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Italian readers want Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley elected as their next pope

Online poll reflects popularity with experts at Corriere della Sera

PATRICK COUNIHAN,

IrishCentral Staff Writer

Published Sunday, March 10, 2013, 7:23 AM

Updated Sunday, March 10, 2013, 7:23 AM

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Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley is the joint favorite to win the Papal election.

Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley is the joint favorite to win the Papal election according to Italy’s paper of record, Corriere della Sera – and their readers’ pick.

The National Catholic Reporter website reports that the well respected paper asked eight contributors, including their own Vatican reporters and noted Vatican-watchers, to name their top three picks to be the next pope.

The report says Cardinal O’Malley was mentioned by five of those eight experts, tied with Odilo Pedro Scherer of Brazil and just one mention ahead of Angelo Scola of Milan.

Fellow Americans Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York and Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington got one mention apiece.

But Cardinal O’Malley surged ahead of his rivals in an on-line readers’ poll on the Corriere web site.

The Boston church leader drew 36.7 per cent of the vote as he outpaced Scola with 17.9 per cent and Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines with 14.3 percent.

Columnist John Allen explained Cardinal O’Malley’s popularity.

He wrote: “First of all, O’Malley is a Capuchin Franciscan, and the Franciscans are wildly popular in Italy. They’re considered the closest religious order to the poor and to ordinary people, the guys you can rely upon when the chips are down.

“They’re also considered the polar opposite of the usual clerical stereotypes – not haughty or imperial, but simple, honest, and utterly unpolitical.

“Second, the brief profile offered by Corriere della Sera to help voters make up their minds describes him as ‘one of the principal exponents of the policy against sexual abuse in the Catholic church’.

“At a time when the Vatican once again finds itself fighting off criticism related to the abuse scandals, that reputation looks pretty good.

“Third, the O’Malley profile also notes that he criticized Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, for once calling the criticisms voiced by victims of abuse “petty gossip.”

Allen also writes that: “For Italians, Sodano incarnates the Vatican’s old guard. Italians are in an anti-establishment mood at the moment, having recently awarded 25 percent of their votes in national elections to a former comic named Beppo Grillo who ran on a ‘rage against the machine’ platform.

“In that context, to see a Capuchin outsider taking on the powers that be in the church can’t help but stir hearts and minds.

“Of course, neither the readers of Corriere della Sera, nor the paper’s panel of experts, will be in the Sistine Chapel when the real balloting takes place. If you’re looking for a symbolic expression of what many people here seem to want in the next pope, however, you’re probably not going to do any better than O’Malley.”

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KweenOHearts | Mar 12, 2013, 05:29 PM EDT

@Maureen Hawkins: Psst, Maureen... has it ever occurred to you that the longevity of the Catholic Church has much to do with the fact that it does not give a hoot either about the prevalent cultural shifts affecting any age, or about what people like you -who by all evidence have NOTHING to do with it- think about its functioning, its theology, and its doctrines? --- Same feeling is held by those of us who are firmly anchored to the rock where Christ founded it! ---- So do us a favor and save your breath, your 'Chicken Little' advice regarding the survival of the Church, given what you qualify as its 'non-progressive tendencies, as well your Marx-inspired misgivings about the 'Victorian effects of 19thC colonization' upon our faithful. --- Better yet, just so you don't waste the bright flashes of wisdom you're gifted with, there's a place that might profit from your input: Looks like the Episcopasties church -even while perennially in the throes of an individualistic-generated desire to fragment itself into dust- is never smart enough to learn anything. Apparently they never seem to reject 'opinionating' by any and all comers. --- In fact, they welcome ALL rebellious, über-feminist, gay, and heterodoxy-imbued people as members, by the mere fact one may feel empowered to formulate situational theology, so long as it's pronounced to be 'a godly spark of divine inspiration'. ---- Episcopasties also welcome women priests and bishops, practicing homosexuals, contraception, abortion, and divorce- absolving people, no matter that those practices are soundly condemned by the book they claim to follow so you'll be safe applying there. --- Further, Episcopasties are additionally justified in their inclusive theology by the clever manipulation of biblical verses arranged to their liking. They simply pronounce the words "Presto, changeo!!!" over any bible passage, and miraculously they just know anything is kosher in their colorful heterodoxy.

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KweenOHearts | Mar 12, 2013, 02:32 PM EDT

@penelopemurphy who says: **'O'Malley was Bishop of the Fall River Diocese when I lived in MA and he was well-liked by all the people. I'm no longer Catholic but of all the clowns in the running, he seems to be about the best - from MY past experience with him.** ---- A couple of the comments you make on the subject portray you as EMMINENTLY qualified to opine on the matter, dontcha know... --1)"I'm no longer a Catholic...": Therefore your interest on the subject matter is probably as important as your opinion.-- 2)"...of all the clowns in the running, he seems to be about the best - from MY past experience with him.": From the moment you qualify the cardinals with an epithet of that caliber, your moral standing as a "Christian" -if that is what you call yourself presently- is visibly questionable. That being the case, even the energy spent on keyboard tapping while you post your opinion on this blog is pretty much a waste. You can be sure the cardinals doing the voting won't be minding it.

