Cardinal decries amazing careerism
of bishops on the hunt for advancement
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
NCR Staff
A former head of the Vaticans Congregation for Bishops has
decried the amazing careerism of many of the worlds prelates
and recommended that except in rare cases bishops should remain in their
dioceses for life.
In an interview with the Italian Catholic journal 30
giorni, Cardinal Bernardin Gantin said he had been very shocked
during his 14 years as head of the Congregation for Bishops by the
definite pressure for advancement he felt from bishops.
Gantin led the Congregation for Bishops from 1984 to 1998. In that
capacity, he was responsible for recommending episcopal appointments to the
pope.
Gantin told the magazine he believed that once nominated, bishops
should remain in their dioceses for the rest of their career expect in
grave cases, and that a provision to that effect should be inserted
into canon law to avoid a certain hunt for advancement and a certain
careerism.
Gantin also recommended that in the future the rank of cardinal
should not be associated with particular archdioceses, as it is with New York
and Los Angeles, but should instead be awarded only on the basis of individual
merit. He suggested this would help avoid the eagerness of some bishops to move
on to more prestigious assignments.
Asked by the journal if he had ever been approached by bishops who
did not find their present assignment suitable, Gantin said, And how! I
heard demands like this: Eminence, I have been in this diocese already
two or three years, and I have done everything that was asked of me ...
What is the meaning of this? I was very shocked by declarations of this sort --
also because the person saying it, sometimes joking and sometimes not, believed
he was expressing a legitimate desire.
Gantin said that once at the end of an episcopal ordination he
heard the cry Ad altiora! -- a Latin expression meaning
on to higher things. Gantin said, This also worried me
deeply.
30 giorni is associated with Communion and Liberation, a
conservative Catholic lay movement in Italy with branches elsewhere, including
the United States. The Gantin interview appears in its April issue.
Gantins remarks echo statements made by Italian Cardinal
Vincenzo Fagiolo in a March issue of the Vatican newspaper
LOsservatore Romano. Fagiolo argued that transfers and promotions
of bishops are incompatible with the dignity of the bishops
office.
Gantin, 77, is from Bénin, a small African nation just west
of Nigeria. In 1960, he became the first black African archbishop in modern
church history when John XXIII named him to lead the Cotonu archdiocese.
He was transferred to the Vatican in 1971 to work in the
Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. He later became head of the
Pontifical Commission on Justice and Peace. In 1984, John Paul made Gantin the
prefect of the Congregation for Bishops.
Gantin is the dean of the College of Cardinals, which means that
when the pope dies, Gantin will chair the conclave that selects his
successor.
In the cardinals African language, Gantin means tree
of iron.
National Catholic Reporter, May 28,
1999
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