This is how the series of reactions to the appointment of Mgr. Cordileone as archbishop of the America’s most anti-conformist city can be summed up.
Cordileone is currently Bishop of Oakland where he still celebrates mass according to the ancient Rite.
This is a prestigious role for 56 year old Salvatore Cordileone from San Diego.
He was appointed Archbishop of San Francisco by Benedict XVI last week, after 3 years as leader of the Diocese of Oakland (where 26 priests have been accused of abusing minors) – a vast territory with a high rate of urban crime.
Just across the San Francisco Bay lies his future title of cardinal.
But Cordileone is the bishop - the only one among his Californian colleagues - to have campaigned in favour of the famous Proposal 8 which put a stop to civil unions between same-sex couples.
The Proposal was subsequently declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court because it was deemed discriminatory.
It seems he even contributed 6 thousand dollars out of his own pocket for the campaign and last autumn he wrote to Congress again, supporting marriage as one of the key principles of freedom.
As chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defence of Marriage, no one expects him to just stand by and watch a practice which has already been consolidated in Capitol Hill, where same-sex unions have formed part of the city’s social fabric for years (receiving broad local media coverage).
He had once defined them as “the Devil’s final attack on marriage” and last autumn he organised a petition to try and gather parents’ signatures against a young girl having an abortion (but he also said he was in favour of the death penalty being abolished).
This may turn the clocks back to when Cardinal Levada went from being Archbishop of San Francisco to Prefect Emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in a climate of constant verbal conflicts between the ecclesiastical and civil spheres.
Just as polemic was the declaration he made during a press conference at St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco (where he alternated between English and Spanish) following his nomination. He stated marriage could only derive from a bond between a man and a woman and that he could not see how this could be considered discrimination.
According to the Oakland Tribune, Charles Martel, President of Catholics for Marriage Equality, is expecting a battle.
But Cordileone also has fervent supporters such as Ron Prentice, President of the California Family Council, who immediately expressed “deep gratitude” for his appointment.
Meanwhile, Cordileone is focusing on the “challenge” - as he calls it - that lies ahead of him: the cultural and ethnic diversity of the Nation’s most extraordinary city with over half a million Catholics more than half of which are of Hispanic-Latino or Asian origin.