UNITED STATES
National Catholic Reporter
by NCR Editorial Staff | Mar. 11, 2013
Editorial
In the opening days of the general congregations, the series of meetings the College of Cardinals convene in the lead-up to the conclave that will choose the next pope, an idea was floated in the Italian press about a way to clean up the governance issues that have plagued the Vatican under Pope Benedict XVI’s reign. The idea was to elect one of the over-80-year-old cardinals as pope. Such a pope, a curial old hand, would have a clear understanding of how the Curia actual works and could rein it in. The candidate would have to be somebody tough enough to crack down on uncooperative dicasteries and end rivalries. Somebody with clear thinking and a firm hand — that’s what’s needed. The idea — like many floated in the Italian media these days — didn’t get much traction.
We have also heard people longing for a return of someone like Archbishop Giovanni Benelli, a legendary substitute (assistant) secretary of state under Pope Paul VI. This guy knew how to run a tight ship. With Benelli in charge, everyone knew his job and his place and the work of the Vatican got done. A TIME magazine profile of him from 1969 describes how he prepared and organized newspaper clippings and reports and arranged them on the breakfast table every morning for Paul VI. He arranged papal audiences and appointments with similar efficiency. Though only an archbishop and only the No. 2 man in his office, he could make cardinals tremble in fear if they tried to circumvent or cross him. A new Benelli would turn this place around, they say.
A third idea has emerged in the last day or so. The new pope needs to be a modern CEO who would update church systems with modern management practices, understand finances and have a command of modern communication technologies. The idea is to shuffle a few MBAs among the theology degrees.
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