The future pope according to the cardinal archbishop of Montreal
Cardinal Jean Claude Turcotte, archbishop of Montreal, was in Rome at the end of February for the plenary meeting of the Council for Social Communications, of which he is a member.
Interviewed by CIPA, he declared that the question of the resignation of the pope left him "completely indifferent". About his succession, he said: "We have never discussed these questions with other cardinals. We will deal with the succession when the time comes. Then, we will have some ten or twenty days during which we will meet daily in order to talk about the future pope and the qualities he will need."
As to the future pope, the cardinal has confidence in the consistory. "In 2000, the pope gathered a consistory of all the cardinals. Over three days, we could listen to our fellow cardinals, speaking to us and the pope. It was reassuring to see some of these men of God who also have very strong personalities. The Holy Ghost will inspire them to name the successor of the pope". In the case of John Paul, whom no one expected, he recalls, "who could have foreseen his election?"
The new pope will have to be a man of prayer, "a man who continues to insist on Christ, because we have to preach the Gospel again to our world, in any case to Europe and America". And he added : "Will he be able to speak 25 or 30 languages, will he be as gifted with the media as John Paul II? What matters is that he be the man God will choose."
Among the challenges of the third millennium which are, he said, different from one continent to the next, the cardinal mentioned the Eucharist, "which is somewhat loosing ground in the west" (sic). Many have distanced themselves, "forgetting that it is at the heart of the Church".
