|
Newsflash
Archives > Rosario's Choice
Rosario's Choice
- by Dr. Robert Moynihan, Editor, Inside the Vatican
VATICAN CITY, Friday, April 15, 2005
I dined at Roberto's this evening, a well-known
restaurant on the Borgo Pio here in Rome, a few steps from
the Vatican's high walls.
Rosario was my waiter.
A New York Times' reporter strolled over to my table. He
was writing a feature story about Roberto's, and wanted to
ask me a few questions. I told him Roberto's was a great "listening
post." I told him that spies used to dine here -- before
the "Iron Curtain" came down and the old spies were
all thrown out of work, and their expense accounts cut off.
Times change.
Now, Rosario is a great waiter. He always has a smile on
his face. He's thoughtful and efficient.
But tonight he stepped out of his waiter's role and told
me a remarkable story. It was like this.
"Who do you like among the cardinals?" Rosario
asked me, in slightly fractured English (he likes to practice
his English with me). Of course, he, like almost everyone
in Rome, is waiting for the white smoke. "Who will be
the next Pope, according to you?"
I told him a name. A special one. The name of a man I believe
has a great heart, deep humanity, piercing authenticity, marvelous
simplicity.
"I like him," I said. "I don't know if he
will be chosen, but I think he would be a Pope who would make
the poor people of the world rejoice, to have someone so compassionate
on their side, on the Throne of Peter..."
Rosario's eyes lit up.
"Of course!" he said. "Yes!"
I was surprised.
I hadn't really expected my waiter to know any of the cardinals,
or to demonstrate any familiarity with the specific man I
had named.
"You know him?" I asked.
"Sure, of course," said Rosario. "He sometimes
eats here."
He grew silent for a moment. I chewed on my "gnocchi"
(potato balls in red sauce -- it was Thursday, that is, "Giovedi",
and, as they say in Italy, "giovedi gnocchi", that
is, "on Thursday, eat gnocchi").
"How do you know him?" I asked, marveling. I was
thinking to myself: what is he going to tell me?
"Well, Bob," he said, "I'm usually a very
joyful fellow, but one night a couple of years ago I was just
very depressed. I was really in terrible shape, I had been
having problems with my wife, and my work, and my health,
and everything was just terrible, very bad. And he came into
the restaurant, and I talked to him. And after just a few
words, I felt such a peace and serenity come over me, that
I cannot express it to you now, I have no words for it. I
love the man. He helped me so much."
"So you think he is very human, very kind?"
"Very human, very human and very kind, yes, that's it,
that's him."
And then he started to tell other stories, of how he has
seen this cardinal walking in the streets of Rome, carrying
his own groceries in a plastic bag, doing his own shopping.
"He's friendly with everyone," Rosario said. "You
know, now that you mention him, I can say that we Italians
could not dream of having a better man as our next Pope."
That's Rosario’s judgment.
If any journalists want to go ask Rosario who he is referring
to, you can find him at Roberto's.
-------
On Thursday, the cardinals continued to meet to discuss the
issues that face the Church and the world, which the next
Pope will have to address. The conclave will begin on Monday
afternoon, in three and a half days.
This is the official Vatican statement on the meetings held
on Thursday, April 14:
Today, at the end of the tenth General Congregation of Cardinals
in the period of the vacant see, Holy See Press Office Director
Joaquin Navarro-Valls released the following statement to
journalists:
The tenth General Congregation began this morning at 9 in
the New Synod Hall. There were 142 cardinals present.
After the invocation to the Holy Spirit, the cardinals listened
to the first of the meditations concerning the problems of
the Church and the enlightened choice of the new Pontiff (Apostolic
Constitution, Universi Dominici gregis, no. 13d) given by
Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M. Cap., preacher of the Papal
Household.
At the end of the meditation the cardinals dedicated a period
of time to silence and prayer.
As of today the following are part of the Particular Congregation:
Cardinals Giovanni Battista Re for the Order of Bishops, Oscar
Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga for the Order of Priests and Crescenzio
Sepe for the Order of Deacons.
There was a drawing of lots for the assignments of the rooms
the cardinals will occupy in the Domus Sanctae Marthae.
