The Vatican : Pope to Breathe Conservatism, Scope Into Church Hierarchy

With the ranks of Roman Catholic cardinals around the world thinned by death and old age, Pope John Paul II is preparing to rejuvenate his church’s government, making it more international in scope and conservative in tone.

Vatican sources say the Pope is planning to name about 20 new cardinals, perhaps as soon as Sunday, certainly not later than this spring.

Los Angeles Archbishop Roger M. Mahony heads a short list of American candidates, but many of the new princes of the church are expected to come from newly democratic countries in Eastern Europe and from Asia and Africa, continents of the church’s fastest growth.

In his forthcoming appointments, Vatican observers say, John Paul will likely swing the majority in the College of Cardinals away from Europe for the first time. What the new cardinals will have in common, these sources predict, is their Pope’s doctrinal conservatism, and his dedication to pastoral teaching.

As the Pope’s principal advisers, cardinals administer departments in the Vatican Curia and in large archdioceses around the world. Among the world’s 850 million Catholics, they are also the select few who will choose one of their number to become John Paul’s successor.

The naming of cardinals and the timing of their elevation is entirely up to the Pope. With every new appointment, John Paul leaves his stamp on the future of the church in the same way that a U.S. President colors the American future when he names justices for life to the Supreme Court.

Cardinals normally retire at 75 but remain papal electors until they are 80. At present there are 142 known cardinals in the world, 40 of them over the age of 80. A 143rd cardinal “ in pectore “ is known only to the Pope, meaning that he lives in a country where religion is suppressed.

Of the 142 known cardinals, there are 73 Europeans, 32 of them Italians. There are 17 Africans and 13 Asians--both numbers up sharply under John Paul--and 22 Latin Americans. There are eight in the United States, five from Canada and four from Oceania.

Under a 1975 Apostolic Constitution, the College of Cardinals that elects a new Pope may have up to 120 electors. If a conclave were held tomorrow, though, there would be only 102 eligible cardinal-electors, 69 of them John Paul’s appointees. Of the eight cardinals from the United States, six are electors, and two, both over 80, are retired.

After Mahony, the most likely other American candidate for elevation is Archbishop Anthony J. Bevilacqua of Philadelphia. Representing 55 million American Catholics are two cardinals at the Vatican and archdiocesan cardinals in New York, Chicago, Washington and Boston. Detroit and St. Louis traditionally have cardinals but are now without one. There is also speculation at the Vatican that, to account for population shifts, John Paul might one day name a Latino cardinal in Texas or Florida.

One practical reason that leads Vatican observers to expect prompt appointment of new cardinals is that Angelo Sodano, John Paul’s new secretary of state, in effect the Vatican’s prime minister, is still only an archbishop. At the Vatican, archbishops do not give orders to cardinals. Archbishops are also the newly appointed heads at a number of other Vatican departments. They need upgrading, too.

In the four consistories, or papal councils, John Paul has called since becoming Pope in 1978, he has dramatically increased the number of Third World cardinals at the expense of Europe, particularly Italy. Observers expect the trend to continue this time, particularly for Asia and Africa. There are cardinal vacancies in Zaire, Vietnam and Sri Lanka.

In addition, a 1991 consistory, the first since June, 1988, would mark the first opportunity since World War II for a Pope to fill vacuums in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Appointment of cardinals for Latvia and Byelorussia would surprise no one at the Vatican. Neither would creation of a cardinalate in the united Germany. Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania are also candidates for new cardinals.