Papabile
The electors have been nominated. Ghana and Sudan got their first ever cardinals yesterday in Rome and Nigeria now has two red hats. Archbishops from India, Vietnam, Poland, the United States and Guatemala also had their promotion to Prince of the Church confirmed yesterday. And who is the most papabile, to use the Italian word for a possible Pope? The Archbishop of Milan, Dionigi Tettamanzi, is regarded by many commentators as the most likely to succeed John Paul II. Given the growth of the Catholic Church in Latin America, however, Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga (Honduras), Jorge Bergoglio (Argentina), and Claudio Hummes (Brazil) cannot be ignored, and then there's Jaime Ortega y Alamino, Archbishop of Havana, a figure of inspiration for many. For those who believe it's time for Rome to make a bold move, Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria is the logical choice.
As our "diary of the day" entry today shows, the pomp and the power of the papacy is fascinating.
Diarist of the day: Roy Jenkins, 22 October 1978[Rome] "Dressed in the extraordinary costume of white tie, evening tailcoat, black waistcoat, decorations, which was required for the Papal installation [of John Paul II], I set off for St Peter's just after 9 o'clock. The Mass (in the open air) began at 10 o'clock and went on until 1.15 in steadily improving weather. So that the umbrella I had cautiously taken manifestly became unnecessary by about 11 o'clock. Most of the first hour was taken up by the homage of the cardinals, and I wished that I had a key to them. Emilio Columbo (next to me) wasn't bad and pointed out about fourteen, but even his knowledge seemed far from perfect. The Duke of Norfolk, in the next row, offered pungent comments about one or two of them. The second hour was taken up by introductory parts of the service and by a half-hour sermon, delivered with great force by the new pope, who has a remarkable linguistic ability. There were passages in French, Spanish, German, English, Serbo-Croat, Polish obviously, Russian, Czech I think, and Portuguese, all thrown in on the Italian base and all rather convincingly done."
Comments
The Duke of Norfolk is the highest ranking English lord who is Catholic. He also oversees the coronation of the British crown. His castle is between Brighton and Chichester in Arundel.
It's located on the top of a big fat hill. The village's Anglican parish is divided by the castle wall. On the Duke's side of the wall is a Catholic chapel. Supposedly Cromwell kept his horses there during one of his austerity in religion tours. In the 19th century, the Duke built a Gothic stone Catholic church across the street (and up the hill).
Posted by: Don | October 22, 2003 6:59 PM
To add to the comment above, I believe that the Duke of Norfolk is the premier non-royal duke (and also premier earl), which would make him the highest ranking peer without qualification. He oversees state events, including coronations and state funerals, in his capacity as hereditary Earl Marshal.
Posted by: eric | October 26, 2003 5:31 AM