Cardinals for Africa

by Editor · February 18, 2001

Next Wednesday Pope John Paul will preside over the consistory at which 42 new cardinals are created, including South Africa’s Wilfrid Napier.

In deciding which luminaries to promote to the College of Cardinals and whom to omit, the pope is not obliged to justify by what process he has reached his choices. Indeed, the faithful intrinsically trust the vicar of Christ to select the best men available for the greatest good of the Church.

In making his choices, Pope John Paul evidently took much care to pick several candidates noted as diocesan pastors, for which the Holy Father deserves our gratitude.

Much good will surely come from the elevation of Stephanos II, patriarch of the Copts, and Patriarch Moussa I Daoud of Syria, a hopeful sign of the Roman Church looking eastwards.

However, Catholics seeking a shift towards a decentralisation of Church government will be disappointed at the large number of curial officials who have been awarded the red hat against expectation, one might add, in light of the pope’s public censure of bickering curial staff just a few weeks ago.

The pope’s endorsement of the Vatican insiders points to an extended curiacentric slant in Church government. It will not have escaped the pope’s attention that the curial cardinals will wield a great measure of command at the conclave which will elect his successor. The new appointments will have strengthened the curia’s hand when that day arrives.

By and large, the new additions to the College of Cardinals will serve to comfort those who defend the Vatican’s prescriptive direction, and do little to assuage the alienation felt by many progressive Catholics.

The non-selection of cardinals, however, tells another story altogether. While naming a record 42 new cardinals, Pope John Paul concentrated mainly on Latin America (nine prelates from the region, and two curial officials) and on his own curia (12, almost a third of all new cardinals).

Measured against these figures, sub-Saharan Africa’s award of two new cardinals seems somewhat scant, especially since Africa has the fastest growing Catholic population in the world.

Thus the pope (or those who advise him) has sent a discomforting message to the Catholics of Africa, one at odds with his stated commitment to the continent. African Catholics may be forgiven for thinking that, in the larger scheme of things, their continent commands a secondary ranking in the Vatican’s priorities.

Nevertheless, Southern Africa has cause to be jubilant at the selection of Archbishop Napier, coming almost eight years after the death of South Africa’s hitherto only cardinal, Owen McCann.

The appointment of Cardinal-designate Napier will doubtlessly serve to enhance the Church’s profile in Southern Africa, and provide the leadership which the Church in the region needs. Few Christian leaders in recent times have been as forthright about South Africa’s descent into moral decay as Archbishop Napier. His is a voice our politicians, media and society need to hear and, one hopes, heed.

Catholics in South Africa and beyond may feel confident that Cardinal-designate Napier will employ the prestige that comes with his new office in putting forward the views and teachings of the Catholic Church in our increasingly secularised society.