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THE ANCHOR-Diocese of Fall River-Fri., June 25, 1993
POPE JOHN PAUL II'S countenance soars above the crowd on a souvenir balloon at the June 13 closing Mass of the International Eucharistic Congress in Seville, Spain. Trial balloons are also going up as pope-watchers speculate on the identity of John Paul's successor. (CNS/ Reuters photo)
'Trial balloons ascend as pope-watchers wonder who'll follow John Paul II VATICAN CITY (CNS) When Cardinal Bernardin Gantin, a longtime Vatican official from Benin, was elected dean of the College of Cardinals, pieces in the "Name the Next Pope" board game started to shift. In the predictions of some, the early June election moved Cardinal Gantin, head of the Congregation for Bishops, higher up the list of possibles, called "papa bile" or "pope-able." But because Cardinal Gantin is already 71 years old, many experienced players took the announcement as a general opening for other Africans and non-Europeans to advance. The black cardinal's nomination to the post, which carries important duties during the election of a new pope, "is another sign of the universality of the church and is a consequence of the internationalization of the Roman Curia," said the newspaper II Messaggero. "The presence of Gantin at the head of the 'Senate of the Church' seems to prefigure the election of a black pope," the article said. But Cardinal Gantin's election cannot be read as a preliminary papal ballot because the dean is elected by and from among the six cardinals holding the honorary rank of titular of a "suburbicarian church," which are dioceses on the outskirts of Rome. The Name the Next Pope game is ongoing in Rome, although the conventional wisdom is that there will not be a conclave before the year 2000. hence the handicap of cardinals over 70. Waiting for press conferences t-o start, journalists ask each other,
"So, who's the next pope?" When the summer news doldrums start, they go through their flies updating the biographies of those they think are in the running. And that's the normal, the-popeis-healthy activity. Piles of paper were shuffled and hundreds of words about the "papabile" were written - but generally not published - last summer when Pope John Paul II was hospitalized for removal of a noncancerous colon tumor. Citizens of Rome, who claim the pope as their bishop, also play the game, usually agreeing that it's time for another Italian. They like the tradition of the Italian pope, but waning are the d,ays when more than half the church's cardinals were European and most of those were Italian. , On Jan. I, 1963, the College of Cardinals had 85 members, 57 Europeans. 29 of whom Italians. Fifteen years later, the college had expanded to 132 members, doubling the number of North Americans, Latin Americans and Asians. The number of Africans had jumped from one to 12. Today the College of Cardinals has 151 members, 79 of them Europeans. 35 of whom are Italians. Butofthe 108 cardinals who are under 80 and therefore eligible to vote in a papal conclave, only 52 are European and only 20 of those are Italian. Eighteen of the eligible voters come from Latin America. 14 from Africa. II from Asia. nine from North America and four from Oceania. Yet the Italians seem to come out ahead in the Name the Next
Pope game. Topping almost every list is Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, 66, a Jesuit scholar and archbishop of Milan. He is cited for pastoral and administrative.skills, active involvement in ecumenical and interreligious dialogue and his longtime presidency of the council of European bishops' conferences. Another Italian often mentioned is Cardinal Pio Laghi, prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education and former pro-nuncio to the V nited States. But his age, 71, and lack of pastoral ex perience count against him-at least in the board game. Along with Cardinal Gantin's advancement following his election as dean of College of Cardinals, Cardinal Francis Arinze. 62. a Nigerian who heads the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, seems to have gotten a push. The two Africans are seen as quintessential curial team players. Cardinal Gantin's influence over the ch~rch throughout tht: world is huge because most bishops' appointments go through his office, but he keeps a low profile. Cardinal Arinze gets around more, giving speeches at a variety of events, not only about his work with Muslims and Buddhists, but also about imbuing faith with elements of one's culture. And what are the chances for a V.S. cardinal? Nil, said one of them. "There will never be a V .S. pope because the Vnited States is too preeminent politically and economically," said Los Angeles Cardinal Roger M. Mahony in 1991.
