Posted on 07/01/2002 6:16:44 AM PDT by Notwithstanding
By Oswald Sobrino, Esq.
As John Paul II heroically ages-- he just passed 82 (Deo gratias)--the journalists are engaged in predicting his successor and embarking on new books and book tours to bandy about their sometimes flawed and biased insights, and network commentators are already signed up to cover the next papal election. Many of these professional papal analysts view the process as a political election, replete with political parties, candidates, and a list of political issues. Some even campaign for certain candidates and inexplicably exclude others from their list of contenders. This essay is an attempt at a new, more authentically Catholic approach to the entire process. I will highlight six cardinals who have been in the public eye and who highlight the strengths of the Church. One of them may be pope one day, none of them may be pope one day. But their lives illustrate how the Holy Spirit continues to call forth strong prophetic voices in our universal Church out of different nations and personal circumstances. The following are six good servants, one of whom may possibly be called by the Holy Spirit to be the Servant of the Servants of God.
These six good servants are all currently cardinals. (It may be that the next pope will be someone who is not yet a cardinal, but who will be named a cardinal prior to the next conclave.) The six cardinals on my list include: Francis Arinze of Nigeria, Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, Dario Castrillon Hoyos of Colombia, Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino of Cuba, Christoph Schonborn of Austria, and Dionigi Tettamanzi of Italy. Each of them has taken prophetic stands that augur well for the future of the Church.
Cardinal Arinze of Nigeria combines his African background with a traditional loyalty to the Catholic faith. He converted to the faith when nine years old, and was baptized by an African monk later beatified by the Pope in 1998.[i] He is a regular speaker at Catholic Familyland in Bloomingdale,Ohio, which provides speakers and activities for devout Catholic families. This year will be his fifteenth consecutive year as a speaker. His video presentations on Catholic teaching are available from the Apostolate for Family Consecration (www.familyland.org). Cardinal Arinze is an exciting example of how the winds of the Holy Spirit are sweeping the African continent, producing great spokesmen for the faith, new saints, and a strong counterpoint to the decadence and secularism of the modern West. Africa is a troubled continent, but the faith is growing there in spite of conflict with and persecution from Islam. Appropriately enough, Arinze works in Rome as President of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, and has published a book on inter-religious dialogue.[ii]
And, of course, there is Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany , well known as the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which strives to protect the deposit of faith from theological tampering. In reporter John Allen’s book Conclave , Ratzinger is excluded as a top contender for the papacy for unstated reasons. This exclusion with no stated reasons is bizarre, but not surprising given Allen’s liberal stance and the strong liberal fear, and even dislike, of Ratzinger (although Allen himself claims to have a high personal regard for him). Ratzinger has been a truly prophetic voice in the Church on issues ranging from liturgy to the unique salvific role of Jesus Christ. His unquestioned intellectual prowess is a treasure for the Church in an era when many theologians who call themselves Catholic reject Catholic teaching and play ambiguous language games with the deposit of faith. A Ratzinger papacy holds great hope for those suffering under the unfortunate liturgical abuses especially rampant in the West that denude the Mass of its appropriate mystery and mysticism. His liturgical writings call for a renewed sense of mystery in which we turn toward the Lord, as opposed to ourselves, when we celebrate the Mass. Ratzinger is also bold enough to embrace a smaller Church as the price for drawing clear lines between orthodox Catholics and pseudo-Catholics in universities and other Catholic institutions. A Ratzinger papacy would boldly and vigorously proclaim an unvarnished Catholicism to the world at a time when many cultural forces reject the concept of truth itself. For all these reasons, the cardinals will take him quite seriously as a papal successor.
Dario Castrillon Hoyos is a Colombian cardinal who has challenged drug traffickers in his native Colombia. One story has it that to challenge a leading drug trafficker to go to confession, he once disguised himself as a milkman in order to gain access to the drug kingpin. Castrillon Hoyos is currently the head of the Congregation for the Clergy and has spearheaded Vatican efforts to bring back traditionalists who have broken with the Church. Recently, he succeeded in leading a breakaway traditionalist group in Campos, Brazil, back into full communion with the Church. He is obviously a very courageous man who is not afraid to take strong and blunt stands for the faith. He is considered by liberals to be “very traditional doctrinally.”[iii]
Cardinal Jaime Ortega of Cuba is another courageous Latin American who in the nineteen sixties was held in a prison camp by Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. He is now archbishop of Havana, and the first Cuban cardinal since the pre-Castro era. He is considered to be “ ‘very close to the pontificate of John Paul II.’ ”[iv] Some may remember him as host during the pope’s visit to Cuba. He is a man who has been through the fire of persecution and adhered to the faith in circumstances where motives of power or prestige are absent. In order to deal with the wily and all-powerful Cuban dictator, Cardinal Ortega must obviously draw on tremendous resources of persistence and faith.
