The Next Pope?

[Rusalka]

I'm sure it's still early to think about the new Pope for many believers but the discussion sessions to elect the new Pope are already underway. This article is from Beliefnet.


Papal Chase
Will the next pope be black, Hispanic, American, a Jew?
By Steven Waldman
Updated Friday, April 1, 2005, at 3:00 PM PT

Editor's note: This article originally ran in 2003, when Pope John Paul II was experiencing a serious enough illness to make people begin to speculate about who might be his successor. This article has been slightly modified and updated.


The Roman Catholic Church, with its highly organized process for electing a new pope, is not designed to be leaderless. As Catholics worldwide mourn the death of Pope John Paul II, their thoughts also begin to turn to his possible successor. The following 14 cardinals are widely regarded as the most likely candidates for the papacy.

Cardinal Christoph Schonborn
Some say that Schonborn, 60, who leads the diocese of Vienna, could potentially be an innovative pope, particularly given his experience with restive Catholics in Austria. Generally, however, Schonborn is seen as someone who would continue in the style of John Paul II


Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone
A one-time lieutenant of Ratzinger within the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Bertone, 70, who is from Genoa, is another arch-conservative voice in the church. Bertone recently made headlines by urging Catholics not to read or purchase the best-selling novel "The DaVinci Code."


Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
A staunchly conservative figure within the church, Ratzinger, 78, from Bavaria, has been the longtime leader of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which oversees Roman Catholic Church doctrine. He is known for his tough and often controversial statements on topics such as homosexuality, which he called “objectively disordered,” and the validity of other Christian denominations.


Cardinal Jose da Cruz Policarpo
The Lisbon patriarch, 69, is widely admired for his intellect and his interest in re-evangelizing Europe, though he is not necessarily considered a reformer.


Cardinal Francis Arinze
The 72-year-old Arinze, from Nigeria, who heads the Prefect of Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in Rome, has been a cardinal for more than 20 years. He previously spent two decades as the head of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue.


Cardinal Godfried Danneels
Danneels, 71, Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussel, is viewed as an intellectual heavyweight, as well as a doctrinal moderate who has called for discussion on such contentious issues as mandatory celibacy and a greater role for women.


Cardinal Keith O’Brien
The Scottish cardinal, 67, Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh, has also been seen as open to considering changes on issues like priestly celibacy and the role of women in the church. Last year, he condemned the Scottish government for "child abuse" in launching a public sex-education campaign.


Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera
Latin America is home to nearly half the world’s Catholics, and Rivera, 62, Archbishop of Mexico, is a frequently mentioned candidate for the papacy. He has called for an end to "xenophobic attitudes" in the United States against illegal aliens from Mexico.


Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier
Another African candidate, Napier is from Durban, South Africa. Many believe that he is more likely than Arinze to be elected pope. Another African candidate, Napier, 64, is Archbishop of Durban, South Africa. He has criticized the South African government for promoting condoms in the fight against HIV/Aids.


Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio
The 69-year-old Bishop of Argentina is the only Jesuit on the papal short list. He was appointed a cardinal in 2001 and is seen as a contender mainly because of interest in a Latin American pope.


Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga
Rodriguez, 62, archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, is the most widely mentioned possible successor to the pope from Latin America. He has had his share of controversies, however, once comparing the clergy sexual abuse coverage to “the times of Nero and Diocletian, and more recently, of Stalin and Hitler.”


Cardinal Claudio Hummes
A Franciscan, Hummes, 70, is Archbishop of São Paulo, Brazil. Traditional on doctrinal matters, he also supports greater decentralization in the church.


Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi
When Tettamanzi, 71, was assigned to lead the archdiocese of Milan, many said that he was taking his place as a possible papal successor, because of Milan's wealth and power. Tettamanzi is considered to be a moderate.



Cardinal Ivan Dias
The 69-year-old Bishop of Bombay has also served in locations from Scandinavia to Indonesia to Magadascar. He also served the Vatican Secretariat of State early in his career, working for nine years in Eastern Europe at the height of the Cold War.

[Rusalka]

Another list, from Reuters. Most of the names are the same.


Profiles of possible candidates for next Pope

Reuters
Apr. 2, 2005 07:00 PM VATICAN CITY - The following are brief sketches of Roman Catholic cardinals seen as possible candidates to succeed Pope John Paul II, whose death was announced by the Vatican on Saturday.

Speculation about the next leader of the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics is notoriously unpredictable and John Paul himself was a rank outsider whose election surprised the world.

