Word: vaticans
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TIME.com: Pope John Paul II is holding an extraordinary gathering of all of his cardinals at the Vatican this week. What is the purpose of their discussion...
...sects, and globalization and poverty. But it is really a wide open discussion, in which the cardinals are invited to discuss any issues that concern them. It's really an opportunity for the pope to hear from his cardinals. They can talk about anything, but it's not a Vatican Council. More like some form of a senate, although not in the legislative sense. Think of it as the equivalent of a floor debate in the U.S. Senate...
...That's normally the case. They're behind closed doors so that they can speak freely, but at these sorts of events the cardinals tend to be somewhat on their guard. There were rumors today that someone in the meeting had called for a third Vatican Council, but that couldn't be confirmed. That's an issue that periodically resurfaces in Rome...
...there is some irony there, because in the era of the Second Vatican Council, Ratzinger was considered one of the young radicals. But he changed considerably, and in the early days of John Paul II's papacy when there was a campaign against Liberation theology and other progressive theologians, he became known as the "Panzer Cardinal" because he took so many hits for the pope. That's all calmed down now, but Ratzinger showed, in his recent document "Dominus Jesus" that he's still very concerned about anything that waters down the Christian claim or places different religions...
...couple of schools of thought there. The first is that it should be an Italian - a theory most widely held by Italians, of course. Once you get over that, it's wide open. But you do need someone with some Roman experience, some idea of how the Vatican works. There was some internal criticism of John Paul II that he didn't do enough minding of the shop, and preferred to be out and about evangelizing. So Roman experience will certainly be considered an important factor. But the choice may also be guided by where the church is growing...