VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
by John L. Allen Jr. | Feb. 22, 2013 All Things Catholic
If we start the count in 1295, when Pope Boniface VIII first required cardinals to elect a pope in a sealed room, the looming 2013 edition will be the 75th conclave in the history of the Catholic church. At one level, therefore, it’s possible to say that we’ve seen this show before, most recently eight years ago.
In many ways, the 2013 conclave will seem identical to those that have gone before: the same procession into the Sistine Chapel, the same black and white smoke, the same “Habemus Papam” moment when the new pope has been chosen. (Trivia point: By tradition, the announcement is made by the Proto-Deacon, meaning the senior cardinal in the order of deacons, who this time around is French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran. He should be the guy who steps out onto the balcony to deliver the news — unless, of course, he’s elected himself.)
Despite the echoes of the past, there are several unique features about this conclave that alter the politics and, perhaps, suggest a longer and more difficult process. Herewith, the top 10 differences about the 2013 edition of the papal election. …
6. The scandal effect
The child sex abuse crisis was already set in cement as a defining issue for Americans by 2005, but it didn’t really erupt in Europe until 2010. In the meantime, the Vatican has also been hit with a number of other embarrassing episodes, such as the Vatileaks scandal and persistent allegations of financial corruption.
In that context, a larger share of cardinals this time around is likely to be concerned that the new pope be perceived to have “clean hands.”
In practice, this may produce a sort of burden, rather than benefit, of the doubt for any candidate publicly linked to some sort of scandal. In the hothouse atmosphere of the pre-conclave period, some cardinals are likely to feel they don’t have the time to separate truth from falsehood and may conclude that the safest thing to do is to steer clear of anyone who seems even potentially tainted.
As one cardinal put it to me the other day with regard to a prominent fellow cardinal who’s been identified in the Italian press with allegedly shady financial deals, “I don’t know what actually happened, but right now it seems like too big a risk.”
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