Is it too early/ghoulish to put in a plug for Canada’s Cardinal Ouellet?
Let’s go over some of his wonderful attributes:
1) While not a third-world cardinal per se, he has spend a huge chunk of his ministry engaged in front line missionary work and has had a front row seat for the issues facing the church in these regions.
2) He’s multi-lingual: In addition to his native French, he speaks fluent English, Italian Spanish and Portugese, and is conversational in several more.
3) He currently heads the Congregation for Bishops and has been responsible for the vetting of those candidates. If your diocese recent got a new bishop, you probably have Cardinal Ouellet to thank.
4) He’s thoroughly conservative.
5) He’s not afraid to confront life and death issues head on. (He’s faithfully attended and spoken at March For Life rallies and similar events in Canada for years)
6) He’s the right age (68) so he’s not likely to have an excessively long or short papacy. Probably 10-15 years which is the average in the past couple of centuries.
7) He’s got clean hands. There’s not a hint of scandal anywhere near the guy. (ie: no record of him shuffling repeat offenders from parish to parish)
8) He’d be a good blend of the personal charisma of JPII and the deep intellectualism of BXVI.
9) He’s the perfect blend of pastor/priest/missionary/teacher/administrator.
10) Did I mention he’s Canadian? Lots of good things coming from Canada these days.
The odds-on favorite according to British bookmakers Paddy Power is Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana.
Maybe a historic first....an African pope.
I bet the jockeying for position is in full flow, no friends there when it comes to getting the top job, its like any office, they’d eat their own foot off to get the job, groups will form and the bargaining begins. No frontrunner here, its a case of who pulls off the support needed. Apparently the current pope has packed the college of cardinals with lots of europeans in the last several years, so i would probably expect an italian archbishop to get it.
Like oil. Soooo..if Ouellet becomes the next Pope at the same time the Keystone Pipeline is FINALLY approved, I can already see the headline wags calling it "Oil of Ouellet."
Nothing ghoulish about it, since Pope Benedict hasn't said that he's about to die.
Btw, I think Cdl. Ouellet has a lot of good qualities.
I am not well versed in Christian Studies but wasn’t it “Or Lady of Fatima” who said “Poor Canada”...
Hummm
My money is on an African. And no it is not ghoulish to speculate. Conclave, of which I have witnessed two, (I lived in Roma from 1976-1979, an era of three Popes) and its secrets breeds speculation..
Ain't that the truth!