Monday, May 07, 2012

Could he be the first Canadian pope?

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, 67, is considered both by Vatican observers and cardinals as one of the front runners to succeed Benedict XVI as the next pope. He is ‘papabile’. He could become the first Canadian pope.

Asked about this on Canada’s “Salt and Light TV” Catholic television channel last Sunday night, April 22, the cardinal described Benedict XVI as “a great pope” and dismissed his own possibility of being pope saying “obviously I do not see myself at this level.”

Last year he responded to a similar question from a journalist saying “the idea of being pope, the responsibilities are crushing.” 

In last Sunday’s interview, Father Thomas Rosica, CEO of “Salt and Light TV”, asked what he tells people who raise this question with him. With a bemused smile, Ouellet replied: “I remember the day after the conclave I told the press that Pope Benedict would be a great pope, and I think I was right.”

“I was right”, he added emphatically; “He is a great teacher of the faith, a great father of the Church.  And I see him with courage going forward, serving and governing the Church the best way he can with his declining forces.”

“So obviously I don’t see myself at this level, not at all, because I see how much it entails as responsibility. On the other hand, I believe that the Holy Spirit will help the cardinals do a good choice for the leadership of the Church,  the Catholic Church, in the future”, he stated.

The TV interview revealed a man with considerable spiritual, human and intellectual qualities as well as good communication skills. It provided further confirmation that this friendly, polyglot cardinal who spent several years in Latin America is indeed a serious candidate.

That delicate question came at the end of the 25 minute interview in which Father Rosica asked the cardinal about key aspects of his life since 2002, when John Paul II appointed him as archbishop of Quebec, to his current role, from 2010, as prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and President of the Pontifical Council for Latin America.

Responding to his questions, Cardinal Ouellet revealed that he “didn’t have a plan” when he arrived in Quebec, and “had no experience” as a diocesan bishop, but tried “to respond everyday to the inspiration of the Spirit”.   

The people welcomed him, he collaborated with them, but admitted “the rapport with the clergy was good, but was not always easy”, and there were some controversies with the wider society.

In Quebec, he said he identified his priorities: “to strengthen families, encourage vocations, and reach out to the youth”.   

He decided to give priority to young people because secularization was “more radical” in the Province of Quebec than elsewhere in Canada and he wanted “to help them encounter the religious meaning of life.”    

He involved them too in the International Eucharistic Congress in Quebec, June 2008, at which the ordination of twelve new priests sent out the powerful message that “without priests you don’t have the Eucharist.”

Seeking “to foster the new evangelization”, he said he felt the need for “new experiences of faith” and so turned to the new movements and communities and invited to Quebec the Missionaries of Charity, the Community of Emmanuel, and a community from Western Canada engaged in the university apostolate. “They brought fresh air and more enthusiasm” and “produced real good fruit”, he said. 
   
He recalled how Benedict XVI chose him as ‘Relator General” (chief coordinator) for the October 2008 Synod of Bishops on the Word of God and said “this was the biggest intellectual challenge in my life”. 

Moreover, he cannot forget “the extraordinary unity” that prevailed at that synod where “there was a real experience of Christ”, and “we went away with a new spirit of mission.”

On 30 June 2010, Pope Benedict appointed Ouellet as prefect of the Congregation for Bishops. In the TV interview, the cardinal explained his role in preparing for the appointment of bishops, and described in detail the whole process of selection of bishops, from the grass roots consultation to the nuncio’s role, and the key discussion on the candidates at the Congregation’s fortnightly plenary sessions.
 
He said he communicates the results of the plenary sessions to the pope each week, and on the following day he has a private audience with Benedict XVI to discuss those results and to receive his decision. These weekly meetings are “very intense and fruitful” and “a great spiritual experience for me”, he said.

Like in an earlier interview with the Italian Catholic daily, “Avvenire”, the cardinal again expressed surprise that so many turn down their nomination as bishops. 

Some do so for “reasons of conscience”, others because they consider it a “difficult” office and “fear the stress of Episcopal leadership”.

He also spoke about his role as President of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America where almost fifty percent of the world’s Catholics live. He said the commission was first set up to send missionaries from Europe to Latin America, but today the missionary flow is reversed. The Commission now focuses on funding projects for evangelization, seminaries etc., and makes Latin American concerns known in the Vatican.

Cardinal Ouellet also commented on the penitential service that he presided over at the Jesuit church in Rome, last February, to ask forgiveness from God and pardon from the victims of abuse for the wrong done by clergy to minors, and for the failure of bishops and other Church authorities to take appropriate action to stop and prevent it. 

The service was “symbolically important “in the context of the conference then being held on child abuse at the Pontifical Gregorian University, he said; “It was a message to the whole Church”, and “a commitment to prevent such things happening ever again.”