A Pope for deficits

Will the new Pope be in the mould of the man who became a legend in his lifetime and many times larger than life in death? Will the amazing influence of Karol Wojtyla, reflected so massively in the mourning for his going, reach from his grave to influence, perhaps even determine, the choice of his successor?

Pope John Paul II named virtually all the members of the College of Cardinals, who will go into conclave tomorrow week to start the process of electing the new Pope. It is unlikely, though, that means Karol the Pole cast the die in a separate process before his death, insofar as that is possible in the context of teaching that the Pope is chosen by faith and Divine inspiration.

Most of the cardinals under 80 years of age who shall vote, probably more than once, in the conclave, know their position to John Paul II.

They are unlikely to disregard his teachings, his theological stance, his orthodoxy, his inclinations insofar as they could have been gleaned during his last years of frailty, but continuing intellectual vigour and awesome strength of will and spirit.

Yet they are individuals who hold diverse views, possibly at times conflicting views, about what would be best for the Catholic Church and the faith on the priorities that require the Vatican's - and their - attention.

The cardinals will carry their opinions and positions into conclave. The human side of their deliberations will see calculation and early intransigence evolve into analysis and appreciation of what can be achieved in the context of revealed feelings and opinions.

Above all, the cardinals will be moved by their conscience. Their awesome responsibility will not be led away from the dictates of their conscience by lingering calculation and intransigence.

Their conscience will not be led astray from laying out to each of what they should feel would be best for Catholicism, and for humanity. For the Roman Catholic Church cannot fail to have a bearing on humanity.

Its faith is held, if not invariably or similarly practised by some 30 per cent of the world's individuals.

The papacy of Karol the Pole, through his commitment to interreligious dialogue, his reaching out to other religions, with a mix of humility - he apologised in the name of the Catholic Church for real or perceived wrongdoing and injudiciousness through the centuries towards them - and of touching and strumming of a chord common to many religions, a commitment to goodness and spirituality.

If millions admired his perseverance despite the ravages of ill health, and billions followed the agony of his last days on earth, and so many serving, future and past leaders went to pay their final respects to him on Friday, what happens next cannot fail to be followed with intense interest.

There is a thickening thread of an argument that the successor to Karol Wojtyla will not be overly in the image of John Paul II because there is no one like the Pole among the cardinals.

Another strong argument being put forward is that the most pressing issues of Roman Catholicism - which, after all, are also part of John Paul the Great's legacy - require a leader with different qualities.

That global unrest and tensions, differences among Catholics, not least regarding the practical way of living the Faith, of females and the clergy call for a change.

For a respectful break with the past, not a continuation and more of the same.

Other considerations are doing the rounds and will increase. Having broken with the linear practice of 455 years by appointing a non-Italian when Pope Luciani suddenly died, now that his successor is no more, should not tradition be restored? There are enough worthy Italian prospects, cardinals of papal timbre.

Alternatively, once broken, should not tradition be left aside - why recall it?

Another argument which has insinuated its way into the media is that the cardinals should not select someone with the potential of another very long papacy, that they should go for a 'transitional Pope', as seemed to be the case when Cardinal Angelo Roncalli became Pope John XXIII.

So many lines of thought leading away from a new Pope too much in the image of Karol Wojtyla. Leading, I suggest, away from the clearest mark.

Which is that the conditions that led, surely at least in part, to the selection of Cardinal Wojtyla to succeed Albino Luciani not only are not there anymore, but cannot be repeated in their narrower form.

Pope John Paul II strode robustly from the stage that was Poland onto the stage of the Vatican, Europe and the world.

His native Poland was a country where Catholicism was deep in many people's heart and soul, behind the Iron Curtain thrown up by Stalin's debasing of whatever might have been worth looking at in the theory of Communism.

The Curtain is no more, thanks also, and in large measure to the political dynamic of Pope John Paul II.

If parties that profess straightforward or 'reformed' Communism are still found in the political arenas of central Europe, if Russia is not yet quite the democracy its hard leaders claim it to be, neither is Communism as known before Cardinal Wojtyla became Pope any longer around in Europe.

It is unlikely that it can ever recover, though Russia remains an intriguing potential for continental and world tension as it has been since centuries before social imbalance and injustice provided fertile ground for revolution, even if few expected it to come the way it did in those "ten days that shook the world" so wildly.

Communism is alive and kicking in the form of the country's leadership in China. The Catholic community there is minute, though no less miraculous and significant given the negative circumstances believers must endure. But it does not offer a platform to launch a Chinese Wojtyla, even if one or more were allowed space to come into being.

Historical circumstances are different to those which combined the massive personality of Cardinal Wojtyla with opportunity. The requirements of Catholicism may even be different.

The new pope will have to address his energies towards Church and faith, the role of the diocese, towards the Church outside the Vatican and in the context of global issues.

That tripod of waiting priorities suggests that, though there cannot and should not be another Karol, it would be appropriate if the broader relevance of Pope Wojtyla was endorsed with the appointment of a Pope from the Third World, where the curtain that does exist lies across the social divide within countries, and between those countries and the rich, developed world.

Where democracy may not be suppressed by Communism, as it was in Central Europe before Karol Wojtyla burst on the papal scene, but is still far too frequently repressed.

Where too many people are unfree and oppressed.

Perhaps fittingly, in recognition of the depth of the teachings of Jesus Christ, it is in the Third World that that the ranks of Catholics broaden and deepen. The stress should not be on one single faith, but on believing. On, at least, seeking to understand. On hoping.

Reference to Catholicism is correct only because one is talking of the election of the Pontiff of the Catholic Church. The real issue is faith, and faith is more alive and growing in parts of the Third World than mostly anywhere else.

There are two main, clear possibilities for election from Africa and Latin America.

One is the president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council, Cardinal Francis Arinze. The son of a tribal chieftain in a tiny village called Eziowelle, in South East Nigeria, he converted to Catholicism when he was nine years old.

He is 72, and would be the first African Pope in 1,500 years. (There were three Popes from Africa between around 183 and 496 AD.)

Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, of Honduras, is ten years younger. His appointment could galvanise fresh interest in the Papacy.

The Latin American cardinal believes that the real weapons of mass destruction "are not toxic gases or deadly viruses" but "poverty and social injustices".

He says that a global economy for a reduced group of nations with the exclusion of the majority leads the world to a dead end. Cardinal Rodriguez holds that more important than commercial or fiscal deficits is "the ethical deficit".

Change, even through the profound sadness of death, brings about opportunity, and hope of rebirth.

The conclave of Cardinals has an opportunity to be bold and select a Pope who can address the deficit of faith where it is growing by demonstrating that the word of the Gospel has great relevance to the deficits created or aggravated by politics and economics.

He would not be another John Paul II. No one can be so much like another without no longer being himself.

He would be a messenger of God Karol Wojtyla would surely approve of.