The John-Henry Westen Show - May 27, 2022


Abp. Viganò confirms Ratzinger's former secretary for 19 years was homosexual

Topics
Bishop Joseph Clemens scandal Clemens' envy and Ganswein's scandal connection
Hosted by
John-Henry Westen
Mentioned
Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano Bishop Joseph Clemens Pope Benedict Cardinal Ratzinger Paul Bada John Paul II Micah Hickson Vatiliques Archbishop Ganswein Friedrich Mertz Joseph Ratzinger Bernhard Bakowski Cardinal Meisner Cardinal Laiolo Paolo Gabriele Marco Ansaldo Benedict XVI George Klosterneuburg Monastery Marcial Maciel
Retired literary professor unpacks Russian history, explains current events in light of Fatima prophecy 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' – a surprise box office hit and a disgusting anti-Catholic movie

Episode Stats


Length

14 minutes

Words per minute

132.22

Word count

1,962

Sentence count

88

Harmful content

Toxicity

5

sentences flagged

Hate speech

3

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In his position as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had been exposed to much of the dark underbelly of the Church, and had encouraged John Paul II to deal with some of it. Most notably, the scandal around the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, Father Marcial Maciel. But did he know that moral corruption of the clergy ran very deep? Did he also know that his own secretary of nearly twenty years was believed to be a practicing homosexual? As Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano learned when he was asked to look into that same secretary?

