Lo Cardinal Tagle, trailing clouds of Jesuits. Their candidate, the Church's catastrophe

Tagle, the King Midas in Reverse

They say he's nice. Even very nice. Probably. But the truth is that Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, one of the names persistently circulating among the papal candidates after the death of Pope Francis, is the typical case of a window-dressing candidate: smiling, communicative, pleasant... and theologically lethal.

That's true: he has a special virtue, a rare, almost prodigious gift. Everything he touches, he ruins. He's like King Midas, but in reverse.

During his brief and disastrous presidency of Caritas Internationalis, the Church's most important charitable institution entered an unprecedented crisis. A Vatican audit, ordered by Francis himself in 2022, detected "real deficiencies in management and procedures, seriously damaging team spirit and staff morale." The result: he was summarily dismissed, along with the entire leadership. There were no accusations of money or sex scandals, but there were allegations of organizational chaos and abuse of authority. For a man who was supposed to represent Christian charity, this isn't exactly a merit.

But the most serious aspect isn't his executive resume, but his theological thinking. Tagle is one of the leading exponents of the so-called Bologna School, a movement that has been promoting a rupture of the Second Vatican Council for decades. Not in continuity with Tradition, but as the beginning of a new Church. From 1995 to 2002, Tagle served on the Editorial Committee of the famous work History of Vatican II, edited by Giuseppe Alberigo and published by Orbis Books, a true theological manifesto of this mentality. This isn't a question of malicious interpretations: it's enough to read how the Council is described as the "new birth" of the Church to see the drift.

Cathcon: The greatest heresy.  Vatican II as new birth and new source of revelation beyond Christ's Incarnation.

The idea is simple and bleak: before 1962, the Church was authoritarian, rigid, monolithic; after Vatican II, everything was supposed to be dialogue, fluidity, openness, constant innovation. The old building isn't renovated: it's abandoned.

And it's no coincidence that Tagle is also deeply connected to contemporary Jesuit circles. With a doctorate in theology from the Catholic University of America, he has worked closely with the international team of progressive theologians who orbit around major Jesuit centers, such as the Gregorian University and various journals like La Civiltà Cattolica. His "spirituality of listening," his "inclusive" approach, and his defense of the synodal process are merely softer echoes of the more radical positions of certain Jesuit sectors.

His role in the Synod of Synodality has also been significant: Tagle has been one of the great defenders of the "open" model, where the sensus fidelium sometimes seems to replace the apostolic magisterium, in a confusion of levels that is extremely dangerous for the clarity of the Catholic faith.

And now,in the midst of the sede vacante, with the next conclave scheduled for next week, his name is once again being mentioned as a possible successor to Peter. Reasons? Likeability. Media popularity. He speaks English. He's good on camera. And that, apparently, is enough.

But the cardinals should remember one thing: a Pope is not elected to be liked, but to confirm his brothers in the faith, to guard Tradition, to teach with authority, and to govern with prudence. Tagle has shown that he doesn't know how to govern, that his theology is erratic, and that his idea of ​​the Church bears a suspicious resemblance to the one dreamed up by his enemies.

In short: that he be likable, yes. But so was Judas, probably.

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