Perspective Dreaming of an Asian option in the
conclave
By THOMAS C. FOX
The other evening I had a dream.
The Holy Father had died. The church was in an interregnum, that
time between popes. The College of Cardinals had just completed two weeks of
meetings, a period of mourning, and was preparing to elect the first pope of
the third millennium.
The cardinals had gathered in the Sistine Chapel. For days they
had discussed who among them was best qualified to lead the church forward, but
no clear candidate had emerged.
The cardinals wanted to avoid another long pontificate. The man
they would elect would be in his 60s, maybe early 70s. His would be a
transitional pontificate -- but to what no one seemed to have a
clue.
The Italian cardinals clearly wanted an Italian as bishop of Rome.
However, aside from Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini of Milan, their own ranks
lacked international appeal. Several other Europeans looked interesting; so,
too, did a couple of Latin Americans; no African candidate had yet charmed the
assembly, and few thought it wise to elect an American, not with the United
States carrying such superpower baggage.
It was not an impasse point, but a malaise could be felt. No name,
no idea, had seized their imaginations.
From the outside one could recognize certain undeniable realities.
Of the 105 cardinal-electors who had gathered, 93 -- nearly 90 percent -- had
been appointed by Pope John Paul II, a man they loved and admired.
It was also true that a vast majority felt a pressing need to move
the church in a new direction. The church, many felt, had become far too
centralized. Many could recall the remark of one cardinal who summed up the
princely discontent, saying, We didnt give our entire lives to the
church to be treated as altar boys. Many cardinals were downright miffed.
Collegiality was emerging as an important issue. Even the conservatives had
expressed this need.
It was within the context of wanting both continuity and
discontinuity that a young cardinal stood up and offered a short reflection. He
reminded them of an idea close to the heart of the late pope. He then began to
cite words Pope John Paul had first spoken in January 1995, in Manila,
Philippines, words he repeated again in one of his last apostolic exhortations,
Ecclesia in Asia.
The cardinal read from a small piece of paper.
Just as in the first millennium, the cross was planted on
the soil of Europe and in the second on that of the Americas and Africa,
the cardinal said, quoting Pope John Paul, we can pray that in the third
Christian millennium a great harvest of faith will be reaped in this vast and
vital [Asian] continent.
He then folded the paper and sat down. What followed was a stunned
silence as the implication of that single paragraph sank deeper into the
collective consciousness of the assembled cardinals. Soon an unspoken word
could seemingly be heard throughout the chapel with unmistakable clarity.
How fitting, how novel, how appropriate to enter the third
millennium with an Asian pope as leader of the Catholic church. What a gift to
life and hope it would be!
It was at this point I woke from my dream and cannot say whom the
cardinals chose, which of the dozen candidates finally received the required
two-thirds vote. But, thinking back, I can say from my limited knowledge of
Asia that the candidates generally shared certain Asian
characteristics.
It can be said these candidates were spiritually driven men and
saw spirituality and social justice as one. They seemed to avoid conflict,
thinking that either/or patterns did not serve reality well. They
preferred both/and solutions whenever possible. Its called
thinking with inclusive dualism. These men, to the last, were
sensitive to religious symbols and prefer them as guides. Order, they thought,
grows out of establishing proper relationships, beginning with family. How one
acts expresses more than what one says or even what gets written, they would
agree.
Further, these cardinals had grown up feeling enormous pride in
Asias rich traditions, especially its religious and cultural heritages.
They further knew -- from experience -- that poverty and marginalization are
the conditions under which most of humanity lives. So, too, had they
experienced the arrogance of colonial rule. Notions of inclusiveness and
respect held true deep within them.
Given the chance, each would remind us at the drop of a miter that
Jesus and his early disciples were all Asians. The challenge of the 21st
century, they knew, is to spawn a new global harmony and bring new balance and
hope to the human family.
Thats pretty much it, except for one other point. I remember
from my dream how electrified and inspired Catholics throughout the world were
at the announcement of the Asian pope -- and, as I recall, it was not long
after that the U.S. bishops, at long last, got around to assuring that the
first handful of Asian bishops were finally appointed to their conference of
bishops.
Fox is NCR publisher. He can be reached at
tcfox@natcath.org
National Catholic Reporter, February 25,
2000
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