When I Am An Old Man I Shall Wear A Red Hat

cardtettamanzi
Originally uploaded by theologienne.

Lots of talk about the cardinals. To make your Papal-election pool fully accurate, you'll want this Vatican list of all the eligible electors. One frequently mentioned top contender was JPII's camerlengo - dedicated Dan Brown fans, insert creeping sense of foreboding here . . .

Check out another rumored fave, Cardinal Diogini Tettamanzi. The WSJ describes him as a "conservative moral theologian," but isn't the man adorable? He'd look so cute in a miter and crozier. Good thing, too, because one oddsmaking website is giving him 11/4.(Thanks to RelapsedCatholic for that.)

The major papers' coverage of the next Pope's challenges are blurring some things and overhyping others (imagine!) I keep reading that JPII's successor will be challenged by Islam, a) to strengthen European Catholicism as Islam makes inroads there, or b) to establish better Muslim-Catholic relations, in light of both the Crusades and 9/11. Re the first, it seems to me that a rising religious tide should lift all boats. If European Catholics, lapsed or current, are going to be poached away from the faith by Islam, anybody I've ever heard talk about it has been wrong about what drives their current disinterest. Europe is more secular than the US. Chez His Holiness, most Catholic Italians use contraception. France just banned openly worn religious symbols - an idea repellent to Americans from George Washington to George Bush. The EU couldn't even get a mention of God into its constitution. What's more, Europe struggles with anti-Islam sentiment and racism directed at Middle Eastern and African immigrants, who are most likely to be Muslim. The next Pope will have to deal with lots of problems specific to Europe, but I seriously doubt that Islam will be one of them.

In the New York Times today, Laurie Goodstein quoted a Fordham theologian:

There are disagreements among Catholic theologians, he said, about how to engage with Muslims, and which Muslims to engage. Some theologians want to acknowledge that "there has been a lot of historical damage wrought by people in the name of Christianity on the Muslim people," Mr. Thompson said, while others believe the focus should be on the wrongs perpetrated by Muslim extremists more recently. The next pope should help the church set a clear direction, he said.

Obviously, apologizing for the iniquities of Christians past and present would be an act of justice to Muslims. John Paul II set a dignified precedent for this sort of request for forgiveness. I'd like to know which theologians are out there suggesting we begin Catholic-Muslim dialogue by pointing the finger at those evildoers all mainstream Muslims acknowledge as extremist and wrong. Yup, never let it be said the Catholic Church was afraid to take unpopular positions, such as that terrorism is wrong . . .
Here's the Times article if you want to read the rest of it.