Le Forum Catholique

BREAKING: Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate Commissioner Volpi admits guilt of defamation and lies

Must pay 20,000 euros, make public apology

Will Pope Francis allow what's left of the FFI to survive?

The chickens have come home to roost for Pope Francis' Apostolic Commissioner of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate (FFI), Fr. Fidenzio Volpi, and possibly just in the nick of time.

Rorate Caeli contributor Francesca Romana has translated the first report from Chiesa e post concilio reporting that Fr. Volpi will pay the family of Franciscans of the Immaculate founder Fr. Manelli a large cash sum for his "defamation and lies" and make public apologies on all websites he runs and in a letter to all FI friars and nuns.

For regular readers of this blog, you know that Fr. Volpi was brought in for just one reason: to crush one of the fastest-growing, traditional-minded religious orders in the world -- but not on his own: as he admitted in the past, at least in his words, he was "specifically ordered by the Vicar of Christ," Pope Francis to carry out his mission.

Our questions now are simple:

Will Pope Francis now finally rein this man in and force his boot off the throat of an order that only wants to serve God as the saints have all served Him for two millennia?

And will Pope Francis finally end this unjust commissioning and allow the poor friars who have had to flee the grip of this cruel man to return to their sworn vows and live out the remainder of their vocations in peace? We pray to hear in the affirmative soon.

From Italian blog Chiesa e post concilio:

Is this a fruit of the Rosaries and fervent prayers at Santa Maria Maggiore?
For the moment the only source is Don Camillo (a priest blogger) whom I know is close to the Manelli family; for this reason I trust the source and thank him for the information. Original text [click] here.

Is the justice of men more efficient than ecclesiastical justice - of the new-church that is - which seems to have just discovered Mercy only today?

I’m wondering though, why Don Camillo can attribute what happened, to Benedict XVI, seeing that the Decree of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, wherein the Commissioning of the Franciscans of the Immaculate is laid out, with the subsequent destitution of the Founder and General Minster of the religious Institute (and its Council), is dated 11th July 2013.

The Decree, signed by the Cardinal Prefect, João Braz de Aviz and by the Archbishop Secretary, José Carballo, OFM, deprived the Superiors of the Franciscans of the Immaculate of any authority, entrusting the government of the Institute to an "Apostolic Commissioner”, Father Fidenzio Volpi, a Capuchin. A decree, what’s more, that doesn’t mention any misdeed, nor acts expressly and directly against the good of the Religious Institute. And with no reference to any question or motivation that regard properly faith, morals or discipline.

And it was confirmed in writing by Pope Francis, which made any recourse to appeal not possible.

I have never involved myself too much regarding the situation of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, but a sentence emitted by the Mediation Organism (Organismo di Mediazione forense) of the Roman Tribunal on the 12th of February is just too juicy!

The Facts:

On December 8th 2013, Father Fidenzio Volpi wrote in a letter:

“A thing which is extremely grave – and I bring to your official knowledge only now – was the transfer of assets of moveable goods and immovable real estate, belonging to the Institute, to lay people, known as spiritual sons (or daughters) and family members of the Founder, Father Stefano M. Manelli, and also to some parents of the nuns.” Father Volpi continues: “Such maneuvers, gravely illicit from a moral and canonical point of view, with repercussions in the civil and penal sphere, occurred after the nomination of the Apostolic Commissioner, thus manifesting the will to subtract such funds from the control of the Holy See.” The Commissioner tries to conceal the measures regarding it: “Those who have done or permitted all of this have fallen into grave fault, and, if a religious, are subject to severe canonical sanctions. Something similar has taken place also in the works of the apostolate: the publishing house, and television.”

[…] Well then, for these lies Father Volpi, [after] negotiating with the entire Manelli Family, whose honour was damaged, and consequently having admitted his crime of defamation and lies on February 12th 2015, as fair compensation, will have to pay 20,000 Euros to the Manelli Family, plus all legal expenses, the publication of a public apology on internet sites run by him, as well as circular letters to all of the friars and nuns.

Justice has been done!

[Original source: Chiesa e post concilio. Translation by Constributor Francesca Romana (please be kind enough to credit translation if making use of it).// Original posting time: Feb, 15, 2015, 9:30 pm GMT.]

enfin de la clarté !

... nous en faire un résumé ? In french please !

d'Yves Daoudal, c'est expliqué...

Volpi va être promu, il est victime des méchants fascistes !

le jour où il annonce son forfait à complice??? Ça a l'air de bien les faire rigoler!

Le Fr. Volpi a procédé à une mise au point sur le site des Franciscains de l'Immaculée ICI

Il affirme qu'il n'y a jamais eu d'accord dans lequel il reconnaissait sa culpabilité, mais une médiation préalable obligatoire, dans le cadre de la procédure, qui était sur le point d'aboutir. L'accord envisagé ne prévoyait guère plus qu'une clarification de sa part et nullement la reconnaissance d'une quelconque culpabilité, l'objectif étant pour lui d'éviter des frais de justice supplémentaires pour l'institut dont il a la charge.

Mais au vu des allégations mensongères dont il a fait l'objet, il renonce à l'accord, intente un procès en diffamation et réaffirme que des membres de la famille du fondateur ont bien créé des associations dotées de personnalités juridiques distinctes, lesquelles ont soustrait à l'institut une partie des biens nécessaires à son fonctionnement.

Bref, qu'en on se réfère un blog, qui se réfère à un blog américain "ami", qui, lui-même, se réfère un site italien...lequel se réfère à une source "proche de la famille"...cela donne des résultats très aléatoires !

Si effectivement il y a eu diffamation envers le père Volpi, c'est bien dommage. Mais je ne suis pas entièrement convaincu qu'il ne s'agisse pas encore d'une manoeuvre.

Car dans la main courante de la médiation, visible ici, il y a aussi un engagement à payer 20000 Euros (p.6). Certes, il s'agit d'une médiation, et non d'une condamnation au sens strict du terme. Toutefois je ne comprends pas pourquoi le P.Volpi se serait engagé à payer 20000 euros s'il n'y avait aucun tort de sa part ?

Mais je ne lis pas l'italien suffisamment bien pour comprendre l'intégralité de la main courante. Néanmoins je n'ai pas trouvé trace d'engagement de l'autre partie comme l'écrit le P.Volpi : "the terms of the agreement signed on February 12, 2015, which I consider no longer valid on account of a severe failure of compliance by the counterparty."

Severe failure of compliance by the counterparty ? Where ?

Alors.... dans l'attente d'une traduction intégrale.

Cordialement
Meneau

cet agrément était une procédure judiciaire en vue d'éviter un procès. Si maintenant le comissaire Volpi ne tient pas ses engagements, alors le procès aura bien lieu. On verra bien !

Cordialement
Meneau

Prétendre diriger une Congrégation tout en lui faisant un procès, cela me paraît assez loufoque.
La moindre des choses serait de démissionner.

Par ailleurs, il jette aux orties son accord au motif qu'un mystérieux...
..."Don Camillo" (sic !...)
...non identifié mais soi-disant proche du fondateur a déclaré je ne sais quoi, cela tourne à la comédie.

Tiens, à propos, ce serait un truc à faire pour réalisateur de ciné en mal de sujet : traiter cette tristissime affaire à la manière d'une comédie...

Il ne fait pas de procès à son institut.

Des membres de la famille du fondateur ont intenté un procès contre le Commissaire Volpi. Un accord avait été trouvé, mais qui ne prévoyait nullement une quelconque reconnaissance de culpabilité de la part de ce dernier. Or, certains "proches de la famille" ont commencé à prétendre le contraire. C'est à l'encontre de ces derniers, et non de son institut, qu'il intente un procès en diffamation....

...Le non-respect de l'accord par la partie adverse est lié au fait que cette dernière a prétendu que le commissaire Volpi avait reconnu sa culpabilité, par le biais dudit accord, alors que ce n'est pas le cas!

vous acceptez de vous astreindre à payer 20000 euros (et autres) pour éviter un procès, alors que vous n'êtes coupable de rien ?

Cordialement
Meneau

...bien menées. Personne ne doit être perdant.

Les membres de la famille du fondateur ont exposé des frais d'avocats et autres. Ils ne veulent pas que cela reste à leur charge...ni perdre la face.

Le Commissaire Volpine, quant à lui, ne se considère pas coupable de l'infraction qu'on lui reproche, mais veut éviter une procédure longue et coûteuse.Finalement, il est préférable pour lui de payer 20 000 euros et de tout arrêter, plutôt que d'avoir à multiplier les actions coûteuses qui risquent de s'éterniser( expertise, contre expertise, appel, cassation etc.) et de parasiter son action .

Cela donne: 20 000 euros pour les uns, pour solde de tout compte, et une clarification du Commissaire, et pour ledit Commissaire, la non reconnaissance de sa culpabilité.

Je note au demeurant que loin de se "sentir" coupable, le Commissaire Volpi réaffirme ses accusations à l'encontre des membres de la famille et lance un procès en diffamation...donc.

la partie adverse n'a rien prétendu du tout!!! Ce sont les commentateurs qui ont sauté sur l'os.

Et le commissaire Volpi prend prétexte de ces commentaires pour faire marche arrière!!!

Aurait-il pris conscience d'avoir commis une erreur????

de justice et autres engagés par les parties adverses. Par ailleurs, il me semble que l'accord précise bien que le versement de cette somme n'a que valeur de transaction (pas de reconnaissance d'une culpabilité).

vous lisez, apparemment, l'italien donc voici un lien qui vous fera découvrir qui est ce Don Camillo dont parle le commissaire Volpi.

Le moins que l'on puisse dire est que la rétractation de Volpi est pour le moins "pretestuosa".
Le sieur s'est rendu compte qu'il l'avait faite un peu grosse et tente de revenir en arrière. A mon avis c'est quand même mal barré pour lui!!!

si on continue à l'accuser publiquement, fut-ce indirectement. La médiation a échoué. Voilà tout. Un procès équitable aura lieu et on verra bien.

Je pense que le Commissaire Volpi sait ce qu'il fait quand il intente lui-même un procès en diffamation.

Quand à "Don Camillo", j'ai vu qui c'était.

Il est également intéressant de rappeler que certains franciscains de l'Immaculée sont de l'"autre coté" ICI et ont un point de vue très différent à propos de cette histoire.

D'une part votre "fut-ce indirectement" pose vicieusement comme postulat que c'est la famille du père Manelli qui accuserait encore Volpi comme voudrait le faire croire ce dernier.
Or cette assertion est démenti par le même Don Cammillo qui rapporte la nouvelle, elle demanderait quelques preuves et semble une nouvelle calomnie et un prétexte pour la rétractation. (Sans compter que la lecture du PV de médiation signé par la famille et par Volpi ressemble bien a un aveu de la part de ce dernier).

D'autre part, le P. Geiger, dont vous donner le lien, n'est pas le pendant pro-Volpi de Don Camillo. Il est bien plus que ça puisqu'il est lui-même le bras droit du Volpi donc forcément partial. Il est évident qu'il soutient son mentor, au mépris même de la vérité puisqu'il se garde bien de signaler les précisions apportées par le même Don Camillo quant à la valeur juridique de la médiation.

Sa mauvaise foi atteint le comble lorsqu'il accuse les tradis de vouloir la disparition des FI car non conforme à leur vision et desiderata. Qui a donc fermé le noviciat, supprimé les ordinations, fermé des couvents dont celui ou l'ordre a été fondé? De Mattei et les tradis? Non Volpi et Geiger.

..adressée à tous les religieux de l'institut est explicite:


"Object: Clarification concerning the civil lawsuit brought against the Apostolic Commissioner and some comments published on the subject



Dear Confreres

Pax et Bonum!

