We mention bishops here a bit. Not everybody seems to know where they come from.
A short leet is kept in the safe at headquarters. When the bishop dies, or whatever, the Papal Delegate or Nuncio appears. He talks to a lot of clerics, also ‘lay persons of outstanding wisdom’. The Papal Delegate then makes up a shorter leet, of three, and then goes more deeply into how good a bishop they will make for Drumchapel or Dundee or Drumnadrochit or whereever . He then makes up a final group, called a ‘ terna’ and sends it to his bosses, the Congregation for Bishops with his conclusions, , to see if they think there’s a good bishop for Drumchapel, etc, in there, thence to the Pope to okay it or not.
The Congregation or the Pope can tell the Papal Delegate to forget it and start again, but information about this level is difficult to get. We have read that two suggestions at shorter leet level for one Scottish position were knocked back for being too young, but that’s all we’ve found out. Nor have we ever heard who has qualified as a ‘lay person of outstanding wisdom’. For various reasons, we might even offer a small prize for suggestions .
In accordance with Canon Law 1917, the Papal Nuncio is obviously the man. Archbishop Mennini, the current holder, is obviously a nice enough fellow, if a little tardy in replying to our recorded delivery letter in 2014 , and is certainly in with the bricks. Wikipideia says he comes from a ‘family that has strong links with the Holy See’. He was ordained by one cardinal, and consecrated by another two , and has been appointed Nuncio to Bulgaria, Russia and Uzbekistan, before coming to Britain in 2010. He hasn’t necessarily been to all the Scottish episcopal consecrations since then, but he’s been to a few . Before him, many of these were carried out by Cardinal O’Brien. Well anyway, an interesting co-consecrator of Archbishop Tartaglia was Archbishop Raymond Burke. Now there’s a character for you is Cardinal Raymond Burke, as he is now. Apart from being a very stylish dresser indeed, he is likely to be in the headlines this week as the Synod begins.
So there you are. Now you know where our Scottish bishops come from. You may be able, in fact, to deduce where they are coming from .
Anyway, this Synod is in some ways a distraction from the world-wide shortage of those allowed to provide the Eucharist to the hundreds of thousands who have to go without. We are sure that it will not prevent our Scottish bishops from the careful consideration of Pope Francis’s request to think about extending ordination , especially since the announcement of parish closures, unnecessary otherwise, must surely be in the pipeline.