This list is in alphabetical order, not in any ranking according to their chances, and cannot be considered complete because candidates do not publicly announce their plans:




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FRANCIS ARINZE (Nigerian)

Born: Nov. 1, 1932

Cardinal Francis Arinze was for nearly 20 years the Vatican's point man for relations with Islam, a key element cardinals choosing the next pope may take into consideration.

This has fuelled speculation he could become the first African pope in more than 1,500 years.

A very spiritual man, he is sometimes seen walking to his office near the Vatican clutching rosary beads while praying, smiling all the time.

A theological conservative, he was born into an animist family in the village of Eziowelle. He was not baptised until the age of 9, when he converted to Catholicism.

He now heads the Vatican department for divine worship.

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JORGE MARIO BERGOGLIO (Argentine)

Born: Dec. 17, 1936

The archbishop of Buenos Aires is a trained chemist who stands out for his humility. He lives in a simple flat rather than his luxury official residence and gets around town by bus.

Bergoglio stresses a traditional and spiritual approach to his role. In the Holy Year 2000, for example, he had the whole Church in Argentina don garments of public penance for sins committed during the years of military dictatorship.

Fellow prelates sat up and took notice of Bergoglio in 2001 when he deftly helped manage a synod of bishops in Rome.

Playing against him is the fact he belongs to the Jesuit order, which has never produced a pope because its members are supposed to avoid Church honours and serve the pope himself.

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DARIO CASTRILLON HOYOS (Colombian)

Born: July 4, 1929

Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos is a strong candidate with a broad range of experience both in his native Colombia, in Latin America, and at the Vatican.

In the 1980s and early 1990s he held powerful and influential posts as secretary and later president of CELAM, the conference that groups Latin American bishops.

He was instrumental in steering the continent's churches away from controversial liberation theology during one of Latin America's most difficult and violent periods.

To reward him, the Pope called Castrillon Hoyos to Rome in 1996 and put him at the head of the powerful Congregation for the Clergy, which deals with priests around the world.

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GODFRIED DANNEELS (Belgian)

Born: June 4, 1933

Danneels, the archbishop of Brussels, is a gifted preacher ranked as the main liberal contender for the papacy. He has taken a leading role in a drive to revive the Catholic faith in European cities.

He made waves by urging the Vatican to allow women to hold top posts normally taken by cardinals, by saying condoms could be used in the fight against AIDS and by arguing that Islam in Europe has to reform in order to integrate there. He also wants local bishops to have more say in running the Church.

Danneels, a jovial man who gives lively interviews in his native Dutch as well as English, French and Italian, has been a key player at Vatican synods in the past decade.

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IVAN DIAS (Indian)

Born: April 14, 1936

Although born in Bombay, Cardinal Ivan Dias spent most of his adult life serving as a Church diplomat outside of India before returning as his city's archbishop in 1997.

That career path could explain his status as an Asian prelate more in tune with conservative Vatican thinking than some reformist views that have emerged in the Church in Asia.

Dias was a junior diplomat in Scandinavia, Indonesia and Madagascar and held senior posts in Ghana, South Korea and Albania. He also ran the Vatican desk responsible for relations with the Communist world and parts of Africa.

Frequently invited to address conferences abroad, he speaks fluent Hindi, English, Italian, French and Spanish.

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CLAUDIO HUMMES (Brazilian)

Born: Aug. 8, 1934

Cardinal Claudio Hummes, archbishop of Sao Paolo, is a leading Latin American candidate who has refused to allow himself to be called progressive or conservative.

A defender of the poor and outspoken critic of human rights abuses, he is also considered a theological conservative in Latin America, one of the homes of liberation theology. He agrees with the Vatican view that concern for the poor should be dictated purely by the Gospel and not by political ideologies.

He has criticised government policies he says have increased unemployment but defended private property and distanced himself from the Landless Movement, which encourages jobless rural workers to occupy unused land.

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JOSEPH RATZINGER (German)

Born: April 16, 1927

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger seems typecast for the role of doctrinal watchdog he has played at the Vatican since 1981. Under his meek demeanour lies a steely intellect. His blunt judgments delight conservatives and outrage liberal Catholics.

Ratzinger was archbishop of Munich before taking over as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), the successor to the Inquisition, in 1981.

In that office, he has cracked down on liberation theology in Latin America and denounced sexual liberalism in the West. In 2000, his document "Dominus Iesus" (Lord Jesus) angered Protestants by saying their churches were "deficient".

