polonus9
02.04.05, 23:40
hen the 117 Roman Catholic cardinals who are eligible to elect a successor to
Pope John Paul II gather in the Sistine Chapel to cast their ballots, the
worldwide suspense about the outcome will be shared even by the cardinals in
the conclave.There is no clear front-runner, unlike in some past papal
elections, many church experts agree. So the cardinals will be weighing a
host of factors, including the candidates' country of origin, age, experience
and personality.
Advertisement
Among the most critical questions facing the cardinals is, should the papacy
be returned to an Italian, or should the cardinals make the bold gesture of
choosing a pope from the third world, where Catholicism is both thriving and
threatened by competing faiths?"A third-world pope would clearly indicate
that this is no longer a European church, that we are truly catholic in the
sense that the word catholic means universal," said the Rev. Thomas Reese,
editor of America, a Jesuit weekly.The cardinal electors come from more than
60 countries, and more than 60 of them were appointed in the past four years.
For many of them, the funeral proceedings and the conclave itself in which
the voting is carried out will be the first opportunity to take the measure
of all the potential candidates firsthand."Each one of those cardinals is
going to walk into that conclave thinking, 'Which of these candidates is
going to go over best back in my diocese, in my country,'" Father Reese said.
With all but three of the cardinal electors appointed by Pope John Paul II,
nearly all his potential successors fit his mold of doctrinal conservatism on
issues like abortion and euthanasia, birth control, homosexuality and the
ordination of women. So the more pivotal factors are likely to be the
candidates' nationality and professional experience.Vatican observers have
spent years now honing their ever-changing lists of cardinals who
are "papabile" or potential popes. Although the chosen successor may not have
made any of these lists, there are certain names that keep cropping up as the
cardinals to watch.Among the third-world contenders most often mentioned is
an African, Cardinal Francis Arinze, a Nigerian with a winning personality, a
compelling conversion story and years in the Vatican handling dialogue with
leaders of other religions, including Islam - a useful experience for whoever
is the next pope.Several Latin American cardinals are also frequently cited.
One is Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, the archbishop of
Tegucigalpa, Honduras, who advanced a social justice agenda for years
president of the Federation of Latin American Bishops' Conferences. Another
is Cardinal Claudio Hummes, the archbishop of São Paulo, Brazil, a Franciscan
who was born in Brazil of German parents. He, too, is outspoken about social
justice for the poor. But he is also said to be more theologically
conservative than the man he replaced; Cardinal Hummes once warned a priest
who worked with AIDS patients against distributing condoms.But Vatican
experts say that the Italian cardinals have spent this long papacy figuring
out how to get it back, and are not likely to cede it once again to an
outsider. The pope, among his other titles, is after all the bishop of Rome,
and many believe that if there is a consensus candidate from Italy, he will
be given first consideration.Among the Italians that Vatican observers are
watching is Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi of Milan, a moral theologian who is
close to Opus Dei, an organization of conservative Catholics. Another is
Cardinal Angelo Scola, the patriarch of Venice, a media savvy intellectual
who has written about bioethics, which is surely one of the immediate issues
facing the next pope.Other Italian cardinals who make the lists of papabile
are Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who has held several powerful positions in
the Vatican but has little experience in the role of pastor; Cardinal Ennio
Antonelli of Florence; and Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, archbishop of Genoa, a
canon lawyer who has served as secretary to the powerful Vatican office known
as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. John Paul II was a largely
unknown cardinal from Poland when he was elected 26 years ago, and he has
proved that a non-Italian can give the church an epic papacy.
www.nytimes.com/2005/04/01/international/europe/02cnd-successor.html?hp&ex=1112504400&en=8d737a01cef6fd9f&ei=5094&partner=homepage
