According to Japanese Cardinal Stephen Fumio Hamao, Pope Benedict XVI should appoint more Asians and Africans to the Roman Curia and the College of Cardinals, so as to further internationalize both bodies.The Tokyo-born cardinal, now 77, made this assertion to UCA News in Rome on March 28, repeating what he had said a year earlier, soon after retiring from the presidency of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerants.
He served in that capacity from June 15, 1998, until the pope accepted his resignation on March 11, 2006.
When he met privately with Pope Benedict last April 29, the pontiff thanked the cardinal for his eight years of service to the universal church. He also asked him to complete his five-year mandate as a board member of three Roman Curia offices: the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (CEP), the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints and the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Cardinal Hamao's mandate will end next year.
During their conversation, the cardinal reminded the pope that with his resignation, there was no Asian heading any office of the Roman Curia. He urged the pontiff to appoint Asians to Vatican positions and the pope replied, "I am thinking about that."
Three weeks later, he named Cardinal Ivan Dias of India as prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
Cardinal Hamao said he still believes more Asians and Africans should join the Roman Curia.
By reason of one of his papal mandates, he attends monthly meetings of the CEP, during which recommendations are made to the Holy Father on candidates for bishop in mission countries, mainly in Asia and Africa. This experience, the cardinal said, has convinced him that change is needed.
He noted that 21 of the 25 cardinals and bishops attending those meetings now are from Europe and the Americas, but only two come from Africa (Cardinal Francis Arinze and Archbishop Robert Sarah) and just two from Asia (Cardinal Ivan Dias and himself).
Moreover, Cardinal Hamao continued, he has noticed that the European-American "mentality" is very different from that of Asia.
For this reason, he said, he would like to meet again with Pope Benedict and encourage him "to call more Asians and Africans to work in the Roman curia, not only cardinals but also bishops and priests."
"It would be better to have more people from these parts of the world, so as to understand their mentality," he explained. "Most people in the Roman curia are European- and American-minded. They cannot understand the mentality of East Asia and the Far East. Africa is nearer to them because it was colonized, and the Middle East is all right, it is Asia. Perhaps they can understand India, but the Far East is completely different. They cannot understand it."
Vatican people, he also observed, "are very, very concerned about Europe, the European Union and the Christian roots of European culture. They want to expand this Christianity from Rome, from Europe, to Asia and Africa."
Cardinal Hamao has concluded that "many people in the Vatican think people of Asia and Africa are perhaps still too young and need to be instructed better. I think they see us a little bit as second- or third-class."
This inability to understand Asia and the Far East, he said, is somewhat reflected in Sacramentum Caritatis (Sacrament of Love), the new apostolic exhortation on the Eucharist.
In that document, the pope speaks about Latin and suggests that Catholics learn some Latin prayers and Gregorian chants.
This is not a good idea, according to Cardinal Hamao, who taught Latin to the Emperor of Japan when he was crown prince. "It is impossible for Asians," he asserted. "Nobody knows Latin. Most priests don't study it, and they don't know it. That is European-centered. It is too much!"
The cardinal also noted that many people in the Roman curia are from the Holy See's diplomatic service, but "it is better to have more people with pastoral experience from different countries, not just diplomatic experience."
At the next consistory, which many in Rome expect to take place in June, Cardinal Hamao hopes Pope Benedict will create more cardinals from Asia and Africa. Particularly for Asia, he said, "I would like to see him name cardinals, perhaps from Pakistan and from countries that have never had a cardinal, such as Bangladesh, Malaysia and Myanmar."
He also would welcome more cardinals from Africa to make the mainly European College of Cardinals more international.
Today, 53 of the 108 cardinal-electors (younger than 80 with the right to elect a new pope) are Europeans.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce