Leading Slanderer of the Church Becomes Leading Member of Roman Synod
Now Damilano is the general rapporteur of the Rome diocesan assembly, which took place on Friday 25 October in the Basilica of St John Lateran in the presence of Francis.
In fact, Damilano was the main speaker. He explained to Francis how to bring the "message of the Beatitudes" back into the public debate and spoke about the crisis of ecclesial movements and associations, the "instrumentalisation of the faith and the Catholic world" and dozens of other topics, moving from one to another with catchphrases often copied from Francis.
For Korazym.org (26 October), it is noteworthy that Francis listened and applauded Damilano, the man who published 12 propaganda pieces against Cardinal Becciu in L'Espresso and who boasts of having brought him down.
On 24 September 2020, Becciu was forced by Francis to resign and renounce the rights attached to the cardinalate, on the basis of a preventive condemnation initiated by L'Espresso.
In Osservazioni casuali no. 40 (19 October - 26 October 2024), the expert on the Vatican, Luis Badilla, writes the following about the case:
"The former director of the weekly L'Espresso, Marco Damilano, is now also an adviser to Francis on socio-economic and political issues. Here we are! It was predictable and expected. An exchange of favours?"
Needless to say, during his time as a propagandist at L'Espresso, Damilano led numerous baseless anti-clerical investigations into the Italian Church and the Vatican.
Damilano's regular campaigns included the publication of documents attributed to the Holy See, although it was never clear, and still isn't, whether they were forged or genuine: "It seemed that someone either liked this opaque and ambiguous way or used it unscrupulously," Badilla comments.
According to Korazym.org, the articles against Becciu were part of a media operation directed by the Vatican and Italian power centres.
Francis followed "with the greatest interest" what L'Espresso published: "Francis always had a copy of the magazine on his desk before it went on sale," says Korazym.org.
Now Damilano has taken on an advisory role in Francis' diocese: "Maybe an interview with Francis or a new book is on the way?"
Picture: Vatican Media, #newsCtcxidsqxq