Francis Visits His Friend

On December 22, Francis made a private, unannounced visit to Albano to greet his personal friend, Bishop Marcello Semeraro, on the occasion of his 70th birthday. Semeraro is the secretary of the Council of Cardinals.

Already before, Francis had send a congratulation and a gift to Semeraro. Francis arrived at 1.30 p.m. in a car with Italian license plates.

Semeraro is one of the leading defenders of Francis in Italy. He showed particular zeal when attacking the thirteen cardinals who during the Synod of the Family wrote a letter to Francis in 2015 expressing the suspicion that the Synod was only a pretext while the decisions had already been made, an assessment that turned out to be true.

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