I wish to address you paternally, aware of the concerns that the dissemination of news concerning me may have aroused in your minds. This information has been spread with the clear purpose of harming fraternal communion in the Institute—a communion that distinguishes our common, united effort to restore among the Franciscans of the Immaculate the original charism that has characterised the service the Institute has rendered to the Church.

I ask you, therefore, to give your careful attention to the following account of events in which I have been involved, and in respect of which there is a malicious attempt to generate scandal.

The divine Master said: “Oportet ut eveniant scandala—It must needs be that scandals come”; this principle certainly applies to us all, so long as we are capable of discerning the truth from falsehood, and we know how to draw the correct lesson from the events we encounter.

On the occasion of the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception in 2013, celebrating our Heavenly Patroness, I wrote a circular letter to all of you, summarizing the events that had taken place since my appointment as Apostolic Commissioner.

In that letter I could not fail to address one of the more difficult trials that, together, we have tackled and overcome, in a Franciscan spirit and with the heavenly protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary: I refer to the subtraction from the Institute of the capacity to use the temporal goods conferred upon it that are necessary for the accomplishment of our mission.

Referring to changes made to the Statutes of the two Associations with legal personality under civil law which own the physical assets of the Institute, I stated that these goods had been placed under the control of persons that include some family members of Fr. Manelli. This statement was no lie, and could easily be verified.

However, the brothers and sisters of the Founder (I mean, brothers and sisters according to flesh and blood), together with a brother-in-law, considering themselves offended by what I asserted in my circular letter, took up a civil action against me to obtain compensation for the damage which they had allegedly suffered.

According to current civil procedural regulations, any action may give rise to a judgement only after mediation between the parties has been attempted.

In these circumstances, on February 12 this year, “pro bono pacis” and in the fraternal spirit of our Seraphic Father, I reached for a settlement agreement with the opposite party which did not involve any acknowledgment on my part except by way of a clarification, and which had the sole purpose of avoiding further civil proceedings before the Court of Rome, with consequent additional costs to the Institute.

On the basis of this agreement, I committed myself, among other things, to publish on the official website of the Institute a clarification, agreed with the counterparty.

I was about to do what had been agreed, when, on 15 February, an article appeared in an electronic publication, whose “sole source”—in the words of its editor—was a certain “don Camillo”, qualified as “close to the Manelli family”.

In this text, it was stated verbatim as follows:

“Padre Volpi, dopo avere ammesso il suo reato di calunnie e menzogne, il 12 febbraio è stato condannato… — Father Volpi, after having admitted his crime of slander and lies, was sentenced on the 12 February...”

The intention of the author, identified expressly as linked to the family of Fr. Stefano Maria Manelli, seems clear enough: to diminish my prestige and the authority conferred upon me in the sight of you all, dear Confreres.

I have not, in fact, been convicted of any offence, nor subjected to any criminal proceedings; nor have I ever—in court or outside—admitted committing a crime, or uttering slander or lies.

I have therefore instructed my lawyers to prepare a lawsuit for the crime of defamation through the press against those responsible, and I have made known to the members of Fr. Manelli’s family my intention to no longer comply with the terms of the agreement signed on February 12, 2015, which I consider no longer valid on account of a severe failure of compliance by the counterparty.

Dear Confreres,

I know I rely on your “sapientia cordis” in considering you partakers of the sentiment that makes me regard the campaign of defamation waged against me once again—taking advantage of the Franciscan spirit with which I had resolved to put an end to the dispute with certain relations of Fr. Manelli—as an attempt to undermine the harmony which, until now, has animated all of us in promoting the good of the Institute and the Church.

I invite you therefore to strengthen further the bond of solidarity that unites us with the Holy Father and with the whole Church militant, just as it unites us among ourselves, under the mantle of the Virgin, Mother and Patroness of the Institute of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate. Let us raise to Her our united prayer for heavenly grace in a particularly difficult moment in our history.

I embrace you all, reminding you of the saying in the Gospel: “NON PREVALEBUNT!”—and I bless you.

Rome, February 18, 2015"