VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
by John L. Allen Jr. | Feb. 15, 2013
Rome
Earlier this week, I suggested that because the end of Benedict XVI’s papacy is not occurring in tandem with his death, it may create greater psychological space for cardinals to take a critical look at the pontificate, without fear of speaking ill of the late pontiff.
A small confirmation of that theory has come in the form of an interview given to a German newspaper by Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne, one of Benedict’s closest friends in the College of Cardinals.
In the context of describing what qualities the next pope might need, Meisner revealed that in 2009, he approached Benedict on behalf of a number of cardinals to ask him to dump his Secretary of State, Italian Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
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