(Part One)
Before delving into this dossier on Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, the current president of the Italian Episcopal Conference, two premises must be made. First. Many have attacked me for this series of articles dedicated to analyzing the profiles of papabili, which began with the general overview published in The Remnant on February 17. The analysis, they say, is scavenging, because the pope is still alive. 'You're already holding his funeral,' more than one reader has written to me, actually repeating superficial slogans that are brought up every time in similar situations.
Obviously, I do not wish death and pain upon anyone, nor do I pray for these (I would be committing a sin), but analyzing future governance prospects within the Church as well as in civil society is part of a commentator's profession. The only difference between the two realms - civil and ecclesiastical - is that, in the Church, the duration of supreme governance lasts until death (unless there is an abdication). But this fact is merely incidental to the analysis: just as it is legitimate to conduct political perspective analyses for what will follow the Trump Presidency when it eventually comes to an end, it is equally legitimate to conduct perspective analyses for what will follow the Papacy of Francis. That said, I join Michael J. Matt's appeal: it makes no sense to pray for Francis to regain strength to continue governing the Church as he has done so far if we believe that the Church has not been governed but mistreated by this man. It is a matter of consistency. Instead, let us pray that Francis first and foremost converts, repents for the harm done, and, God willing, recovers to govern the Church well or at least in such a way that his disastrous acts are minimized as much as possible, and that he obtains - whenever God wills, tomorrow or in ten years - the grace of a Good Death. The same grace that I need. That we all need. Furthermore, let us remember that prayer is not a magical act, and God does not grant our prayers regardless.
The second premise. A very influential prelate recently stated that there is no sense in talking about progressives and conservatives within the College of Cardinals, because it would be 'a counter-testimony of our faith.' Frankly, this seems absurd to me. Since the College of Cardinals has existed, there has never been unity within it. Why deny or hide it? God acts in history, certainly, but I do not see why recognizing the existence of different sensitivities and different ways of conceiving doctrine within the group of cardinals should be a 'counter-testimony of the Catholic faith.' Rather, it seems to me that it is the duty of those who work as commentators to seek the truth and shout it from the rooftops, if necessary, certainly with prudence. In such a way as not to contaminate the good cause. It is also a duty towards the people of God, who cannot ignore the past or the thoughts of some who sit (or may sit) on the highest seats of the government of the Mystical Body of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us therefore come to the subject of this analysis, Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi.
Strange as it may seem, but true, Matteo Zuppi was one of the few Italian bishops who celebrated Mass in the extraordinary form of the Roman rite after the publication of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum (2007), and, more notably, one of the very few who continued to celebrate in that form even after the publication of Traditionis Custodes (2021).
Modernist Cardinals, a Variegated Galaxy
At the moment, as already mentioned, there seem to be twelve cardinals most in sight as possible successors to Francis at the next conclave, but there are others gradually emerging who might surprise (also negatively). In the coming months, therefore, the number and perhaps even the members could change significantly. For example, without wanting to judge them one by one here, the names of Jean-Claude Hollerich SJ, Mario Grech, Juan José Omella, Blase Joseph Cupich are beginning to emerge.
Certainly, the 'Party of Francis,' the true heir of the St. Gallen Group, has been working for months, if not years (as I suspect), on the next pope, despite recent denials by Cardinals Parolin and Fernandez. However, over the past few decades, the neo-modernist section of the College has unfortunately grown, and we must recognize that within this area of the College, several pressure groups have emerged. We can find the 'radical Bergoglians' or 'acceleration revolutionaries,' such as Cardinals Marx, Hollerich, Grech, Tagle. Then we have those who could be defined as 'pragmatic Bergoglians' or 'deceleration revolutionaries,' such as Cardinals Parolin, Becciu, Roche, and Ouellet (who, as a former conservative, seems to have increasingly aligned himself with the left in recent years). Finally, we have the 'liberal Bergoglians,' those who should (the conditional is mandatory) be welcoming to all sensitivities within the Church, from traditionalist vetus ordo to the most active homosexual lobbyists. Among them, we find Cardinals Zuppi and Aveline.
