Liberal successor to Cardinal Ratzinger?

Alessandro Zangrando reports in the latest issue of Latin Mass magazine (Winter 2005) that new details are emerging concerning the appointment of Bruno Forte (pictured right), a priest of the Archidiocese of Naples, as bishop of Chieti Vasto, in central Italy. Zandgrando writes:

The prospect of Forte succeeding Joseph Ratzinger as the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is the reason for all the persistent talk about him.

On the one hand, Zandgrando notes that Forte preached the Lenten Retreat to the Pope last year. On the other hand, however, he also notes that as a pupil of the very liberal Cardinal Walter Kasper and a great admirer of Karl Rahner (one of the most influential liberal theolgians at the Second Vatican Council), Forte is looked upon with considerable suspicion in the Vatican Curia. Particularly puzzling is his appointment as a bishop, given the fact that his name allegedly does not appear in any of the possible candidates submitted to the Italian Nunciature and that even his Ordinary, Cardinal Michele Giordano, Archbishop of Naples, reportedly opposed his appointment. No less puzzling is the fact that Cardinal Ratzinger himself served as the Consecrator at last September's ceremony, apparently in an attempt to put to rest a growing controversy over Forte's status. Zangrando observes:

Forte's theology, however, continues to be a problem. In "Gesu di Nazaret, storia di Dio, Dio della storia" (Jesus of Nazareth, history of God, God of history), an essay written in 1994, Forte reveals himself as the standard-bearer of theories so radical as to the point of putting in doubt even the historicity of the resurrection of Christ. The empty tomb, he argues, is a legend tied into a Jewish-Christian ritual performed at the place of Jesus' burial. It is a myth inherited by the Christians from Jesus' early disciples. Therefore, the empty tomb, along with other details surrounding the resurrection, is nothing else but a "proof" made up by the community. In other words, Forte is trying to change an historic event, the resurrection of Christ, into a myth, into a kind of fairy tale that cannot be proven.

Under such circumstances, we are hopeful that best lights of Cardinal Ratzinger and his clear-headed associates working in his secretariat, such as Fr. Joseph Augustine DiNoia, O.P., will prevail in the matter. And we pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the selection of the eventual successor to Cardinal Ratzinger, as well as, when the time comes, the successor to Pople John Paul II. If ever we've needed strong, clear-headed, orthodox leadership, it is now.