Another wicket (d) down

By chhotebhai

Kanpur, Dec 19, 2023: In cricketing parlance, once five wickets are down, the tail is exposed. The batters have been exhausted and only the bowlers remain, to put up some resistance.

After the fall from grace (pun intended) of Cardinal George Alencherry and Archbishop Andrews Thazhath of Ernakulam, I had commented that for the Indian hierarchy it was now six wickets down. The previous caught out (pun again intended) were Bishop Gallela Prasad of Cuddappah, Bishops Franco Mulakkal of Jalandhar, Bishop K.A. William of Mysore and Archbishop Giam Battista di Quatro, the papal nuncio.

I had then anticipated that the seventh wicket would be that of Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay.

The seventh wicket has fallen, that too of a cardinal, but not in India. The latest to be clean bowled is Cardinal Agnelo Beccui (75) of Italy. He was once a papal probable and number two in the Secretariat of State, the most powerful department in the Vatican bureaucracy.

A three-judge Vatican court, presided over by Giuseppe Pignatone, handed down a five years and six months sentence to the cardinal for causing pecuniary loss to the Vatican, abuse of office, embezzlement and witness tampering. He was further fined 8,000 Euros.

The trial that began in 2021 centred on the dubious purchase of a luxury property, 60 Sloane Avenue in London in 2014 for a whopping 350 million Euros. It was a bad investment that resulted in a loss of millions of Euros to the Vatican, from funds that were meant for charitable purposes. In the trial the Vatican was an “offended party,” aggrieved in our terminology.

In addition to these charges of pecuniary loss the cardinal was also indicted for donating 125,000 Euros to an organization run by his brother in his native Sardinia. He had also made large payments to another Sardinian, a woman, Cecilia Marogua. The judgement also exposed the depth of intrigue and infighting in the highest echelons of the Vatican. More grist to the mill for somebody like Dan Brown. He can now write a sequel to “Angels and Demons.”

What does this sordid episode portend for us here in India? Three wickets fell because of the intervention/involvement of civil/criminal courts – that of Gallela, Franco and Alencherry. Di Quatro had to go because of his inability to enforce the paternity test on William of Mysore, as ordered by Cardinal Luis Tagle of Propaganda Fide on August 15, 2020.

William too had to go because of the sustained campaign by the clergy and laity of the diocese. However, despite clinching evidence they were mortally afraid of going to court against William because they allege that he had the police in his pocket and anyone who challenged him died a mysterious death.

So where does this leave the Catholic Church in India? The inability of the nunciature to get William to undergo a paternity test, despite written orders from the Vatican, and a telephonic request from Cardinal Oswald Gracias, prove the gross inefficacy of the hierarchy to ensure justice. What can we expect from them?

Let’s take another look at the charges proved against Beccui – embezzlement, abuse of office, witness tampering and nepotism. Nepote in Italian means niece or nephew, hence the word.

Can we dare to say that the Church in India is free of such malpractices? The indications are to the contrary. Unfortunately, the lack of diocesan/parish Finance Committees and the opacity with which institutions are run, deprive the community of the truth about financial transactions.

Canon Law has clear cut directives for Finance Committees and the administration of temporal goods. Each diocese must have a Finance Committee that comprises of at least three lay members (Can 492:1). Diocesan goods are to be administered in accordance with the plan of the Finance Committee (Can 494:3). Each parish should also have a Finance Committee (Can 537).

Even the bishop must consult the Finance Committee on major issues (Can 1277, 1281). Administrators are to render accounts to the faithful concerning the goods they have given to the church (Can 1287:2). Since church assets are primarily community assets and not that of an individual, this provision should apply to all ecclesiastical goods.

There is also a provisio to guard against nepotism. Ecclesiastical goods are not to be sold or leased to relations upto the 4th degree of consanguity or affinity (Can 1298). To guard against over valued purchases or under valued sales, as in Beccui’s financial dealings, we are warned that normally goods must not be alienated for a price lower than their valuation (Can 1294:1).

The laity is largely ignorant of such canonical provisions; and the all powerful, all knowing hierarchy/clergy are in no mood to enlighten their lesser minions about their canonical rights.

To avoid embarrassing questions/ legalities, a web of societies, trusts and even companies, are floated, in which there is little or no lay participation. My own diocese of Allahabad is registered as a Private Limited Company. So, who are the shareholders and directors? Anybody’s guess.

We accuse unscrupulous businessmen of floating shell companies for diversion of funds. The Catholic hierarchy seems to have taken a leaf out of their book. These are deliberate, hence malicious acts. This is also why they are reluctant to seek the support or intervention of competent lay leaders, even when they are under severe threat.

They would rather sink under the weight of their malafide acts than come out in the open with a clean slate. That is also why they prefer to hire auditors and lawyers from outside the community. If they have nothing to hide then they should have nothing to fear.

What of nepotism – favouring one’s own relatives? I cannot comment on the deep south, but almost everywhere else clergy and religious choose to employ their own kith and kin in institutions managed by them. Because of this ethnic chauvinism there is often an ethnic divide between the local communities and the clergy/ hierarchy.

Despite Catholicism coming to the court of Emperor Akbar over 500 years ago, we are yet to see a bishop from the vast Hindi heartland from Kashmir to MP/UP and Gujarat/ Rajasthan. This is counter productive to building up a truly local church.

Some may question why I am “gunning” for the hierarchy. I am not. Our concern is for the black sheep in our midst who are bringing disrepute to the entire community. Cleaning and healing is invariably a painful process. Unless we press the pus out of a boil it will never heal.

I.K. Gujral, perhaps India’s most genteel prime minister, when talking about corruption had famously said that when you are sweeping a staircase you have to start at the top. In like manner it is common knowledge that when a fish rots it begins from the head.

I would conclude with Jesus’ parable of the faithful and unfaithful servants. It ends with the sinister warning “Much is required from the person to whom much is given; much more is required from the person to whom much more is given” (Lk 12:48).

Let us then pray for a purging of those elements in the church that are a stumbling block to others; for whom Jesus had said that it is better that they drown with a millstone around their necks (Mat 18:6). For we don’t want any more wickets to fall.