Mag een neger paus worden?

[PAJOT]

SPECULATION ON NEXT PONTIFF

Black pope to succeed John Paul II?

The Guardian profile: Cardinal Francis Arinze

Despite the taboo within the Vatican about discussing papal succession,
some cardinals have begun to say openly that the next heir to St. Peter
should also be the first African pope. If so, there is only one candidate.

By RORY CARROLL

The Guardian, London Friday, October 3, 2003

ROME**The Vatican has a thing about colour. There is a white cassock
for the pontiff; scarlet cloaks for the cardinals; navy and gold uniforms for
the Swiss Guards; yellow for the flag**and soon, we might know whether
there is white smoke for a black pope.

Behind the dark shutters overlooking St. Peter's Square, the 83-year-old
leader of the Roman Catholic church is ailing, possibly dying. His aides
seem to be preparing the public with solemn pronouncements saying
he is in a very bad way, prompting some in the crowds gathered beneath
his window this week to weep.

Others cast their eyes to the right of the apostolic palace, to the window
of a cardinal who could become very famous very soon. Francis Arinze
is tipped by some to succeed John Paul II and become the first African
in 1,500 years to sit on the throne of St. Peter.

If he does, the world will devour every detail about this stocky Nigerian**
that he spent his early years in the countryside outside the Catholic faith;
that he loves tennis and football; that he hangs African masks on his
apartment walls; that he thinks Muslims, Buddhists and Jews can go to
heaven; and that he stopped taking sugar in his tea during the Biafran war.

For many, the most compelling detail would be his race: a black man
with more international influence than many white prime ministers and
presidents. As pope he would wield a unique blend of spiritual and political
power, able to mobilise the opinions of up to a billion Catholics and sway
the policies of nation states.

It has been quite a journey from the baked red earth of Eziowelle, a village
in southeast Nigeria, to the marbled halls of Rome, where Cardinal Arinze,
70, is the prefect of the congregation for divine worship and the discipline
of the sacraments, a post which puts him in charge of liturgy, and number
four in the Vatican hierarchy.

"It has been a meteoric rise," said Gerard O'Connell, a Vatican analyst
who his week published a book of interviews with the cardinal, called
God's Invisible Hand. "The guy is is very bright and astute and able to
communicate in simple language. He has a great sense of joy."

Cardinal Arinze was first touted as papabile**"popeable"**by another
Vatican analyst, Peter Hebblethwaite, in 1992. Since then he has stayed
on the notional shortlist of successors, seldom putting a foot wrong in
the writings, speeches and diplomacy by which cardinals are evaluated.

Any open backing for a candidacy is frowned upon in as much as it
anticipates the incumbent's death. However, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger,
a confidant of John Paul and the Vatican's theological watchdog, came
close when he said electing an African pope "would be a positive sign
for the whole of Christendom".

"For all its condemnation of racism, the western world still has
reservations about the third world," Cardinal Ratzinger said. "Yet, in Africa
for example, we have truly great figures whom we can only admire. They
are fully up to the job." Two Latin American cardinals recently swelled
that chorus.

John Allen, the author of a book about the next papal election, Conclave,
said a recurring theme in their interviews with 45 cardinals was a desire
for a pope from the developing world**"which could mean Arinze.

To be frank, there are not many other Africans". However, Mr Allen does
not rank the Nigerian in the top 5**only in the top 20**partly because
there are strong Latin American candidates, and partly because there is
a desire by some Italians to "reclaim" a job which they see as being "lent"
to a Pole after centuries of Italians.

Austen Ivereigh, the deputy editor of the Catholic weekly The Tablet, also
puts Cardinal Arinze in the top 20. John Paul's successor will be elected
by a conclave of 135 cardinals aged under 80. Gathered in the Sistine
chapel, they will each write a name on a card, kneel at the altar, and slide
the ballot into a chalice. A two-thirds majority is needed, so there can be
many rounds before a consensus emerges.

Cardinal Arinze's geniality could tip the balance, said Mr Ivereigh: "He is
not known to get up people's noses."

