What is the next pope going to look like? John Allen (Vatican correspondent for the
National Catholic Reporter and author of
All the Pope's Men: The Inside Story of How the Vatican Really Thinks) has shared some insights into who the next pope will be and what issues are important to the cardinals when they choose the next pontiff. He spoke at BC in Oct 04 and here is a link to the complete piece:
frontrow It was summarized for the Winter Boston College alumni magazine, which is not yet on-line. I thought that his opinions would be interesting for some of you. Allen has interviewed approximately 65 cardinals.
Some points:
- JP II has appointed 118 out of 122 cardinals eligible to vote.
- Cardinals usually are have two major goals: fix the flaws of the current pontificate and anticipate the challenges of the next one. (eg. pendulum dynamic, or as the Italians say, you always follow a fat pope with a thin one.)
The cardinals believe the pope has been a
terrific missionary and evangelist, and a great thinker, but a fairly mediocre governor. The internal business...has...been allowed to drift...because of the pope's syle. He's a delegator...For instance, he has not made a single decision about liturgy under his own initiatieve in the 26 years of his pontificate...
...most cardinals think that the relationship with Islam is going to be consequential. Very few issues, they believe, are going to have more impact on the world than whether or not the West and Islam are able to work out some kind of modus vivendi.
A second matter is a cluster of bioethical issues--cloning, stem cell research, and the new technologies of reproduction. The... next pope...will lead a conversation about them. He has to be active intellectually and comfortable talking with experts in many fields...
One man who gets mentioned a great deal is Cardinal Angelo Scola of Venice. Scola is 63, the founder of the Italian version of Communio, a theological journal somewhat to the right of center...He's charismatic and charming, well-traveled and multilingual...He believes that the Church still has the capacity to enter the cultural argument and win.
I grew up Catholic, and left the church because of its teaching on sexuality and birth control. In my college years, I would "fool around" on Friday night and go to confession on Saturday, increasing conflicted between my activities and my Church's teaching. I couldn't see who was being hurt by my sexual choices. I came to the conclusion that I didn't believe in my Church's teaching about sexuality and birth control, and asking for forgiveness on Saturday for something I didn't believe was wrong was hypocritical, so I stopped going to church.
Still, though, scratch the surface...and I think a lot of the church's teachings have seeped in and are manifest in my worldview. I have a lot of respect for the Catholics who embraced Liberation Theology, and am pleased when I see Catholics working on social justice and peace issues, kind of like, I suppose, when your alma mater makes the Sweet Sixteen.
What I found interesting in this speculation about the next pope is the emphasis on the bioethical issues.