Francis' Election Not the Work of St. Gallen Mafia - Cardinal Kasper
He told Blick.ch (4 May) that the group of liberal [= anti-Catholic] bishops had no longer existed after the election of Pope Benedict XVI: "The 'St. Gallen Mafia' is an invention of journalists, based on a witty remark by Cardinal Godfried Danneels of Mechelen-Brussels," Kasper said.
And: "We talked about our pastoral experiences and problems and about the situation of the Church - but never about who should be the next Pope".
The existence of the St Gallen group became known in 2015 through a biography of Brussels Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who was a member of the group. On the initiative of the late Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Carlo Martini, the group had met annually in St Gallen, Switzerland, since 1996. It is estimated that around 45 anti-Catholic bishops belonged to the network.
Individual members of the group met again after Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio's intervention in the pre-conclave 2013, known as the "jerk speech", to discuss Bergoglio's election. "The fact that he finally received the necessary two-thirds majority in the conclave was not the work of a relatively small 'mafia'," Kasper claimed.
Picture: Walter Kasper © Mazur, CC BY-NC-ND, #newsShfdndmvlj