Bishop Mariano Crociata. (Credit: Image courtesy of the Italian bishops’ conference.)
ROME – When the U.S. bishops elected a center-right prelate and protégé of an influential conservative Italian cardinal as their president last November, it was framed in much reporting and commentary as a protest vote against Pope Francis.
“Bishops elect anti-Francis archbishop as president,” was how the National Catholic Reporter headlined an editorial blasting the choice of Archbishop Timothy Broglio, while Patheos asked, “Did the Bishops Just Stick Their Collective Thumb in the Pope’s Eye?”
Coverage at the time also noted Broglio’s background as a former aide to Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican’s longtime Secretary of State under Pope John Paul II.
Yet after the European bishops did more or less the same thing yesterday – to wit, elect a moderate-to-conservative figure who rose through the ranks under the patronage of a well-known conservative Italian cardinal – there’s been no such spin.
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