CANADA
The Province
By L. Ian MacDonald, The Province
March 7, 2013
There is a saying, one of many in Rome, that he who enters a conclave as pope leaves as a cardinal.
By that standard, Cardinal Marc Ouellet needn’t worry about the outcome. As one of the early favourites he doesn’t stand a chance of becoming the first non-European pope in nearly 1,500 years, and the first in history from the Americas. And a Canadian one at that.
Still, it’s not hard to see why the oddsmakers, media and papal pundits fancy his chances to succeed Benedict XVI, who resigned in February. One doesn’t campaign for the office — that’s considered unseemly — but there are lots of opportunities for meeting and greeting in a papal interregnum. And Ouellet has a lot going for him.
First, he’s a reliable theological conservative, and that’s what this College of Cardinals wants. The last two popes, Benedict and John Paul II, have packed the college with doctrinal conservatives over the last 35 years, reversing the liberal appointments of John XXIII and Paul VI.
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