One of Pope John Paul's closest advisers, Ratzinger became dean of the College of Cardinals in 2002.

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NICOLAS DE JESUS LOPEZ RODRIGUEZ (Dominican)

Born: Oct. 31, 1936

Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez is a doctrinal conservative and a staunch opponent of liberation theology, which tried to combine elements of the Gospel with Marxism.

He emerged as one of the major players in the Church in Latin America after he was made archbishop of Santo Domingo in 1981 at the relatively young age of 45.

Lopez Rodriguez has also been active in the media, promoting television evangelism programmes in Spanish for his country and Hispanics in the United States. His message has been one of progressive socioeconomic views and doctrinal conservatism.

A point against him is that he has had little experience with Vatican bureaucracy.

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GIOVANNI BATTISTARE (Italian)

Born: Jan. 30, 1934

Giovanni Battista Re may know the inner workings of the Vatican better than anyone else alive today. This could either hurt or help him during a conclave to elect the next pope.

Cardinals looking for an ace administrator and bureaucrat to stay at home and take care of business after the globetrotting papacy of John Paul could see him as the right man.

Re, whose name means "king" in Italian, knows the corridors of power in the Vatican's Apostolic Palace better than the cleaners. He has held key positions in the Secretariat of State, and the powerful Congregation for Bishops.

He is considered an ultra-loyalist who has helped solve some of the most thorny administrative problems for the Pope.

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OSCAR ANDRES RODRIGUEZ MARADIAGA (Honduran)

Born: Dec. 29, 1942

Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, another strong Latin American candidate, will be one of the youngest men to enter the conclave.

A defender of the poor, Rodriguez Maradiaga believes the real solution to the problems of Latin America and the all the developing world is social justice. He has also been open to working with other churches.

He is an accomplished linguist who can speak English, Italian, French, Portuguese and German as well as his native Spanish.

Rodriguez Maradiaga is a former president of CELAM, the Latin American bishops conference.

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CHRISTOPH SCHOENBORN (Austrian)

Born: Jan. 22, 1945

Christoph Schoenborn, the suave and outgoing archbishop of Vienna, has everything going for him as a candidate for the next papacy - except his age.

He is considered a man of broad intellectual capacity, a linguist, a good communicator, an accomplished theologian, an expert in philosophy and psychology and a deeply religious man.

But few want a papacy that could last three decades or more.

A member of the Dominican order, Schoenborn comes from a family of Bohemian nobility that gave him a sense of "noblesse oblige". Pope John Paul signalled his respect for him by making him the editor of the new Church catechism issued in the 1990s.

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ANGELO SCOLA (Italian)

Born: Nov. 7, 1941

Venice's Angelo Scola is the first cardinal from Communion and Liberation, one of the conservative Church movements that have enjoyed special support under Pope John Paul. Promoted in 2003, he ranks as an open-minded conservative and a good administrator.

Scola, who is fluent in English after studying at the Catholic University of America in Washington, was a professor and rector at the Lateran University. In 1995, he became head of its John Paul II Institute on Marriage and the Family.

He is said to have helped draft recent encyclicals in which the Pope restated his strong defence of traditional Catholic teaching on moral issues.

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DIONIGI TETTAMANZI (Italian)

Born: March 14, 1934

Dionigi Tettamanzi, who heads the powerful archdiocese of Milan, tops the list of Italian favorites.

An intellectual, former seminary rector and prolific writer who helped Pope John Paul compose some of his encyclicals, the "little Lombard" has a lot of friends and few enemies.

A theological conservative, he firmly backed Pope Paul VI's 1968 encyclical "Humanae Vitae" banning artificial birth control.

Before moving to Milan, he was archbishop of Genoa and also served as head of the Italian bishops' conference.

Tettamanzi defended anti-globalization protesters during a G8 summit in 2001 and has championed the fight against AIDS in Africa. Unusual for a cardinal, he is not a linguist and has not travelled much outside Italy.

[Faísca]

Originally Posted by Rusalka

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger
A staunchly conservative figure within the church, Ratzinger, 78, from Bavaria, has been the longtime leader of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which oversees Roman Catholic Church doctrine. He is known for his tough and often controversial statements on topics such as homosexuality, which he called “objectively disordered,” and the validity of other Christian denominations.

May God bless him.

[Perun]

Yes Ratzinger is considered the top(or at least among the top three) candidates for the next Pope. Im sure that pleases some of the German catholics here.

