March 1, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) -- Four years ago, on March 13, 2013, an unknown Argentinian cardinal was elected to lead the Catholic Church. The election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio followed upon 35 years of clear, solid, orthodox teaching under the distinguished pontificates of Saint John Paul II (1978-2005) and Benedict XVI (2005-2013).
As white smoke emanated from the Sistine Chapel chimney that March evening, signifying the election of a new pope, faithful Catholics around the world were eager to see who their next leader would be. They did not know, nor could they possibly have known, the massive shake-up that awaited them.
However, a number of high-ranking prelates did know. Some even let it slip following the election that an influential group of liberal-minded cardinals had been in existence with the goal of influencing the conclave to elect Bergoglio. One cardinal even said he was part of the group. He referred to it as a “mafia.”
It was Cardinal Godfried Danneels, honored with standing alongside Pope Francis on the balcony on the night of his election, who revealed the existence of the St. Gallen group. It was Danneels who called it a "mafia" on account of its goal to drastically reform the Church to make it "much more modern."
The informal group came into existence sometime around 1996. Members, which included Cardinals da Cruz Policarpo, Martini, Danneels, Murphy-O'Connor, Silvestrini, Husar, Kasper, and Lehmann, thought they could have a “significant impact” on future papal elections if each of them used their network of contacts, according to Danneels’ authorized biography co-written by Jürgen Mettepenningen and Karim Schelkens.
The group allegedly lost its impetus in 2006 after failing to have their preferred candidate elected in the 2005 conclave. While the group has been accused of being involved in a plot that led to the resignation of Pope Benedict, these claims have been denied by former bishop of St. Gallen Ivo Fürer.
But while Bishop Fürer stated that the St. Gallen group did not officially meet after 2006, and therefore could not have been involved in a plot to force Benedict XVI to resign, this does not mean that the group was inactive.
According to Austen Ivereigh, Francis’ biographer and Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor’s former assistant, days prior to the March 12 conclave in Rome, Murphy-O’Connor was tasked by the St. Gallen “mafia” with informing Bergoglio of a plan to get him elected. Murphy-O’Connor was an old friend of Bergoglio.
As Ivereigh described in his 2014 book on Pope Francis, Murphy-O’Connor was also tasked with lobbying for Bergoglio among his North American counterparts as well as acting as a link for those from Commonwealth countries.
“They first secured Bergoglio’s assent,” wrote Ivereigh. “Asked if he was willing, he said that he believed that at this time of crisis for the Church no cardinal could refuse if asked. Murphy-O’Connor knowingly warned him to 'be careful,’ and that it was his turn now, and was told 'capisco’ – 'I understand.’”
“Then they got to work, touring the cardinals’ dinners to promote their man, arguing that his age – 76 – should no longer be considered an obstacle, given that popes could resign. Having understood from 2005 the dynamics of a conclave, they knew that votes travelled to those who made a strong showing out of the gate,” he wrote.
Because he was over the age of 80, Murphy-O'Connor was not able to vote in the Conclave, but was present at the pre-Conclave gatherings. On March 2, an anonymous cardinal who was not able to vote in the conclave told Italian news service La Stampa that, “Four years of Bergoglio would be enough to change things.” Murphy-O'Connor was later named making the same comment in a July 2013 piece that appeared in the Independent.
In early March of 2013, word began to get around quickly in the College of Cardinals that a powerful movement was afoot to elect Bergoglio.
In an astounding talk given six months after Bergoglio’s election, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, D.C., revealed how he became part of the plan to elect the new pope.
“Before the Conclave, nobody thought that there was a chance for Bergoglio,” he said in an October 1, 2013 talk given at Villanova University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
McCarrick, who like Murphy-O'Connor, was too old to vote in the conclave, said that prior to the event a “very interesting and influential Italian gentlemen” visited him at the American College in Rome where he was staying to ask him to campaign for Bergoglio. The conversation, as related by McCarrick, must be quoted at length to reveal its significance.
We sat down. This is a very brilliant man, a very influential man in Rome. We talked about a number of things. He had a favor to ask me for [when I returned] back home in the United States.But then [the influential Italian] said, ‘What about Bergoglio?’And I was surprised at the question.I said, ‘What about him?’He said, ‘Does he have a chance?’I said, ‘I don't think so, because no one has mentioned his name. He hasn't been in anyone's mind. I don't think it’s on anybody's mind to vote for him.”He said, ‘He could do it, you know.’I said, ‘What could he do?’He said, ‘[Bergoglio] could reform the Church. If we gave him five years, he could put us back on target.’I said, ‘But, he’s 76.’He said, ‘Yeah, five years. If we had five years, the Lord working through Bergoglio in five years could make the Church over again.’I said, ‘That’s an interesting thing.’He said, ‘I know you’re his friend.’I said, ‘I hope I am.’He said, ‘Talk him up.’I said, ‘Well, we'll see what happens. This is God’s work.’That was the first that I heard that there were people who thought Bergoglio would be a possibility in this election.
McCarrick went on to say in his talk that when his time came to speak to all the cardinals prior to the vote, he urged them to elect someone from “Latin America” who could identify with the poor.
He then went on in his talk to praise Pope Francis to the American Catholic students as a “pastor” greater than previous popes. “I think we have maybe never had a ‘pastor’ in so long a time,” he said.
He continued: “[Francis] has an understanding of human nature, an understanding that, though he says some things that maybe would surprise us, but the interesting thing is that if you examine what he is saying, it is what the Church has said all the time. Maybe not what the canonists have said all the time, or what different theologians have said all the time. But the teaching of the Church all the time is the teaching of Pope Francis.”
McCarrick predicted at that time that Francis “if he has two years, he will have changed the papacy.”
“The longer he is in, the more I think it is likely that we could say that he has changed the papacy,” he stated.