Il Sismografo Closes After 17 Years
The blog was created on 16 December 2006 and has been a source of valuable information on ecclesiastical matters and, to a lesser extent, on political issues, where it has too often reproduced regime propaganda. The latter is all the more surprising given that the Chilean-born Badilla was a supporter of the socialist president Salvador Allende, who was overthrown in a bloody CIA-orchestrated coup in 1973.
Badilla, a physician from a wealthy family, left the country and came to Rome where, in order to survive, he adapted to various jobs - from caregiver in a hospital to bookseller. Then, Paul VI received him to get first-hand information about the situation in Chile, offered him a job at Vatican Radio, where he remained for many years.
IlSismografo was born under Benedict XVI as a semi-official daily collection of articles from around the world, with commentary and background information by Badilla himself. It clearly followed a conformist theological orientation and was therefore, at least initially, very much in line with Francis.
But as the years went by, Badilla became aware of the level of abuse of power, arbitrariness, injustice and dishonesty that have become the hallmarks of Francis' pontificate.
Several weeks ago, Badilla made the decision to close IlSismografo because of his health.
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