POPE BENEDICT XVI this week named Cardinal Angelo Scola as the next
archbishop of Milan, replacing Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi who has
passed the compulsory retirement age of 75.
Traditionally in the Catholic church, the “man in Milan” becomes a leading candidate to be the next pope.
In
the last century, two Milan archbishops, Pius XI and Paul VI, went on
to become popes, while the two most recent incumbents, Cardinal
Tettamanzi and Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, were at different times
considered to be the leading Italian candidate of the moment.
While
most Vatican insiders would agree that Cardinal Scola would now feature
on a shortlist of Italian candidates to be the next pontiff, many
observers believe that in the context of the 21st century, an Italian
candidacy is no longer tenable.
Since 2002, Cardinal Scola has
been patriarch of Venice, where he created the Oasis Foundation. This
was intended to promote dialogue with the Islamic world, as well as
solidarity among Christians in the Middle East.
Cardinal Scola is seen as someone close to the influential right-wing Italian lay movement
Communione e Liberazione .
The son of a lorry driver, he became a friend and follower of the
communione ’s founder, Msgr Luigi Giussani, while studying in Milan in the early 1960s.
The
communione is best known in Ireland for its annual Rimini
meeting which last year was attended by President Mary McAleese and
Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin.