ROME
National Catholic Reporter
by John L. Allen Jr. | Feb. 14, 2013
Rome —
As fate would have it, 82-year-old Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was in Rome on Monday, the day Benedict XVI made his historic abdication announcement, having arrived from a wedding in Malta. He actually planned to attend that morning’s consistory of cardinals, having no idea what was to come, but arrived late enough he didn’t make it.
Obviously, he now wishes there had been an earlier flight.
Despite his age, McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, keeps up a hectic travel schedule and has a wide network of friends among senior churchmen on every continent, giving him a firsthand sense of the thinking in various corners of the world. Although he won’t vote in this conclave, he took part in the election of Benedict XVI in 2005, giving him a unique perspective on the differences this time around. He’ll also participate in the daily General Congregation meetings of cardinals before the conclave begins.
In terms of the politics of the American church, McCarrick is sometimes seen as a leader of the more liberal wing of the American bishops, though he generally likes to talk about the importance of the “center.”
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