ROME — Reporters, worshipers, and tourists were already waiting on the steps of Santa Maria Della Vittoria church Sunday morning when Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley arrived, a half-hour before he was to say Mass.
As he emerged from his car, he seemed to stiffen slightly, as if unnerved by the attention that comes with being seen as a papabile, or contender for pope — an improbable situation for the quiet archbishop of Boston.
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The only place I see this interest is in the Globe and maybe Boston. In Europe, it's no more him than another. Just yesterday, someone mentioned that they thought the one from the Philippines might get the position. Seems like a horse race.
A fixed horse race. Ratzinger has undoubtedly handpicked the next pope, especially with the bizarre requirement that Gorgeous George be the personal assistant of the new pope. I doubt very much that O'Malley is his choice.
The guy who covered up for Cardinal Law, still hiding out in plain sight in Rome.
The Globe is treating this story by placing it on the front page as if it were reporting the results of a Patriots or Red Sox game. Can't blame them for that to increase circulation. It gets tiresome though to read creative news.
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Cardinal O'Malley is as conservative as they come and a pure bureaucrat. The Church would not move an inch forward under his papacy. He has spent his tenure in Boston consolidating power in the chancery and slowly stripping parishes of their autonomy. He has instituted a confiscatory taxing scheme of parishes to ensure that the chancery's treasury grows--as does its over-paid employees. He favors purchasing programs and schemes over grass-roots efforts to evangelize. Membership in the Church has not grown in Boston; it has shrunk. Vocations have not increased. And the role of women . . . well, where are they? The only change the Church might see with Pope Sean is the hiring of lay executives to run departments as if they were businesses or governments rather than ministries. The cardinal is an amiable man, but not a dreamer. The Church needs someone to yank it into the 22nd Century, to dream of the "kingdom at hand," and to sell that dream to the world.
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Yes. Seems to me he speaks most about his admiration and respect for Benedict, and he highly valued his OBEDIENCE to the Pope.
Such traits do speak of a man with the vision, wisdom, and courage needed to make the sweeping changes that must be made, lest the RCC continue its quickening spiral toward extinction. Change significantly or cease to exist; either one is ok by me.
The Boston Blob is trying to generate public buzz in Boston about an O'Malley papacy. This is a second example within two weeks of this used-to-be-influential newspaper attempting to show its influence in the greater world. The earlier one was the hoopla about some committee whose chairman refused to name his collaborators in hyping Boston as an Olympic Games venue 20 or 25 years from now. The Blob fears its future when the grey lady dumps it, so it wants to glisten up its image for might-be buyers, and one way to do that is to huff and puff a whole bunch about issues over which it has no real control or influence. Mightily absent from that bunch of issues is selection of a Roman Catholic Pope.
Must be interest in Europe as betting shops in Ireland and England have Cardinal O'Malley 16/1. Never knew you could bet on a future Pope. I read that it is Not legal to bet on a Pope in USA only legal in Europe. The fact that Law of Boston still has a big church and life of a " Prince of the Church" in Rome still irritates me. That should never have happened. The Church has been much damaged in recent years. Can anyone make things right. Very very difficult to see.
papabile??? sounds like insect larva
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