Cardinal Christoph Schonborn of Austria is considered to be a relatively young papal candidate because he is in his fifties. His most important role has been as general editor for the Catechism of the Catholic Faith, which some, including this writer, view as the most important legacy of the pontificate of John Paul II. Schonborn cleaned up with refreshing honesty a terrible situation in Austria involving a former cardinal involved in a sexual scandal. This experience bodes well for a Church now facing the current eruption of scandal in the United States and elsewhere. He is a former student of Cardinal Ratzinger, and a friend of Father Fessio of Ignatius Press in San Francisco. Schonborn has also endorsed Campion College, an educational venture in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., in association with Ignatius Press, that seeks to form young Catholics in a doctrinally and liturgically sound environment while at the same time exposing them to the Great Books of the Western tradition.
A prominent Italian candidate is Dionigi Tettamanzi of Genoa . In the future, he may be chosen as cardinal of Milan, Italy, which is important as the largest archdiocese in Italy. He is considered to be close to Opus Dei, a flourishing movement in the Church known for its theological orthodoxy and good works for the poor.[v] Opus Dei was founded by Spanish priest Josemaria Escriva as a means to form the laity in holiness of life. Escriva was a highly orthodox and traditional Catholic who anticipated Vatican II’s call to holiness for the laity in their everyday lives in the secular world and who will be canonized in late 2002. Tettamanzi has also spoken out forcefully against the call by some European liberals for more collegiality to facilitate changing Church teaching on sexual morality and other issues.[vi] Most significantly, he is thought to have assisted in the preparation of John Paul’s great encyclical on moral issues, Evangelium Vitae (The Gospel of Life) in which the pope took strong stands against moral relativism and against the culture of death.[vii]
We can thank God that he has raised these courageous leaders and men of faith in his universal Church who with their many diverse gifts and charisms are at work in so many different cultures and circumstances. Out of all such leaders, whether or not named in this list, the Holy Spirit will inspire selection of the next pope who will continue the new evangelization in the third millennium and help us rejoice in a new springtime for the faith.
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[i] John L. Allen, Jr., Conclave, p. 162 (N.Y.: Doubleday 2002).
[ii] Apostolate for Family Consecration, Catechetics and Evangelization Resource Catalog, p. 25 (1999).
[iii] Conclave, p. 163.
[iv] Conclave, p. 172.
[v] Conclave, p. 176.
[vi] See Richard Boudreaux, “Subtle campaign under way for the next pope,” The Los Angeles Times (Feb. 24, 2001) (found at detnews.com).
[vii] Conclave, p. 176.
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Bump.
What are your thoughts about that theory?
http://bigbrother.net/~mugwump/RATZFANCLUB//
The author must have inadvertently neglected to include the 7th candidate.
Cardinal Mahony is an American leader in the field of liturgy. We know this from the folks at the National Catholic Reporter, where he is much admired. That "progressive" newspaper has, for example, claimed without attribution that the cardinal "is often touted as papabile." What ignites the Reporter's enthusiasm is the similarity of the cardinal's liturgical tastes to its own.
;^)
1. Thou shalt always post BARF ALERT before posting a picture of Cardinal Mahony of Los Diablos ... I mean Los Angeles.
LOL, hugs and kisses,
Siobhan
The loss of joy does not make the world better -- and, conversely, refusing joy for the sake of suffering does not help those who suffer. The contrary is true. The world needs people who discover the good, who rejoice in it and thereby derive the courage and impetus to do good.We have a new need for that primordial trust which ultimately faith can give. That the world is basically good, that God is there and is good. That it is good to live and be a human being. This results, then, in the courage to rejoice, which in turn becomes commitment to makng sure that other people, too, can rejoice and recieve good news.
Cardinal Ratzinger, Salt of the Earth, pp. 36-37.
Actually it might be quite funny to see Cardinal Mahony as pope. He would finad all his views mysteriously changed overnight.
Now I am much more impressed by him because although the vigor and energy in his frame are gone, I see even more clearly the vigor of faith in his eyes and the tremendous effort he makes to remain in the world with us and leading the Church with his mind, heart, and soul now that his body has almost completed his journey. I love the Holy Father and pray daily for him to receive consolation from heaven and strength to accomplish God's will for each new day.
I've heard various theories (some correct) that we alternate between conservative and liberal popes, the next pope will be Italian, etc. One thing I will say with a fair amount of certainity, I do not think the next pope will be a younger man. After the length of the current papacy, they'll pick someone older (as in perhaps one who would have a 10-15 year reign, tops).
Check out his clerical duds in that picture. Versace? Gucci? Or, do you suppose he uses an american designer?
If you have ever seen Fellini's film ROMA, there is a scene at the end where Fellini cleverly uses a designer's runway to show off his concept of religious fashions. The fashion show culminates with the lights dimmed and the pope proceeding down the runway, in a fully illuminated cloak and mitre. Both items were wired with rows of flashing lights in various colors.
At the time, I was scandalized. Now, I can well imagine Roger dressed in that outfit.
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