[Rusalka]

Originally Posted by Johannes de León

May God bless him.

Not very likely for him to get elected, by the look of things but still, one never knows. His age is definitely a plus.

No matter who gets elected, it will be very hard for him indeed to fill in John Paul II's shoes.

[Rusalka]

Originally Posted by Perun

Yes Ratzinger is considered the top(or at least among the top three) candidates for the next Pope.

It all depends on the stance the College of Cardinals take. If they decide to "go with the times", his election is very unlikely indeed. However, if they decide for a radical change in relations with the outside world he would be the man. In terms of matters concerning Catholics, his views apparently were not much different than the late Pope; but his "foreign policy" -so to speak- is quite distinct.

[Milesian]

Originally Posted by Rusalka

In terms of matters concerning Catholics, his views apparently were not much different than the late Pope;

Correct, he was basically joint-Pope for all intents and purposes. Well, not really but you get the cut of my jib

From what I see, it appears that the choice of candidates splits into two categories

i) Conservatives - Yesterday's liberals. Will continue the Vatican II Reformation at more or less the same pace as at present.

ii) Progressives - Or whatever euphemism you care to use, but basically even more radical and possibly doctrinely heretical that most of the current heirarchy. Expect in the future to see an offical pro-abortion stance, skinhead feminist priestesses and selling of churches in order to mass-worship around stonehenge before spending the remainder of St Peter's coffers on building a space-ship to start a new multicultural colony on the planet Mars in which Humanism will be the state religion. Will no doubt be numbered amongst the Conservatives by the time of the succeeding papal election

[Siegmund]

So odd to see proponents of Vatican II described as "conservatives." Is there no support at all for a candidate who would roll back Vatican II - or are they all just gone? Given the long tenure of the recently deceased pope, I suppose it is unlikely there are any opposition cardinals left...

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by Rusalka

Not very likely for him to get elected, by the look of things but still, one never knows. His age is definitely a plus.

Actually, his age is a minus.

No matter who gets elected, it will be very hard for him indeed to fill in John Paul II's shoes.

Some might not agree with you. If the pace of reformism continues, the Church might stop being a spiritual guide (which it has already lost much there) to become God knows what.

[Rusalka]

Originally Posted by Mynydd

Actually, his age is a minus.

Actually, no. Apparently the council is looking for an older candidate as they don't want another three decade Papacy.

Some might not agree with you. If the pace of reformism continues, the Church might stop being a spiritual guide (which it has already lost much there) to become God knows what.

Charisma is beyond likeability; there may have been many people who disagreed with the late Pope (and there are), but there is no doubt that he was a very charismatic, in fact dramatic figure. By filling his shoes, that was what I had meant.

[Nerthus]

Originally Posted by Johannes de León

May God bless him.

Originally Posted by Perun

Yes Ratzinger is considered the top(or at least among the top three) candidates for the next Pope. Im sure that pleases some of the German catholics here.

I also like Ratzinger out of all.

His biography:

http://www.ratzingerfanclub.com/Biography.html

Work in Progress: A Chronology of Notable Events in Ratzinger's Life

1927 Ratzinger is born on April 16, Holy Saturday in Marktl am Inn, and is baptized the same day. Reflecting on this experience in his memoirs, he says:

To be the first person baptized with the new water was seen as a significant act of Providence. I have always been filled with thanksgiving for having had my life immersed in this way in the Easter Mystery . . . the more I reflect on it, the more this seems fitting for the nature of our human life: we are still waiting for Easter; we are not yet standing in the full light but walking toward it full of trust. [p. 8, Milestones] Ratzinger admits it is not easy to say what his 'hometown' is. As a rural policeman, his father was transferred frequently, and his family was continually on the road.

1929 Ratzinger's family moves to Tittmoning, a small town on the Salzach River, on the Austrian border.

1932 December: Due to his father's outspoken criticism of the Nazis, Ratzinger's family is forced to relocate to Auschau am Inn, at the foot of the Alps.

1937 Ratzinger's father retires and his family moves to Hufschlag, outside the city of Traunstein, where Josef would spend most of his years as a teenager. Here he begins classes at the local gymnasium for classical languages, where he studies Latin and Greek.

1939 Ratzinger enters the minor seminary in Traunstein, the initial step of his ecclesiastical career.

1943 Ratzinger, along with the rest of his seminary class, is drafted into the Flak [anti-aircraft corps]. He is still allowed to attend classes at the Maximilians-Gymnasium in Munich three days a week.

