If I Were a Cardinal

More on this topic later, but for now:  These are not predictions.  I'm not so vain as to think that I could predict the next successor to Peter.  These are merely the four men that would make my short list if I were in the conclave.  The paragraph summaries below are from National Catholic Reporter.  They did not proivide one for Cardinal Ratzinger, they don't seem to think that Cardinal Ratzinger is a papabile.  Wishful thinking, I'm sure.  Click on the name of the Cardinal to see the official Vatican biography.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger

Cardinal Angelo Scola
The patriarch of Venice, Scola is the first adherent of the Comunione e Liberazione movement to become a cardinal. Scola did his theological work at the prestigious University of Fribourg in Switzerland, and is a disciple of the Vatican II penitenti - men who were part of the reform-minded majority at the Second Vatican Council (1962-65), but who later developed reservations. Scola was influenced in this regard by Henri de Lubac and Hans urs von Balthasar. He has published book-length interviews with both men. From 1986 to 1991, Scola was a consultor for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. His field is theological anthropology, and in 1982 he was appointed to the faculty at the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family, created to defend the pope's hard line on issues such as divorce, artificial contraception, cloning, homosexuality and abortion. Scola's views are unyielding, but he is no fanatic. Theologians in Rome found him to be open, flexible, and capable of transcending ideology to form his own judgments. On a personal level, he is gracious and approachable. Venice produced three 20th-century popes - Pius X, John XXIII and John Paul I - so, many eyes will be on Scola in the conclave.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet
As archbishop of Quebec City, Ouellet represents Francophone Canada. The former secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Ouellet is well regarded in Rome and across much of the international Catholic hierarchy. He is associated with the Communio school, a theological journal founded by moderate-to-conservatives disappointed with some of the excesses that followed the Second Vatican Council, and is a devotee of Swiss Catholic theologican Hans Urs von Balthasar, a darling of the Catholic right. In some ways he is a traditionalist, and has advocated a return to Eucharistic adoration and Gregorian chant, suggesting that Quebec's 1960s "Quiet Revolution" marked too radical a change. Yet people who have worked with Ouellet describe him as friendly, humble and flexible, and a man not so captive to his own intellectual system as to make him incapable of listening to others. He is fluent in English, French, Italian and German.

Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio
Bergoglio, a Jesuit, was a trained chemist before deciding to become a priest. He is seen as an accomplished intellectual, having studied theology in Germany. His leading role during the Argentinean economic crisis in 2002 has burnished his reputation as a voice of conscience, and has also made him a potent symbol of the costs globalization can impose on the Third World. Within the Jesuits, Bergoglio's reputation is mixed. He was appointed provincial in Buenos Aires in 1973, and at a time when many Latin American Jesuits were moving into the social apostolate, he insisted on a more traditional, spiritual approach. Bergoglio is today close to the Comunione e Liberazione movement. He comes across as traditional theologically, but open and compassionate.

Comments

[Fred K]

What? No Schoenborn? I didn't think his NCR bio did him justice.

[Stephen]

Fred,

I like Cardinal Schoenborn, and yes NCR didn't quite do him justice. However, I think that one of the most pressing needs in the Church is the episcopacy. I think the Cardinals will be (should be?) looking at someone who will take on that can of worms and focus on the role of the Bishops. I don't think that Cardinal Schoenborn has demonstrated much success with that issue in Austria, but we'll see.

[laura d]

Since I have you on the topic of the next Pope, I would like to say that I agree with you. However, I hadn't known anything about Bergoglio or Quellet. They do seem like very good candidates. What is your opinion on the two African cardinals: Napier and Arinze? And... what is your opinion on the "secret" cardinal... do you think it could be the infamous Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete?

[Robert]

Ouellet is awesome, but a longshot.

Don't know much about Bergoglio. I would add Biffi to this list, not that he stands a chance.

[Stephen]

I doubt albacete was the Cardinal in pectore . . . do you really think he would have been able to keep it a secret? lol

By the way, I heard he had lunch with Paula Zahn, if anyone hears how it went, let me know!

Bergoglio I met once in Argentina, he heard my confession. He wasn't a cardinal I don't think, maybe not even a bishop. He just happened to be in the confessional at the Cathedral. I read up on him a little afterwards, I think he is the strongest candidate from Latin America, but I also think he is really remarkable.

I don't know anything about Napier other than the fact that he is from South Africa, so don't count on it. Arinze is awesome, and I would love to see his face in a white hat, but I don't think he speaks the language of modern western culture as well as someone like Scola or Oullet. Traditional catholics love him because he speaks in traditional Catholic language, but somehow I'm thinking that the Cardinals will be more inclined to look toward someone who can continue to engage Europe on its own terms.

[sainto]

I am Canadian so, I can always hope eh.
Never imagined the choice of Pope would matter to me but I watch with prayerful interest.

[laura d]

Well, Albacete wouldn't have had to keep it a secret... i thought the only person who knew who the Cardinal in pectore was, was the Pope. This means that Albacete wouldn't have known himself, and therefore he wouldn't have had to keep that secret. ;) I could be totally wrong, I just know what I hear. But then again, Albacete does sometimes refer to himself as the next Pope, so who knows!! ;)

I hadn't heard about the interview... thanks for sharing. The last thing I knew was that he was supposed to be the ABC commentator for the Pope's funeral, and that he wasn't on. I hadn't heard why.

[Stephen]

Maybe you are on to something! The world will never know!