The appointment of Archbishop Gabriele Caccia as apostolic nuncio to the United States brings to a close the tenure of one of the most significant papal nuncios in the history of the Vatican’s relationship with the U.S., that of Cardinal Christophe Pierre. Caccia has some very large shoes to fill.
When he arrived in 2016, then-Archbishop Pierre inherited a deeply divided hierarchy and the divisions were not only internal: Many U.S. bishops were suspicious of, or hostile to, the pastoral agenda of Pope Francis. The bishops’ conference took virtually no action to implement Francis’ landmark encyclical Laudato Si’.
The twin synods on the family in 2014 and 2015 had exposed major differences of opinion among the hierarchs. And many bishops remained reluctant to embrace the “seamless garment” approach to life issues even while others thought it was the only way to prevent the Catholic Church in this country from becoming an arm of the Republican Party.
There have long been divisions within the hierarchy. In the fall of 1894, the first apostolic delegate to the U.S., Archbishop Francesco Satolli, who had championed the Americanist wing of the Church led by Cardinal James Gibbons and St. Paul Archbishop John Ireland, began to turn against these more liberal prelates and align himself with the conservatives led by New York Archbishop Michael Corrigan and Milwaukee Archbishop Frederick Katzer. When the new nuncio, Augustinian Archbishop Sebastian Martinelli arrived in 1896, and was greeted at the dock by Corrigan and other conservatives, he not only had to confront a divided hierarchy, but one in which the larger faction, the Americanists, felt burned and distrustful.
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With thanks to the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) and Michael Sean Winters, where this article originally appeared.
