archbishop wants the webpage of his archdiocese to call him “Don Mimmo” (Father Mimmo) but if, indeed, he desired to remain a simple priest he could have refused Francis' proposals to promote him. Battaglia was installed on February 2.

MessaInLatino.it asks whether “Don Mimmo” really thinks that his crawling on the floor will motivate young people to become priests and religious - or only convince them that the Council Church is an adult kindergarten.

Ultra-liberal Naples Archdiocese with 1.4 million Catholics, has seen decades of an emptying seminary. Battaglia's predecessor, Cardinal Sepe ordained in 2020 only six priests.

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