It is Mario Poli, in charge of the archbishopric of Buenos Aires. He resigned at age 75.
for the cardinal Mario Poli started this monday discount time as archbishop of Buenos Aires because he turned 75, the age at which bishops must submit their resignation to the Pope. It is discounted that the resignation has already been presented to Francisco because it is customary not to wait for the last day. Although the Pontiff can delay the appointment of the successor for a few months -and even years-, the appointment would occur sooner rather than laterwhich has long sparked speculation about the possible replacement.
Between the names being shuffled to succeed it is counted first Archbishop of Bahía Blanca, Carlos Azpiroz, 66 years old, born in Buenos Aires and raised from the Dominican order; followed by the Archbishop of San Juan, Jorge Lozano, 67, former auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires in times of Bergoglio and current secretary general of the Latin American Episcopal Council (Celam); and the Archbishop of La Plata, Víctor Manuel Fernández60 years old, from Córdoba.
The probable speed of the replacement could have to do with a request from Poli himself – who met with the Pope in May – or with Francisco’s desire to advance quickly in the configuration of a higher profile than the one Poli had in conducting the most important Catholic jurisdiction in the country, which he himself occupied until he was elected Pope. Poli avoided strong statements towards the governments on duty and opted for discretion in his actions.
Although he was appointed by Francis a few weeks after his papal election -he already had it in the chest to propose him to the Vatican as his successor, since he himself was about to retire-, they say that Poli’s harmony with the current pontiff was not complete. Although everyone in the Church recognizes Poli’s honesty and austerity, there would have been -by case- differences of criteria on how to carry out the management of economic issues.
Short circuits with Bergoglio
At the beginning of May, it was learned that the Vatican had carried out an audit last year in the archbishopric of Buenos Aires y detected that sales and rentals of properties of the Buenos Aires curia had not been subjected to the controls established by ecclesiastical regulations. In addition, he recommended that the “strictly necessary transactions” be made since this November 29 the resignation of Cardinal Poli was going to take effect.
The report did not mention specific operations, but it did note the lack of conformation of the College of Consultants and the Archdiocese’s Council for Economic Affairs, made up of priests and laity, who must supervise transactions, and recalled that when the amount exceeds three hundred thousand dollars, the Holy See must be consulted. In addition, he slipped that “financial advisers” would have benefited from the operations.
At that time, Hundreds of priests from the city of Buenos Aires came out to defend the honor of Cardinal Poli, in an unprecedented event. In turn, Poli issued a statement of reparation to the priests who assist him in economic matters, considering that they were victims of an “infamy, based on subjective and slanderous complaints, very far from the evangelical spirit that should reign among Christians.”
In the first elections in the Episcopal Conference – the body that brings together the hundred bishops in the country – after his appointment as archbishop of Buenos Aires, Poli asked his peers not to vote for him for the presidency. It is that the bishops tend to lean towards who is in charge of the Buenos Aires archbishopric. Nevertheless, he was elected vice president.. Currently, he is the head of the Church’s Education Commission.
In line with the historical position of the Church after the 2001 crisis, Poli urged the leaders in each tedeum for May 25 to dialogue and seek consensus to overcome the crisis the country is experiencing.
