Vatican Diary / Appointments in View, Italians in the Balance

Chiesa
May 24, 2012

http://chiesa.espresso.repubblica.it/articolo/1350254?eng=y

VATICAN CITY, May 25, 2012 – In the Roman curia, but not only there, there is great anticipation over who will be the new prefect of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith.

Meanwhile, however, other curial mandates have expired or are about to expire, of lesser impact in the media but certainly not devoid of importance.

In 2005, when the newly elected Benedict XVI had to decide on the name of his successor at the former Holy Office, he selected the first of three candidates:

- the archbishop of San Francisco, William J. Levada,

- the cardinal of Genoa, Tarcisio Bertone (whom Pope Joseph Ratzinger probably had in mind already as his secretary of state),

- the cardinal of Sydney, George Pell (who two years ago was seriously taken into consideration as prefect of the congregation for bishops, a position for which Canadian cardinal Marc Ouellet was chosen).

Now Levada, who was made a cardinal in 2006, has already exceeded by almost one year the canonical cutoff of 75, and will turn 76 on June 15, so the procedure that will lead to the appointment of his successor is in its final phase.

In "pole position" seems to be the bishop of Regensburg, Gerhard Ludwig Muller, editor of the publication of Ratzinger's opera omnia and a theologian himself, considered a conservative in Germany although some even more conservative circles in Rome and Latin America view him with suspicion because of his longstanding friendship, never disowned, with the Peruvian Gustavo Gutierrez, the honorary father of liberation theology.

But in anticipation of knowing if a definitive decision has been made in this regard, procedures have also been begun for the assignment of various positions, episcopal and not, in dicasteries of the curia, some of them important, whose occupants have passed away or have exceeded or are about to exceed the age of 75.

Let's look at them, according to the order in which the dicasteries are listed in the Annuario Pontificio.

In the congregation for the evangelization of peoples – on which many of the ecclesiastical jurisdictions of Africa and Asia depend for the appointment of bishops and financial support – February 4 saw the 75th birthday of Archbishop Pierluigi Vacchelli, adjunct secretary with administrative oversight of the pontifical missionary operations, which together with its substantial real estate portfolio constitute the cash drawer of the dicastery.

In this dicastery "de Propaganda Fide," the position of undersecretary has also been left vacant, through the recent and premature death of Father Massimiliano Cenci, a priest of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions and a member of Communion and Liberation.

In the Apostolic Penitentiary, on April 21 the Conventual Franciscan bishop Gianfranco Girotti turned 75, after ten years as "regent" and therefore second in command of this very special and very private dicastery that deals with questions related to the internal forum and with indulgences.

In the Roman Rota, it was on October 1, 2010 that Polish bishop Antoni Stankiewicz, the dean of the tribunal, passed the aged of 75 and began awaiting a successor.

And the appointment of the undersecretary of the pontifical council for the promotion of Christian has also dragged on since 2010. This position has in fact been vacant since, on September 22 of that year, Monsignor Eleuterio Fortino, a great expert in ecumenism, died at the age of 72 after filling that role since 1987.

In December of 2011, Cardinal Ennio Antonelli, the president of the pontifical council for the family, turned 75.

While on last January 23, the same age was reached by Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata, secretary of the pontifical council for interreligious dialogue.

Moreover, next September 24 the cardinal archivist and librarian of Santa Romana Chiesa, Raffaele Farina, will turn 79, close to the maximum threshold of 80 established for this role.

And June 15 will be the 75th birthday of Spanish archbishop Felix del Blanco Prieto, the almsgiver of His Holiness, a position in which however his predecessor, the Italian Oscar Rizzato, remained until the age of seventy-eight and a half.

As can be noted, a good seven of the ten positions examined so far are or were occupied by Italian churchmen.

It will therefore be interesting to note if their successors are also Italians, or if instead the replacements will be taken as an opportunity to accentuate the internationalization of the Roman curia.

In this regard, the numbers say that, as far as the congregations are concerned, with the pontificate of Benedict XVI the Italians have gained a little ground among the prefects (at the death of John Paul II there were two out of nine, and now there are three) and in return have lost a little among the secretaries (from five out of ten they have dropped to three).

While with regard to the pontifical councils there has been a strong increase of Italians among the presidents (in April of 2005 there was only one out of eleven, and now there are six out of twelve) as opposed to a conspicuous decrease among the secretaries (from five out of eleven to three out of twelve).

Overall, then, in the calculation of the leadership of the Roman curia properly so called – meaning the secretariat of state, the nine congregations, the three tribunals, the twelve councils, the three offices – the Italians were 7 out of 27 in March of 2005 and are 13 out of 28 today. With a strong percentage increase: from 25.9 to 46.4 percent.

While if one looks also at the leadership positions just below the top - secretaries, undersecretaries, and the like - seven years ago the Italians were 23 out of 55 and now are 24 out of 59. With a slight percentage decrease, from 41.8 to 40.7 percent.