However, we can also divide the area in another way, that is, not based on sensitivities and methods of governance, but based on communities of origin or 'pressure.' For example, the Society of Jesus seems to be pushing for the election of Hollerich or Grech, as evidenced by the publication of a post on the social network X on February 22 by one of the Jesuits with the greatest international visibility (both inside and outside the Church), namely Father James Martin, known for being absolutely pro-LGBT. In this post, which calls for prayers for Francis, there is a photo in which the pope is not alone, but is, coincidentally, alongside Cardinal Grech, in a context that seems to be one of the meetings of the Synod on Synodality. What a curious choice by Father Martin.
A Disappointed Bergoglian?
Then there is the influential Community of Sant'Egidio, which instead would push for the election of Matteo Zuppi, or, as I increasingly suspect, for the highly influential Portuguese Cardinal Tolentino de Mendonça. In this latter case, Zuppi would be a 'decoy name,' an unfeasible candidate known for his ultra-progressive sympathies and his liberal governance in favor of a Church where there is room for 'everyone, everyone, everyone,' including traditionalists, which many cardinal electors would not appreciate at all. Traditionalists must be shown the door, they must be extinguished. This is St. Gallen agenda. Towards the end of this dossier, we will analyze the possible identity of Zuppi as the decoy candidate of the progressives.
Regardless of this, as mentioned on other occasions, the Party of Francis itself appears deeply disappointed with Bergoglio's pontificate. Zuppi also seems to be among these 'greatly disappointed,' as shown, for example, by his participation (along with Rino Fisichella, Piero Marini, and other ecclesiastics) in the presentation in Italy, at the LUMSA University of Rome, of the book by Francesco Antonio Grana, Vaticanist of Il Fatto Quotidiano (a certainly left-wing newspaper), with the evocative title: 'What Remains of the Papacy. The Future of the Church after Bergoglio.' In the book, Grana quite clearly argues that we are living in a pre-conclave period (considering it was published in 2021!) and that 'Catholics have quickly moved from enthusiasm for Bergoglio to disappointment' (as stated on page 231). The Catholics referred to are certainly not lovers of the Traditional Liturgy, but all those who initially welcomed Bergoglio as the spirit of Vatican II, the very embodiment of the conciliar revolution.
From left to right: Matteo Zuppi, Piero Marini, Rino Fisichella. On the occasion of the presentation of the book by Francesco Antonio Grana, 'What Remains of the Papacy. The Future of the Church after Bergoglio,' at LUMSA University of Rome. Photo taken from the Formiche.net website.
Grana interprets, for example, the resignation of Cardinal Reinhard Marx as Archbishop of Munich and Freising (appointed by Bergoglio along with Parolin and others to reform the Curia at the beginning of the pontificate) as a symptom of this widespread discontent. Cardinal Marx officially justified his resignation as a gesture of solidarity with the victims of sexual abuse by the clergy and a recognition of the 'systemic' failure of the ecclesiastical institution. 'The Church needs the voice of the Gospel and a Church that renews itself,' he said on that occasion. Presented on May 21, 2021, Francis rejected the resignation. 'The Catholic Church has reached a dead end,' reads the German statement on the archdiocese's website. 'I want it to be clear: I am ready to take personal responsibility, not only for my mistakes but for the institution of the Church, which I have helped to shape and mold for decades.' A significant episode, indeed, considering how Parolin had previously curbed the two curial reform proposals from the left (Marx) and the right (Pell). Cardinal Zuppi's participation alongside Vaticanist Grana is perhaps a tacit approval and sharing of Cardinal Marx's disappointments?
On October 5, 2019, Matteo Maria Zuppi was created cardinal by Pope Francis.