1944 September: Having reached military age, Ratzinger is released from the Flak and returns home, only to be drafted into labor detail under the infamous Austrian Legion ("fanatical ideologues who tyrannized us without respite").
November: Ratzinger undergoes basic training with the German infantry. Due to illness he finds himself exempt from most of the rigors of military duty.

1945 Spring (end of April or beginning of May): As the Allied front draws closer, Ratzinger deserts the army and heads home to Traunstein. When the Americans finally arrive at his village, they choose to establish their headquarters in the Ratzinger house. Josef is identified as a German soldier and incarcerated in a POW camp.
June 19: Ratzinger is released and returns home to Traunstein, followed by his brother Georg in July.
November: Ratzinger and his brother Georg re-enter the seminary.

1947 Ratzinger enters the Herzogliches Georgianum, a theological institute associated with the University of Munich.

1951 June 29: Georg and Josef Ratzinger are ordained into the priesthood by Cardinal Faulhaber, in the Cathedral at Freising, on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul.

1953 July: Ratzinger receives his doctorate in theology from the University of Munich. In connection with his doctoral studies he produces his first important work: Volk und Haus Gottes in Augustins Lehre von der Kirche [People and House of God in Augustine's doctrine of the Church]. Ratzinger devotes his Habilitationsschrift -- book-length contribution to original research in order to teach at the university level -- to Bonaventure's theology of history and revelation.

1959 April 15: Ratzinger begins lectures as full professor (one holding a chair) of fundamental theology at the University of Bonn.
August 23: Ratzinger's father passes away.

1962 - 1965 Ratzinger is present during all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council as a peritus, or chief theological advisor to Cardinal Josef Frings of Cologne, Germany.

1963 Ratzinger moves to the University of Münster.
Dec. 16: Ratzinger's mother passes away.

1966 Ratzinger takes a second chair in dogmatic theology at the University of Tübingen. His appointment is vigorously supported and secured by fellow professor Hans Küng. Ratzinger had initially met Küng in 1957 at a congress of dogmatic theologians in Innsbruck, after recently reviewing Küng's doctoral work on Karl Barth. Says Ratzinger:

I had many questions to ask of this book because, although its theological style was not my own, I had read it with pleasure and gained respect for its author, whose winning oppenness and straightforwardness I quite liked. A good personal relationship was thus established, even if soon after . . . a rather serious argument began between us about the theology of the council. [Milestones, p. 135]

1968 A wave of student uprisings sweeps across Europe, and Marxism quickly becomes the dominant intellectual system at Tübingen, indoctrinating not only his students but many of the faculty as well. Witnessing the subordination of religion to Marxist political ideology, Ratzinger observes: There was an instrumentalization by ideologies that were tyrannical, brutal, and cruel. That experience made it clear to me that the abuse of faith had to be resisted precisely if one wanted to uphold the will of the Council [Salt of the Earth].

1969 Scandalized by his encounter with radical ideology at Tübingen, Ratzinger moves back to Bavaria to take a teaching position at the University of Regensburg. He eventually becomes dean and vice president and later, theological advisor to the German bishops.

1972 Ratzinger, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Henry De Lubac and others launch the Catholic theological journal Communio, a quarterly review of Catholic theology and culture.

1977 On March 24, Ratzinger is named Archbishop of Munich and Freising. He is urged by his confessor to accept the office and chooses as his episcopal motto the phrase from the third letter of John, "Co-Worker of the Truth," reasoning:

For one, it seemed to be the connection between my previous task as teacher and my new mission. Despite all the differences in modality, what is involved was and remains the same: to follow truth, to be at its service. And because in today's world the theme of truth has all but disappeared, because truth appears too great for man, and yet everything falls apart if there is no truth.Milestones, p. 153]. [

He is ordained May 28.
June 27 - Ratzinger is elevated to Cardinal of Munich by Pope Paul VI.

1980 Ratzinger is named by Pope John Paul II to chair the special Synod on the Laity. Shortly after, the pope asks him to head the Congregation for Catholic Education. Ratzinger declines, feeling he shouldn't leave his post in Munich too soon.

1981 On November 25, Ratzinger accepts Pope John Paul II's invitation to take over as Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

[Zrinski]

Originally Posted by Aeternitas

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Bwahahaha....thats just a euphemism for the Inquisition....

[Milesian]