Cardinal Dolan For Pope? There’s Suddenly A Very Real Buzz About Him In Italy

"The Italian paper La Repubblica reported the powerful cardinal Tarcisio Bertone is working behind the scenes to advance Dolan’s chances in the upcoming conclave."

Head Of N.Y. Archdiocese, Boston Cardinal Considered Serious Contenders

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Does New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan have a serious chance at becoming pope? He usually makes a joke when asked, but a leading Italian newspaper is taking Dolan’s papal prospects seriously.

On Wednesday, the cardinal spoke about his trip to Rome for the historic resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, CBS 2’s Tony Aiello reported.

He sported a hard hat for a ribbon cutting at a Carmelite Sisters nursing home on Staten Island, but could Cardinal Dolan soon don the white “zucchetto” worn by the pope?

“I hate to lose him in New York, but I think, I think, he would be one of the best holy fathers. He would,” said Sister Mary Virginia.

Since Benedict XVI made Dolan a cardinal one year ago some have touted him as a potential papal successor.

Now, with Benedict leaving office next week, it’s becoming clear Dolan is a serious candidate.

The Italian paper La Repubblica reported the powerful cardinal Tarcisio Bertone is working behind the scenes to advance Dolan’s chances in the upcoming conclave.

Cardinal Dolan was in a good mood Wednesday, but didn’t really want to answer Aiello’s question about the La Repubblica report.

“You know, listen, all the cardinals are really embarrassed to talk about that, and we’d be uncomfortable talking about it, so I’ll leave it at that,” Cardinal Dolan said.

Italian papers are buzzing about another potential American pope — Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston.

“The next pope is going to have to be a serious reformer on the child sex abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church and, of course, O’Malley has that profile,” said John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter.

Dolan plans to be in Rome when the pope leaves office on Feb. 28. He’ll lead 10 other American cardinals in the conclave — a powerful voting contingent Vatican watchers consider second only to the Italians.

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Pope: U.S. faces threats to religious freedom of ‘unprecedented gravity’

By Patrick B. Craine

ROME, Italy, August 7, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pope Benedict XVI is warning that the United States is facing threats of “unprecedented gravity” to religious freedom.

In a letter on behalf of the pope to Carl Anderson, Supreme Knight of the Knights of Columbus, Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone observed that “concerted efforts are being made to redefine and restrict the exercise of the right to religious freedom.”

The comments come as the U.S. bishops campaign for religious liberty in the face of attacks such as President Obama’s HHS mandate, which requires employers to cover contraceptives, sterilizations, and abortion-inducing drugs in their health insurance packages.

The bishops recently concluded their “fortnight for freedom” - two weeks of intensive “prayer, study, catechesis, and public action.” Shortly before launching the event, the bishops had reaffirmed their condemnation of the HHS mandate, nothing that the rule effectively punishes Catholic institutions for operating in the public sphere.

“Those deemed by HHS not to be ‘religious employers’ will be forced by government to violate their own teachings within their very own institutions. This is not only an injustice in itself, but it also undermines the effective proclamation of those teachings to the faithful and to the world,” they wrote.

Writing in advance of the Knights of Columbus’ annual Supreme Convention, which opened Tuesday in Anaheim, the prelate praised the Knights of Columbus for working “tirelessly to help the Catholic community recognize and respond to the unprecedented gravity of these new threats to the Church’s liberty and public moral witness.”

In his letter, Bertone quoted remarks by Pope Benedict in January in which he called on America’s bishops to “counter a reductive secularism which would delegitimize the Church’s participation in public debate about the issues which are determining the future of American society.”

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Father Federico Lombardi: Plot Against Pope Benedict XVI Rumors are "Madness"

Cardinal Paolo Romeo

From RORATE CÆLI:

Almost all Italian online media are in a frenzy tonight about a letter to be revealed in one of Italy's largest national dailies, Il Fatto Quotidiano...