Following several clarifications on the interpretation of
the Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici gregis, the cardinals
resumed an exchange of ideas on the situation of the Church
and the world.
With the Regina Coeli prayer, today's General Congregation
concluded.
---------------
This evening, the Italian journalist Sandro Magister published
a very interesting column in L'Espresso, the Italian equivalent
of a magazine like Newsweek.
By chance, I dined with Sandro a few weeks ago -- at Roberto's.
Sandro entitled his piece "Progressives, Moderates, Neocons:
Notes Before the Conclave."
I don't agree with everything Sandro writes, but he writes
with great insight and knows people I don't know, so his words
are worth reading and sifting.
Sandro says that, on one side, are "Ratzinger, Ruini,
Bergoglio, Scola with their proposal for a new 'Papal Revolution.'"
On the other side, are a group of more "progressive"
cardinals, "with Tettamanzi as the man for all seasons."
Like many others, Sandro believes that Ratzinger is "the
favorite" as of today. "The indisputable front runner
in this conclave at the beginning of the third millennium
is...Joseph Ratzinger."
Noting that the votes needed to win are two-thirds of 115
cardinals, or 77 votes, Sandro argues that Ratzinger will
open the conclave with nearly that number.
But, Sandro argues, Ratzinger and his party are feared by
some cardinals, because the program they have presented to
the cardinal electors is "fearsome and demanding."
He writes: "They want 'a Church that is not folded in
upon itself, not timid, not lacking in trust, a Church burning
with the love of Christ for the salvation of all men,' as
Cardinal Camillo Ruini said in a homily at a Saint Peter’s
basilica overflowing with crowds, two days after the funeral
for John Paul II."
Sandro argues that Ratzinger and Ruini have, in recent months,
been preparing for the "post-Wojtyla" transition,
attracting to their standard "many leading cardinals...some
of them likely candidates for the papacy themselves."
He continues: "In the curia there is the German cardinal
Walter Kasper, one of Ratzinger and Ruini’s scholarly
colleagues since the three were simple theology professors.
In Latin America, there is the Argentine of Italian origin
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires. In the
United States, there is Francis E. George, archbishop of Chicago.
In Canada, there is Marc Ouellet, archbishop of Québec.
In Australia, there is George Pell, archbishop of Sydney.
In Eastern Europe there is Józef Glemp, archbishop
of Warsaw. In Italy, there are Angelo Scola, patriarch of
Venice, and Giacomo Biffi, archbishop emeritus of Bologna.
This is the framework for the neoconservative party whose
beacon is Ratzinger."
He continues: "Another group of cardinals that has recently
drawn closer to this party is the circle of cardinals who
are friends of Opus Dei, led by the two who are members of
Opus: in the Vatican, Julián Herranz, the leading authority
on canon law in the curia, and in Latin America, Juan Luis
Cipriani Thorne, archbishop of Lima."
What does this Ratzinger-Ruini-Scola-Bergoglio group want?
"They want a resumption of the active management of the
Church's ordinary governance, its cleansing from 'filthiness,'
a reinforcement of the doctrinal and moral formation of the
clergy, a renewal of basic evangelization and the teaching
of the catechism, a qualitative improvement in the celebration
of the liturgy, a new missionary campaign."
In short, they want to really get to work to re-build the
Church.
The problem is, that this program will likely lead to a head-on
confrontation with what John Paul II used to call "the
culture of death" and with what is commonly called "secular
humanism."
Sandro writes: "The most fearsome conflict of the next
decades, Ratzinger and Ruini have both said on numerous occasions,
will not be that between the Church and Islam, but rather
the cultural conflict between the Church and 'the radical
emancipation of man from God and from the roots of life,'
which characterizes contemporary Western culture and which
'leads in the end to the destruction of freedom.' For the
neoconservative cardinals, the Church’s commitment to
this clash centered in the West must be given absolute priority
in the next pontificate."
In short, if this group wins the papacy, instead of a "clash
of civilizations" between the West and Islam, there will
be a cultural clash within Western culture between Christian
faith and secular humanism, seen as inimical to true human
freedom and happiness.
Sandro then makes a very interesting argument about the "progressivist"
response to what he terms this "neo-conservative"
vision of Ratzinger and Ruini and the others.
