The widespread belief that Cardinal George Pell of Sydney, Australia, would soon be appointed prefect of the powerful Congregation for Bishops has come under question, as rumors now circulate in Rome that the Australian prelate declined the position. Late in April, Vatican journalists wrote that the appointment was a foregone conclusion, after Cardinal Pell met privately with Pope Benedict XVI and then held a long session with the current prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re.
But the rumored appointment reportedly has encountered resistance-- not least from Cardinal Pell himself.
Andrea Tornielli of Il Giornale, the respected Vatican-watcher who had written in May that Cardinal Pell was the Pope's choice, has now said that the appointment seems unlikely.
Other prelates mentioned for the position, Tornielli reports, include Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec; Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko, the president of the Pontifical Council for the Laity; Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco of Genoa, the president of the Italian bishops' conference; and Archbishop Mauro Archbishop Mauro Piacenza, the Secretary the Congregation of the Clergy.
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