Most of the 115 cardinals who will sequester themselves in the Sistine Chapel to find a successor to John Paul II will find themselves in terra incognita in more ways than one.
First of all, all but three of them -- Cardinal Jaime Sin of Manila, who is too ill to attend the conclave beginning April 18, German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and William Baum of the US -- have never taken part in a previous election, having been made cardinals by the late Pope.
But more important, their choice will have to reflect a desire both to preserve the heritage of the Roman Catholic Church and to take the necessary initiative to keep it afloat.
PHOTO: EPA
"The future Pope will find it difficult not to continue the work of his predecessor, but it will be even more difficult to continue it," said Cardinal Jose Policarpo, patriarch of Lisbon.
The cardinals will share a concern for preserving the unity of the Church, which has been sorely tested by the widening gap between the countries of ancient Christianity and the Third World.
The same concern motivated John Paul II, who made concessions while trying to contain some of the ripple effects of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.
Like a shepherd who must surround his flock quickly to keep it together, the late Pope circled the globe several times in a bid to prevent dangerous divergences.
Examples include African priests in open sexual relationships, high divorce and remarriage rates in Europe and North America, and the sometimes violent social militancy of Latin American priests immersed in liberation theology.
These dangers persist, and John Paul II's successor must continue to address them.
The task is made all the more difficult by the fact that the problems of the Church in the developed world seem highly abstract in the Third World.
Faced with a dwindling recruitment base and an aging European clergy, the idea of dropping the celibacy requirement for priests may become thinkable.
This could come about after a transition phase during which married men above a certain age would be ordained. Of course, the most radical reformists speak of ordaining women.
Many want to see more progress in the ecumenical movement, which stagnated under a John Paul II attached to Roman dogma including that of papal infallibility.
In the developing world, where priests are signing up in growing numbers and women are consigned to age-old traditional roles, such radical ideas seem foreign indeed.
Third World dioceses are also resistant to ecumenism in the face of aggressive Protestant sects.
As for celibacy, a rarely expressed concern in poor countries is that priestly salaries could hardly be expected to pay for the upkeep of a family if priests were allowed to marry.
While John Paul II achieved consensus against abortion more or less throughout the Church, the same cannot be said of condoms, especially in Asian and African countries staggering with rapid population growth and the devastating AIDS pandemic.
In addition to ethical and social issues, the cardinals meeting at the Vatican will also have to think about the internal problems of the Catholic Church, beginning with reform of the Curia, or Church hierarchy, and demands for strengthened collegiality.
The winning candidate -- whose choice is meant to be inspired by the Holy Spirit -- will have to seem able to address these problems while at the same time preserving both the unity and the diversity of the universal Church.
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
Myanmar’s junta chief met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the first time since seizing power, state media reported yesterday, the highest-level meeting with a key ally for the internationally sanctioned military leader. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in 2021, overthrowing Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy and plunging the nation into civil war. In the four years since, his armed forces have battled dozens of ethnic armed groups and rebel militias — some with close links to China — opposed to its rule. The conflict has seen Min Aung Hlaing draw condemnation from rights groups and pursued by the
RSS