VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
by John L. Allen Jr. | Feb. 17, 2013
Rome —
Openly campaigning for the papacy is not only taboo, it’s usually fatal. Most cardinals are of the belief that if someone actually wants the job, they have no idea what it’s about.
On the other hand, sometimes circumstances align to thrust someone into the spotlight, creating an opportunity to either boost or diminish his electoral prospects, even if that’s not officially the purpose of what’s going on.
Today one such papabile steps onto the stage in Italian Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, a 70-year-old biblical scholar, essayist and intellectual omnivore.
From Sunday evening to Saturday morning, Ravasi will preach the Lenten spiritual exercises for the Roman Curia, an annual retreat during which the Vatican more or less goes into lockdown while its personnel gather in the Redemptoris Mater chapel in the Apostolic Palace.
Ravasi is the son of an anti-fascist tax official who was lost to the young Ravasi for 18 months after deserting the army during World War II. In a typically reflective flourish, Ravasi later said his lifelong search for permanence is probably related to that early sense of loss.
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