National Catholic Reporter: Boston’s O’malley on Short List for Pope

The Patriot-Ledger
February 19, 2013

http://www.patriotledger.com/topstories/x694774700/Boston-s-O-Malley-on-short-list-for-Pope-National-Catholic-Reporter

Cardinal Sean O'Malley

While conventional wisdom has long held that the election of an American to the papacy is unlikely, reporters at the Vatican say there is a growing “buzz” about Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley.

“I can confirm the O’Malley buzz from personal experience. Right now, it’s tough for an American journalist to walk into the Vatican Press Office without fielding questions from colleagues about him,” wrote John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter.

Vatican reporters have said there is no clear choice among the College of Cardinals to succeed Pope Benedict XVI when he resigns at the end of the month.

This has led to inevitable speculation and Allen reports that O’Malley’s name is being mentioned in the Italian press, as well.

“There’s Cardinal Scola of Milan, and Cardinal Ouellet who heads the Congregation for Bishops,” Allen quotes Vatican reporter Marco Politi as saying. “There are candidates from South America, as well as outsiders such as Cardinal O’Malley of Boston and Cardinal Erdo of Budapest. “

O’Malley has been among the most-vocal Bishops in apologizing for the church’s sex-abuse crisis and reaching out to its victims.

“In that context, many cardinals may feel special pressure to pick a pope seen as having ‘clean hands’ on the sex abuse crisis,” Allen wrote.

O’Malley, 68, has been the Archbishop of the Boston since 2003, when he succeeded Cardinal Bernard Law whose resignation was forced by the sex-abuse cover-up.

He is hardly a Vatican insider.

“O’Malley has zero experience in the Vatican. While that means he’s not identified with its recent meltdowns, it may also mean some cardinals will wonder if he’d be out of his depth trying to get the place under control,” Allen wrote.