Papal vote may mark shift in Church

THE worldwide outpouring of affection for Pope John Paul II may have convinced the cardinals choosing his successor that today’s Roman Catholic Church has no room for a so-called “transitional” leader.

The profile of a Pope who knows how to communicate and to bridge cultural and religious divides fits a number of the 115 cardinals in today’s conclave. Those contenders include Brazil’s Claudio Hummes, Argentina’s Jorge Bergoglio and Austria’s Christoph Schoenborn.

Both Cardinal Hummes, aged 70, and Cardinal Bergoglio, aged 68, have been highly visible advocates for the poor, questioning the benefits of globalisation and free-market policies. Cardinal Schoenborn is the model of a modern churchman - a multilingual scholar who has reached out to Jews, Muslims and Orthodox Christians - but at 60 he may be considered too young.

Certainly, the election of Cardinal Hummes or another Latin American could have a profound impact on the region, home to nearly half the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics and facing a strong challenge from evangelical Protestants and social tensions from the divide between rich and poor.

As the election of Poland’s John Paul marked the Church’s response to communism in eastern Europe during the Cold War, the election of a Latin American could signal the Church’s stand in support of the poor and oppressed.

The election of a cardinal like German Joseph Ratzinger, aged 78, whose stock appeared high as the cardinals gathered in Rome for John Paul’s funeral, would mean a transition papacy. Selection of Cardinal Hummes or another younger man would signal that the cardinals want to maintain John Paul’s dynamism.

In interviews in the most recent issue of the Jesuit weekly, America, cardinals described the qualities required of the next pontiff.

Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles dismissed the possibility of a Pope from such countries as France or Germany, where “practically nobody goes to church”.

“What we are looking for is how to have the future Pope be somebody who represents a dynamic part of the world,” he said.

Cardinal Julius Darmaatmadja of Indonesia said John Paul “was accepted as a human being and as a moral leader” by people of different religions. The next Pope will be someone who can bridge the differences and communicate with people of different cultures.

More than three million pilgrims streamed past the body of Pope John Paul II as he lay in state. David Gibson, a former Vatican newsman, said the public displays for John Paul “recalibrated” the cardinals’ views.