IRELAND
The Irish Times
Cardinal Marc Ouellet enjoys a lofty standing in the Vatican and ran the last congress, writes PADDY AGNEW
THE MAN who will represent Pope Benedict XVI at next week’s International Eucharistic Congress in Dublin realises all too well that this is a difficult moment for the Catholic Church in Ireland, battered both by the fallout of the sex abuse crisis and the State’s ongoing process of secularisation. Despite that, Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet believes the congress will show the Irish church is back on the right track for “renewal”.
Cardinal Ouellet, who turns 68 today, is often seen as a Holy See heavy hitter, so much so that he is regularly included on lists of possible successors to the 85-year-old pope. The former archbishop of Quebec heads the Congregation for Bishops, the Vatican’s human resources department.
He has been chosen as the pope’s point man on the congress not only because of his lofty Vatican standing but also because he ran the last Eucharistic Congress, four years ago in Quebec. Vatican observers rate Ouellet as a solid “Ratzinger”, in harmony with the pope.
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