(LifeSiteNews) — Disgraced Honduran Cardinal Oscar Maradiaga is lending his voice to the cause of synodality in the Church.
While preaching a Lenten retreat for Portuguese bishops this month, the former “vice pope” called for a “conversion” to Pope Francis’ ahistorical approach to Church governance, highlighted by his multi-year Synod on Synodality.
“The Synod is not just an event or event of the Church, it is a spirituality. That’s why I created spiritual exercises on the subject of synodality,” he told Ecclesia Agency.
Maradiaga, who is 82, was one of Francis’ closest confidants throughout his reign. Four weeks after Francis emerged from the 2013 conclave, Maradiaga was appointed president of his infamous “C9” council of cardinal advisers. Before that, Maradiaga spent decades as an auxiliary bishop (1978) and later archbishop (1993) of the Archdiocese of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, leaving behind a trail of scandals.
As LifeSiteNews previously reported, Maradiaga has been linked to financial and sexual cover-up scandals for years, for which he has refused to answer. A book published by LifeSite, titled Sacred Betrayals: A Widow Raises Her Voice Against the Corruption of the Francis Papacy, presents evidence that Maradiaga covered up the abuse and the misconduct of his auxiliary bishop, Juan José Pineda Fasquelle. It also shows he diverted millions of dollars of Church money to fraudulent investment schemes that have since disappeared.
Maradiaga’s resignation was reluctantly accepted by Francis two years ago at the age of 80. Church law requires clergy to submit their retirement at 75. Maradiaga publicly supported Francis’ controversial 2024 document Fiducia Supplicans when he said blessings for homosexual “couples” are “not heretical.”
Created cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2001, Maradiaga’s power peaked under Pope Francis. In a January 2022 interview, Maradiaga revealed the closeness of his relationship with the Argentinian Pontiff.
LifeSiteNews Vatican Correspondent Michael Haynes has related that Rome Reports summarized his assessment of Francis as having “faithfully followed the agreements that came out of the so-called ‘pre-conclave’ meetings, in which cardinals defined a number of steps that must be taken by the next pontiff.”
While touting synodality as “the most important of reforms,” Maradiaga also told Ecclesia Agency that “we need participation. This is the novelty that the Holy Father intitiated by calling women to the Curia.”
“It is not automatic to be synodal,” he said. “We live in a culture of individualism and, in the life of the Church, we have to walk together. That’s why I think we have to make a conversion.”
Sacred Betrayals was written Martha Alegría Reichmann, the widow of the former Honduran ambassador to the Vatican, Alejandro Valladares. Reichmann’s book exposes a web of financial corruption and sex abuse cover-ups involving Maradiaga. It can be purchased by clicking HERE.