Who
is the Vaticanist and Former Journalist Marco Tosatti in connection
with Viganò exposé? (1)
Is he involved with the Opus Dei?
He
was another instrument used by
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò
to blow the horn on Homosexuality and Pederasty
in the Vatican and the Roman Catholic Church at large
But... For whom do they both work?
A Guest Document –
by Randy Engel
To
translate this text into any
major language Click Here
PURPOSE
The purpose of this second guest document from Randy Engel is to
expose the hidden hand
of Opus Dei in the Viganò affair and the role that the Prelature
has played in bringing the affair to world-wide attention with such
astonishing speed and continuity. The Viganò affair is not a
matter of the usual slow Vatican leaks, but a carefully orchestrated
and coordinated avalanche of information by the Opus Dei, which
acts in secret and hides
behind its unidentified members and many alleged apostolates.
INTRODUCTION
It is crucial that readers understand the pervasiveness of
Opus Dei’s voice and point of view in the Catholic media - and that
these influences are rarely, if ever, identified as coming from Opus
Dei. During the last three decades, using its numeraries or wealthy
supernumeraries or philanthropic cooperators, the Prelature has
established and/or taken over many Catholic media outlets including EWTN,
the National Catholic Register, and LifeSiteNews. It
was through these three media sources that originally brought the
Viganò
story
to the attention of Catholics the world over.
Other Opus Dei media outlets that promoted Viganò’s
allegations of
corruption at the Vatican and the call for Pope Francis’ resignation
include Our Sunday Visitor, Catholic Canada, Catholic
News Agency (CNA), and ACI Prensa (Spanish)
to name a few.
BACKGROUND
Vaticanist
and former journalist Marco Tosatti Pens Viganò’s Testimony
The announcement that the well-known Vaticanist and former writer
for the liberal Italian daily La Stampa (Turin),
Marco
Tosatti, had aided Viganò in the writing of the former nuncio’s
testimony broke into the headlines of Rome papers on August 28, 2018.
Tosatti’s story is similar to that of Valli’s.
Tosatti said that Viganò had surprised him with a phone call
“a
few weeks” before their actual meeting at Tosatti’s Rome apartment on
August 22, 2018. The officially retired journalist, who has covered
Vatican news for decades, said he knew the former nuncio as an
acquaintance, but not as a friend.
When Viganò arrived for the August 22 meeting, he brought
with him
a draft of his statement which Tosatti recognized as not being suitable
for publication. It needed much revision in both style and content.
Tosatti said it took three hours for him and Viganò working
side-by-side to re-work and edit the 11-page text to conform to
standard journalistic requirements. In addition, charges against
prelates that could not be substantiated were removed.
When Tosatti completed the text to Viganò’s satisfaction, he
then
proceeded to draw up a list of publications that would be willing to
publish the memorial in its entirety. These included the U.S. based National
Catholic Register, LifeSite News, the Italian daily La
Verità and the Spanish religious web site Info Vaticana.
In addition, like Valli, Tosatti would publish the explosive testimony
on his blog, Stilum Curie.
Time also had to be given to having the Italian document
translated into Spanish and English.
The date of release was set for Sunday, August 26, 2018, in order
to coincide with Pope Francis’ last day in Ireland and his return plane
flight.
Before Viganò left the apartment, he told Tosatti that he
feared
for his life., and he was unsure if he could go through with the
arrangement.
When the journalist took him to the door and attempted to kiss the
prelate’s ring, his visitor refused to let him. Tosatti said that
Viganò was crying when he left the apartment.
Tosatti later recalled that it was he who finally convinced
Viganò
to release his testimony in light of the earlier Pennsylvania report,
which had opened a rare public relations opportunity for the former
nuncio to make his case. Interestingly, when Tosatti (who like Valli
has been a leading critic of Pope Francis) was interviewed by Reuters
on August 28, 2018, he denied that there was any “conservative
conspiracy” afloat and said that the timing of the Viganò
testimony was
“a mere coincidence.”
