Is Leo XIV About to Demote Archbishop Peña Parra?
"The number two in the Secretariat of State has already declined two 'exit' solutions proposed by Leo XIV, but he might consider the post in Villa Giorgina, which would keep him in contention for a future cardinalate."
The current Nuncio to Italy, Monsignor Petar Rajic, could become prefect of the papal household. This post, previously held by Archbishop Georg Gänswein, has been vacant for three years.
Damian Thompson refers to Archbishop Peña Parra as "Francis’s Machiavellian chief of staff". He had admitted to operating with false invoices during the infamous London property deal and thus to misleading the court.
Accusations of Homosexuality
In July 2019, Archbishop Carlo Viganò accused Monsignor Peña Parra of being a homosexual, who had seduced two underage men in September 1990, and that he had seen a dossier about the case. He also claimed, though without proof, that Monsignor Peña Parra was involved in the mysterious deaths of two young men by electric discharge at Lake Maracaibo in August 1992. Both accusations were reported to the Secretariat of State in 2002, during John Paul II's tenure.
In August 2019, Gastón López, director of the Venezuelan daily Que Pasa, told Marco Tosatti and Gabriel Ariza that he had written two articles about a homosexual lobby consisting of sixteen priests, one of whom was Monsignor Peña Parra.
López tried to meet the Nuncio in Venezuela, but was not received.
He therefore wrote a letter to the Nuncio, reiterating the facts contained in his articles. This document was seen by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who was working at the Secretariat of State at the time.
In light of the serious allegations, any righteous government would initiate legal proceedings against Monsignor Peña Parra instead of offering him a position.
Picture: Edgar Peña Parra, © wikicommons CC BY-SA, #newsCkgbxvhzbi