I have spent the weekend trying to figure out about which names echoing out at St. Peter’s would make me happy (like I was in 2005) and which would worry me. In 2005, I had a clear favorite and he became Pope. This time around, things are much murkier. The names that would make me most happy, like Burke, seem like long shots.
So I thought I would turn to you. Which Cardinals do you like for Pope and why? What are their chances? Which candidates are you most worried about and why? And What are their chances?
I am truly interested. I will copy some of the more interesting and well thought out commentary into the body of this post.
So let’s hear it!
Update
It seems the consensus here would like to hear this:
Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum:
Habemus Papam!
Eminentissimum ac reverendissimum Dominum,
Dominum Reimundus Sanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ Cardinalem Burke,
Qui sibi nomen imposuit Pius XIII.
March 11, 2013 at 2:12 am
Burke. Who else is better to stop the culture of death than an American, who is from the primary exporter of that culture? He also has enough Rome experience to be comfortable there working with the curia.
Not to mention he's a ROCK, liturgically speaking.
March 11, 2013 at 2:26 am
I do love Cardinal Burke and would be thrilled to have him, but I actually think Ranjith would be a better choice. He's my #1!
March 11, 2013 at 2:46 am
I think Turkson will win, not because I want him to win but because I think he will fulfill the prophecy of "Petrus Romanus." I know some of you might think that prophecy is bunkum but it's been awfully accurate, to say the least….
Turkson's paper on centralizing international banking authority (which Pope Emeritus Benedict favors, btw) could make him a front-runner, especially since this batch of cardinals loves to tell others how to behave without holding themselves to their own standards.
Burke will not win. No really strong personality will win. The Catholic Church might need a kick in its biological seat cushion but that's something the conclave won't vote for. The Curia loves its power and the cardinals love their privilege. They'll vote for somebody who will maintain both. Turkson is enough of a "party man," as it were, to do just that.
March 11, 2013 at 2:49 am
Either Burke or Ranjith would be very exciting, though I think Oulette and Scola have the early advantage.
March 11, 2013 at 2:53 am
Joseph, it is awfully accurate until the Reformation-era, because that is when it first appeared, and it would make sense that the traits match those known about prior popes. After its 'discovery,' it is hit-and-miss. I think Turkson will be avoided, precisely to avoid picking a Pope named Peter, and to rid the Church of those false prophesies once and for all.
March 11, 2013 at 3:58 am
Any accuracy the Malachy prophecy has is indistinguishable from the accuracy Nostradamus has—"Oh in hindsight plainly this random gobbledigook meant that." In the words of a character from a freaking D&D tie-in novel, "I could litter this road with omens by hindsight."
March 11, 2013 at 4:24 am
What Liz said:
Burke, then Canizares Llovera, Scola, Ouellette (although if it's going to be a North American other than Burke, I'm perhaps starting to like Dolan a little more than Ouelette … but with some reservations).
March 11, 2013 at 5:17 am
To say who will win is a toughie. . . frontrunners are probably Scola, Erdo, Oullet, (maybe) Tagle, (maybe) Turkson.
Who I want to hear from the balcony is easy: Timotheum Cardinalum Dolan!
The New Evangelization needs him. All the cardinals in Rome are still buzzing over his talk there last year on the subject. He is the personification of Christian joy. He knows how to go about forming priests. He's got the best stage presence since JPII. (Plus, he's my own bishop, and I have a personally signed letter from him that's going to go up enormously in value if he wins).
But if it's going to be anyone from North America, I think it will probably be Oullet. Who wouldn't be a bad choice.
March 11, 2013 at 5:19 am
To say who will win is a toughie. . . frontrunners are probably Scola, Erdo, Oullet, (maybe) Tagle, (maybe) Turkson.
Who I want to hear from the balcony is easy: Timotheum Cardinalum Dolan!
The New Evangelization needs him. All the cardinals in Rome are still buzzing over his talk there last year on the subject. He is the personification of Christian joy. He knows how to go about forming priests. He's got the best stage presence since JPII. (Plus, he's my own bishop, and I have a personally signed letter from him that's going to go up enormously in value if he wins).
But if it's going to be anyone from North America, I think it will probably be Oullet. Who wouldn't be a bad choice.
March 11, 2013 at 9:17 am
Rambunctiousness, not Christian joy, is what sadly comes to my mind when I see Cardinal Dolan. Not conducive to holiness.
March 11, 2013 at 5:35 am
I go with Raymond Cardinal Burke formerly of St.Louis most recently from the Apostolic Signatura, and Malcolm Cardinal Rangith of Columbo. I believe they have the most traditional street cred, and are least likely to flee from the wolves as it were.
Continued St. Jude Novena
fxr2
March 11, 2013 at 5:35 am
I go with Raymond Cardinal Burke formerly of St.Louis most recently from the Apostolic Signatura, and Malcolm Cardinal Rangith of Columbo. I believe they have the most traditional street cred, and are least likely to flee from the wolves as it were.