A Church for 'everyone, everyone, everyone'
The name Matteo Maria Zuppi, born in 1955 (69 years old), of Roman origin, son of a Vatican employee and distant relative of the Roncallian cardinal Carlo Confalonieri (1893-1986), cannot be separated from that of the Community of Sant'Egidio, with which he began to collaborate even before becoming a priest. In 1973, in fact, he met the founder Andrea Riccardi and began working with lonely elderly people, immigrants, and students from low social backgrounds. Ordained in 1981, he soon showed himself to be a man of great diplomatic sense. His mediation was fundamental in achieving the Rome Accords of 1992, which ended the civil war in Mozambique. Since then, Zuppi has continued to work in the so-called 'parallel diplomacy' of Sant'Egidio, that is, all those mediation and pacification activities carried out by the Community at an international level, very often independently (at least officially) from official diplomatic channels.
In 2000, Zuppi succeeded Vincenzo Paglia as ecclesiastical assistant of the Community of Sant'Egidio. Paglia's name is another highly controversial one in the Italian Catholic world, recently making headlines for his positions that are hardly compatible with Catholic orthodoxy. For instance: in 2017, Bishop Paglia, appointed head of the Pontifical Academy for Life, nominated Professor Nigel Biggar, an Anglican theologian who has expressed pro-abortion opinions, as a member of the Pontifical Academy for Life (despite the statute expressly requiring members to be pro-life); he has expressed favorable opinions on recognizing rights for unmarried couples, including homosexual ones, and has gently opened the discussion on the normalization of assisted suicide; he has described the so-called law 194, the Italian abortion law (which allows the killing of a baby up to the third month of pregnancy), as 'a pillar of society,' adding that it is 'absolutely not up for discussion.'
On January 31, 2012, Matteo Zuppi's career took a significant leap. Pope Benedict XVI appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of Rome. It was not yet officially known how much Zuppi aligned with the more neo-modernist and progressive theological stances. Strange as it may seem, but true, Matteo Zuppi was one of the few Italian bishops who celebrated Mass in the extraordinary form of the Roman rite after the publication of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum (2007), and, more notably, one of the very few who continued to celebrate in that form even after the publication of Traditionis Custodes (2021).
On October 27, 2015, Pope Francis appointed him Archbishop of Bologna, a very challenging Italian diocese in a political context historically dominated by Marxism (that of Karl Marx this time, not Cardinal Reinhard!). He replaced an archbishop who was well known internationally for his traditional line, Carlo Caffarra (1938-2017).
On May 22, 2018, the Italian publishing house Marcianum Press published the Italian edition of Father James Martin SJ's book, Building a Bridge: How the Catholic Church and the LGBT Community Can Enter into a Relationship of Respect, Compassion, and Sensitivity. The preface was written by the Archbishop of Bologna. In it, the high prelate called for 'a wise pedagogy of gradualness' in light of what is taught in Amoris Laetitia. This is a typical expression, also used by other aggressive neo-modernists, to allude to the Overton window, i.e., the technique to gradually normalize a doctrine or behavior that was previously considered inappropriate or unacceptable. It also states that the book is 'useful for fostering dialogue, as well as mutual knowledge and understanding, in view of a new pastoral attitude that we must seek together with our LGBT brothers and sisters.' After the publication of this controversial book in Italy, and especially after his creation as a cardinal, Zuppi lost the favor of many conservatives who might have recognized in him a potential Bergoglian compromise candidate.
Zuppi makes a shocking statement: “There is within us a zeal that leads us to defend the trench of truth. We think this is our essential task and that this means following the Gospel. But it is not so. For certainly, the Gospel is the truth, but it is quite different from the Pharisaic attitude, which announces the Law, while the Gospel asks us to communicate Love.”
On October 5, 2019, Matteo Maria Zuppi was created cardinal by Pope Francis. It is noteworthy that, for the occasion, the pope even created a new cardinal title, very significant, namely Cardinal Priest of Sant'Egidio in Trastevere. The Roman church on which this title is based is precisely the headquarters of the Community of Sant'Egidio.
