OSV STORY FOR APRIL 20

Who'll get the red hats in the next consistory?

Much to his critics' chagrin, the Pope soon will name more like-minded cardinals to choose his successor

By Russell Shaw

Some say the Pope will do it in June, others say six to eight months later. Whenever exactly it happens, Pope John Paul II almost certainly will call a consistory and name new cardinals between mid-1997 and early 1998.

In doing so, he will further strengthen his already dominant stamp on the body that eventually will choose his successor. After the next round of appointments, all but a dwindling handful of cardinal-electors -- whose number Church law sets at a maximum of 120 -- will have been named by Pope John Paul.

This does not sit well with his critics among "progressive" Catholics. Presumably, that is one reason some lately have been urging radical changes in the papal-election process and in the College of Cardinals itself.

But whatever future -- if any -- such suggestions may have, they are going nowhere under the current Pope.

Up to and including the last consistory, which took place Nov. 26, 1994, he had appointed 118 cardinals on five occasions since becoming pope in 1978.

The previous cardinal-making consistories have been convened at intervals of between two and four years, suggesting that another is due this year or the next.

Slots to fill

The death in February of Cardinal Ugo Poletti, 82, former vicar of Rome, reduced the total number of cardinals to 149, while leaving the number of electors -- cardinals under the age of 80 -- unchanged at 110.

That means Pope John Paul has 10 slots to fill at the present time. Ten new cardinals no doubt would be enough to warrant calling an early consistory, perhaps not long after the Pope returns from a May 31-June 10 trip to Poland. But some observers consider a later date likely.

An experienced Vatican official pointed out that several cardinals who head departments of the Curia, the Church's central administration, will turn 75 this year.

Among them is Cardinal Pio Laghi, former Vatican ambassador to the United States, who is currently prefect of the Congregation for Catholic Education. At 75, cardinals, like other bishops, are required to submit their resignations to the Pope, and although some of the Curia cardinals undoubtedly will continue in office, others very likely will not.

New heads will be named at their congregations, and since these positions are reserved for cardinals, the Pope may choose to fill them and then name the appointees cardinals as part of the new batch.

Also arguing for delay is the fact that three non-curial cardinals will turn 80 late this year and lose their eligibility to vote for the next pope. That also will open up places among the 120 electors, as will any deaths among this group.

Timing aside, it already is reasonably clear who some of the cardinals to be named in the next round will be.

For instance, three Curia congregations -- Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Causes of Saints, and Clergy -- now are headed by archbishops who seem likely to be elevated.

So, too, may some other current Curia officials. One possibility in this group is Archbishop J. Francis Stafford, former archbishop of Denver, whom the Pope called to Rome last year to be president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity.

Heads of major dioceses in several parts of the world also are in line to move up. One near certainty is Archbishop Christoph Schonborn, O.P., of Vienna, who before being named a bishop was the key staff person in the development of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

In the United States, possibilities include Archbishop Justin Rigali of St. Louis, who served in the Vatican for many years, and Archbishop William J. Levada of San Francisco, also with Vatican experience. Archbishops of San Francisco, however, have not been cardinals up to now.

The office of cardinal has deep historical roots, and the College of Cardinals in its present form dates from the 12th century.

For a long time the body was heavily Italian, but its internationalization began under Pope Pius XII (1939-1958) and has continued under his successors, including Pope John Paul II.

Following the 1994 consistory, only about 17 percent of the cardinal-electors were Italian.

Others by geographical origin were Western Europe (19 percent, excluding Italy), Eastern Europe (10 percent), Africa (12.5 percent), Asia (nearly 11 percent), Oceania (a little more than 3 percent), Latin America (more than 18 percent), and the United States and Canada (about 9 percent).

One of the current Pope's innovations has been to revive the ancient function of the College of Cardinals as a body of papal advisers.

Several times, he has called the cardinals from around the world to Rome to consult about issues -- for example, how the Church should observe the end of the second millennium and the start of the third.

This use of the College of Cardinals for consultation irritates progressives, who think the world Synod of Bishops should play that role. Pope John Paul has, in fact, regularly convened bishops' synods, too, and several more are scheduled. But that doesn't satisfy critics who believe cardinals are upstaging bishops.

Indeed, some progressives go so far as to argue that popes should be elected by the Synod of Bishops instead of the College of Cardinals.

In his book "Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church" (Harvard, 1996), Jesuit Father Thomas Reese of the Woodstock Theological Center in Washington proposes a "two-stage election process," whereby a candidate for pope would be nominated by the cardinals or the synod, but would have to be approved by the full body of bishops of the world.

Still another step favored by some is a policy of no longer naming Curia officials bishops and cardinals. Underlying such suggestions is progressives' belief that cardinals in general and curial cardinals in particular are too much the pope's men -- too likely to reflect the views of the pope who appointed them.

For the long haul, progressives seek a radical decentralization of authority in the Church and a dispersal of power -- removing it from the pope and Curia and placing it in the hands of bishops and national bishops' conferences.

That is the thrust, for instance, of many of the proposals in Father Reese's book, as it was of a controversial paper on "reforming" the papacy delivered last June at Oxford University by the retired archbishop of San Francisco, Archbishop John R. Quinn.

The progressives are, of course, looking to the future. They hope their words will be heeded by the next pope -- or, better still, by a new ecumenical council called to make such changes.

As for the current Pope, whenever he feels the time is ripe, he will appoint new cardinals as he has five times before, and almost certainly he will leave the choice of his successor in the cardinals' hands.

One unknown factor in the situation is the Pope's health. At 76, he walks slowly these days, and his left hand and forearm shake constantly. The Vatican hasn't flatly said he has Parkinson's disease, but it has confirmed that he suffers from a neurological disorder. If the condition isn't Parkinsonism, apparently it is something very like it.

Even so, Pope John Paul's schedule in Rome, though somewhat reduced, remains a busy one, and his travels continue. Besides the trip to Poland in late spring, these will include -- among others -- journeys to France in August, Brazil in October, and Cuba early next year.

He has made it clear he hopes to lead the Church into the third millennium. Greeting a group of visitors recently, he spoke of the preparations for the year 2000 as "an intensely spiritual pilgrimage of faith." And his own pilgrimage goes on.

Shaw is Our Sunday Visitor's Washington correspondent and director of public information for the Knights of Columbus

Copyright Our Sunday Visitor, 1997; from the 4-20-97 edition

HEADLINES FOR APRIL 20

Trying to answer the call (editorial)

Your pastor's identity crisis

Looking for Father Right

Sisters in disorder

Sisters of the 'good thanksgiving'

Death came for two archbishops

Counting martyrs: A catalog of horror and hope