Continued St. Jude Novena
fxr2
March 11, 2013 at 5:36 am
I would be thrilled if Cardinal Burke was selected. I knew him from his days in St. Louis. He is excellent all around – scholarly, shrewd, courageous, personal humility, with pastoral care and concern for individuals. He took time out of his busy schedule to meet with seminarians at Kenrick for 30 minute walks to chat one on one. These walks were so popular that seminarians signed up for them months in advance. He can take unwarranted criticism from the liberal press, which is another plus.
March 11, 2013 at 5:52 am
Lori, with all due respect, I hope that Dolan is not elected. Just from a superficial glance of the man and what he's said and done, he doesn't seem to have the intellectual or emotional heft for the job. He would be overwhelmed very quickly.
March 11, 2013 at 9:57 am
Joseph, what has he said or done to leave that impression?
Lynda, I'm sorry to hear you feel that. I guess you don't like saints like Don Bosco or Philip Neri (who was not just rambunctious, but a real oddball) either.
March 11, 2013 at 4:54 pm
On the contrary, I love a feisty saint. Cardinal Dolan is not one. He is not fierce in fighting evil but rather tries to be popular with the political and Media elite. And he is not sufficiently humble and reverent while offering the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. He is a performer; he makes things about himself, not God.
March 11, 2013 at 10:18 am
Scola or Scherer.
Pope Gregory.
March 11, 2013 at 10:46 am
Malcom Ranjith solves all the "problems" he's from the 3rd world, he's dynamic and a good public speaker AND the MSM will have an absolute hissy fit! What's not to like?
March 11, 2013 at 12:28 pm
I don't have it in front of me but a recent analysis said the "progressives" (not among Cardinals, but among priests and laity of the chattering classes) are behind Scherer. Anyone know why?
March 11, 2013 at 12:31 pm
On Scherer, from Sandro Magister's "Chiesa" blog:
On the opposite side, however, the magnates of the curia are closing ranks and counterattacking. They are not pushing forward one of their own, knowing that in this way the game would be lost from the start. They are sniffing the wind that blows in the college of cardinals and are themselves pointing far from Rome, across the Atlantic, not to the north but to the south of America.
They are looking to São Paulo, Brazil, where there is a cardinal born from German immigrants, Odilo Pedro Scherer, 64, who is well known in the curia, who was in Rome in the service of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re when he was prefect of the congregation for bishops, and who today is part of the cardinalate council of supervision over the IOR, the Vatican “bank,” reconfirmed a few days ago with Bertone as its president.
Scherer is the perfect candidate for this maneuver, completely Roman and curial. It doesn't matter that he is not popular in Brazil, not even among the bishops, who when called to elect the president of their conference two years ago rejected him without appeal. Nor that he does not shine as archbishop of the great São Paulo, the economic capital of the country.
The important thing for the curial magnates is that he is docile and bland. The progressive halo that envelops his candidacy is of purely geographic derivation, but it too serves to ignite in some naïve cardinals the boast of electing the “first Latin American pope.”
March 11, 2013 at 1:07 pm
Burke would be a good Pope, I think, and our best bet to see one of these again:
http://www.sanctamissa.org/en/resources/articles/papal-mass.jpg
But my first choice would be Crd. Arinze, and I think he has a decent shot. First, with so many new cardinals who weren’t expecting a conclave so soon, electing someone Arinze's age might be a way to give them a few more years to think it over. Arize is also the perfect mix: extremely charismatic and a good communicator, and he’s also a Curial veteran. Add to that the fact that he is doctrinally and liturgically sound and very much in line with Benedict’s vision. And, of course, the boost to the Church in Africa would certainly be significant.
I know the Italian thing seems like a long-shot, but I would like Crd. Magnasco as well. Solidly orthodox, and a rare example of Italian compromise. He’s a Curial outsider with a mind towards reforming it.
I would also like Ouellet. And Dolan, but presuming he stays healthy he will likely have a few more conclaves in his tenure.
I am worried about Turkson, due to his involvement in that horrible economic document on banking and the economy. I know the pope isn’t the treasury secretary, but there’s a certain element within the Church that would run a bit far the left under a Turkson papacy, I fear.
I also would be quite nervous about Crd. Schonborn. I think he is orthodox personally, but some very bizarre things have taken place in his diocese, and if he can’t (or worse, won’t) reign them in, what would await the Church? I’m afraid all of Benedict’s liturgical work would be undone.
In any event, no matter who the pope is, I feel like he might be a Gregory this go around.
March 11, 2013 at 2:58 pm
Cardinal Burke for Pope. Because you never have to worry that he will teach the faith clearly and correctly. He is a man of prayer and doesn't care if the New York Times or ABC or CBD or MSNBC etc like him. Unlike Dolan (the typical "ugly American"and Wuerl "the politician"and O'Malley "the climber", he is truly fearless in the face of evil and doesn't care if he is thought of as "open". He is truly a reformer that the Church needs ASAP.