Cardinal Kasper: Election of Francis not the work of the "St. Gallen Mafia"

Cardinal on consultations of liberal bishops' group

Did a group of liberal bishops pull the strings in the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio as Pope? The alleged "St. Gallen Mafia" is shrouded in mystery. But someone else was responsible for the election, Cardinal Kasper now reveals.

Curia Cardinal Walter Kasper rejects collusion by the interest group known as the "St. Gallen Mafia" regarding the election of Pope Francis. The discussion group of liberal bishops met after the election of Pope Benedict XVI. The Cardinal told the Swiss Sunday newspaper "Blick" that it no longer existed in 2005. "The 'St. Gallen Mafia' is an invention of journalists based on a humorous remark by Cardinal Godfried Danneels of Mechelen-Brussels," Kasper said. "We exchanged views on our pastoral experiences and problems and the situation of the Church – but never on who the future pope should be."

The existence of the St. Gallen group became known in 2015 through a biography by Brussels Cardinal Godfried Danneels, who was part of the group that had met annually in St. Gallen, Switzerland, since 1996 at the initiative of the now-deceased Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Carlo Martini. About 45 liberal-leaning bishops are said to be members.

Although the circle has disbanded, individual members met after Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio's intervention in the pre-conclave, which Kasper calls a "sudden speech," and discussed the election of Bergoglio, later Pope Francis: "The fact that he then achieved the necessary two-thirds majority in the conclave was not the work of a relatively small 'mafia,' but the work of the Holy Spirit."

No programmatic "sudden speech" in the pre-Conclave yet

In the current deliberations of the cardinals before the conclave, there has not yet been a contribution like Bergoglio's: "So far, there has been no revolutionary speech, but rather differentiated statements. They went in one direction or the other." In Kasper's view, Francis's pontificate is assessed differently based on its style, rather than its content: "My impression is that most Cardinals want to continue on Francis's path."

Many legends surround the St. Gallen Group. Allegedly, it attempted to make Bergoglio pope as early as 2005. It was also accused of torpedoing the pontificate of Benedict XVI (2005–2013). Pope Benedict's former private secretary, Georg Gänswein, had previously reported on political struggles between a "Salt-of-the-Earth party" and the St. Gallen Group before Benedict's election.

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