This morning, the National Catholic Reporter posted on their
website a story by John Allen about the “buzz” amongst the Italian press about
Cardinal Sean O’Malley, OFM CAP, Archbishop of Boston. The Italian media is hinting that an American
being elected as the new Pope is not beyond the realm of possibility, and that
Cardinal O’Malley may be a strong candidate.
The story was picked up by the local Boston media, like WCVB, and by the national
media.
As much as I admire and respect Cardinal Sean, I think the
possibility of him being elected as Pope is remote. John outlines in his article, the points that
would not be in the Cardinal’s favor.
And to be honest, as much as I would really think it would neat to have
a Boston man as Pope, he is needed here in Massachusetts. The Archdiocese is about to begin a process
of reorganizing it’s parishes into collaboratives. It is a process that will be taking many
Boston Catholics into uncharted waters. There
will be anxiety, there will be uncertainty, as parish members will be
struggling to re-configure themselves into a new type of community. We will be looking to the Archbishop,
Cardinal Sean, to be there for us, guiding us, and encouraging us. So I am glad that the Cardinal has a round
trip airline ticket.
I think he'd have a pastoral side that's really needed there, but I don't see an American being elected. (They tend to be too hooked up in US politics, I think, which make a lot of Europeans--Catholics and not--very nervous.)
ReplyDeleteI thought about this possibility too - but I agree it's a long shot. On the other hand, maybe they need someone who's had to deal with the sex-abuse problems.
ReplyDeletehttp://paxchristirochester.blogspot.com/2013/02/cardinal-sean-patrick-omalley-papabili.html
Although a Pope from MA? Great way to troll Habs fans. :)
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