White smoke pluming from the chapel will signal that the choice has been
made, and a short while later**his white cassock adjusted by Rome's
Gammarelli tailors**the new pope will appear at the basilica window to
greet the crowds. If it turns out to be Cardinal Arinze, it will compel universal
recognition that two thirds of Catholics live below the equator, and that
Europeans no longer dominate the church.

Born on November 1 1932**All Saints' Day**Francis Arinze was the third
of seven children. His parents, Joseph and Bernadette, worshipped
traditional Ibo deities, but sent Francis to an Irish missionary school.
By the age of nine he had decided to be baptised and set out on the path
to priesthood.

For his ordination, he sailed to Liverpool in 1955 and caught a train to Rome,
carrying his luggage on to the No 64 bus to the Vatican. He won top grades
for his doctoral thesis on sacrifice in the Ibo religion, foreshadowing his
future effort to bring elements of African tradition into Catholic services.

He studied teaching in London in 1963 and returned to Nigeria two years
later to become the world's youngest bishop, aged 32. After attending the
second Vatican council, he returned home to a civil war between Nigeria
and Biafran secessionists which had killed a million people by 1970.

In his interviews with Mr O'Connell, Cardinal Arinze recalls being on the run
from Nigerian forces, witnessing horrors and sheltering from falling bombs.
"He concluded that war makes problems more acute, it doesn't solve them,"
said Mr O'Connell.

Cardinal Arinze presided over a boom in the numbers working for the church,
and annoyed some by insisting his priests could only drive modest cars.
John Paul was so impressed when he visited in 1982 that he summoned
him to Rome to manage the Vatican's relations with other faiths.

Shuttling to synagogues, mosques and temples, he forged ties with other
religions while maintaining the Pope's strict line on doctrine.

"The beautiful thing about the cardinal is that he can say the hardest thing
with a smile on his face and not offend people," said one colleague.

If "handling" communism was the Vatican's 20th-century challenge, Islam
is widely thought to be this century's, and one which Cardinal Arinze is
equipped to face.

"He is a popular fellow. He makes you laugh, he doesn't stand on ceremony,
he answers his own phone, and he's comfortable with women," said one
woman on the diplomatic circuit.

But there are some who say Cardinal Arinze is an intellectual lightweight**
that he parrots John Paul and would be out of his depth with world leaders.
"He is seen as not especially creative, an unoriginal thinker," said Mr Allen.

But Ian Linden, a former director of the Catholic Institute for International
Relations, said it was not necessary for a pope to be an outstanding
intellectual**"especially since Arinze has been careful to keep highly
skilled intellectuals around him".

A more serious concern is his political antennae. Some audiences have
given his words standing ovations, but others have been been infuriated
and bewildered. There were protests at Georgetown University in the US
when he seemed to equate homosexuality with pornography, fornication
and adultery. In a lesser-known incident in London, he insisted that altar
girls should remain immobile during mass.

But such conservatism wins support from potential kingmakers such as
Cardinal Ratzinger, while his championing of human rights, debt relief
and tolerance for other religions plays well with some progressives.

In the book of interviews published this week, Cardinal Arinze says:
"I will not manoeuvre, I will not do politicking, I will not try to arrange my
future."

Admirers say he is humble. Cynics say he "does" humble. Either way,
papal electors love humble.

[Stefanie]

Ik denk dat die Afrikanen vromer zijn dan de Europeanen. En met de oorlogen en AIDS daar, is een Afrikaanse paus een zeer goed idee.

[TomB]

Voor mijn part wordt er een vrouw paus.

[Stefanie]

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door TomB

Voor mijn part wordt er een vrouw paus.

Ook goed. Ik steun jouw voorstel.

[Babeth]

Dat is onmogelijk omdat de huidige paus alle vrouwen heeft uitgesloten van de eredienst.

Ik zou een "gekleurde" paus geen probleem vinden, je moet eens goed kijken in de pauselijke geschiedenis... de eerste pausen waren niet echt wat wij vandaag de dag "blank" zouden noemen. De kandidaat die in het artikel vermeld wordt zal zelfs historisch gezien niet de eerste Afrikaanse paus zijn... grappig hè ?

