Religious Education Congress, part 2

John Allen, Vatican Correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, was on site to give another workshop concerning "The Next Pope." Now, I am not a big fan of the National Catholic Reporter, but I do enjoy reading Allen's "The Word From Rome," and I have a lot of respect for his insights. I can tell he has a great respect for the Holy Father as he is very much a part of the "goings on" in Rome. Because he has his ear in a lot of the talk on the streets of Rome with regard particular papal condidates in a future papacy, I figured his workshop would be interesting, and it was.

He prefaced his talk with the warning that "the garbage bins of Rome are filled with the corpses of journalists who have failed to predict the next pope." I was certainly prepared to hear his own personal, speculative opinion, but I was curious.

Allens feels that there are five primary issues considered important to the cardinals right now. These issues are:

1.) Collegiality - How much of a role will the pope have over the goings on in other dioceses?
2.) Ecumenism and dialogue - Will the pope engage ecumenical activities and dialogue with other churches and non-Catholic communities?
3.) Globalization - Will the pope be conscious to globalization?
4.) Bioethics - How will the pope engage such issues as abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, and euthanasia?
5.) Role of the laity - How will the pope involve laity in particular areas of leadership or decision making?

In addition to these, Allen outlined some particular character traits which he believes are seen by many of the cardinals as ideal in the next pope:

1.) The pope should have a charismatic appeal to the "world stage" (much like our current Holy Father)
2.) The pope should manifest a discernable holiness in his person. This is very improtant.
3.) An older candidate is preferable. A shorter pontificate would best follow a longer and fuller pontificate such as our current pope's.
4.) The pope should come from an area of the world with deep Catholic roots.
5.) The pope should understand the reality of injustice, suffering, and oppression and come from an area of the world, such as the third world, where that is a reality - just as our current pope came from behind the Iron Curtain.

Based on these issues, Allen perceives a "buzz" amongst the cardinals concerning particular papal possibilities, and he narrows them down to 3 candidates:

1.) Claudio Cardinal Hummes of Sao Paolo, Brazil. He is a Franciscan, an athlete, 68 years of age, considered "moderate", well respected by the people, big on social justice issues of the world. Not too charismatic - not able to "set the world on fire."
2.) Oscar Cardinal Rodriguez of Honduras - 60 years of age, very charismatic, speaks 7 languages, licensed pilot, pianist, big on social justice and traveling around the world to speak.
3.) Godfried Cardinal Danneels of Brussels - 68 years of age, one of the great "theological giants" of the Church. Not from the third world, but well respected amongst other Cardinals.

Incidentally, Oscar Rodriguez was a presenter at the Religious Education Congress and was celebrating the Spanish liturgy following the talk! I took the liberty of attending that, and I was impressed by what limited exposure I had of him. I'm not a Spanish speaker, but I was able to interpret some important points he preached about during his homily. He echoed the Holy Father's sentiment concerning war, and also spoke against the injustices of abortion and oppression in the world. He certainly has a "pope-able" demeanor, but what do *I* know about that?

Overall, an interesting analysis, though I should echo that be the next pope "good" or not by our standards, it is ultimately the responsibility of the Holy Spirit to guide the Church. I have no worries as long as I trust God who is in control, not us! I thank God for the long and very full pontificate of our current Holy Father, and I was priviledged to have been able to see him and hear him preach at World Youth Day in Toronto last July. I wish him many more years. He is very real about his humanity and is ever careful in his call to holiness and cooperation with God's grace in his life - and ever mindful of challenging the world to join him in living a full and engaging life as Christians in a world in ever desparate need of the Gospel.

What do y'all think about these possible candidates?