Like Valli, Tosatti has continued to respond to the Viganò
story.
On October 8, 2018, Tosatti responded to the October 6, 2018, Vatican
(non) statement issued by Cardinal Ouellet instructing Viganò to
abandon his rebelliousness and return to the Francis fold. On October
19, 2018, Tosatti received Viganò’s third testimony (letter)
which
lashes out, this time, against Cardinal Ouellet concerning Ouellet’s
silence on matters directly related to Viganò’s earlier charges
against
Pope Francis.
DETAILS
So where's the Opus Dei
Connection?
On June 24, 2010, Marco Tosatti gave a very personal interview to
reporter José M. Ballester Esquivias.
Tosatti told the reporter that he was a cradle Catholic and
that his early childhood was irrevocably shattered by the death of his
famous sports writer father in an airplane crash in 1949, when Tosatti
was still an infant. For most of his adult life he said he was an
“anti religious person,” although his interest in returning to his
Catholic roots was gradually stimulated by his professional
journalistic career, which involved his regular contact with Pope John
Paul II. Rediscovering the historic fact of the Resurrection was for
him a turning point in his conversion.
His conversion, Tosatti said, was also greatly influenced by the
writings of Opus Dei’s founder, Josemaría Escrivá,
especially Camino (The Way), the handbook that
guides the spiritual life
of Opus Dei adherents. Although he has stated that he was not a
numerary or supernumerary of Opus Dei, the record is clear that, as a
journalist, he has maintained close and favorable ties with the
Prelature.
For example, in 2014, Tosatti was a defender of Opus Dei Bishop Rogelio Ricardo Livieres Plano of the
Diocese of Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, who had given
permission for the sexual predators of the infamous U.S. based Priestly
Society of St. John to reestablish itself in his diocese. Livieres also
raised the Society’s founder, homosexual/pederast Father Carlos
Urrotigoity, to the number two position in the chancery as vicar
general, with access to a bevy of young men at the local seminary.
Every year, the Information Communication Service of Opus Dei in
France in connection with the faculty of communication of Opus Dei’s
Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome hosts various seminar
and special press events for hundreds of journalists from all over
France. On Tuesday, June 17, 2014, the day after the annual Opus Dei
Eucharistic Celebration to honor the feast of St. Escrivá,
Tosatti, who
speaks fluent French, gave a talk sponsored by Opus Dei on the theme
“The Popes and the Diplomacy of Gestures,” at the Espace
Bernanos Catholic cultural center in Paris.
Like Aldo Maria Valli, Tosatti has appeared as a guest at the
Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome to discuss topics of
interest to other journalists.
On November 14, 2015, on the Spanish pro-Opus Dei web page titled Opusdeialdia,
a question was posted on the merit or lack of merit of ex-numerary
Maria del Carmen Tapia’s book Beyond the Threshold: A Life in Opus
Dei, published in 1997.
In responding to the question, the commentator noted:
Marco Tosatti published an article in La
Stampa de Torino on December 21, (2001), in which he summarized
the history and evolution of the image of Opus Dei in Italian public
opinion during the last years. The journalist added that, in his
opinion, the upcoming canonization of Josemaría Escrivá
(held on October
6, 2002) would not raise controversy.
Tosatti affirmed that Maria del Carmen
Tapia – who in 1992 had repeatedly expressed her disagreement with the
beatification – now declared that she “bows to the Pope’s decision…”
Given Tosatti’s attachment to Escrivá’s written spiritual
direction, and his personal and professional defense and promotion of
Opus Dei, it is clear that he is definitely in the Opus Dei camp. And
there is another, not so subtle connection, from a media angle.
A Closer Look at the Media recommended by Marco Tosatti
In connection with the Viganò affair, there is a need to
re-examine the media outlets that Tosatti recommended to Viganò
at
their August 22, 2018, meeting – National Catholic
Register and LifeSite News, La Veritas,
and the Spanish religious web site Info Vaticana.
