Papal Speculation Won't Quit

REUTERS, Oct. 18 — At least two news services succumbed recently to speculating about the election of the next Pope — while noting that every cardinal with whom they spoke was quite discreet, even tight-mouthed on the subject.

Reuters quoted “reputed front-runner” Cardinal Godfried Danneels of Brussels with the terse comment, “I say nothing.”

The British news agency reported that another “favorite,” Nigerian Cardinal Francis Arinze, slips out of interviews whenever the subject arises. Reuters noted that Church law has forbidden cardinals from discussing the succession publicly while a Pope is living. (After that, they are sealed in a secret conclave.)

In an interview with CanWest News Services, the popular Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec scorned speculation that he was considered papabile. “I laugh at that. I laugh, you see,” he said. When asked about papal candidates, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, D.C., replied, “There are 109 people in the world who cannot answer that question, and you are talking to one of them.”

Only one elector, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, was more forthcoming — predicting that no American would be elected Pope: “Even the appearance of being in some sense captured by … the world's only superpower would not be helpful to the mission of the Church.”

EU Rejects Vatican Claim About Condoms, AIDS

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, Oct. 20 — Last week Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, warned that condoms do not protect adequately against AIDS transmission and that those who promote them are encouraging “Russian roulette.” According to the AP, European Union research commissioner Philippe Busquin lashed out at the Vatican for making “statements not supported by sound scientific evidence.” He asserted that research shows that “condoms are the best way to prevent HIV infection.”

The dispute turns over Cardinal Lopez Trujillo's claim that the AIDS virus is small enough to pass through pores in a latex condom — which the EU and a representative of the World Health Organization deny. The Church promotes abstinence and marital fidelity as the only proven safe responses to the prevalence of HIV infection.

Italian Bishops Exclude Married Eastern Rite Priests

CHIESA.COM, Oct. 20 — The Italian Church news Web site Chiesa.com noted a recent move by the Italian bishops to tighten up the celibacy requirement in the West — by forbidding Eastern-rite priests who are married (as is their canonical right) to move into Western Europe.

The conference of Italian bishops asked Catholic bishops in Ukraine not to send more married priests to Italy for fear of creating “confusion among our faithful.”

Chiesa.com noted that Ukrainian bishops are displeased at the request — since most of their clergy are married. The site pointed out that Albanian Greek Catholic dioceses in Calabria, Basilicata and Sicily have a dozen married priests functioning in Italy — a prerogative revoked by the Vatican in 1950 but recently restored at the insistence of the local Albanian bishop.

Chiesa.com noted that similar decisions made by American bishops in the early 20th century to exclude married Eastern Rite clergy led to massive defections by Ukrainian Catholics to the Orthodox Church.