Oddsmakers have Dionigi Cardinal Tettamanzi of Milan, a favorite of John Paul II, as favorite to succeed the late pontiff. Some say the charming moral theologian is campaigning too hard. Serinelli GETTY
Posted on 04/10/2005 3:00:15 PM PDT by Liz
Oddsmakers have Dionigi Cardinal Tettamanzi of Milan, a favorite of John Paul II, as favorite to succeed the late pontiff. Some say the charming moral theologian is campaigning too hard. Serinelli GETTY
Dionigi Cardinal Tettamanzi kisses the hand of Pope John Paul II. Lepri AP
Dionigi Cardinal Tettamanzi of Milan is the odds-on favorite of every bookmaker taking wagers on the next Pope. He would just hate that.
A moral theologian who looks like Pope John XXIII and thinks like Pope John Paul II, Tettamanzi has fulminated against gambling, which he says is immoral because it enslaves people.
"Man is not made for games; games are made for man," he said.
On the other hand, the popular cardinal might be pleased that he's in the lead at 3-to-1, given that one of the biggest knocks against him is that he's campaigning too hard for the job.
Tettamanzi is little known abroad but ubiquitous in Milan, where he appears on TV, writes newspaper articles and publishes opinions about everything from gay marriage to bioethics to the wiles of Satan.
Avuncular and charming, Tettamanzi has been able to bridge political chasms within the Vatican without making important enemies. He is popular with both conservatives and progressives.
At 71, he's old enough to make another 26-year papacy unlikely. He's the leading Italian in a year when many foresee the job returning to Italian hands.
And most importantly, he was a favorite of John Paul, is believed to have ghostwritten some of his encyclicals and would represent a smooth continuation of the late Pope's policies.
Tettamanzi is short and round and jokes about it. He didn't take offense when a Scottish cardinal famously suggested in 1999 that he wasn't dignified enough to be
Pope by saying, "Who's the wee fat guy?"
He bears a resemblance to the widely beloved Pope John XXIII and has a similar populist style: He loves to wade into crowds to shake hands.
In 2003 he visited the Formula One race track at Monza, chatted with the drivers, mechanics and fans and even took a few zippy turns around the track in driver Ivan Capelli's red Mercedes. He joked afterward that he has been known to go even faster on a regular road.
He recently published a chatty letter to children with references to Bill Gates, Italian pop stars and the rainbow peace flags hanging from so many apartment balconies.
He signed it "Dionigi."
The Italian magazine L'espresso dubbed his activities "Tettamanzi's frantic campaign for the papacy."
Born near Milan, Tettamanzi wanted to be a priest since he was 5 and entered the seminary at 11. He spent much of his career as a seminary rector before becoming an archbishop in 1989 and then secretary of the bishops conference in Rome two years later.
He became a favorite of John Paul and in 2002, when he received an unusual promotion from archbishop of Genoa to Milan - Italy's largest diocese - some saw it as the subtle anointing of a successor.
Politically, Tettamanzi is hard to characterize.
Like John Paul, he is very conservative about church doctrine - taking strong positions against homosexuality, stem cell research and abortion - but liberal when it comes to issues of social justice.
Some Vatican watchers contend he's a lock because of his courting of the politically powerful Opus Dei.
Like all but one of the voting cardinals, Tettamanzi is not a member of the secretive archtraditionalist group, but he has allied himself with them.
He once compared Opus Dei founder José Maria Escriva to St. Francis of Assisi and has published fundamentalist papers such as one warning that the devil is real - "very intelligent, astute and charming" - and walking the Earth. Tettamanzi listed 10 practical ways to resist Satan and, in an echo of the famous "usual suspects" movie line, wrote: "He is a liar, and his greatest lie is that he does not exist."
Tettamanzi has also been at the forefront of the church's opposition to what he called "gay culture" - especially same-sex unions.
"In this cultural situation the church must exercise the greatest vigilance," he wrote.
But Tettamanzi is also popular with the liberal lay Community of St. Egidio, and other Vatican observers say Opus Dei has cooled on Tettamanzi because of it.
As archbishop of Genoa in 2001, Tettamanzi backed the anti-globalization protesters who laid siege to the G8 summit of world leaders there.
"One African child sick with AIDS counts more than the entire universe," he said, urging rich countries to take more care of the Third World.
In Milan, the cardinal has been outspoken about social problems including unemployment, poverty and the treatment of illegal immigrants.
He called for "placing in common the welfare and the goods of all, material and immaterial, physical and spiritual" - prompting a blistering editorial last year from the newspaper Il Foglio blasting "the Communism of Tettamanzi."
Tettamanzi both embraces modernity and worries about it.
Though Microsoft published digital editions of his 2000 book on bioethics, he is strongly critical of 21st century Western culture as being too materialistic.
