It is being touted that apart from ill-health in the regrettable resignation of the charming ever-smiling Archbishop Paul Cremona, the divorce and/or civil union issues were also major contributing factors. If so, the more’s the pity.

I distinctly recall Cremona stating that although the divorce issue hit him like a bolt from the blue this was in no way likely to degenerate into ‘a crusade’. Unfortunately, he was overruled, and we all know the tragic aftermath.

The Church does not need curial despots. The age of dogma has happily been put to rest, and best forgotten. Since Vatican II, according to Church historian John O’Malley SJ, dialogue (and mercy) has replaced dogma.

Therefore the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Aldo Cavalli, should beware not to saddle us with some strongly high-handed curial personality, who counterproductively may alienate even further the bemused flock.

Wise and strong leadership are of the essence, true, but not at the expense of mercy. Mercy is an offshoot of love, and we all know what St Paul writes on love in.

Pope Francis – and maybe to a lesser extent Cardinal Walter Kasper, a former colleague of Hans Küng at Tübingen, are shining examples.

Let us remember with joy, Pope Francis’ emphasis on ‘tenerezza’, (tenderness, or perhaps as I would like to think, the sublime biblical notion of ‘loving kindness’) right after his election as Pontiff.