A speculative tid-bit about the next Pope, which might interest all y'all (because I know you're all handicapping the prospects and planning your trip to Las Vegas to bet on this
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Re: It seems funny to think of aged cardinals jostling for positiondrdeletoJanuary 7 2005, 17:13:09 UTC
Caveat: I have no personal experience of how Cardinals think, of course. But in a doctrinal sense, I'm pretty sure they do believe that God acts directly. Does that mean that just because JPI died that God disapproved? Not necessarily. Only that God had a reason for things working out that way. When you have an omnipotent, omniscient God who acts in the world, you basically have to treat every event as intended. Figuring out what was intended is the tricky part. So your "mysterious ways" characterization is correct, but I think the "directly and purposefully" one is, too. The muddiness between the two is due to the fact taht us imperfect humans can't quite wrap our brains around it all.
In case you're interested, here's what Ratzinger said about JPI:
After John Paul I was elected, "I felt very happy," Cardinal Ratzinger recalled. "To have as pastor of the universal Church a man of that goodness and luminous faith was a guarantee that everything was going well. He himself was very surprised and felt the weight of his great responsibility. It was obvious that he suffered somewhat because of this. He did not expect to be elected. He was not a man who sought a career."
"His death was totally unexpected" 33 days later, the cardinal recalled. At the time of his election, John Paul I seemed to enjoy good health.
"Personally, I am totally convinced that he was a saint, because of his great goodness, simplicity, humanity and great courage," the cardinal said. "He had the courage to say things with great clarity, even if he had to go against current opinions."
After the death of John Paul I, Cardinal Ratzinger said that he and other cardinals "felt somewhat depressed."
"The fact that Providence would say 'no' to our choice was really a very hard blow," he said. "However, Luciani's election was not an error. Those 33 days of pontificate have had a role in the history of the Church.
"It was not only the testimony of his goodness and joyful faith. His unexpected death also opened the doors to an unexpected choice: that of a Pope who was not Italian."
In case you're interested, here's what Ratzinger said about JPI:
After John Paul I was elected, "I felt very happy," Cardinal Ratzinger recalled. "To have as pastor of the universal Church a man of that goodness and luminous faith was a guarantee that everything was going well. He himself was very surprised and felt the weight of his great responsibility. It was obvious that he suffered somewhat because of this. He did not expect to be elected. He was not a man who sought a career."
"His death was totally unexpected" 33 days later, the cardinal recalled. At the time of his election, John Paul I seemed to enjoy good health.
"Personally, I am totally convinced that he was a saint, because of his great goodness, simplicity, humanity and great courage," the cardinal said. "He had the courage to say things with great clarity, even if he had to go against current opinions."
After the death of John Paul I, Cardinal Ratzinger said that he and other cardinals "felt somewhat depressed."
"The fact that Providence would say 'no' to our choice was really a very hard blow," he said. "However, Luciani's election was not an error. Those 33 days of pontificate have had a role in the history of the Church.
"It was not only the testimony of his goodness and joyful faith. His unexpected death also opened the doors to an unexpected choice: that of a Pope who was not Italian."
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