Buzz Growing around Cardinal O’malley As Possible Pope

By Matt Stout
Boston Herald
February 19, 2013

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2013/02/buzz_growing_around_cardinal_o_malley_as_possible_pope

Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley

Buzz is growing around Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley as the next possible pope, according to Vatican watchers, who say Boston’s Roman Catholic archbishop has the background, touch and personality to be a major contender to sit in St. Peter’s chair.

John L. Allen Jr., the Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, wrote in a blog post today that O’Malley has generated a “surprising degree of buzz” with the Italian press covering the Vatican, making the once improbable notion of an American being named pope now “thinkable.”

The growing chatter around O’Malley is based, writes Allen, “partly on the strength of his profile as a reformer on the church’s sexual abuse scandals, and partly because of his Capuchin simplicity as a perceived antidote to the Vatican’s reputation for intrigue and power games.”

He quotes a half-dozen Italian news outlets, who indicate that O’Malley has not only risen to the top of the list of American contenders but is also “prominent” among all non-Europeans, especially at a time that experts feel the church may lean toward a non-traditional pick with ties to South America, Central America or Africa.

O’Malley, Allen points out, holds a doctorate in Spanish and Portuguese literature, has experience ministering to both Hispanics and Haitians, and once worked in Chile as a priest.

O’Malley declined comment today through an Archdiocese spokeswoman, who referred a Herald reporter back to comments he made at last week’s press conference in which he said he wasn’t interested in being pope.

“I’ve bought a round-trip ticket, so I’m counting on coming home,” O’Malley joked then. “It’s a very challenging position, it’s a very lonely position, it’s a very difficult task. But we are there as cardinals to pray and encourage each other and know that someone needs to do it.”

O’Malley said at the press conference that the ideal next pope would have intellectual prowess, excellent communication and organizational skills, “and be someone who can communicate the joy of living their faith and their vocation.”

On Feb. 11, Pope Benedict XVI announced his plan to resign as of Feb. 28, the first pope to do so in nearly 600 years.