Cardinal Fernández, preferring the company of atheists, unleashes tirade against traditionalists. Persecution complex in high places.

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández attacks InfoVaticana and other Catholic media

Journalist Javier Cercas's new book on Pope Francis, "God's Fool at the End of the World," is being announced with great fanfare in various media outlets.

Cercas, a self-confessed atheist who proudly wears it, has been parading around radio and television studios for several weeks to announce his new book, in which he outlines his views on Pope Francis. The hype surrounding this book is so great that it was featured on Vatican News just a few days ago.

Our editorial team has received a page from Cercas's book containing a conversation with Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect for the Doctrine of the Faith.

With a victim-like tone, the man who should be the guardian of the Catholic Faith asserts that in recent years he has been "very suspicious to the far right, to the traditionalists, who have always monitored every little thing I said or did. Therefore, as you know, my appointment has aroused the ire of those sectors, who have been trying to destroy me for several months by any means... By any means... These people have been watching me my entire life... They even recorded my homilies when I was Bishop of La Plata, and then attacked them on those Spanish websites, like InfoVaticana or InfoCatólica, or on Aciprensa."

The Argentine cardinal is putting the spotlight on the leading Spanish-language media outlets and speaking of an alleged campaign to destroy him... By any means? Leaving aside the other two media outlets, Cardinal Fernández is particularly critical of InfoVaticana because we are the classic website "that systematically denigrates Francis: constant persecution, with mockery, with malice..."

These statements, more appropriate to a political sphere than to the pastoral dialogue that the Church so promotes, show the cardinal's evident discomfort with those who, out of fidelity to the Church's tradition, have publicly questioned his theological interpretations, his doctrinal approach, and his ideological closeness to ecclesial progressivism.

Tucho Fernández should know that our commitment is to the truth, freedom of the press, and fidelity to the Church's perennial teaching. If Cardinal Fernández feels "persecuted" by the publication of his own words, sermons, and public decisions, perhaps the problem lies not with the media that report them, but with the content of those statements.

It is striking that the Prefect of the Doctrine of the Faith, called to safeguard sound doctrine, prefers to disqualify those who engage in critical analysis rather than respond with sound theological arguments. Furthermore, in a context where there is a demand for "welcome for all" and criticism of the "labeling" of individuals within the Church, Fernández does not hesitate to apply ideological labels to media outlets that do not agree with his line.

The mention of our outlet in a widely read book only confirms the important role that InfoVaticana has played as a benchmark for independent and orthodox analysis in the Spanish-speaking Catholic world. We will continue to do our work with rigor and freedom, despite those who would prefer a submissive and uncritical press.

Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández's criticism also echoes that of Spanish-born Cardinal Cristóbal López Romero, who, more subtly, referred to us in an interview published last week in the newspaper El País as "a certain blog that has the name of the Vatican in its title and insults the Pope."

They can keep barking, but their threats and inconsistent statements won't stop us, no matter how much they wear red biretta hats.

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