[filosoof]

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door Stefanie

Ook goed. Ik steun jouw voorstel.

Een afrikaanse lesbische vrouw dan....

[Dies]

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door Stefanie

Ook goed. Ik steun jouw voorstel.

Ik denk dat Tom er eigenlijk op zinnenspeelde dat het hem eigenlijk geen moer kan schelen Misschien kunnen ze een zwarte vrouw nemen!
Welk rotjoch heeft er trouwens op 'neen' gestemd? En waarom?

[Darwin]

Waarom maakt men eens niet een Gorilla tot paus?

Waarom moeten het altijd mensen zijn en nooit 'dieren'?

Zijn zij dan ook geen "Schepselen Gods"?

[Turkse Nederlander]

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door Darwin

Waarom maakt men eens niet een Gorilla tot paus?

Waarom moeten het altijd mensen zijn en nooit 'dieren'?

Zijn zij dan ook geen "Schepselen Gods"?

Jij bent zeker degene die nee heeft gestemd.

[DaBlacky]

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door filosoof

Een afrikaanse lesbische vrouw dan....

Liefst nog met een handicap

[boer_bavo]

Ik mis de optie: 't kan me geen bal schelen, zolang hij uit mijn broek blijft.

[Pelgrim]

Dat is de optie die ik eigenlijk zelf mankeerde.

Ik ben geen katholiek, zelfs geen traditionele christen, en wat die kliek in vaticaanstad doet kan me geen bal schelen, zolang ze zich niet gaan bemoeien met de politiek in dit land. Als er nog steeds mensen zijn goedgelovig om de paus als hun baas te beschouwen moeten zij dat zelf weten, en het onverdraagzame karakter van de grootste dictatuur in de wereld moeten ze dan zelf maar ondergaan.

[TomB]

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door Darwin

Waarom maakt men eens niet een Gorilla tot paus?

Waarom moeten het altijd mensen zijn en nooit 'dieren'?

Zijn zij dan ook geen "Schepselen Gods"?

Mooie logica Darwin, is dat het vertelseltje waarmee je je geweten sust? We discrimineren andere tov diersoorten en dat lijkt ok, dus is het ook moreel ok om racist te zijn?

[Pelgrim]

Ik veronderstel dat de allerbelangrijkste voorwaarde om paus te worden uiteraard is dat je praktiserend katholiek bent.

Ik zie een girilla nog niet 's zondags naar de mis gaan en biechten.

[TomB]

Mataboe zat wel in 't klooster bij de nonnekes.

[Jorge]

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door TomB

Mataboe zat wel in 't klooster bij de nonnekes.

Maar daar hadden dan weer vooral die nonnekens plezier van denk ik.

[Paulus de Boskabouter]

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door TomB

Mataboe zat wel in 't klooster bij de nonnekes.

Ook zoveel Jommeke's gelezen asge klein waart?



Zou er niet slecht uitzien als paus!!

[TomB]

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door Jorge

Maar daar hadden dan weer vooral die nonnekens plezier van denk ik.

Alleen zuster Eufrazie.

[TomB]

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door Paulus de Boskabouter

Ook zoveel Jommeke's gelezen asge klein waart?



Zou er niet slecht uitzien als paus!!

Uitknippen uit het volk, met de hand inkleuren en met ne pritstift op een ander vel papier plakken zodat ge uwen eigen album kunt maken. Wij hadden het niet te breed thuis. En toen ontdekte ik plots een bibliotheek waar ze stripverhalen hadden.

[Dies]

Oorspronkelijk geplaatst door Pelgrim

Ik veronderstel dat de allerbelangrijkste voorwaarde om paus te worden uiteraard is dat je praktiserend katholiek bent.

Ik zie een girilla nog niet 's zondags naar de mis gaan en biechten.

En hoeft dat een probleem te zijn? Staat er ergens in de Bijbel geschreven dat zulke handelingen nodig zijn alvorens men paus kan worden? Then again, staat er hoegenaamd wel iets in de Bijbel over Pausen en consoorten?!