The "progressives" object to the "priority
the neoconservatives give to the confrontation between the
Church and secular culture over the vision of man and life."
What is he saying? It isn't entirely clear. But he seems to
be saying that the more progressive cardinals fear that the
Ratzinger-Ruini group, concerned about theology and catechetics
and liturgy will forget the suffering poor of the Third World
-- and of the First World as well. They will forget the great
issues of social justice.
Sandro writes: "Cardinals like Cláudio Hummes,
archbishop of San Paolo in Brazil, and Oscar Andrés
Rodriguez Maradiaga, archbishop of Tegucigalpa in Honduras,
maintain that such a priority is too restricted to the Western
context, and want the Church to give first place instead to
the commitment for justice, peace, and the protection of creation."
Then there are the "typically liberal" objections
to the Ratzinger-Ruini position. These "liberals"
propose "making the Church more democratic internally
and a greater relationship of 'sharing' with the culture and
custom widespread in the West," Sandro argues. These
"liberals" call "for new solutions on priestly
celibacy, women’s roles, communion for divorced persons
who have remarried."
Then Sandro names the cardinals in favor of this approach:
"Godfried Danneels, archbishop of Brussels, Roger Mahony,
archbishop of Los Angeles, Keith Michael P. O’Brien,
archbishop of Edinburgh, and Stephen Fumio Hamao, a Japanese
cardinal working in the curia. Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini
can also be assigned to this current, and was its preferred
papal candidate for many years."
Then Sandro adds a final, very interesting dimension to his
analysis. He says that, alongside the Ratzinger-Ruini group,
and the Hummes-Maradiaga group, there is a group of "moderates"
who "have a real possibility of success."
Again Sandro names names. He says: "Among its (the "moderate"
group's) most visible exponents are the cardinals of the curia
Angelo Sodano, Giovanni Battista Re, and Crescenzio Sepe,
who are rivals among themselves for many reasons, but are
united in creating resistance and disruption against the project
of Ratzinger and the neoconservatives."
He adds, in a passage which I cannot confirm or deny, but
which I am not totally persuaded by: "In the days immediately
following the death of John Paul II, while the cardinals were
gradually arriving in Rome, these three went into a frenetic
lobbying effort with the help of other members of the curia
who are unable to enter the conclave because they are over
80 years of age, but are also very active: Achille Silvestrini
and Pio Laghi. Neither Sodano, nor Re, nor Sepe can entertain
the illusion of having a chance of being elected. But the
handful of votes that each of them controls could raise the
chances of the only identifiable real candidate in the swampland
of the moderates: Dionigi Tettamanzi, archbishop of Milan.
The affiliates of the Community of Saint Egidio have also
moved into action on Tettamanzi’s behalf. They are very
adept at influencing the third rank of cardinals, and especially
the Italian and international press, a modern substitute for
the power of pressure and veto that was once the prerogative
of kings."
In short, what Sandro is saying is that, if Ratzinger is
blocked, and the "progressives" are not acceptable
to the Ratzinger-Ruini group, the "moderates" may
propose, as a "compromise candidate," Tettamanzi.
Sandro concludes of Tettamanzi: "If elected, he will
be hailed as the most progressivist Pope possible, an incomparable
defender of the status quo."
In other words, "all things to all men" or, in
Sandro's phrase, "a man for all seasons."
Sandro then supplies the following "short list"
of six names, with brief biographies, in alphabetical order.
I reproduced Sandro's exact words here, even his mention of
a cardinal "boring everybody," simply to show what
type of thing people are reading in Italy, and on the Internet,
about these men:
JORGE MARIO BERGOGLIO. Archbishop of Buenos Aires, 69 years
of age, born in Argentina to parents who had emigrated from
the Italian region of Piemonte. Since 2002 he has continually
been the Latin American cardinal with the best probability
of being elected, in spite of never having lifted a finger
to present himself as a candidate: in the conclave, it is
Ratzinger’s party that would launch his candidacy. As
a bishop, instead of sermons on social justice he preached
to the
Argentines in the thick of economic disaster that they should
put into practice the ten commandments and the Gospel beatitudes.
