NEWS STORY: U.S. Cardinals Unlikely to Vote as a Bloc

c. 2005 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY _ The serene, grassy grounds of the Pontifical North American College are within walking distance of St. Peter’s Square, separated from Vatican City by tall trees. It is here, where select seminarians and priests study, that most American cardinals who are voting for the next pope will be […]

c. 2005 Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY _ The serene, grassy grounds of the Pontifical North American College are within walking distance of St. Peter’s Square, separated from Vatican City by tall trees.

It is here, where select seminarians and priests study, that most American cardinals who are voting for the next pope will be living until the election begins later this month.


It is widely believed that no U.S. cardinal has even a remote chance to succeed Pope John Paul II because of the fear that such a selection could project an image of the Vatican as an arm _ or worse, a tool _ of the world’s only superpower.

Still, as a group of 11 cardinals _ only Italy has more, with 20 _ the U.S. contingent is likely to have some influence in the conclave, given the country’s 65 million Catholics and large financial contributions to the church.

But that does not mean the Americans will use their influence as a single group or vote for the same person, three members of the U.S. contingent said Tuesday.

The cardinals _ Francis George of Chicago, Theodore McCarrick of Washington, D.C., and Justin Rigali of Philadelphia _ told reporters at the North American College it is unlikely they will consciously vote as a bloc.

“I’d be very surprised if that happens,” George said. “We bring ourselves and our backgrounds, and we know the concerns of our people. So naturally that shapes us the same as it shapes anyone else from any one other country.”

But, he said, “Each of us is also himself … . Any bloc would be resented. It’s not the dynamic of this election. The dynamics of this election are, you have 117 cardinals from other parts of the world. The most important thing is the church and the faith, not our national states.”

The cardinals are undoubtedly tossing about names among themselves already, and discussions are sure to intensify after Friday’s funeral for John Paul. But their ultimate votes for his successor are unlikely to ever be known. Voting, conducted in the Sistine Chapel, takes place in silence and by secret ballot. The cardinals are bound by church law from publicly discussing their choices.


McCarrick agreed with George’s contention that the Americans likely won’t band together.

“I think we are all the products of our own education, products of the culture in which we live, but I think we’re all different personalities,” he said. “And I think that’s wonderful.”

George said he did not assume that concerns in the American church about secularization would be the top factor in the votes of the 11 cardinals.

Around the world, he said, “Many cardinals have issues … with civil wars in their country, or starvation or AIDS or more immediate problems.”

Jo Renee Formicola, professor of political science at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., said Vatican elections are different from public elections.

“When you’re talking about choosing the pope, you’re talking about politics on a very transcendental level, a very high level, not based on national interest and what’s best for the church in the United States,” Formicola said. “You’ve got to be looking at it from a much more universal perspective.”

The Rev. Michael Fahey, S.J., a theology professor of Marquette University in Milwaukee, said the varied backgrounds of U.S. cardinals make it unlikely they will rally around the same candidate.


American cardinals who have long Vatican resumes, like Rigali and Bernard Law _ who despite resigning as Boston archbishop over the clergy sex scandal still has a vote _ are likely to lean toward a conservative administrator, Fahey said.

But cardinals who spent more time running dioceses, like McCarrick and Cardinal Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles, are more likely to lean toward a candidate with more pastoral experience who better understands the demands of overseeing millions of Catholics, he said.

The cardinals said they do not yet know who they will vote for because they are still meeting some fellow cardinals for the first time.

“I really don’t have a specific (cardinal in mind),” George said. “Some of them I barely know. … I’m interested in knowing about them” in coming days during daily meetings to plan the funeral and election.

Cardinal Rigali would not talk about what he wanted in a new pope. His current emphasis, he said, is on John Paul and his funeral on Friday.

Even the usually talkative McCarrick, when asked whether a candidate’s age and nationality would matter to him, said, “I can’t go there.”


“There are 117 folks in the world who are forbidden by (church) law to speculate, and that’s too close to speculation, I think. I apologize,” McCarrick said.

(OPTIONAL TRIM FOLLOWS)

For those so inclined, there were meager hints to read into. When McCarrick said relations with non-Catholics are unquestionably important to the church, did that mean he would favor someone like Francis Arinze of Nigeria or Walter Kasper of Germany, whose careers have been notable for ecumenical and interreligious dialogue?

And when George answered a question by saying that in some cases the Vatican could be more flexible in dealing with local dioceses, did that mean he was ruling out Joseph Ratzinger, who as a top Rome administrator was known for interceding in diocese decisions against the will of local clergy?

Not really. Both McCarrick and George mentioned other concerns _ relations with Muslims, Western secularization, bioethics _ that, taken in isolation, could each lead to different predictions for their votes.

In the end, it will be a delicate balancing act to decide which concerns are most important in a vote, said David Stagaman, chairman of the theology department at Loyola University in Chicago.

The U.S. cardinals, he said, “pretty much are like (Pope John Paul II) in the sense that when it comes to church doctrine and church discipline they’re not in favor of much change. But also like him they are quite interested in issues of social justice and the distribution of the goods around the world.”


(Jeff Diamant is a staff writer for The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. Brian Donohue contributed to this report.)

KRE/RB END DIAMANT

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