{"id":17511,"date":"2013-03-02T20:49:54","date_gmt":"2013-03-03T01:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=17511"},"modified":"2013-03-02T20:50:59","modified_gmt":"2013-03-03T01:50:59","slug":"will-spiritual-vigour-of-churches-of-latin-americaasia-and-africa-move-conclave-into-electing-a-third-world-pope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/?p=17511","title":{"rendered":"Will Spiritual Vigour of Churches of Latin America,Asia and Africa Move Conclave Into Electing a Third World Pope?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Hector Welgampola<\/strong><\/p>\n

Pope Benedict XVI\u2019s resignation became a fertile field for speculation including even Dan Brown-style media fare. The reported flash of lightening over the Vatican a few days after the pope\u2019s resignation, the conclave date set close to the ides of March and even the Malachian prophecies have spawned spooky spin.<\/p>\n

Less speculative media kept feeding people\u2019s curiosity with questions about the papal succession: who will be the next pope, where will he come from, what will be his agenda or his theological camp? Bookmakers have already listed candidates for their own conclave of the media.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Early popes from Africa and Asia<\/p>\n

Some have named papal candidates even from Latin America, Africa and Asia too. True, if the search for a new pope turns Southward, it is not without precedent. After all, Saint Peter, the first pope, came from Galilee, and the first millennium saw a few more from Africa and Asia. Among them, six were from Syria, three from Galilee and three from Africa.<\/p>\n

But after the Constantinople-based Eastern Church split from the Rome-based Western Church, most popes were Europeans, and later mostly Italians. This status quo continued even after the Protestant Reformation.<\/p>\n

From an Eastern candidate to an East European pope<\/p>\n

The spread of Protestantism in much of Europe sent Catholic missioners out of that former comfort zone to evangelize parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America. Particularly in Asia, they were blessed with faith traditions left behind by the early Apostles as well as the trail blazed by pioneer missioners down the Silk route and Sea routes. Relinking with such traditions enhanced Rome\u2019s catholicity. And the name of at least one Eastern cardinal is reported to have come up among votes cast at most conclaves since 1958.<\/p>\n

The first such known instance was revealed by Pope John XXIII. A few months after his election in 1958, the genial pope visited Rome\u2019s Armenian College, where Cardinal Pietro Agagianian was head. Telling seminarians there how he and their Eastern cardinal were paired at the conclave, Pope John said, “Our names kept going up and down like chick-peas in a soup!”<\/p>\n

Church historians have not quite probed whether that conclave focused on those two candidates in search of a pastoral response to Soviet communism. The Spirit\u2019s patient nudge toward a bolder response to communism became evident in the election of an East European, Pope John Paul II in 1978.<\/p>\n

Asian papabile at more recent conclaves<\/p>\n

According to Vatican watchers, the two 1978 conclaves saw a few votes for Pakistani Cardinal Joseph Cordeiro. That symbolic awareness of Asia once more became evident when Indian Cardinal Ivan Dias\u2019 name showed up in the 2005 conclave, which elected Pope Benedict. And now, while African Cardinal Peter Tukan is reported to have spoken of his own papal prospects, the names of at least three Asian cardinals have come up in public discourse.<\/p>\n

Public speculation preceded media flashes about the papal prospects of Indian Cardinal Oswald Gracias, Sri Lankan Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith and Filipino Cardinal Luis Tagle. Leader of the Asian Church, Cardinal Gracias has been the first-ever head of the Federation of Asian Bishops\u2019 Conferences to receive a red hat. With a notable record of curial and diplomatic service, Cardinal Ranjith has been hailed by several prayer websites in the West as the hope of traditional Catholics. The theologically astute Cardinal Tagle was tipped as a papabile even before he received a red hat.<\/p>\n

Melding charisms to tackle secularism<\/p>\n

The upcoming conclave will be attended by another prelate with valued experience in Asia. Italian Cardinal Fernando Filoni, who spent much time in Hong Kong before appointment as head of the Congregation for Evangelization has first-hand experience about China-related issues. The melding of charisms and experiences of these and other papal electors can help the conclave discern a path of innovative continuity.<\/p>\n

Just as the reformist agenda of Popes John XXIII and Paul VI led to the John Paul II papacy of renewal, the Benedictine pontificate peaked an agenda to re-convert the West from secularism. That move, in particular, drew inspiration from the spiritual vigour of the Churches of Latin America, Africa and Asia. And by awakening interest in Third World Churches, the Spirit may be leading the conclave to look beyond the tradition of electing a pope. Pope Benedict made an act of faith in the Church by resigning from the pontificate. Will the conclave respond with an act of hope by moving toward a collegial papacy? The Church needs such collegial wisdom to respond to all of secularism\u2019s abusive manifestations in and outside the Church.<\/p>\n

(Hector Welgampola is a Former editor of The Messenger and Gnanartha Padeepaya)<\/em><\/p>\n

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By Hector Welgampola Pope Benedict XVI\u2019s resignation became a fertile field for speculation including even Dan Brown-style media fare. The reported flash of lightening over the Vatican a few days after the pope\u2019s resignation, the conclave date set close to the ides of March and even the Malachian prophecies have spawned spooky spin. Less speculative …<\/p>\n

Continue reading ‘Will Spiritual Vigour of Churches of Latin America,Asia and Africa Move Conclave Into Electing a Third World Pope?’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17511"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17511"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17516,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17511\/revisions\/17516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dbsjeyaraj.com\/dbsj\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}