"Tucho" Fernandez and Peronist machine politics. Peronism, the core of his faith.
The relationship with social movements and Peronism of "Tucho" Fernández, the Archbishop who will occupy a key post in the Vatican.
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Pope Francis appointed a theologian who represents the complete opposite of the old church of the Inquisition as Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, a post held by Benedict XVI. His last homily, in which he vindicated "the homeland of Grabois", was criticised by the opposition.
Ten years into his papacy, on 13 March 2013, Jorge Bergoglio appointed the Archbishop of La Plata, Víctor Manuel "Tucho" Fernández, as Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith; possibly the most powerful position in the Vatican after that of the Holy Father. The fact is taken as one of the marks that Pope Francis wants to leave by appointing a theologian of his closest intellectual affinity, but also one who is close to the Justicialist leaders and, above all, to the popular organisations that promote the popular economy and which the Holy Father calls "social poets".
To understand the importance of the position that "Tucho" Fernández will have from 15 September, it is enough to mention that he will assume the same position that Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) held for 25 years during the Pontificate of Saint John Paul II.
Inside the Vatican, the message is clear: the Pope has winked at who he would like to succeed him at the helm of the Church. The Archbishop of La Plata represents the very opposite of the old church of the Inquisition. Monsignor Fernández embodies the evangelising values that he himself taught when he was a teacher: his preference for the forgotten, those who live on the margins, on the edges, peace, forgiveness, the unclassified, or as Bergoglio himself put it "those despised by power" and "the macho church".
His Holiness is a man of symbols. He chose to live in Santa Marta instead of the opulence of the Vatican and now appoints to the centre of the doctrine of the faith a theologian who, like him, knew how to get his shoes muddy in the corridors of the slums and embraces the cartoneros.
In his social networks he presents himself as "Bishop, theologian, poet, interior life and social sense, analysis of culture, popular phenomena, spiritual experience and healing".
His relationship with social movements, such as Evita, the Frente Popular Darío Santillán, Somos Barrios de Pie, the Corriente Clasista y Combativa (CCC); the Unión Trabajadores de la Economía Popular (UTEP); The Movement of Excluded Workers (MTE) and unions such as the CTA, was evidenced on 27 September 2019, the day on which it formed the multisectoral to address the social crisis, and received the members of the "National Roundtable of Dialogue for Work and a Decent Life", who delivered a document expressing the will to compose "a Homeland Founded on Solidarity and Work".
In the document, they demanded the government of Mauricio Macri "the request for the Food Emergency" and "concrete actions to the Government and promoting a multisectoral agreement to address the social crisis in our country".
During the meeting, the social and trade union leaders let "Tucho" Fernández know that "the National Government, democratically elected in 2015, did not want to, did not know how to or could not manage the pressures of those whose only parameter of action is financial speculation and the increase of their own income". And they added: "Conditions were not created to resolve the most basic needs of the humble, the homeless and the excluded, who require basic measures for subsistence and to make social justice effective".
"The homilies of the Archbishop of La Plata are political acts that Axel Kicillof's ministers and the governor himself come to listen to. Clearly 'Tucho' has always done politics from the pulpit", described the Mayor of the capital city, Julio Garro (Juntos por el Cambio).
"The homilies of the archbishop of La Plata are political acts that Axel Kicillof's ministers and the governor himself come to listen to. Clearly 'Tucho' has always played politics from the pulpit", described the mayor of the capital city, in charge of Julio Garro (Juntos por el Cambio).
In fact, the last homily he gave to Governor Kicillof and his officials on 25 May generated mixed reactions when he "vindicated Grabois' homeland" by defending the cartoneros.
Juan Grabois is the leader of the Movement of Excluded Workers (MTE) and also appointed by the Supreme Pontiff as a member of the Vatican's Dicastery for the Service of Integral Human Development, considered the "social and environmental ministry" of the Holy See under which the programmes for the application of the encyclical Laudato si' are grouped.
Faced with the provincial cabinet and the governor himself, the archbishop of the capital city of the province of Buenos Aires said: "Some cheeky person who lives on rents, who lives off politics, who lives off his family, who lives off an inheritance, but does nothing, and refers to the cartoneros saying: 'Why don't they go to work? More than once I have seen from the window the people who search through the rubbish, sort, carry and take care of our planet, because they make recycling possible. But I was struck by one who saw him early in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening, at night. Then one day I asked him: 'Hey, how many hours do you work? He said: '12, 15 hours, because I have a big family to support'. I said: 'But you never see them'. And he said: 'No, I have to choose: I am with them, which is what I would like, or I feed them'.