CLAUDIO HUMMES. Archbishop of San Paolo in Brazil, 71 years
old. As a young bishop, he got himself mixed up in the struggles
of laborers and farmers. He then espoused more moderate principles,
became close to the charismatics, and was promoted to the
largest diocese in Brazil. Lately he has again advanced proposals
for social justice and has gained the public support of his
friend, president Luiz Inácio da Silva Lula. He is
the progressivist alternative to the neoconservative Bergoglio,
in the case in which the conclave would opt for a Latin American.
But when he was called to the Vatican to preach at the Lenten
retreat for the pope and the curia, he ended up boring everybody.
JOSEPH RATZINGER. A German, he was the pillar of doctrine
during the pontificate of John Paul II, especially toward
the very end. In spite of the fact that he is 78 years old,
there would be nothing of the short-term papacy about his
election: the scenario he has designated for the Church during
the following decades is almost revolutionary, and has won
him respect and agreement from beyond the neocon cardinals
closest to him, but also strong resistance. If he is chosen,
the team he selects will be important: he has never shown
great skill in the practical matters of governance.
CAMILLO RUINI. Vicar of the diocese of Rome and president
of the Italian bishops’ conference, 74 years old. Unlike
Ratzinger, to whom he is very close intellectually, he excels
for his ability to command. In the autumn of 2003 he was the
one who filled the gap left in regard to Iraq and the Middle
East by a confused and uncertain Vatican secretariat of state:
the turning point was his homily for the Italian soldiers
killed in Nassiriya. As head of the Italian bishops’
conference, he gave the Church unprecedented public prominence
in Italy. He has rarely appeared in the current lists of candidates
for the papacy.
ANGELO SCOLA. Patriarch of Venice, 64 years old. He is the
youngest and least experienced of the papal candidates in
the party of Ratzinger and Ruini. He was the star pupil of
Fr. Luigi Giussani, founder of Communion and Liberation, and
one of the model students of Hans Urs von Balthasar, a theological
giant of the second half of the twentieth century, together
with two of the other most recently appointed cardinals, Philippe
Barbarin of France and Marc Ouellet of French Canada. He has
created an institute of higher study in Venice, the Marcianum,
and founded a magazine published in multiple languages, including
Arabic and Urdu, "Oasis," as a bridge to the East
and in
order to favor, not a clash, but a "hybrid of civilizations."
DIONIGI TETTAMANZI. Archbishop of Milan, 71 years of age.
He is the only Italian cardinal outside of the curia who has
campaigned to be the Pope. But his chances of being elected
depend upon the defeat of the neoconservative party of Ratzinger,
Ruini, Bergoglio, Scola, etc. at the conclave. And they presuppose
that he would receive the votes of the Latin American progressivists,
the European liberals, the circles in the curia represented
by Sodano and Re, and other cardinals influenced by the Community
of Sant 'Egidio and Focolare. Tettamanzi
would need to satisfy all of them, as the master of compromise
that he is. (English translation by Matthew Sherry: mailto:traduttore@hotmail.com.
Sandro Magister’s e-mail address is s.magister@espressoedit.it)
----------
This, then, is the situation.
Ratzinger is very strong right now. He is a bit old at 78.
Some Italians and the more "progressive" faction
oppose him, with Tettamanzi or Antonelli as an alternative.
Ratzinger could hand off to his pupil, Scola. Scola could
hand off to Bergoglio. Tettamanzi and Antonelli could hand
off to Sodano, as an alternative to Ratzinger-Ruini-Scola,
then, deadlocked, perhaps to Hummes, as they oscillate between
Italy and Latin America.
If Hummes vs. Bergoglio (for example) deadlocked, the Ratzinger
group could again try Europe with Schoenborn, while the more
"progressive" Italian/Latin American group could
try Maradiaga of Honduras.
Some in Rome would still like to look toward Dias of India,
but this might be a feint in order to rally support against
Ratzinger and, having cut him off, putting Tettamanzi forward.
But there is still another alternative: a man who is very
gentle and holy, who comes from a very poor family and yet
is doctrinally conservative. He would be socially in profound
solidarity with all the world's poor, but still very theologically
sound, in this sense, reconciling the "factions"
Sandro describes above.
He is Rosario's choice.
Subscription Information
Inside The Vatican (ISSN 1068-8579) is published monthly except July
and September, with occasional special supplements. |