"We seek to satisfy ourselves with consumer goods. We pursue economic well-being as the lone guarantee of true quality of life," he said. "We try to build a paradise on Earth, because we no longer believe in paradise in Heaven."
When it comes to the reforms so many American and European Catholics are pushing for, Tettamanzi is unlikely to deliver if elected.
Like John Paul, he sees the church's problems as external, not internal.
In his view, pressure to ordain women or let priests marry is due to a crisis of faith among Catholic worshipers, not a structural problem in the church or a failure to adapt to modernity.
"The first and fundamental problem concerns us Christians and our faith: To what point are we Christians?" he has said. "In Europe today, the priority does not lie in 'baptizing the converted' but in 'converting the baptized.'"
If he becomes Pope, he'll be the rare one with a nudgy mom.
In 2002, Giuditta Tettamanzi, now 94, was asked if she was pleased her son was moving to Milan and therefore could visit her more.
"I have no demands. When he calls me and asks me how I am, I simply answer: Alleluia!" she said. "My son must do the will of God, not mine."
She said she had one mantra when her son was made a priest and then a cardinal: "I repeated to him: Only with humility will you be able to take souls to God."
He called for "placing in common the welfare and the goods of all, material and immaterial, physical and spiritual"
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How are we, as trying-to-be-good Catholics, to reconcile this with our political beliefs? Should moral trump political here?
Rubs me wrong, too. The Holy Spirit is supposed to choose, and I don't think it's swayed by bumper stickers!
There also needs to be a Pope that is going to take on the "gay mafia" in the Church and take a draconian stance on paedophiles.
In short, the Pope needs to have steel in his soul. I may be wrong, but I don't see much of that in this bunch of cardinals.
Regards, Ivan
Precisely. Could not agree more.
Political correctness is the club used by the Secular Taliban to beat back believers----to oust religionists of every faith from claiming their rightful place in the public square.
PC needs to be quashed every place it raises it ugly head-----whether church or state.
"Hi Mom! Guess what happened to me today?!"
(However I think I will stick with Cardinal Arinze.)
Remember the old warning concerning papal 'favorites':
"Enter a Pope, exit a Cardinal."
It's okay as long as the game belongs to you, rather than you belonging to the game.
Sorry, can't reply now, my poker chips won't let me.
*grin* Of course.
No chance. Speaks only Italian. Much has changed since the death of Pope Paul VI.
Yea right! Listen to the handicappers, put your mortgage on the front runner and someone else will own your house.
How can anyone profess to know who the conclave might elect?!!!
Give me a break!!! sit back, relax and wait to see what happens!!
Bdad
Really?
The Holy Spirit isn't an "it", He's an "He".
The Catholic Church, I lament to say, is really good at dropping the ball - look at the way Law was treated his clear mishandling of the sexual abuse situation in his region.
The church has a great opportunity to honor the parts of the world where their church is growing - Africa and Latin America. If they squander that in favor of a European (and Italian)
I don't think the church should select an African or South American simply for the sake of the fact that they are African or South American. That being said, there are fine candidates from those areas and it is time to pass them the ball, rather than revert to old habit (and needless to say, Italy and much of the rest of Europe are not places that their church is growing - if anything, it is shrinking).
Remember that the church's most compelling tenet is its acknowledgement of individual free will.
The Church can only tell you what they consider to be the methodology to live a relatively peaceful, stress-free life by following its teachings.
However, we have free will, and ultimately make our own decisions on how we shall live.
The Church's contention is that high-risk behavior like gambling has social and moral and consequences. If you engage in such activity, you should be prepered to suffer the consequences.
I actually thought of some funny responses to that. Something tells me some might be offended, though!
Yeah, I'd much rather see a hardliner like Arinze as pope. And how great it would be to have an African pope! The African Catholics are in the front lines of a real religious war and are strong, hardened soldiers. They have much to teach the world. They deserve to be recognized and emulated.
I don't have a good feeling about this guy. He seems too "slick" and showy...
Mmmmmm....that would militate against his chances.
I believe particular regions have propensities to particular views on doctrine and policy. Latin America was awash with "Liberation Theology" and as such, I'm very suspicious of most of the Cardinals from there.
Africa, in contrast, is highly conservative.
Regards, Ivan
I agree with you totally. Some of the odds-on favorites (to be Pope) sound like socialists. I don't like it that Tettamanzi is "liberal when it comes to issues of social justice". And that: 'He called for "placing in common the welfare and the goods of all, material and immaterial, physical and spiritual" - prompting a blistering editorial last year from the newspaper Il Foglio blasting "the Communism of Tettamanzi."'
We do NOT need a Pope who is a Socialist/Communist. Good grief! Pope John Paul II fought AGAINST Communism. And here we have a Cardinal who wants to bring it back!
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