Let’s begin with Info Vaticana, which was launched in
2013 in Spain by two young men, Gabriel Ariza and Fernando
Beltrán. It
publishes in Spanish and Italian.
The religious website’s goal is to try to “fill a gap in the
vigorous analysis of what happens in the Church.” Pretty ambitious for
two young men, no?
On June 30, 2017, Gabriel Ariza posted a story on Marco Tosatti
explaining that Info Vaticana would now be carrying the
journalist’s blog Stilum Curiae.
Info Vaticana is owned by Grupo Intereconomia,
which in turn is owned by Julio Ariza Irrigoyen, Gabriel Ariza’s
father, a wealthy and prominent businessman, journalist and politician
from Navarra. Julio Ariza completed his law studies at Opus Dei’s
collegial flagship, the University of Navarra, and yes, he is a married
supernumerary of Opus Dei.
Under the Opus Dei system of building media anonymous
“apostolates,” Info Vaticana is an Opus Dei clone.
Next, comes the Italian daily, La Verità, (The
Truth)
which went on the Milanese newsstands in 2016. The director and founder
of the paper (and digital version) is the Italian journalist and
television producer Maurizio Belpietro. In one of its promotions, La
Verità names more than 25 prominent
journalists and
commentators who write for the newspaper. The list includes a number of
Opus Dei members and associates including economist and banker, Ettore
Gotti Tedeschi, a former President of the IOR (Vatican Bank) and
well-known Opus Dei supernumerary. So, I believe we can say that La
Verità is, at least, Opus Dei “friendly,” especially since
it was
among the first Italian publications chosen to run the Viganò
testimony
of August 2018.
Finally we come to three of Opus Dei’s most important U.S. based
media outlets which have played a major role in the Viganò saga
– the National
Catholic Register, formerly owned by the Legionaries of Christ, EWTN which
bought the Register in 2011, and LifeSite News,
a popular internet news service cofounded by the Canadians Steve
Jalsevac and John-Henry Weston. The Opus Dei connection is through
Jalsevac, who is Catholic.
Since November of 2017, when I started OD WATCH, a news column
critical of Opus Dei, which appears regularly on AKA CATHOLIC,
I’ve been monitoring daily the Prelature’s media outlets, aka “media
apostolates” around the world, especially in Spain, Italy and the
United States. The NCR (bought out by EWTN), LifeSite
News, and EWTN itself have been at the top of
that list from the beginning as primary Opus Dei media outlets. They
still are, even more so after the Viganò case.
The role that all three played in promoting and sustaining the
Viganò affair, day after day, has confirmed my initial beliefs
that
Opus Dei is the hidden hand acting behind the scenes to move the
Viganò
matter forward.
The reader is free to accept my findings, or await a more detailed
report on my investigation of Opus Dei’s world-wide media outlets that
should be ready early next year.
In the meantime, the reader can chew on another Opus Dei bone,
this one related to the translation of Viganò’s testimony by
Diane
Montagna, Rome correspondent and journalist for LifeSite
News. Before joining LifeSite News, Montagna was
the Rome correspondent for the English edition of Aleteia,
which has had a long-time relationship with Opus Dei. But most
importantly, she holds a License in Sacred Theology from the
International Theological Institute, Gaming, Austria, one of Opus Dei’s
most important educational entities for studies on marriage and family
in Europe.
CONCLUSION by The M+G+R Foundation
It is obvious that Marco Tosatti is an important member of Opus
Dei and no important member of the Opus Dei acts without the full approval
of the Prelature headquarters.
It logically follows that the Opus Dei was - and is - behind
Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò's apparently selfless denouncement
of Francis as an enabler to homosexuality and pederasty in the Vatican
and the Roman Catholic Church at large.
This is most interesting considering that Francis is no more than
a golem of the Opus Dei.
NOTES
(1) Excerpts from Original
R. Engel's Source
Published on December 17th, 2018
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