DAVID ADAMS speaks with Melbourne-based Vatican watcher, Professor Desmond Cahill…
While it’s been suggested the next Pope could be an African, Melbourne-based academic Professor Desmond Cahill suggests it may be a Canadian or South American who is elected by the papal conclave.
While reports have suggested that Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana and Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria are among contenders, Professor Cahill – professor of intercultural studies at RMIT University and Vatican watcher – says he doesn’t think that “at this stage the church would take so bold a step as to have a black African cardinal”.
“I think you’ve got to remember that Brazil is the largest Catholic country in the world with 123 million (Catholics) followed by Mexico with 95 million and then there’s the Philippines and the USA which both have about 74-75 million Catholics in them. So it could be time for Brazil.”– Professor Desmond Cahill |
He says French Canadian Marc Ouellet, currently head of the Congregation of Bishops, would “in my view, be the favorite, but there’s no real front-runner”. Others who may be considered include the South Americans Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa in Honduras, and Cardinal Odilo Scherer, Archbishop of Sao Paulo in Brazil.
“I think you’ve got to remember that Brazil is the largest Catholic country in the world with 123 million (Catholics) followed by Mexico with 95 million and then there’s the Philippines and the USA which both have about 74-75 million Catholics in them,” Professor Cahill says. “So it could be time for Brazil.”
Among Europeans, the two cardinals being talked about are Cardinal Angelo Scola, the Archbishop of Milan. and Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture. Australia’s Cardinal George Pell is seen as no more than an outside chance for the office.
Professor Cahill says the Pope’s abdication represents a significant change for the Catholic Church.
“It’s move away from a monarchy-type papacy to a type of papacy that we’re really not sure about now,” he says. “Certainly I think that future pope’s will have the pressure on them that someone did resign when they felt physically incapable of doing the job.”
While news of the Pope’s resignation came as a shock to Catholics, Professor Cahill says that “in retrospect it should not have been a surprise because there have been indications”.
These included a 2010 interview in which Pope Benedict XVI told a German journalist that a Pope would be obliged to resign should he have declining physical and intellectual powers as well as visits Pope Benedict made to the tomb of Pope Celestine V in Aquila (Pope Celestine V resigned the office in 1294 after only five months).
“There should have been more read into that,” Professor Cahill says. “Clearly, according to the Pope’s brother (Georg Ratzinger), he’s been thinking of this for some time.”
Noting that, apart from his decision to step down, Pope Benedict XVI will be remembered primarily as an academic and a teacher noted for his texts and weekly audiences, Professor Cahill say he believes the cardinals will now be looking for a Pope who has a lot of pastoral experience and “high level” administrative skills – both attributes Pope Benedict XVI didn’t have.
“His pastoral experience was quite limited and clearly his administrative skills were really not at the highest level that’s required to govern an organisation of 1.2 billion people.”
The cardinals will also be looking for someone with a “sense of the global church,” Professor Cahill believes, noting that Pope Benedict XVI had focused on Europe.
Among the many issues they will face will be the ongoing child abuse scandals which have been seen around the world but primarily in English-speaking countries like Ireland, the United States and Australia.
“I still feel that the church has not taken the issue as seriously as it should have…” Professor Cahill says. “None of them, even here in Australia, have asked the question why has this happened? What are the systemic factors that have brought this about?…This will be an ongoing issue for some time.”