Archdiocese alters building policies at union urging BALTIMORE (CNS)- The archdiocese of Baltimore has revised its building policies to require contractors to show how much health care. sick leave. vacation and other benefits they provide to workers. The archdiocesan building policy had been under scrutiny since 1991. when union leaders claimed the policy was not in line with Catholic social teaching. They contended that the archdiocese was
hiring less expensive nonunion contractors who did not treat their workers as fairly as unions did. The new policy involves the awarding of contracts for construction projects of archdiocesan schools. parishes and other archdiocesan-owned buildings. To qualify for bidding under the revised policy. contractors must fill out a questionnaire showing how much health care. sick leave. short-term disability. retirement
and vacation benefits they offer. .The questionnaire also asks for information on drug and alcohol treatment, workplace conditions and the number and positions of minorities. In the past. contractors simply had to show they were bonded for financial reasons. Before the new policy was drawn up. the archdiocesan Division of Facilities Management surveyed union and nonunion contractors.
They found that while unions provided reasonable benefits, about a quarter of the nonunion contractors who responded did not. The revised policy. made public in June. attempts to ensure that contractors hired for archdiocesan projects treat their workers fairly. in line with Catholic social teaching on workers' right to a decent and just wage. "Our concern as church is just compensation and fair treatment
forworkers."said Msgr. G. Michael Schleupner. secretary for the archdiocesan Department of Management Services. "We think this policy responds to that." The policy applies to projects under control of the archbishop and costing more than $300.000. It is not expected to affect the construction practices of nonarchdiocesan entities. such as Catholic colleges and hospitals and Catholic Charities programs.
Spies who came in wearing cassocks didn't learn much VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Call it "The Spies who Came in Wearing Cassocks." But the latest spies-in-the-Vatican story isn't in the same genre as a John Le Carre noveL "It was a very modest way of spying," Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said with a laugh . . The alleged spies were three Orthodox students studying theology at the Pontifical Oriental Institute in the early 1980s. They were given access to lectures, the library and liturgies. The Orthodox espionage tale and other reports of clandestine snooping behind Vatican walls show how hard it is to infiltrate the little city-state and how meager were the gains of those who have succeeded. The latest splash of spy stories hit the Italian papers after Jesuit Father Jakov Kulic. secretary general of the Pontifical Oriental Institute. told reporters that the
three were sent by. their governments to Rome in the early 1980s. Father Kulic and Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, head of the Congregation for Eastern Churches, declined to provide details because "it's a very delicate question." . But professors and former students of the Oriental point out it was standard practice in the Soviet V nion and other Soviet-bloc countries to require citizens to write reports on any contacts they had with foreigners. It was assumed the requirement was more strictly enforced with citizens allowed to study abroad. V sing the reporting requirement "to say they were agents is to make a lyric leap," one professor told Catholic News Service. A common story among Oriental Institute students is that the East Europeans would fill their monthly reports with summaries of information they gleaned from the newspapers.
"One student told me he was instructed by his bishop not to put anything in his report that was not seen first in the newspapers," the professor said. "The poor Soviets believed secret sources more than public information, but that was an illusion," said V.S. Jesuit Father Robert Graham, a historian and longtime Vatican observer. "They had to employ very complicated means to get the same information that was in the newspapers," he said. Father Graham, who is amused by his reputation as the Vatican's "counterespionage expert." said in the last 50 years there has been hard information on only one "bona fide spy" with a Vatican beat. Alexander Kurtna. who was born in Estonia in 1914. spicd first for the Nazis, then for the Soviets in Rome in the 1940s. Navarro-Valls said the Vatican uses "standard security measures"
to prevent spying, but he would not provide details. The most obvious precaution is that it is difficult to get into any part of the Vatican except St. Peter's Basilica.and the museums. Father Graham thinks it would be easy to bug a Vatican confessional, but the information wouldn't be worth much. "All the penitent does is list sins by number and species - it's not a gossip session," he said. As cardinals participating in the 1978 conclave that elected Pope John Paul II were being sworn in, security agents checked the areaincluding the Sistine Chapel, apartments. offices and part of the Vatican museums - for unauthorized personneL They also "swept" for electronic listening and recording devices. When asked if he thought the Vatican conducted similar sweeps of its offices on a regular basis. Father Graham said. "I hope they do. You don't want to be naive."
One longtime Vatican reporter claims two Hungarian agents. in the 1960s went directly to him instead of to his tidied and edited reports, as the Orthodox students did. He said the outrageous stories he made up for them were exceeded only by the outrageously bad vod ka they gave him each Christmas. The Vatican's basic self-defense. Father Graham said, is the rule: Watch what you say and to whom you say it. Also, he said in a telephone interview, "You have to watch what you say on the phone; it's child's play to tap a phone:"