How and why in the Vatican they bet on the Mattarella bis
Vatican and Mattarella: facts, names and more. Italics by Andrea Mainardi
The Vatican has looked at the former Vatican with distracted attention. The pontifical quirinal palace of conclaves hosted just four, then, after all: what does it matter. There is the grace of state that has always invested the twelve heads of state.
Some not inattentive purples of Italian affairs smile with detachment. But with concern. Someone is an elector by birth, in the case of a true election – that of the Pope – others no longer. Everyone looked at a rite that was celebrated at the back of their house with undue empathy, where even real conclaves voted for each other; not in an annex of the pontifical tribunal like today in Montecitorio. And in the end there was no need to drag it out for a week.
A fairly widespread narrative tells of a Church that no longer pushes into the Italian earthly social dynamics as it once did; as these quirinal days have gone, it can be said that the Church has learned and tested political liturgies over the centuries with great precision. And he knows how to foresee the endings with foresight. So much so that the encore was taken for granted for some time. Not immediately desired, however.
Certainly not out of disdain towards Mattarella, on the contrary. On the one hand there was human understanding for his repeatedly expressed refusal. Stronger than personal events, of removals to be reversed and boxes to be redone, is the shared judgment of the two Hills towards the constitutional immaturity shown, which has been looked upon in recent days with a certain discouragement in the face of political forces which, while demonstrating that identifying people judged to be of the highest profile were then unable to get out of childish caravanserai, reducing the game to a joke of street games and chalk on the asphalt. That is social media and hashtags. Burning everyone.
The name of Berlusconi has been deleted for some time, as evidenced in the proceedings in the column of the letters of Avvenire , with the alarmed opinions of the readers accompanied on the page by a concise and clear judgment of the director Marco Tarquinio: "Vox populi Vox dei" and "di un Silvio Berlusconi at the top of the Republic do not talk about it anymore ". What has happened in recent days with the guillotine of names in the blink of an eye is judged as a symptomatic and dangerous political childishness that worries the Church, even above all in the face of immediate confrontations of economic and ethical problems. Like the referendum on euthanasia and the diplomatic challenges in the east.
The ending was somehow already foreseen, with sacrifice asked of the Constitution more than Mattarella. To the President as to the cardinals: usque ad effusionem sanguinis, up to martyrdom; Mattarella is asked to behave with fortitude in the service, in this case of the country.
Meeting him for his farewell visit , Pope Francis in mid-December thanked Mattarella for his testimony, “the best of witness”, he stressed.
The day before, Father Antonio Spadaro, spin doctor of the Argentine Pope, had already painted the identikit of the new President of the Italian Republic. Getting it right. “The important thing – the director of Civiltà Cattolica said in an interview with Adnkronos on 15 December – is to give unity to the country. In my view, the question is not whether there will be a man or a woman after Mattarella: the unity of the country counts. Certainly Mattarella has been able to keep the country together, therefore he has been able to be above the parties allowing the parties to dialogue with each other, with a government of national unity ". Father Spadaro traced the outcome: "What we need is a point of unity, a high-level figure capable of being humble like that of Mattarella, with a low profile, who does not want to impose himself but who is at the service of the nation ". Given the situation, an encore was already looming: “He will listen to the voice that comes from the country. Mattarella – observed the Jesuit – believes in the value of institutions that are expressed in timing, in choices, in availability. What will be the requests from the political base will be seen (and today we see them, ed), certainly what seems nice to me is to see how Mattarella's popularity is very high even if he keeps a very low profile. On several occasions he has received real ovations but I also understand his desire not to continue ”. Precisely: humanly sorry for the man, but a popular Catholic does not hold back. Mattarella bissi e Draghi remains in Chigi: “I think we need a very shared figure. The government we have is the only solution at the moment: it must also be a reference on the choice of the candidate who will represent the presidency of the Republic. Beyond everything, whoever goes to the Colle must have everyone's trust ”.
That's exactly how it ended. Word by word.
From the CEI, just Wednesday, he reconfirms it : “Parliament in joint session knows how to grasp the desire for unity expressed by the country. The example of Sergio Mattarella, as a man and statesman, is a point of reference in the choices that must be made in the light of the Constitution ”. On the sidelines of the press conference at the conclusion of the work of the Permanent Council, the secretary of the CEI, Stefano Russo, added: "I do not dwell on particular names, it does not seem appropriate to me, it seems to me that what should be highlighted is that anyone who should be chosen as President of the Republic can contribute, obviously regardless of origin, to the unity of the country as did Sergio Mattarella ".
Apart from the "don't talk about it anymore" reported to Berlusconi by the director of the CEI newspaper, apart from some names not taken too much into consideration due to an evident lack of electoral appeal, others would have been well spent. We are particularly pleased with Belloni and Cassese. But Mattarella's encore and Draghi's confirmation had always been considered the expected scenario; not desired for the political still image of a widespread kindergarten, but the most certain guarantee. At least for the next few months.
Father Spadaro comments with Askanews in the mid-afternoon of January 29: "It has become evident that the Mattarella-Draghi tandem has succeeded in the almost impossible enterprise of mediation between political forces, on the one hand, and guarantee, on the other, of international credibility. We understand how the secretariats do not have full control of the parties, the alignments seem to implode, the parties are changing profoundly and the balance of power between them is changing. In the end there was on the one hand the desire to choose a super partes and non-divisive figure, on the other hand there was a continuous succession of forward and stop-and-go escapes. Certainly it will be necessary to reflect within the parties on their identity and on possible coalitions ”. However: "Faced with a situation of this kind, in a turbulent and magmatic phase in the life of the country, it seems to me that the Mattarella bis solution is certainly a guarantee".
Oltretevere harder, with off microphones and on screens, in front of the image of party leaders . If it were up to them, Canossa's situation would really be renewed: other than heated blue cars, but an adequate period of penance for today's enrichi in front of the president.
Mattarella is not Pope Gregory, he will not impose severe penance on bread, water and ice; but important and serious reprimands are expected. More than what Napolitano dictated at the time.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/come-e-perche-in-vaticano-si-scommetteva-da-tempo-sul-mattarella-bis/ on Sat, 29 Jan 2022 16:57:00 +0000.