Posted on 01/02/2005 1:59:29 PM PST by wagglebee
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, the chief architect of Pope John Paul II's traditionalist moral policy, has long been a bugaboo for liberal Catholics. But they had stopped worrying that the German might one day ascend to St. Peter's throne. His hard-line views and blunt approach had earned him the epithet of panzerkardinal and too many enemies. Well, their worrying may now resume. Sources in Rome tell TIME that Ratzinger has re-emerged as the top papal candidate within the Vatican hierarchy, joining other front runners such as Dionigi Tettamanzi of Milan and Claudio Hummes of Sao Paolo. "The Ratzinger solution is definitely on," said a well-placed Vatican insider.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
There is a very definite need for a conservative Pope who won't back down to the secularists.
Ping
Oh great, Rat Boy.
I find it difficult to believe that he is a front-runner, however.
Cardinal Arinze!
There is indeed, but I don't think Ratzinger is going to be the one. I think it would be very difficult for him to get elected.
In addition, Ratzinger's not young, and the present Pope could still go on for another 10 or 15 years. Granted, he wouldn't be running the Vatican or the Church, but he'd be alive, and that's all it takes to hold the Papacy. Ratzinger might be too old (or dead) by the time the next election is held.
And don't forget, there are more than a few Catholics who are still quite bitter over what John XXIII did during his five years of "tiding things over."
I've been keeping my cell phone with me at all times, hoping I'll get the call to step in as the next CJ of the Supreme Court. But I'm quite prepared to settle for the Papacy. A way cool hat comes with the gig.
The two leading candidates are Cardinal Arnize and Cardinal Schonborn, I prefer the latter.
After the next conclave, I have a feeling that we'll all be saying "who?" and rushing to look up info on the new pope, just as we did when JPII was elected.
I met Cardinal Arinze a few years back in Chicago. A great guy, who would be a better choice than Ratzinger.
I like everything I have read about Schonborn, he is young and conservative. I don't have any real problem with Arinze. However, I would hope the Conclave would rise above any urge to be politically correct and elect a black just because of his ethnicity. Also, Arinze is 72, which puts his age into question as well. A talk I came across that Arinze gave on relations with Muslims is also a concern to me.
Francis Cardinal Arinze: Christian-Muslim Relations in the 21st Century
See my post #11.
Lucky you! Were you able to converse with him?
BUMP
I sat and had coffee with Cardinal Arinze (and about 9 other fellow guests) at the Opus Dei center in Chicago. He talked about the progress the Church had made in Nigeria, particularly with respect to the growth of Islam. Fascinating man.
Arinze still has his age working against him. I know that there is a push to have a non-European Pope, I just don't agree that it should be a determining factor.
I tried really hard to control my envy, imagining that maybe you just shook his hand in a receiving line. But no, you got to have coffee with him! :)
The most amazing parish priest I was ever blessed with was from Nigeria. Holy, reverent, orthodox, uncompromising on doctrine but full of real joy of the Spirit, and a brilliant scholar.
The bishop proceeded to take him from us (for his capacity as a canon lawyer). Talk about smothering a light with a bushel basket.
all I can say is ,"GOD HELP US "
I met Arinze too, when he visited Notre Dame in November of 1999. I was really impressed with him and would love to see him as the next pope. The Church is dead in Europe, but it is growing in Africa and I think the papacy should reflect this.
The last thing the Church needs right now is a series of lame-duck popes. There is no guarantee that Ratzinger would reign more than a handful of years before being called home himself. Cardinal Schonborn on the other hand could realistically be expected to reign as long or longer than John Paul II has (he's 55 I believe).
What do you think?
Schoenborn is 58.
I think Arinze may have personal piety and charm (like JPII, who has run his whole papacy on this), but he is a little too Muslim-friendly, as well as somewhat ambiguous in other areas. I agree with another poster who said that the person who gets elected will probably be a complete unknown. And this could be good - or bad.
Didn't Cardinal Schonborn come out looking pretty bad after the homosexual scandal in the seminary? From what I have read, he denied the problem and then, when finally forced to admit it, he didn't deal very firmly with the perpetrators. Do you have other info?
I hope so! But I doubt that we will know for some time. I don't think JPII is going anywhere. I'm not quite sure how much in charge he is anymore - mainly because he was never a strong administrator to begin with, so it's hard to say if anything has changed - but as long as he is alive, he'll be Pope. And with modern medicine, that could be a long time.
As for the Pope's health, one concern that I have had for some time is that he will slip into a comatose state without any written directives concerning life support or papal duties. As you said, much of the administrative functions have long been handled by others; however, there are still documents that require the Pope's signature and an incapacity could make things complicated.
That's been one of my concerns, too. However, I suppose (grudging admission) that God has His plans, too, so we'll just have to see how this works out.
I do know that it is not unheard of among the European royaly to euthanize terminally ill rulers to avoid such situations. King George V of England was actually given an overdose of morphine and cocaine in order to insure that his death would first be announced in "The Times" instead of less distinguished afternoon papers.
Damn, if I was, that would have killed my chances.
