Pope Adds New Voices To Group Selecting His Successor

By JOHN THAVIS, CNS

Published: October 2, 2003

VATICAN CITY (CNS)—Pope John Paul II’s latest cardinal appointments added new perspectives and new voices to the international group that someday will elect his successor.

The pope named 30 cardinals—plus announced one whose name was kept secret—and will induct them into the College of Cardinals during a consistory Oct. 21. Twenty-six of the new appointees are under age 80 and thus eligible to vote in a conclave.

One of the most striking things about the new batch of cardinals is their diversity of experience.

They include 19 residential archbishops working on every continent, in social contexts that present huge challenges: poverty in Ghana, political tension in Guatemala, interreligious pressures in India, lingering church-state hostilities in Vietnam, civil war in Sudan and ethnic conflict in Nigeria.

Several of the appointees clearly reflect the pope’s doctrinal and pastoral positions on controversial issues.

For example, Cardinal-designate George Pell of Sydney, Australia, has strongly defended priestly celibacy, has refused Communion to members of a gay rights group, has blamed the media in part for the “culture of death” in modern society, and has ordered a more prayer-focused program of formation in his seminaries.

But the new cardinals do not hold uniform opinions.

Cardinal-designate Keith O’Brien of St. Andrews and Edinburgh, Scotland, said recently that while priestly celibacy is a gift to the church he would have “no problem with celibacy withering away.” At a 1999 Synod of Bishops, he said the Roman Curia “lobby” had effectively blocked discussion about a married clergy.

Several of the new cardinals seem to have made an impression with the pope and his aides during synods at the Vatican. Indian Cardinal-designate Telesphore Toppo of Ranchi, a relatively small archdiocese, stood up at a 1990 synod and said “hard work” was a fact of life for dedicated priests—and added that they should always wear clerical garb, even in predominantly non-Christian societies like India.

At a synod in 2001, he again caught people’s attention when he said bishops need to live with the poor in the style of Jesus. That would be a prophetic step that could start a revolution and attract many Asians to the Gospel, he said.

Sometimes the “red hat” helps bolster the standing of bishops thrust into difficult political roles. That’s the case in Guatemala, where Cardinal-designate Rodolfo Quezada Toruno of Guatemala City has promoted a national unity dialogue and sharply challenged authorities to provide answers to the 1998 slaying of Auxiliary Bishop Juan Gerardi Conedera of Guatemala City.

One of the least-expected nominations was that of Cardinal-designate Peter Turkson of Cape Coast, Ghana. The young archbishop impressed people in Rome in 1994 when he said the church should pay more attention to the “signs and wonders” of the faith and not limit its teaching to “books and catechisms.” He encouraged a rediscovery of the Christian ministry of healing.

Far from a monolithic lineup, then, the list of new cardinals is an interesting mix. As a whole, the College of Cardinals now represents 69 countries, a wide geographical spread.

The idea of national or regional “voting blocs” in a future conclave may be outmoded, given the realities of the modern church. But in any case, the latest appointments did little to change the internal balance among voting-age cardinals.

Europeans would still dominate a conclave, with 66 electors out of 135. Italians have the biggest single bloc, with 23 electors—17 percent of the total, compared to 23 percent at the last conclave in 1978.

With 24 cardinal-electors, Latin America would have 17.8 percent of the total in a conclave. That percentage has slipped somewhat since the last consistory in 2001.

Asia and Africa have 13 cardinal-electors each, and North America now has 14. The U.S. contingent of 11 voting-age cardinals would remain the second-largest after Italy.

Although the pope named seven Roman Curia officials as new cardinals, that group is losing numbers as a bloc in a future conclave. The number of curial cardinals is now 34, about 25 percent of the total. Over the next year, five of those cardinals will turn 80 and drop off the list of electors.

Once again, the pope showed no hesitation in exceeding the technical limit of 120 voting-age cardinals. He’s done it before, prompting some canon lawyers to suggest that a change in church rules was overdue. But the pope, as the church’s supreme legislator, seems content to “derogate” or suspend the rule each time around.

The timing of the October consistory raised questions inside and outside the Vatican. Most officials had expected the pope to name new cardinals next February, well after the whirlwind celebrations for the pope’s 25th anniversary were over and after the pontiff could make a series of expected appointments to key Vatican offices.

Instead, the consistory will be tacked on to the anniversary celebrations, making it one of the most intense periods of activity in this pontificate.

The pope’s weak health has alarmed some longtime observers in recent weeks, and it was evident even as he announced the new cardinals. His voice was hesitant and he seemed short of breath; he misstated the month of the consistory before correcting himself.

Some at the Vatican are apprehensive about the physical toll the October events could take on the pontiff.

But the 83-year-old pontiff appears determined to soldier on, with determination and prayers. Before announcing the names of the new cardinals, he entrusted the upcoming consistory in a special way to Mary.