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Topics generated with Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct.
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.100 On the very night of his inauguration as Pope Benedict XVI, he asked for prayers that he may not run away for fear of the wolves.
00:00:09.220 In fact, he said, and I quote, pray for me that I may not flee for fear of the wolves.
00:00:15.660 We already knew that in his position as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith,
00:00:21.040 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had been exposed to much of the dark underbelly of the Church,
00:00:25.840 and had encouraged John Paul II to deal with some of it.
00:00:29.160 Most notably, the scandal around the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, Father Marcial Maciel.
00:00:35.580 But did he know that moral corruption of the clergy ran very deep?
00:00:41.940 Did he know that his own secretary of nearly 20 years was believed to be a practicing homosexual?
00:00:50.020 As Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano learned when he was asked to look into that same secretary?
00:00:57.000 All of this came out yesterday at LifeSite News in a bombshell piece by LifeSite writer Dr. Micah Hickson.
00:01:05.420 We will dig into that even more on this episode of The John Henry Weston Show.
00:01:11.480 Stay tuned.
00:01:12.140 Let's begin, as we always do, with the sign of the cross.
00:01:32.160 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
00:01:37.880 At LifeSite yesterday, an article by Dr. Micah Hickson focused on the Vatican having sent a controversial bishop by the name of Joseph Clemens
00:01:47.900 to investigate homosexual sexual abuse allegations in one of the most famous monasteries in Europe,
00:01:55.460 Germany's Klosterneuburg Monastery.
00:01:58.220 That incident became intensely controversial, however, as the Vatican's representatives seems to have closed the investigation
00:02:08.380 without any substantive consequences for the perpetrators and those under whose watch sexual abuse occurred.
00:02:16.860 The concluding report given by Bishop Joseph Clemens in March of this year said, and I quote,
00:02:23.300 The canonical investigation is now closed, and the past has been dealt with.
00:02:28.960 After these tumultuous times, one may now look into the future facing new challenges, end quote.
00:02:35.480 The head of the monastery at the time, Provost Bernhard Bakowski, as Dr. Hickson reported,
00:02:43.360 did not experience any serious consequences for his objective failure in the field of sexual abuse.
00:02:48.820 He was merely to stay away from the monastery for an appointed period of time for the sake of healing.
00:02:55.800 However, he has already been returned to the abbey.
00:02:59.780 But adding insult to injury, when Bishop Clemens traveled to the monastery in the midst of the Vatican investigation into sexual abuse there,
00:03:10.120 Bishop Clemens himself was in charge of that investigation, by the way.
00:03:13.880 So, Clemens goes to the monastery and gives a homily on the feast day of the founder of the monastery.
00:03:20.620 And in that homily, Bishop Clemens actually quotes from the monk priest who is believed to be the most notorious sexual abuser at the monastery.
00:03:31.340 So, this positive mentioning of the abuser's name in a homily at the very monastery where the abuse occurred,
00:03:39.240 it caused huge outrage and scandal for both the victims of the sexual abuse itself, their families, and for their legal advocates.
00:03:47.320 It also served to put the spotlight onto Bishop Joseph Clemens himself.
00:03:53.680 Lifesight, in fact, asked Bishop Clemens why he quoted from the abuser priest, to which Bishop Clemens replied,
00:04:00.560 he said that citing an authored quote says nothing about his person.
00:04:05.480 He added that, again, I quote,
00:04:07.180 citations or references are not personal evaluations, but academically helpful references or necessary proofs of the sources used, end quote.
00:04:17.180 You know, you'd think that anyone with a modicum of prudence would studiously avoid quoting from a major suspect of horrific sexual abuse during a homily.
00:04:28.540 But there you have it.
00:04:29.820 In addition, Lifesight has learned from Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, as well as other reliable sources,
00:04:38.200 that Joseph Clemens, who, by the way, was the secretary for 19 years,
00:04:43.960 the personal secretary of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger at the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, 0.76
00:04:48.860 is believed to be a practicing homosexual.
00:04:52.740 Clemens worked under Ratzinger as his secretary from 1984 until 2003.
00:04:59.120 At which time he was appointed by Pope John Paul II as undersecretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Religious Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
00:05:08.680 Later in the same year of 2003, he was made secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity.
00:05:13.420 And on January 6th, 2004, under Pope John Paul II still, Cardinal Ratzinger personally consecrated claimants as a bishop.
00:05:22.380 So, before bishops are appointed, the Vatican undergoes an investigation into the candidate for bishop to ensure suitability.
00:05:32.260 And at the time, that's in 2003, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano was in charge of such investigations.
00:05:40.820 And I spoke personally with the archbishop about this matter, and he told me that he, in fact, did the investigation into claimants.
00:05:49.220 And I'll quote for you what he said.
00:05:50.600 He said,
00:05:50.920 Working in the Curia, it was my office and myself that made the investigation.
00:05:56.060 And this is, again, quoting from Archbishop Vigano in the conversation that I had with him.
00:06:18.780 And Archbishop Vigano continued saying,
00:06:21.680 My advice, that's Archbishop Vigano's own advice, as responsible for personnel in the Curia,
00:06:26.860 was also that claimants should not be promoted.
00:06:29.400 And that is, of course, promoted to bishop.
00:06:31.660 So, while Archbishop Vigano would have sent his reports to his superiors in the Vatican,
00:06:36.880 he could not confirm that his reports were actually received by then Pope John Paul II or by Cardinal Ratzinger.
00:06:44.400 However, Vigano noted that he was told, and I quote,
00:06:48.780 Ratzinger wanted claimants to be promoted in spite of the information that was reported from Germany to me, end quote.
00:06:56.360 So, Dr. Hickson learned from another reliable source in the Vatican that,
00:07:01.600 or from another reliable source closely associated with the Vatican,
00:07:05.380 that Ratzinger himself had turned to Cardinal Joachim Meisner, Archbishop of Cologne,
00:07:11.800 asking the archbishop whether he could take Clemens into his diocese.
00:07:17.100 I can confirm, wrote Leifzeit's source, who spoke under condition of anonymity,