Almost a year later, on May 7, 2020, a very important Italian Catholic publishing house, San Paolo Edizioni, published another pro-LGBT book, Chiesa e omosessualità. Un'inchiesta alla luce del magistero di papa Francesco (‘Church and Homosexuality. An Inquiry in the Light of the Magisterium of Pope Francis’), written by Luciano Moia, a journalist for Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops. This work also features a preface by Cardinal Zuppi: “Sexual orientation, which no one chooses, is inseparable from a person's identity; in welcoming the person, we cannot disregard their orientation.”
Even more interesting, a few months later, in October 2020, an interview with Gioele Magaldi, a Roman by origin and a prominent Masonic authority, since 2010 Grand Master of the Grande Oriente Democratico d’Italia, an obedience he founded with a distinctly progressive orientation, was released on Andkronos. In this interview, Magaldi stated: “I know the Vatican world well, and among the cardinals, the one I esteem the most is Matteo Zuppi, who, among other things, married me.” He then added an unsettling prophecy: “He would make an excellent Pope.”
A 'magisterium' marked by error
Numerous statements have been made in recent months by Cardinal Zuppi on very important issues of Catholic doctrine (such as homosexuality, immigration, assisted suicide, religious freedom) that go in the opposite direction of what has been the Magisterium of the Catholic Church for two thousand years. Here we recall the most important ones.
On May 24, 2022, Zuppi became President of the Italian Episcopal Conference. Anticipating the revolutionary Fiducia supplicans declaration on the meaning of blessings (particularly those of same-sex couples), on June 11, 2022, a priest blessed a gay couple in a parish in Bologna. 'I informed the archbishop of the event myself,' the priest told journalists, who evidently had no objections, even though such blessings were not allowed at the time, as they explicitly went against the responsum of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (March 15, 2021), which declared 'illicit any form of blessing that tends to recognize their unions' for three reasons explained within it. It should be noted that this responsum was made public during Francis's reign, then completely overturned and contradicted by Fiducia supplicans, published just over two years after that responsum with the sponsorship of the pro-LGBT Cardinal Fernández.
In another interview, Cardinal Zuppi said: “We need to understand what queer means, in my opinion. It was explained to me by a person named Michela Murgia [a LGBT activist, self-proclaimed Catholic, very well known in Italy]. I believe that we should all learn this, that there can be a bond without necessarily having a legal aspect. The point is to care for each other.”
At the beginning of June 2022, Francis created two other pro-LGBT American bishops as cardinals: Robert McElroy and John P. Dolan. Inevitably, a scandal arose over what happened in Bologna, and the Archdiocese downplayed the event, denying that it was a blessing, but rather a simple 'thanksgiving' Mass (the parish priest's version was quite different: the entire celebration was set up as if it were a real wedding). It would be interesting to understand if and how much pressure there was from the Community of Sant'Egidio and its most eminent representative for the drafting and publication of the aforementioned document by Cardinal Fernández.
On August 4, 2022, the cardinal gave an interview to a popular Italian magazine, Vanity Fair, in which he stated that he would have no problem celebrating the funeral of a person who requested assisted suicide, as 'the Church does not admit euthanasia but asks for the application of palliative care': in short, it is not necessary to believe in what the Church teaches to participate in its functions. Curiously, this interview took place while activist Marco Cappato was self-reporting for having made the assisted suicide of a 69-year-old woman possible, in a climate of intense public debate in Italy on the subject.
Cardinal Zuppi's position on assisted suicide, presumably favorable but hidden under 'ecclesiastically correct' language (similarly to other issues), perhaps explains the great discretion and timidity with which the Tuscan bishops - led by Cardinal Lojudice - reacted to the debate and the introduction of assisted suicide regulation in Tuscany in February 2025: perhaps they did not want to annoy the president of the Italian Episcopal Conference too much.
