Rome, Italy, Jul 5, 2010 / 13:52 pm
An editorial was published in Italy's Repubblica newspaper last week in which the Pope was accused of humiliating Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the "only" cardinal with the "courage and honesty to point a finger against the 'top of the nomenclature'." But Cardinal Schönborn's spokesman refuted this claim, saying that the recent meeting served to clear the air after a misunderstanding.
A meeting took place in the Vatican last Monday that included Cardinal Christoph Schönborn and Dean of the College of Cardinals Cardinal Angelo Sodano. The audience, at which Pope Benedict XVI and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone were present, was preceded by a private audience between the Pope and Cardinal Schönborn.
According to a statement from the Holy See's Press Office following the closed door sessions, the Holy Father had said in the discussions that it is the sole competency of the Successor of Peter to correct cardinals.
The clarification was made in sure reference to words attributed to Cardinal Schönborn in recent months that set him against Cardinal Sodano for having opposed the investigation of former Vienna archbishop Cardinal Hermann Groer in the 1990s for alleged abuses. He had also blasted Cardinal Sodano for the "massive harm" done by his Easter Mass homily in which Cardinal Schönborn thought he referred to talk about sexual abuse of minors in the Church as "petty gossip."