At that point, the pastor's words were interrupted by a round of applause from those present, including the governor and political and social leaders.
When the silence returned in the Cathedral, Monsignor Fernández wondered: "In spite of this, some well-dressed parasite appears and sends them to work. How far has the cultural degradation of our society reached, where there are people who repeat these lapidary-ideological judgements without the slightest respect for the suffering and dignity of others?
The reaction from the opposition was not long in coming. Miguel Ángel Pichetto, the leader of Encuentro Republicano Federal, which is part of Juntos por el Cambio, said: "The class-based church is not for all Argentines. We are lost with these priests".
The letter of acceptance
Although at first "Tucho" Fernández declined the appointment to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, he reversed that position after Francis asked him to do so again while he was in hospital.
He himself, in a letter sent to social leaders and uploaded to his social networks, explained why he accepted the high Vatican post.
In the letter entitled "WHAT FRANCIS ASKS ME FOR" the Archbishop said: "My friends, Pope Francis asked me to be Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith. The first time he asked me, I gave him several reasons for saying no. One of them is that the task includes the fact that the task includes a lot of work. One of them is that the task includes the question of the abuse of minors and I do not feel prepared nor was I trained for such matters".
He added: "However, when he was in hospital, he asked me the same thing again. You can imagine that it was impossible to say no to him. But he explained to me that the issue of abuse is now in a quite autonomous section, with professionals who know a lot about it and work very seriously".
The priest also told the social leaders that Bergoglio assured him that he would have to deal with something else that the Pope is very concerned about: "Encouraging reflection on the faith, deepening theology, promoting a way of thinking that knows how to dialogue with what people are experiencing, encouraging free, creative and profound Christian thought. This excited me, and I felt that I could not stand aside when Francis was asking for my help.
The priest also told the social leaders that Bergoglio assured him that he would have to take care of something else that the Pope is very concerned about: "To encourage reflection on the faith, the deepening of theology, to promote a way of thinking that knows how to dialogue with what people live, to encourage free, creative and profound Christian thought. This excited me, and I felt that I could not stand aside when Francis was asking for my help.
"I finally accepted with joy, because what he is asking me is a wonderful challenge," Fernández admitted about the Pope's proposal (AGLaPlata).
"I finally accepted with joy, because what he is asking of me is a wonderful challenge," admitted Fernández on the Pope's proposal (AGLaPlata)
Finally, he acknowledged: "I finally accepted with joy, because what he is asking me is a wonderful challenge, although I will have many cons: there are people who prefer a more rigid, structured thinking, at war with the world". And he stressed that: "This Dicastery of the Doctrine of the Faith is like a ministry, which traditionally was the most important ministry of the Holy See. Now more importance is given to the Dicastery of Evangelisation, but it does not have a prefect in charge, as in the case of the one entrusted to me, because that one is directly in charge of the Pope".
According to the archbishop, during his recent days in Rome, Francis himself took care to find him a place to live in the Vatican with plants and a view of the greenery, because, as Bergoglio said: "He knows that I come from the countryside and that is what I need. Look at his gentleness. That is why it is a pleasure to work close to him and to accompany him more closely.
As Francis has done since the first day of his papacy, "Tucho" Fernández asked that "you pray for this task that has been entrusted to me, which will be hard, but also opens up many possibilities for me".
Pope Francis appointed the former rector of the Catholic University of Argentina (UCA) as Head of the Archbishopric of La Plata, one of the most important in the country, on 2 July 2018, during the Governorship of María Eugenia Vidal and the presidency of Mauricio Macri. He replaced the controversial Monsignor Héctor Aguer, who had resigned a month earlier when he reached the age of 75.
The appointment of the slum priest was a clear message to the Vatican and the Argentine Catholic Church. Aguer was a high-profile archbishop and representative of the most orthodox and reactionary curia. He is remembered for several scandalous and xenophobic phrases. Two of them paint him in full body: "Masturbation is part of debauchery, it is animaloid. And pre-marital relations are a sin and a bad preparation for what marital cohabitation means", he wrote.
