VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
by John L. Allen Jr. | Mar. 6, 2013
ROME – John Allen is offering a profile each day of one of the most frequently touted papabili, or men who could be pope. The old saying in Rome is that he who enters a conclave as pope exits as a cardinal, meaning there’s no guarantee one of these men actually will be chosen. They are, however, the leading names drawing buzz in Rome these days, ensuring they will be in the spotlight as the conclave draws near. The profiles of these men also suggest the issues and the qualities other cardinals see as desirable heading into the election.
One shouldn’t presume that continuity with Benedict XVI will be the top concern of all 115 cardinals now getting ready to elect his successor, since many of them believe the “pope emeritus” was a great teacher but a mixed bag as CEO.
Yet for those who do see continuity as job number one, their candidate might well be the man known around Rome for years as “the little Ratzinger.”
Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, 67, has led the Congregation for Divine Worship since December 2008, after six years as the Archbishop of Toledo and Primate of Spain. The nickname “little Ratzinger” comes from earlier in his career, when Cañizares served as the chief of staff for the doctrine committee of the Spanish bishops’ conference from 1985 to 1992.
They were years of high drama, as Spanish theologians were prominent in the church’s intellectual Avant-garde. Cañizares played the same role in Spain that then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger did at the global level in holding the line against these currents, and the two men became close friends.
(The qualifier “little” works in another sense too, as Cañizares is a fairly short man. In pictures with the pope, Benedict often seems to tower over him.)
Both admirers and detractors of Cañizares have embraced the nickname “little Ratzinger,” suggesting that whether you find his similarity to the retired pope encouraging or distressing, everyone can agree it fits.
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