“We must love the Church more than ever”: Interview with Dr. Alice von Hildebrand (Rorate Exclusive)

Rorate is grateful to Annemarie and Thomas Thimons for providing this transcript of an interview they conducted with Dr. Alice von Hildebrand on September 3, 2018, shortly after the Viganò revelations about former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, about whom the long-delayed and long-awaited Vatican dossier is supposed to appear imminently — though it remains to be seen whether it will, in fact, expose the many actual and suspected connections, which ought to bring down many powerful members of the hierarchy. This interview with Dr. von Hildebrand has not been published until now.

The interviewers begin by sharing that McCarrick had been stripped of his red hat by Pope Francis a month prior to our meeting and required to live a life of penance.

Alice von Hildebrand [AVH]. That was a good decision.

 

The McCarrick Report is here -- But First, Remember This Video Where McCarrick Boasted of Helping to Elect Cardinal Bergoglio

 First things first.

In a speech at the liberal Villanova University in 2013, then-cardinal Ted McCarrick boasted of his decisive influence in the election of Cardinal Bergoglio as Pope. Other actors confirm that McCarrick's support was very important for the election:

 

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The full text of the Report released today by the Vatican (461 pages long!) is here.

Some initial observations:

1) The mainstream media has copied and pasted the Vatican's spin on McCarrick, that it was all Pope John Paul II's fault.  While traditional Catholics were certainly no fans of the late pontiff, isn't there more to the story?

2) Jorge Bergoglio, McCarrick's friend, was -- according to McCarrick in the above video -- identified as a liberal cardinal who could be elected pope.  McCarrick urged others in the college of cardinals to talk him up.  No mention of this, mainstream media?  Reading the early press reports, it seems as if Bergoglio had never heard of Uncle Ted.

3)  The JPII cult -- from George Weigel to Opus Dei -- has some serious explaining to do.

4) JPII's canonization is now a textbook example of why several decades should pass before even thinking about canonizing a pope -- or most anyone, for that matter.