Father Claude Barthe published on ResNovae.fr (May 1) an assessment of Cardinal Marc Ouellet, 77. Highlights.
• When Benedict XVI named Ouellet Prefect of the Congregation for the Bishops, he was considered a Ratzinger follower.
• Ouellet was a rival of Cardinal Scola although both were Ratzinger followers.
• In the 2013 conclave, the Ratzinger party demolished itself because of the Ouellet-Scola duel. In the first round, Scola received only 33 votes, followed closely by Ouellet who later endorsed Bergoglio.
• Bergoglio allegedly promised Ouellet to make him Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
• Ouellet remained a secondary figure under Francis because Ouellet’s Secretary, Archbishop Ilson de Jesus Montanari, calls the shots in the congregation.
• Ouellet’s episcopal appointments follow the principle "above all no rumours, above all no scandals".
• Ouellet, an enthusiastic disciple of Hans Urs von Balthasar, opposes Thomism. • Ouellet’s theological profile is “…More