I would like to know your thoughts if you care to share them.
Arinze.......at the Opus Dei center in Chicago? That is all the information I need, thank you.
Next candidate?
Those Brits! LOL!
Any chance that an American could be elected, or is that an impossibility, given the world climate of anti-Americanism? America does have the richest Catholic church body.
Either way, only two to go, if you believe St. Malachy:
http://www.catholic-pages.com/grabbag/malachy.asp
Americans can't get elected when there ISN'T anti-Americanism.
There's always been the attitude that American prelates weren't "cosmopolitan" enough, though I don't see how a Polish cardinal would fit that category either. Italians got the nod for 400 years because Italian curias would pick Italian bishops for the diplomatic service, and almost every Pope had been a nuncio somewhere in the world for at least the last 200 years up until JPII.
The door's wide open for a non-European again, and the bishops may want someone like an Arinze who has some dealings with the Muslim world.
The following excerpt is from John Bishop's interview with Michael Davies which appeared in Christian Order. It was Michael Davies' last interview:
_______________________________________________
Michael Davies: I’ll tell you a good little story that Count Capponi told us at our general assembly of Una Voce. Cardinal Kasper went on an ecumenical mission to Athens last year.
John Bishop: Cardinal Kasper? Oh he is the German.
MD: Yes. He and his fellow German, Lehmann, were made Cardinals. You see there is no chance of Cardinal Ratzinger being made Pope. The job of Kasper and Lehmann is to go to the conclave and stop anyone Ratzinger supports from being made Pope. It is interesting, Pope John Paul II wouldn’t appoint Kasper and Lehmann at first and a week later he did.
JB: Yes. Their appointment came as a shock to a lot of orthodox Catholics.
MD: Well do you know where the pressure came from? The Polish hierarchy. Because they get so much money from the Germans. So Kasper and Lehmann said, ‘You scratch our backs and we’ll scratch yours.’
JB: Is that genuine? An inside story?
MD: Oh yes definitely. The Polish hierarchy put the pressure on. But anyway Kasper went on this ecumenical mission to Athens, attended the Greek Orthodox liturgy in the morning and in the afternoon he was having lunch. Then the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Athens, who is a good friend of Count Capponi and Una Voce, asked his Eminence how he had enjoyed the liturgy in the morning. "Oh wonderful, wonderful," said the Cardinal, "I thought I was in heaven." Then the Archbishop said that he thought perhaps that they should make some changes to the Greek liturgy because, perhaps for modern people today, some of it is too mystifying. Kasper said, "No that would be a mortal sin. You mustn’t change a thing. Keep it exactly as it is." And the Archbishop said, "Then why did you destroy your liturgy which was the equivalent of ours?"
JB: What is going on here? Saying what they think people want to hear. Now you see them now you don’t. This is perfidy.
MD: Oh yes. Well the policy of the Vatican, largely due to this Pope, a lot of people practically worship this Pope, and think he is inspired, but his ideas on ecumenism are just totally disastrous. He really knows nothing at all about Protestant Churches and he hasn’t achieved anything at all and nor did Paul VI. The Catholic Church in its practice has become more and more Protestant and the Protestants haven’t budged an inch.
Ratzinger considers himself very liberal. He is defending the positions of his Pope, like an honorable attorney general. AFAIK, he has not shown a knack for adminsitration or tact. We've had a philosopher Pope, now we need a competent adminsitrator. Recall how Ratzinger issued, and than backpedalled, a statement calling Protestantism "substantially deficient"? The issue of homosexuality in the crisis-plagued church?
On the other hand, anyone who zings 'rats can't be too bad. :^D
Arinze visited the seminary I studied at back in 85 or 86. He stopped at my room to chat. Very friendly and gregarious--but I would not want to see him as pope. I don't think he understands the conflict over the liturgy very well. Nice guy, though.
He understands the conflict perfectly. You just don't like his solution, which is the continuation of the Indult.
If you SSPXers were smart, you'd take a Tridentine Rite. But I don't believe the SSPX is interested in reconciliation.
You guys love being the "remnant." Lots of mileage to be gained from portraying yourselves as picked on by the nasty old Vatican.
They all appear so bad. There are no conservatives left. I don't think it really matters. When the Holy Ghost wants to step in and turn things around, he can do it, in a single breath, with either a liberal or a moderate.
Tell me about it. The last NO Mass I attended, in English, that is, was the Catholic version of Dr. Schuller's Hour of Power, complete with silky white robe for the 'pastoral associate.'
It just gets worse and worse.
No possibility that an American could be elected. Just look at the undistinguished flock of media-driven shepherds! (Most polite way to put it.)
Which is why mainline Protestants are converting to the Novus Ordo while cradle Catholics flee to SSPX, the Orthodox or conservative non-denom bible churches.
You don't get it. It's got nothing to do with our feelings. If Rome won't restore Tradition, then we must follow it on our own. That's where the faith is.
I get it perfectly. Fellay likes being a big fish in a small pond.
Geeesh, Opus Dei is getting to be like Starbucks, on every corner!!
Arinze is also a favorite papabile.
MMJ
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.