English cardinal on key qualities of new pope

(Vatican Radio) A spiritual man, with strong leadership skills and the ability to listen to the voices of bishops and lay people around the world. Those are the key characteristics that cardinals are looking for in the choice of a new pope – according to Britain’s senior Church leader, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor. The former archbishop of Westminster turned 80 last year, so won’t be taking part in the voting for a new pope, but he is present at the discussions, or General Congregations, taking place this week ahead of the Conclave.
Speaking to Philippa Hitchen, the English Church leader talked openly about the need for greater collaboration between the pope and bishops to tackle the very real challenges facing men and women around the world today. He also reflected on the legacy of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and his final meeting with the cardinals on the very last day of his pontificate…..

Listen:

“I think first of all the lucidity of his preaching and teaching….I go back seven popes now and he was the most brilliant pope we’ve ever had, intellectually. And what I always enjoyed – when he was cardinal I met him a lot – was his courtesy, so here we have a very prayerful, spiritual man, a pope of a brilliant mind, a pope of courtesy and a pope who was so different from his predecessor, we can’t have a pope ‘something the great’ every time, so he sort of calmed it all down…”

Asked what was on the mind of the cardinals during the Conclave of 2005, the Cardinal said:
“I think we were quite happy to elect a 77 year old… because all very long pontificates have problems as the pope gets older, but there was also a sense that we came to realise there wasn’t anybody else as good among the cardinals who’d reached his capacity for spiritual leadership….”

Responding to a question about the need for greater unity in the Church, Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor said: “I think the remarkable thing is that the Catholic Church, at the deepest level of Christian faith, can live through crisis and scandals with sadness, with repentance, but it knows the Church goes on and with Pope Benedict here we have in a very clear way a distinction between the office and the person, the person goes, but the office continues…..Pope Pius VII was the first pope really who became in Europe, a focus for real affection, when Napoleon took him out of Rome and brought him through Europe, this old man, and people flocked to the coach as he was going up to Paris, and it was from then on the person of the Pope became more focused, in conjunction with the office…”

Speaking of the need for reform in the Catholic Church today, he said: “…I often say the Church must always reform itself and I think in this extraordinary modern world it will change, but I also think it’s been quite evident.… how the pope needs good helpers, not just in the Curia, but also the bishops…When I talk about reform I think there can be developments in the way the pope is in contact with the bishops …Pope Paul instituted the Synod of Bishops – I don’t think it’s worked quite as well as was hoped, it’s a valuable instrument but not enough…..”

Regarding the qualities the cardinals will be looking for in the choice of a new pope, the Cardinal said: “The main characteristic is that he’s a spiritual man, that’s number one; secondly, this strong leadership and cooperation with others, the third is that he, with the bishops, is able to be seen that we’re listening to the struggles of people, trying to live their faith and they want encouragement, understanding and the feeling they’ll be listened to…

In the general congregations we’ll be talking about these qualities and I think in the quiet, around the corridors, they’ll be talking about who are the possible people, so that already there’ll be a number of names on people’s lips when they go in to the conclave. Now what happens inside, you just don’t know. I have a feeling it’ll be a little longer than last time, so, does it make a difference I’m not going in? Yes and no, obviously I’m sorry that there’s no one from Britain going in…but we must hope and pray.”