In another significant interview given to L'Osservatore Romano on September 3, 2022, Zuppi makes a shocking statement: “There is within us a zeal that leads us to defend the trench of truth. We think this is our essential task and that this means following the Gospel. But it is not so. For certainly, the Gospel is the truth, but it is quite different from the Pharisaic attitude, which announces the Law, while the Gospel asks us to communicate Love.” From this statement, anyone with a minimum familiarity with the catechism and Scripture can understand how confused the theological categories are in the mind of this cardinal, even papabile. Truth and Law, in fact, cannot and should not be equated, as Stefano Fontana, the great Italian expert on social doctrine, later skillfully explained. Furthermore, in response to the erroneous observation of the interviewer, who stated that “the men and women of today are very different from those on whom we have built much of our theological thought,” to the point of having become even “ontologically different,” the Archbishop of Bologna agrees: “We must courageously understand anthropology, the changes that have already occurred, and those that are rapidly emerging.”
Anyone with a minimum familiarity with the catechism and Scripture can understand how confused the theological categories are in the mind of this cardinal, even papabile.
On April 2, 2023, Zuppi participated in the festival of the progressive Italian newspaper Domani and, regarding Italian Law no. 194 (which allows abortion up to the third month of pregnancy), he stated: “No one is thinking of questioning it.” According to the cardinal, it is an “important secular translation.” Obviously, concepts such as natural law and the right to life do not exist in this prelate's vocabulary. This is not a new position from high-ranking members of Sant’Egidio, as we have already mentioned with respect to Bishop Paglia. It is known that one of the most urgent objectives that the neo-modernists want to achieve—the 'four knots of the Church,' as the antepapa Carlo Maria Martini called them in a famous speech in 1999—is the subversion of the greatly hated Humanae Vitae published by Paul VI in 1968. Zuppi and Paglia are today among the main opponents of that magisterial pronouncement so important for Catholic morality. During the conference on Humanae Vitae, held in Italy in May 2023, there was an intervention by Zuppi, who asserted that there are now theologians who “confront each other on the different possibilities that can be identified and that could indicate a renewal of perspectives. After all, Pope Francis has reiterated that tradition is not backwardness (‘indietrismo’) and has urged theologians to go further with creative fidelity.”
In July 2024, Zuppi took part in the Giffoni Film Festival, dedicated to children and teenagers. In an interview, the cardinal slips into one of the most embarrassing bar slogans, which, coming from the lips of the president of the Italian Episcopal Conference (one of the most important in the world), is tremendously embarrassing: “We need to understand what queer means, in my opinion. It was explained to me by a person named Michela Murgia [a LGBT activist, self-proclaimed Catholic, very well known in Italy]. I believe that we should all learn this, that there can be a bond without necessarily having a legal aspect. The point is to care for each other.”
Once again, we witness the confusion—whether intentional or not, impossible to say: we can judge words and actions, not intentions—between law and truth and between right (jus) and legislation (lex). The problem is that the 'queer family' model defended by Murgia is essentially a 'commune' worthy of the worst communist dystopias, where relationships between husband and wife, father and son, mother and daughter, are liquefied. “Within my family, everything has changed, roles rotate. In the traditional family, this does not happen because it is blood that determines them. A father is always a father. And sometimes this is a life sentence. Both for the father and for the children,” Murgia said in an interview a few years ago. Divorced four years after marriage because “I never believed in the couple, I always considered it an insufficient relationship” (see here), she had “four soul children,” as she called them, whose origin is unknown (it is only known that they are not her biological children). The eldest, if we can call him that, is a “shared child” with the real mother, with whom Murgia claimed to have a homosexual relationship. Now we ask: is this family model what the Church has always taught? The model that God proposes? That human nature demands? A question to be addressed to His Eminence Matteo Maria Zuppi, evidently, possibly before entering the next conclave.
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