Earlier, Monsignor Aguer had said: "A Christian person lives in a different way. A homosexual to live in God's grace must be chaste".
"Tucho" Fernández became the third bishop close to social movements within the Argentine Episcopate, after the appointment of Gustavo Carrara as auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires and Jorge García Cuerva as auxiliary in Lomas de Zamora.
"The appointment of 'Tucho' has to do with changing a church that was born in the heart of Europe, Greco-Roman Latin and also Germanic, in the heart of Europe and what Bergoglio has been doing for ten years is to carry forward a church that was born in the New Continent, in the Continent of hope, 'Tucho' is part of that church; he had his trial period in La Plata, in the UCA, as rector. Tucho' like Bergoglio are syntheses and figures of the Second Vatican Council, and Bergoglio is on that path. The appointment of Monsignor Fernández is part of the appointment of slum priests like García Cuerva as archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis is appointing proven and trusted young people to transcend his papacy," one of the social leaders close to Bergoglio and the archbishop of La Plata explained to Infobae.
Another social leader recalls that the cartoneros and popular leaders were present in the Basilica of La Plata when "Tucho" Fernández was appointed archbishop and recognises that the relationship with the priest "deepened when 'Tucho' replaced Monsignor Aguer"; and agrees that the archbishop of La Plata "was always very open to receive and work with the popular movements and trade unions, to help with food in the soup kitchens; in putting the body during the pandemic; that is why his appointment to the Vatican made us very happy," he said.
In a letter published on 1 July, the executive committee of the Argentinean Episcopate expressed its joy at the Pope's appointment of Fernández and highlighted some of the new Prefect's qualities.
Archbishop "Tucho" Fernández replaced Monsignor Héctor Aguer, the same Archbishop who declared that: "A Christian person lives differently. A homosexual to live in God's grace must be chaste". Photo: Diario Hoy de La Plata 162
"We value your wisdom, your gifts, your pastoral experience and we trust that, with the help of the Holy Spirit, you will be able, as the Holy Father himself has said: 'to present in a convincing way a God who loves, who forgives, who saves, who liberates, who promotes people and calls them to fraternal service'," they told him.
The Vatican News website published on 1 July "Pope Francis' letter to the new Prefect". In its opening paragraphs, which begin with the phrase "dear brother", Jorge Bergoglio informs the archbishop that: "The Dicastery over which you will preside in other times came to use immoral methods. Those were times when, rather than promoting theological knowledge, possible doctrinal errors were pursued. What I expect from you is undoubtedly something very different". And he goes on to list your qualifications for the position: "You were dean of the Faculty of Theology of Buenos Aires, president of the Argentinean Society of Theology and you are president of the Faith and Culture Commission of the Argentinean Episcopate, in all cases voted for by your peers, who have thus valued your theological charisma. As rector of the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina you encouraged a healthy integration of knowledge. On the other hand, you were parish priest of 'Santa Teresita' and until now Archbishop of La Plata, where you knew how to put theological knowledge in dialogue with the life of the holy People of God".
The Prelate, who will be 61 years old on 18 July, is considered the "theologian of Pope Francis". For its part, the Latin American Episcopal Council (CELAM) pointed out that with the experience of Monsignor Fernández "the Church will be able to count on a sure guide to open paths of dialogue and reflection so that the deposit of faith may be a spring from which the People of God may be nourished to continue announcing Christ with joy and enthusiasm".
All the social and trade union leaders who spoke to Infobae to reconstruct the steps of the slum priest to the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, showed the same congratulation and stressed that "Tucho" assured them in a meeting in the Basilica of La Plata: "the Church can always deepen its doctrine. If it were not so, it would still approve slavery or the death penalty, it would recommend monarchy as the most perfect form of government" and that during one of the meetings in which the details were discussed to ask the government of Mauricio Macri the urgent need to declare a food emergency "Tucho" assured them that: "When it is said that doctrine is immutable, it must also be said that the Church's understanding of that doctrine is not equally immutable, but that it grows and matures".
Cathcon: Like so many modernists, Tucho is very partial in deciding who is worthy of his pastoral care. Ironic that Tucho is complaining about the immoral methods of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and its predecessors when the methods of the Peronists do not bear too close and examination.
See 'Tucho' the Peronist says Pope has enemies right, left and centre.
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