Papal Politics

...Archbishop of Florence, power broker, Grand Elector, priest of God Benelli, a hulky church-bell of a man, was so well connected that he was said personally to have delivered 40 votes to the late Pope—and to be able to pull in more Another phone call went to Giuseppe Cardinal Sin, Archbishop of Genoa, archconservative, archevery-thing, rumored to be the Vatican's least likable and consequently most respected prelate He had won some 30 votes on the previous conclave's first ballot, and on the second ballot had magnanimously turned them over to the man who would eventually become John Paul I No one knows precisely what these three decided, if they decided anything at all Nonetheless, a Sin bandwagon was rolling before most foreign Cardinals had checked their luggage at their respective airports It was the strategy that had worked in the past Fast organization using the advantage Cardinals in Rome enjoy The serpentine silence of Vatican politics is an old and prudent tradition It would be hard on the comfort ot the faithful to have to watch the scheming of their elder clergv, to sa\ nothing of the snickering it might innoeenth invite But the Sacied College of Cardinals—at least the Italian armot it—is a club for successful climbers in a stitflv competiti\epiotession, toe\peu them to sit pravertull\ b\ while top lobs are Tors...

...THE OTHER VATICAN STORY Papal Polltics by tony proscio Pericle Cardinal-Archdeacon Felici was rather somber last October 16 when he emerged on the balcony of St Peter's Basilica, following the surprise election of Poland's Karol Cardinal Wojtyla as Pope, and almost absent-mindedly droned, " 1 announce to you a great joy " Seven weeks earlier, fresh from a different conclave, he had peitormed the same ritual with moie life in his moon-shaped face and a kind of triumph in his Latin appropriate to a Grand Elector, a man who made Popes This time, there was only the flat correctness of one who has known better days For good reason, since the victors in August were the vanquished now To many of the Cardinals this transformation was no less significant than the election itself Indeed, the latest conclave's other story is that of its losers, of how the ancient style of Church politics they had lovingly, ruthlessly preserved finally could not prevail Before the Sistine doors clanged shut last August, Pencle Felici and two of his friends already had enough votes among them to hustle the assembled Cardinals—and a new Pontiff—out again in just 24 hours With the sudden death of their choice and the Cardinals returning to the Vatican, Felici hurriedly got back on the phone He called Giovanni Cardinal Benel-li...

...Proscio non a I aid I oumta-iion pioii\t \(>L\itifi\r, tut-, a nowii-ati' at Giixoiian I nncmn in Rome at stake is to miss most of what makes conclaves work And behind the studied stillness of the Church palaces, after all, the Chair of Peter m a s up for grabs In this elite establishment, va here degrees from pontifical universities (the Vatican's Ivy League) and long careers in the Roman Catholic civil service are the merest credentials for membership, Giovanni Benelli towers above his colleagues Admired by the deft Paul VI for being a brilliant strategist, he was kept from the election the Pope had wanted for him because at age 57 he was considered too young But as Paul's closest advisor, Benelli knew Vatican organization charts and career tracks better than anyone in Rome He also knew, it seemed, how to turn that knowledge to quick advantage When he joined Felici m engineering the election of John Paul I, he expected the Secretariat of State for his efforts Not unreasonably, either The bewildered Pontiff had never worked in the Vatican and had no idea how its bureaucracy functions, Benelli would be there to give him a hand, and to receive his gratitude As it turned out, though, this scheme appeared to have created a monster John Paul I, in his brief Pontificate, showed no inclination to take advice from anyone Instead, he made speeches extemporaneously, chatted with altar boys, and left weeks' worth of paper work stacked up on his desk A headline in Rome's news magazine L'Espresso smirked "He compared the soul to a car He said God is our Mother He quoted Pinocchio His audiences loved him, but the bureaucrats are howling and the diplomats are appalled Now psychologists and theologians are debating was he a genius or a fool...

...Whichever, Benelli's professional sense must surely have convinced him that John Paul I should be the last Pope to talk about the maternity of God In fact, whatever transpired during Felici's phone calls and despite the rivalry that had developed between Benelli and Sin, it is clear that the three agreed the next Bishop of Rome should be an Italian with administrative ability There ensued what the Milan daily Cornere delta Seia called a "campaign of declarations...

...in which Roman Cardinals eager h made quotable statements to reporters, pointing out that a purely pastoral Pope simply would not do No one was more quotable than candidate Giuseppe Sin How and why they failed may never become fully known Most of the crudest episodes took place behind the Sis-tme's wall of silence But two explanations are current in the Roman circles that feed on such things, and somewhere between them almost certainly lies the truth The first has it that the untimely death of John Paul I made a number of Italian Cardinals anxious about candidates' ages, they wanted someone who could withstand the pressures of office and reign for a substantial period If this meant choosing a Pope under 60, then perhaps Benelli's time had come Although Sin may be experienced, he is 72 and by 9 30 at night he looks 100 Thus sometime within two weeks after Felici's first phone calls, it is said, the breakaway candidacy of Giovanni Benelli was born There were others besides One splinter group urged a provincial, a man with a background similar to John Paul Fs Another group favored Rome's Vicar-General Ugo Cardinal Poletti, a pastoral type with administrative experience at the center Desperate, Sin is said to have called Benelli on the eve of the conclave and promised him the Secretariat of State in exchange for his loyalty Whether or not this is true, Benelli remained in the running and the Italians went into the conclave divided While they were squabbling over a candidate, the rest of the College looked elsewhere The second explanation begins with the experience of the August conclave, controlled by the then unified Felici-Sin-Benelli forces Quite a few foreign Cardinals, it is noted, left Rome smarting from the cut-and-dned election planned for them They allegedly swore it would never happen again When their test came in October, the foreigners are said to have started searching for a man of saintly reputation who was not accustomed to the perquisites of office, and who would be friendly toward Secretary of State Jean Cardinal Villot's Ostpohttk—the one Vatican policy that sends Sin into red-faced rage They made no "declarations," threw no banquets (a favorite Roman campaign strategy), and called no names They flatly rejected anyone with an administrative background, and seemed almost to enjoy stories about the last Pope's homey speeches Consequently, for the first time in centuries an explicit emphasis on the saintly and the broad-minded (and the foreign) became a concrete force in Vatican politics The result was the accession of Karol Wojtyla and a blush of unimaginable defeat under Italian vermilion Forced by his rank to make the official announcement, Cardinal-Archdeacon Felici proclaimed his anguished "great joy " Two days later, after John Paul II had made his first statement of policy, a reporter asked Giuseppe Cardinal Sin if he approved of the Pope's speech Unrestrained by duty, Sin responded, "I can't remember what he said...