Hands of the Holy Father
by Christopher A. Ferrara, Esq.
Regular readers of The Fatima Crusader know that for the
past several years certain members of the Vatican bureaucracy have been
attempting to silence this apostolate by forcing Father Nicholas Gruner to
return to the Diocese of Avellino, where he was ordained 24 years ago. Their plan was very
simple: (1) order Father Gruner to find another bishop to incardinate him; then
(2) prevent any bishop in the world from incardinating Father Gruner, then (3)
accuse Father Gruner of “disobedience” in “failing” to find
another bishop, and finally (4) order him to return to Avellino under threat of
suspension from the priesthood. Three successive bishops offered to incardinate Father
Gruner in a diocese other than Avellino. Yet all three were directed not to
honor their offers by the same Vatican officials who were carrying out this
plan to silence the apostolate. In essence, these bureaucrats have contrived to punish
Father Gruner for a situation they themselves have created: Having ordered him
to find another bishop, they then prevented him from finding one! What sort of
justice is this? However, their plan encountered a major snag: One of the three
bishops who wished to incardinate Father Gruner and sponsor his work, the
Archbishop of Hyderabad, decided he could no longer tolerate such improper
coercion by Vatican bureaucrats. Early last year the Archbishop issued a decree
affirming his incardination of Father Gruner and granting Father Gruner
permission to engage in the work of this apostolate—which supports an
orphanage in the Archbishop’s territory. (The same Archbishop courageously
consented to be the first signatory on this apostolate’s Open Letter To
The Holy Father, published April 2, 1998 in Il Messaggero,
Rome’s largest daily newspaper.) The Vatican bureaucrats’ response? They
simply declared that this valid incardination is “non-existent”! In
other words, if even an Archbishop does not bow to their improper demands, the
bureaucrats will simply declare his actions null and void.
Nothing will stand in their way. How can they do this? Believe it or not, they
have declared (in papers filed in Father Gruner’s canonical case) that
they have the right to prevent Father Gruner’s incardination because they
act with the “vicarious” authority of the Pope himself and are the
hierarchical superiors of every bishop in the Catholic Church. That is, they
consider themselves de facto Popes! On November 22, 1999 Father Nicholas Gruner
submitted to the Holy Father a formal canonical recourse and complaint against
these bureaucrats, along with a three page cover letter to the Holy Father.
These two documents, and further letters to His Holiness on April 20, 2000 and
August 31, 2000 (confirming the Pope’s acceptance of the canonical
complaint under Church law) are now presented for your review, as faithful
supporters of our work. No other priest in Church history has been treated in this unjust
manner. In a Church that is teeming with faithless, heretical and immoral
clergy who escape all punishment, it is a scandal that one faithful Marian
priest is subjected to such unprecedented persecution. Even the heterodox Hans
Küng remains a priest in good standing in Switzerland, even though he has
publicly condemned the Pope as a dictator! It is obvious that a concerted worldwide
effort is underway to silence this aspostolate because it refuses to agree with
the lie that Fatima is over and done with. Father Gruner’s case is now in
the Pope’s hands. Please, pray that the Holy Father finally intervenes to
put a stop to this insane persecution of Father Gruner. 