A final note on a nαzι war criminal

I've probably already devoted more space to the fracas in Rome over the idea of a Catholic funeral for convicted nαzι war criminal Erich Priebke than it's worth. As a final note, the leader of the Italian branch of the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X this week gave an interview explaining their decision to say a funeral Mass for the architect of the 1944 Ardeatine massacre.

In the end, the funeral never happened, capsized by a melee between neo-nαzιs and outraged locals. Priebke's lawyer had turned to the Lefebvrists after the Vicariate of Rome, which governs the diocese in the name of the pope, refused to allow a funeral in one of its churches.

Fr. Pierpaolo Petrucci, superior of the Italian district of the Society of St. Pius X, insists in the interview that hosting a funeral had nothing to do with honoring Priebke's memory or denying the h0Ɩ0cαųst, but rather obedience to church law.

"The refusal by the Vicariate to permit a funeral for a baptized person who had received the sacraments of confession and the Eucharist, whatever his failures and sins may have been, was not in conformity with the law of the church and with Catholic doctrine," Petrucci said.

"After confirming that Priebke had been baptized and received the sacraments, this decision seemed to us a grave injustice with regard both to the dead person and the family," he said.

In that context, Petrucci couldn't resist a potshot at Pope Francis.

"Never more than today, there's a lot of talk in the church about charity, about love of one's neighbor, especially under this pontificate," he said. "Yet when it's a matter of putting these virtues into practice in coherence with the Gospel, even when it's not politically correct and means running afoul of public opinion and the media, then things change."

Petrucci goes to some lengths to insist that Priebke didn't meet the conditions in canon 1184 of the Code of Canon Law for denying a funeral to "manifest sinners" when the rite would create "public scandal." Whatever one makes of it, the interview confirms what I wrote last week: The episode puts an exclamation point on the epitaph already written for any realistic hope of détente with the traditionalists on Francis' watch.

What's strange is that, as this article says, "the pope's vicar for Rome, Cardinal Agostino Vallini refused him a church funeral. Albano [Priebke's diocese] is about 30 kilometers (20 miles) southeast of Rome and isn't part of Vallini's archdiocese."

How can Cardinal Agostino Vallini refuse a funeral for someone outside his diocese?