The theological eruption caused by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández in early November was entirely predictable and serves to highlight the current sorry state of the office he leads.
It has long appeared to be a practice in Rome that a cleric does not necessarily need to have a natural ability for the role he is brought to the Vatican for. The case of disgraced Bishop Gustavo Zanchetta is a high-profile example. When Zanchetta resigned his see in 2017 in disgrace over the revelations of homosexual predation on seminarians, Pope Francis created a new post for the bishop at the Vatican, defending the bishop for the next two years.
