Ratzinger weighs in on careerism of
bishops
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
NCR Staff
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is latest to weigh in on the subject of
careerism among bishops fueling a debate among senior Vatican prelates
that has become remarkably public in recent weeks.
Speaking in an uncharacteristically repentant tone, Ratzinger, the
churchs top doctrinal officer, expressed regret for leaving his own
diocese. He was quoted in the June issue of the Italian journal
30Giorni. Ratzinger said he believed bishops should ordinarily remain in
one diocese for life.
He was seconding the argument made in April by Cardinal Bernardin
Gantin, former head of the Congregation for Bishops.
Gantin had complained of the amazing careerism he
experienced in making episcopal appointments. He said candidates often
pressured him for higher offices, and he proposed that bishops should be
transferred only in rare circumstances.
Cardinal Jorge Medina Estévez, prefect of the Congregation
for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, agreed that the
natural place of the bishop is as head of one diocese. In a March
speech at a Roman university, Medina rejected careerism: The episcopacy
cannot be the coronation of a career.
Ironically, all three men were first diocesan bishops before being
transferred to Rome. Gantin led the Cotonu diocese in Bénin in West
Africa, Ratzinger the archdiocese of Munich-Freising in Germany, and Medina the
dioceses of Rancagua and Valparaíso in Chile.
Ratzinger acknowledged the seeming inconsistency of his stance.
The view of the bishop-diocese relation as matrimony, implying fidelity,
is still valid, he said. Sadly I myself have not remained faithful
in this regard.
An opposing view came from Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the popes
vicar for the Rome diocese and president of the Italian Bishops
Conference.
I can say that to have been a professor for many years, and
the auxiliary bishop of Reggio Emilia for three years, helped me a lot when I
became the secretary of the bishops conference, and it also helped me
when I became cardinal vicar and the conferences president. This seems
quite normal to me, quite logical, Ruini said on Italian television.
In the magazine interview, Ratzinger disagreed. In the
church, above all, there should be no sense of careerism. To be a bishop should
not be considered a career with a number of steps, moving from one seat to
another, but a very humble service.
I think that the discussion on access to the ministry would
also be much more serene if the episcopate saw it as a service and not as a
career. Even a poor see with only a few faithful is an important service in
Gods church.
Medina said that although some bishops, such as curial officials,
have no responsibility for dioceses, and although authority in some geographic
areas is divided among bishops, such as Roman and Eastern-rite bishops,
episcopal ordination still implies pastoral responsibility as the head of
one diocese.
Ratzinger did not endorse Gantins proposal to amend canon
law to stipulate that transfers could only occur in rare cases. But he said the
next time the code is revised, language should be added on the oneness
and fidelity of the bishops commitment.
National Catholic Reporter, July 30,
1999
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