An agent 007 of Pope John Paul II … a feminist journalist in the Vatican … in Pops women (Ed. Du Cerf), French journalist Bénédicte Lutaud highlights the extraordinary fate of five women who have marked the history of the Holy See.
Hermine Speier, Pascalina Lehnert, Wanda Poltawska, mother Tekla Famiglietti and Lucetta Scaraffia: they all influenced the Catholic Church and developed a particular relationship with the Pope of their time, whether Pius XI, Pius XII, John Paul II, Benoît XVI or Pope Francis. They admire them, consult and protect them.
Intellectuals, fine diplomats or spiritual muses, they reread their discourse, inspire their greatest texts and determine some of their greatest decisions. Laïc or religious, it is in contact with these exceptional women that the heirs of the throne of Peter changed their eyes on the “weak sex”, and defended, each in their own way, their role at the heart of society.
How did the idea for this book germinate?
Bénédicte Lutaud: I work at Figarobut between 2014 and 2016, I covered the news of the Vatican for the French -speaking Roman agency IMedia. My articles then reported on the new impetus that Pope Francis gave in place of women in the church. After four years of investigations and interviews with many actors and actresses of the Vatican, I made a book. It reads as five mini-Roman on the exceptional course of these women.
QAre you who motivated you at the start?
The desire to show how women were able to influence the church, even going so far as to advise the Pope. It is a way of illustrating how much they have a role to play in the Catholic Church, to what extent this role was denied to them, since each of them had to face very strong resistances on the part of the Roman Curia. She has indeed been misogynist and hostile towards them and wanted to delegitimize their role. Their journey illustrates well what can happen, even today, within the Catholic Church.
Among the women you put forward, there are mother Tekla Famiglietti, that you nickname the diplomat of the shadow of Jean Paul II. For what reason?
It was by talking to the Vatican with Cardinal Paul Poupard that I learned his existence. He said to me, “You don’t know Mother Tekla? She was incredible! It is said that she had lunch at the table of Pope John Paul II. ” And over my research, I came across a photo of her with Fidel Castro. I then wondered how a conservative nun, friend of John Paul II, could find herself in the intimacy of this Cuban revolutionary and statesman.
And … what have you discovered?
An extraordinarily romantic course! First, this Neapolitan born in 1936 joined thirteen years in the religious order of Sainte Brigitte (see box), before taking the head until 2016. She gradually established very important diplomatic relations with the great and powerful of this world, in Rome, then abroad. In addition to three decades, she will thus make her order grow, by instituting convents all over the world. In Mexico, where Brigittines have been established since the 1970s, she will play on the strength of her relations, her audacity and the financial power of her order to get closer to José Maria Guardia.
But… who is it?
It is the Lord of the Casinos of Mexico! As a good businesswoman, Mother Tekla quickly saw him a potential donor for her order. She who, in 37 years, has doubled the number of convents of her congregation, managed to transform her order into a large financial empire. Because the new convents are almost always associated with hotels and restaurants, funded by generals donors, such as this ladle of Mexican casinos. Their rapprochement dates from the visit of John Paul II to Cuba in January 1998, and José Maria Guardia would also have played a key role in his preparations.
But how did she get to approach her?
She appointed Guardia, also close to the church, commander of the Order of Saint Brigitte. But if she wanted to flatter her pride, it is because of her privileged access to Fidel Castro. She therefore used him to get closer to the aim of promoting the resumption of dialogue between the Holy See and Cuba and to restore religious freedom on the island. Without losing sight of, of course, her own interests, because she took advantage of her relations and the success of the Pope’s visit to implant in 2003 her religious order in Cuba … and being offered by the revolutionary atheist that is Fidel Castro a 18th century house to house a first convent in Havana!
But why did Fidel Castro help her?
Cuba has been shunned by the United States and the West for decades and that the island is isolated, in particular in particular. Fidel Castro has an interest in reconnecting with the West. He concretely needs help and will seek to obtain that, diplomatic, from the Holy See to restore his coat of arms.
“Mother Tekla is much more than a nun: she has her entries in Cuba, she regularly meets Fidel Castro”
You talk about her as of the agent 007 of John Paul II, as the most supervised mother of the American secret services …
We are in the cold post-war era, so Cuba and the United States are looking at each other in earthenware dogs. The American secret services closely monitor what is happening in Cuba and also the health of Fidel Castro who, at the time, was declining. They will quickly realize that Mother Tekla is much more than a nun: she has her entries in Cuba, she regularly meets Fidel Castro and knows all the influential people around her.
We read that Mother Tekla’s approach is done with Jean’s blessing Paul II. Why did this choice, who did not fail to offend the Cardinal Ortega, the main official diplomatic player in the rapprochement between the Holy See and Cuba?
This is all the complexity of diplomatic relations. Cardinal Ortega is angry with the Castorist regime, given the very hard repression he exerts on the island against religious and Catholics. Lots of foreign religious order have indeed been expelled from Cuba for decades. Mother Tekla is much more in realpolitik.
UIt was not a week after the inauguration of the first convent of the Brigittines order in Cuba, Fidel Castro arrested many Catholics. Cardinal Ortega then sees in the help that Mother Tekla requests from Fidel Castro a betrayal to the Vatican. However, the latter suffocates the case …
Yes, because Mother Tekla has the support of John Paul II, who also has every interest in getting closer to Fidel Castro being able to diplomatically reconnect with Cuba, in order to re -implant religious congregations. Mother Tekla is somewhere much more effective than Cardinal Ortega. Obviously, part of the Roman Curia is on her side, but it is she, finally, who will win. (cath.ch/CP)
Women of popes, of Benedict Lutaud, Ed. of the deer, 2021, 400 p.
Find the Babel* interview dedicated to Mother Tekla, and also discover the journey of Lucetta Scaraffia, the first which unveiled the scandal of the exploitation of nuns.
«La Papesse» Maria Tekla Famigliatti
Fervent traditionalist, Maria Tekla Famiglietti (1936 – 2020) is the abbess General of the International Order of Brigittines from 1981 to 2016. In 35 years, she will make him a real financial empire, by encouraging her rich and powerful benefactors. She will supervise hotels, guest houses and restaurants in several countries, including Israel, India, Cuba, the United States and Italy. She will also tie a long relationship of trust with Pope John Paul II. The media reproached him for exploiting certain nuns, but his order was also praised for his daring and global initiative against the trafficking of women. “We used to call it the paperback,” said James Nicholson, a former United States ambassador to the Holy See. CP
The religious order of Saint Brigitte
Founded in Sweden in 1344, this Catholic monastic order, also called the order of the very Saint-Sauveur or Brigittines, follows the canons of Saint Augustine. Known for having honored Sainte Marie Madeleine, he then included a large number of former prostitutes. Today, four branches of the Brigittine family have survived: the old branch (Netherlands and Sweden); The Spanish branch (Spain, Mexico and Venezuela); The one led by Mother Tekla, whose parent company is in Rome, and which has around fifty monasteries in Europe, Asia and North America; Finally a branch in the United States. CP
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