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KweenOHearts | Mar 12, 2013, 02:12 PM EDT

@godsoldier who says:**I'm sure the Cardinals would be looking for someone who can relate to the New Generation. :-)** -- Surely, you must be kidding! If that were the extent of the intellectual/spiritual depth of the Catholic Church, then its demise --as per the salivating and ruminations expounded upon by the majority of heathens, CathHaters and CINOs who visit this cyber rag-- would be richly deserved. ---- Christ fortunately promised HIS CHURCH perpetuity, and no amount of undermining coming from inside and out of it, and most surely, no amount of shallow worldly concerns will manage to play a part in its governance, or the selection thereof. ---- I dare say, even if a BAD POPE were by ill-fortune chosen, somehow the Holy Spirit would be at work to somehow turn the bad choice into a 'teaching moment' and ultimately a 'benefit' to His bride.

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PhlutiePhan | Mar 10, 2013, 08:42 PM EDT

Reality is stranger than fiction. The website "BostonCatholicInsider" has severe reservations on Cardinal O'Malley. The "National Catholic Reporter" is also classified as a non-Catholic newspaper by Bishop Finn of Kansas City and Bishop Sheridan of Colorado Springs.

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darao | Mar 10, 2013, 08:34 PM EDT

Maureen -- you got it right! Pittsburgkid - Why do you think it should be a black Pope? That is no less racist than saying you think it should be a white Pope! You seem to abhor women and homosexuals somehow - perhaps counselling might help you get over the hatred. A caring church led by the best person to run and guide the church would include women, men, gays and straight and would give equal rights for all people. The current church is driven by isolation, exclusion, intolerance and lack of the most basic respect for humanity. It is the bigoted who wont let women take their place, won't let gays take their place, wont allow women to manage their own reproductive rights, who wont encourage condoms so as to save millions of lives that are destroying your church. Those are reasons to celebrate the closure of churches and the empty pews. So either the church changes or will deserve to be left in the dustbowl of old anti social behaviours. Hopefully it changes.

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darao | Mar 10, 2013, 08:23 PM EDT

Michael D. Higgins should be the next Pope! If not Michael D. then surely Joe Duffy would do a wonderful Job especially as he operates hours of public confessional on RTE every week. Creedon could be the choirmaster which would bring the music into line with modern likes. The old boys club will find someone who can be Pope but it really will have little effect unless it is a person who can change the centuries of abuse the church has heaped on men women and especially children. All of the churches build membership through providing people with false hope or comfort in a fundamental fantasy. It is always hard to understand why they join but everyone has their own right to choose.

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Maureen Hawkins | Mar 10, 2013, 07:34 PM EDT

Pittsburghkid, don't you realize that it is exactly that kind of conservatism that is driving North Americans & Europeans out of the Church? It's no wonder that, for example, African Catholics are so Victorian; the colonized always ape their colonizers (look at how long the Irish remained patriarchal & repressive after Britain, Europe, & North America left the Victorian age--it's the heritage of imperialism). Ireland finally outgrew its colonial heritage & decided that clerical pederasty and repression of women (& the resulting deleterious effects on the economy & society) were too high a price to pay for out-Victorianing their British Victorian imperial former masters; presumably, the more recently decolonized African nations will eventually do the same. If the Church continues to cling to 19th century patriarchy, eventually, its membership will be confined to the few remaining misogynic males who fear women & homosexuals & who can't succeed in a world that doesn't give them automatic privilege because of their sex.

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MichaelMcGrath | Mar 10, 2013, 05:06 PM EDT

Cardinal O'Malley would be a great choice for the world- indeed for the Church as well:-)

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handsome68 | Mar 10, 2013, 03:35 PM EDT

The grass always looks greener on the other side, is what occurs to me. Still, Capuchin Franciscans are sometimes humbler and simpler than, for example, their Jesuit opposites. I still say that both Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster should get it, and be co-Popes. One or both of them is/are (a) known sinner(s), so there would be less surprise(s) when we find out that s/he has a human frailty.

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pilib04 | Mar 10, 2013, 12:38 PM EDT

If it were that easy to predict the next pope, one could make a lot of money.

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Pittsburghkid | Mar 10, 2013, 12:32 PM EDT

I'm hoping for a Black Conservative Cardinal from Africa. After each modernization of the Church more and more pews became empty. Now Churches are being sold. The last time I was at mass, behind the Communion Rail seemed like a Chinese Fire Drill. Woman were running around all over the place. I was taught by the Nuns that only Priest could touch the Host. You can go ahead, and make woman Priests, and why not Homosexuals, watch the Church disappear. The people behind Church modernization are about destruction of the Church, and they are doing a good job.

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Redneck56 | Mar 10, 2013, 12:12 PM EDT

An American Pope? I'll believe it when I see it !

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JohnKinMD | Mar 10, 2013, 10:35 AM EDT

When did the people get to pick the next Pope?

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penelopemurphy | Mar 10, 2013, 10:27 AM EDT

O'Malley was Bishop of the Fall River Diocese when I lived in MA and he was well-liked by all the people. I'm no longer Catholic but of all the clowns in the running, he seems to be about the best - from MY past experince with him.

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godsoldier | Mar 10, 2013, 09:24 AM EDT

"OUR NEXT POPE SHOULD BE CARDINAL TAGLE, OUR NEXT POPE SHOULD BE CARDINAL TAGLE EH" if you wonder what that is... that's actually THE LYRICS OF THE CAMPAIGN JINGLE OF CARDINAL TAGLE in Youtube. That's just one of the indications as to how popular Cardinal Tagle is in the online world. It's not something to be dismissed because I'm sure the Cardinals would be looking for someone who can relate to the New Generation. :-)

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