Vatican's wheels keep turning without pope
April 2, 2005
VATICAN CITY (AP) -- The Vatican is perfectly capable of conducting
its business when a pope is incapacitated or after he dies.
Among the figures who ensure continuity are the Vatican's No. 2
Cardinal Angelo Sodano; Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, in charge of church
doctrine, and Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, personal secretary to Pope
John Paul II.
Then there is the Vatican's centuries-old bureaucracy, the Curia -- a
finely tuned machine that handles the Vatican's day-to-day operations.
In past centuries, popes sometimes delegated authority to Vatican
officials who were nephews or other relatives.
Such nepotism is a thing of the past, and Sodano -- whose role roughly
corresponds to prime minister in a parliamentary democracy -- has
taken on an increasingly visible role since John Paul was hospitalized
with the flu and breathing problems in February.
Ratzinger, who has been a guardian of the pope's conservative policies
on issues such as contraception and abortion, assumed other key
responsibilities after the pope fell ill.
And American Cardinal James Stafford presided over key Holy Week
observances in the absence of the pope.
Behind the scenes, however, it is Dziwisz -- a Pole like John Paul --
who has been the guardian of the pontiff's inner sanctum and the
interpreter of his intentions. When the pope was being treated at
Rome's Gemelli Polyclinic hospital, it was Dziwisz who screened
visitors.
.
|