00:07:24.100 that Cardinal Meisner told us that he refused the request of Ratzinger to welcome claimants in Cologne,
00:07:30.920 and that he did so with the words, no, because of homo, meaning homosexuality.
00:07:35.940 And Meisner also wanted to offer claimants therapy, which, by the way, claimants declined.
00:07:45.360 Another source in Rome told Leifzeit, quote,
00:07:48.420 the fact that Joseph claimants was and is an active homosexual is well known among us here in Rome, end quote. 0.68
00:07:54.540 And yet, an additional contact in Rome was able to confirm with his own sources that claimants is an active homosexual. 0.78
00:08:03.220 So, Leifzeit reached out to Bishop Clemens himself, asking him to comment on these facts laid out in this report,
00:08:10.260 both directly relating to his own personal life as well as relating to the position of church officials.
00:08:15.220 Clemens said that the claim that he is a practicing homosexual is an untruth.
00:08:21.780 And later, he added, when questioned about the immorality of homosexual acts of a priest, he said, and I quote,
00:08:28.220 this is known to a moral theologian who wrote his doctoral thesis in moral theology, end quote, of course, speaking of himself.
00:08:34.640 So, when asked about Cardinal Laiolo and Archbishop Vigano and their statements,
00:08:40.860 claimants explained that he has no knowledge of it.
00:08:43.280 And furthermore, he told Leifzeit that he would not answer any further questions because he said, quote,
00:08:48.420 by giving you these clear and unambiguous answers, I consider this matter to be closed, end quote.
00:08:55.420 Media requests concerning Bishop Clemens to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, the Vatican Press Office,
00:09:01.700 as well as Cardinal Laiolo himself, have remained unanswered.
00:09:05.860 The Archdiocese of Vienna, Austria, did not respond to our media requests either,
00:09:10.760 since Bishop Clemens claimed to have followed Vienna's assessment of the different abuse cases.
00:09:15.920 Leifzeit sought information from them, but was denied that information.
00:09:20.420 Provost Bernhard Bakowski has also not responded to Leifzeit's media inquiries.
00:09:26.220 However, there's one more interesting thing that Archbishop Vigano told me.
00:09:32.880 He said, and I quote,
00:09:34.420 It was reported to me that there was quite a fight between Ganswein and Clemens.
00:09:40.860 Of course, he's referring there to now Archbishop Georg Ganswein.
00:09:47.280 Georg Ganswein was appointed the new secretary to our Cardinal Ratzinger,
00:09:53.500 and later Pope Benedict, in 2003.
00:09:57.680 And thus, Archbishop Ganswein was the secretary to the Pope when Ratzinger was elected Pope Benedict,
00:10:05.580 of course, in 2005.
00:10:08.200 So, that there were scenes, even public scenes of clash between Clemens and Ganswein,
00:10:15.240 after Clemens was sidelined,
00:10:17.140 was actually recorded or noted, you might say, in the book called In the Closet of the Vatican
00:10:23.960 by that homosexual activist Frederick Martell,
00:10:27.340 who wrote that there took place, and I quote, 0.90
00:10:30.040 domestic scenes in public,
00:10:32.740 George's, that's he was referring, of course, to Georg Ganswein,
00:10:35.940 George's refusal to give his new telephone number to Joseph, meaning Joseph Clemens,
00:10:40.920 and finally, and this is again quoting from the book,
00:10:43.740 and finally, the remake of the public scandal in a modern version of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral
00:10:50.420 via the last episode of this series of Vatiliques, end quote.
00:10:56.300 So there, Martell is drawing a connection between Clemens and the Vatiliques scandal,
00:11:02.320 which many believe sparked Pope Benedict's resignation.
00:11:05.320 And Martell is actually not the only one who saw a link between Clemens and the Vatiliques scandal.
00:11:12.000 It was the German Vatican journalist Paul Bada,
00:11:15.540 who at the time of the Vatiliques scandal on July 15, 2012,
00:11:19.800 wrote in Die Welt, that's the German newspaper for which he writes,
00:11:23.820 he wrote about Joseph Clemens saying that his jealousy,
00:11:28.180 that it's his jealousy that might have made him encourage papal butler Paolo Gabriele
00:11:33.320 to steal documents from Ratzinger's desk,
00:11:36.280 which would shed a bad light on the new secretary, Genswein.
00:11:40.140 The drama in the Vatican, wrote Bada in his article,
00:11:44.120 is not a coup and not a palace revolution.
00:11:47.180 Instead, it becomes clear that it is about envy of the proximity of the Pope, end quote.
00:11:53.360 Paul Bada, the German Vatican expert,
00:11:56.620 one of the people who are envious of Genswein's closeness to the Pope was Joseph Clemens,
00:12:02.720 who, says Bada,
00:12:04.220 who for years has not succeeded in keeping secret and in check
00:12:08.500 an almost irrational envy of his successor at the Pope's side.
00:12:13.640 He had served Joseph Ratzinger for 19 years,
00:12:17.000 that he considers his successor,
00:12:19.260 meaning, of course, Genswein, 0.66
00:12:20.960 an incompetent collaborator of the pontiff,
00:12:24.460 has long been whistled by the Roman sparrows from the rooftops, end quote.
00:12:29.920 It is not overstated, said Bada,
00:12:32.880 that Clemens, along with two others,
00:12:35.580 stood at next or in front of Paolo Gabriele,
00:12:39.560 that is the Vatilique scandal butler
00:12:41.600 who stole the papal documents and leaked them to the journalists.
00:12:45.780 Another one.
00:12:46.440 The Italian Vatican journalist Marco Ansaldo
00:12:50.060 also picked up this story
00:12:52.360 and suggested that part of the investigation of Vatiliques
00:12:55.980 that was then pursued by the three cardinals
00:12:59.580 upon Pope Benedict's request
00:13:01.240 also investigated Clemens.
00:13:04.220 And I'll quote from Ansaldo now.
00:13:06.280 He said, quote,
00:13:07.320 Even the sparrows on the rooftops of the Vatican,
00:13:10.340 and this was written in July 2012,
00:13:12.760 know of the envy nurtured by Clemens
00:13:15.440 who abandoned his position as Ratzinger's secretary
00:13:19.220 after having been close to him for so many years in 2003,
00:13:24.220 asking for a promotion to bishop, end quote.
00:13:27.660 Perhaps the trouble with Clemens
00:13:30.120 was what spurred Pope Benedict
00:13:32.640 in his first official document
00:13:35.720 in his own papacy in 2005
00:13:38.120 to issue a document
00:13:39.900 which strongly reiterated the Church's position
00:13:43.380 that homosexuals should not be admitted to seminaries 1.00
00:13:47.180 and become priests. 0.97
00:13:48.820 The document stated that,
00:13:50.340 and I quote,
00:13:50.940 Who knows what it is,
00:14:10.780 but very interesting indeed.
00:14:12.800 For LifeSite News,
00:14:14.060 this is John Henry Weston.
00:14:15.740 May God bless you.
00:14:16.440 For LifeSite News,
00:14:16.780 draining their own trust,
00:14:17.680 and that not to say motifs is입니다.
00:14:18.920 Those were always heartbreaking.
00:14:20.360 Transcription by CastingWords