"Cardinal Romeo harshly criticized Pope Benedict XVI, because he was concerned mostly with the liturgy, neglecting "current affairs", entrusted by Pope Benedict XVI to Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State of the Roman Catholic Church. The relationship between Pope Benedict XVI and his Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, was very conflictive. In an atmosphere of confidentiality, Cardinal Romeo mentioned that Pope Benedict XVI litterally hated Tarcidio Bertone and would replace him willingly with another Cardinal. Romeo added, however, that there was not another candidate suited to occupy this position and that for this Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone would continue to fulfill his job...

Confidently, as if he knew it in detail, Cardinal Romeo announced that the Holy Father would have only 12 months to live. During his conversations in China, he prophesized the death of Pope Benedict XVI within the following 12 months. The declarations of the Cardinal have been leaked, by a person probably informed of a serious criminal plot, with such certainty and firmness, that his interlocutors in China thought, frightfully, that an attack against the Holy Father is in the works. Cardinal Romeo seemed sure of himself and could not imagine that the declarations made in this round of secret conversations could be relayed by third parties to the Vatican..."

Read More at RORATE CÆLI

Is the throne of the Bishop of Linz wobbling?

From DiePresse.com via Catholic Church Conservation:

"Is the seat of Bishop Schwarz wobbling?

Arch-conservative circles place Linzer Bishop Schwarz in a serious situation. Schwarz himself has just completed a particularly stressful week of meetings.

Is the seat of Bishop Schwarz wobbling?
Will he be appointed to Rome? To the Curia? Or will he go back to a leading position in his Salesian Order? Will the Vatican send him an "assistant" in the form of a coadjutor, who then has the right to follow him? One thing is certain: Influential arch conservative circles are presently attempting to - from the public until now unnoticed - remove the Bishop of Linz.

Problems with Friedl and Wagner
The situation is serious for Schwarz. So serious that even Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn is involved. He wants to keep his former Auxilliary Bishop (2001-2005). Only recently, the chairman of the Bishops' Conference hurried to the side of Schwarz with a remarkable appearance. Schoenborn was personally travelled to a meeting of the Bishops Consistory in Linz. The body of the 20 highest officials of the Diocese of Linz had considered in his presence (Schoenborn is Metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province which Upper Austria belongs to) the situation after the "voluntary" resignation of the Windischgarsten parish priest Gerhard Maria Wagner. The conservative wing of Upper Austria was particularly hard hit by the resignation before the inauguration. It is powerful - and now seeks to strike back.

Schwarz himself has just completed a particularly stressful week of meetings. On Monday with Father Josef Friedl, who confessed that he lives with a woman in the rectory. On Thursday with the deans, who no longer believe in the maintenance of celibacy. Just yesterday, Friday, with the priests’ council who have little to no understanding of the events surrounding the almost Bishop Wagner...."

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Vatican Says Prohibition Against Gays in Seminaries is Universal

Vatican City, May 19, 2008 / 09:21 am (CNA).- Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, has sent a letter to the bishops of the world with the approval of Pope Benedict XVI reaffirming the norms established by the Congregation for Catholic Education in the 2005 document, “Instruction Concerning the Criteria for the Discernment of Vocation with regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in view of their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders,” as universal and without exceptions.

In the brief “Rescriptum ex audientia” –a written response to various queries—Cardinal Bertone said the norms establishing the selection of candidates to the priesthood are valid “for all houses of formation for the priesthood, including those under the Dicasteries for Eastern Churches, for the Evangelization of Peoples, and for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.”

The letter, which Cardinal Bertone said was issued in response “to numerous requests for clarification,” implies that the prohibition against accepting homosexual candidates in seminaries applies not only to diocesan seminaries but also to those of religious orders and congregations, as well as to those that are located in mission territories.

The 2005 Instruction indicated the Congregation for Catholic Education, “in accord with the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, believes it necessary to state clearly that the Church, while profoundly respecting the persons in question, cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practise homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called 'gay culture'."

"Such persons, in fact, find themselves in a situation that gravely hinders them from relating correctly to men and women. One must in no way overlook the negative consequences that can derive from the ordination of persons with deep-seated homosexual tendencies," the 2005 document also said.

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