Saturday, April 23, 2005

Ratzinger's successor at CDF?

John Allen Jr. in Rome
On the subject of Ratzinger's successor at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, at least four names have been suggested in recent days: Cardinal Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, Austria, who was one of the proponents of Ratzinger's election to the papacy; Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone of Genoa, Ratzinger's former deputy at the congregation; Archbishop Bruno Forte of Chieti-Vasto, a well-known Italian theologian and frequent Vatican advisor; and Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, a widely respected intellectual.

George is considered something of a longshot, since Benedict XVI may prefer to leave him in the United States, where he is currently the vice-president of the American bishops' conference and will presumably become the president at the end of the current term. In that capacity, he would be positioned to perhaps the most important point of reference for the pope in the American church.

One other rumor making the rounds is that Benedict XVI may simply decide to direct the congregation himself, as Pius XII, a veteran of the Vatican diplomatic corps, did with the secretariat of state. Others regard this is a remote possibility, since the pope may not want to take on this responsibility himself.

3 comments:

Fr. D.L. Jones said...

I favor Cardinal Christoph Schönborn considering the work they did together on the new CCC. He's German, etc.

I was talking with a friend about this topic and I brought up the name of Cardinal Kasper. He's an academic intellectual heavy-weight no doubt and he's German as well. They co-produced a German catechism together as well, which is published in English jointly by Ignatius Press and Communio. It's the best catechism in print in my opinion. Having Card. Kasper as the Prefect for CDF would just ruin the Progressives day, wouldn't it?

Anonymous said...

I hope that it isn't Cardinal George. It seems like a long shot, but more personally, we still need him here in the U.S.!

JACK

Fred said...

Kasper would really blow the minds of those who naively project secular politics on the Church.