Renunciation of the full text of the supplement Woman of L'Osservatore Romano, with claims of Pope Francis – 26/03/2019

As might be feared, the changes introduced by Pope Francis in the management of the Holy See's communications with the creation of a new group that changed style and content have exceeded what has been proclaimed, until 39: the liquidation of the great experience of the women's magazine of the Vatican newspaper The Osservatore Romano, who has led legendary battles, such as the denunciation of the situation of the nuns, used as servants, in the same Vatican.

"We throw the sponge, because we feel immersed in a climate of distrust and progressive delegitimation," writes the editor of the next issue, April 1, responsible for the supplement, Professor Luceta Scarafía. She and the entire editorial board resigned, denouncing that they want to return to control by men.

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The pope suffered, partly from his fault, a defeat he may not have noticed. Her authority could have prevented the end of an admirable experience that transformed the magazine and the intellectual and human quality of Luceta Scarafía into important messengers of the female condition, especially in the Catholic world. But this end has come a long time ago.

The Internal Vatican It continues to produce disconcerting facts that are not the result of the conspiracy of the conservative ultra-conservatives, but of the very leaders of the high summits, where bureaucrats are moving in cbadock and forces capable of taming any "anomaly".

The wording of the supplement "Woman, Church, World", which is distributed every month with the The Osservatore Romano, sent an open letter to Jorge Bergoglio, while in his last editorial of April 1, Sacarafia emphasizes that "with this number, after seven years "our collaboration is interrupted because we have noticed that there are no more conditions to continue it"

The reason: the editorial line of great independence "did not find the support of the new direction of the newspaper". Scarafía accuses the new director Andrea Monda of "wanting to run the supplement" and having selected above a group of collaborators "who badure obedience", giving up any possibility "to open a real free and courageous dialogue ".

Lucetta, the Vatican's most prominent woman, considered the only outstanding feminist, professor of history at the National University of Rome La Sapienza, remembers: "We were not the first but we did, "publishing the" serious grievances of exploitation to which many consecrated women have been and are subject ".

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The phenomenon is rooted in the Vatican itself. "We could no longer be silent: the trust that so many women had placed in us would have been seriously undermined," says the magazine's editor-in-chief.

Maybe the courage to the legendary denunciation of the nuns transformed into servants by so many high prelates, which provoked an agitation in the Vatican and a grudge against Scarafía and the other collaborators, helps to understand why now "a vital initiative is silenced".

In his last editorial, Lucetta writes: "We return to the old and arid custom of choosing among superiors, under the direct control of men, women considered reliable".

The collective resignation, with the ensuing scandal, is the result of the resolution of the cultural tensions that the mensurario of women had managed to spread in Catholic circles.

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In December, the very good director of Osservatore, Giovanni María Vian, who had launched the women's supplement project under the direction of Scarafía, was unexpectedly replaced. Vian had decided before a request from Benedict XVI, the former German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who had indicated the need to open the pages of the Vatican newspaper to the collaboration of women. It was a revolution, a year and a half before the resignation of Ratzinger who catapulted the papacy to Argentine Jorge Bergoglio.

There has never been a clear explanation as to why Vian was expelled from office even though he disguised it as a resignation imposed by the papal will.

The replacement by religion teacher Andrea Monda reflected a profound change. Francisco had been convinced of the need to create a new team within the Communications Secretariat. The entry that most impressed is that of Andrea Tornielli, one of the most influential Vaticanist, confidant of the pope, director of the website of Vatican Insider. La Stampa. Bergoglio appointed him editor-in-chief of the department of communication, charged with lowering the papal line to all Vatican media.

The new prefect Paolo Ruffini preceded the resignation of spokesmen Greg Burke, North American, and Paloma García Ovejero, Spanish, whose departure moved the Vaticanists, who appreciated them.

The liquidation of the feminist experience in the supplement for women follows and completes perhaps a high-flying operation. The Secretary of State, "Prime Minister" of Francisco, Cardinal Pietro Parolin loses power. The bastions of Osservatore and the press room no longer depends on its structure: they fell under the control of the communications department, in the hands of a group of characters loyal to Jorge Bergoglio. The spread of the figure and ideas of the pope occupies more than ever the star.

The epilogue gives the floor to the new director of the Osservatore Romano, Andrea Monda, who claims that he has always "avoided intervening in the female supplement", which will continue to appear. But a bright time in a totally male dominated environment is over. And it will be very expensive in terms of prestige.

Vatican, correspondent.

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