“The papacy is weak,” and must be strengthened, in a presidential sense, broadening the electoral base of the conclave to include bishops and superiors of religious orders."
This is the proposal of political scientist Ernesto Galli Della Loggia, in an article published in the latest issue of “La Lettura”, the cultural insert of Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera.
Galli Della Loggia starts by analyzing the “malicious rumours,” the “more or less controlled leaks,” and the unedifying “behind the scenes” drama that have recently characterized the Roman Curia: elements that reveal “a fierce battle over the direction of the ecclesiastical institution” - a “clash of power” that ends up discrediting the Church.
According to the political scientist, the Pope’s power only appears absolute. In reality he must - even in nominations - consider “factions” and the “inevitable dominance of alliances and cliques over the careers of senior clergymen,” as well as “exaggerated personal ambitions.”
In the face of all this, the political scientist speaks of a desire for “democratization,” though he quips about the “ill-defined ‘greater collegiality of decisions’ and “never quite defined ‘return to the spirit of the Council’.”
Galli Della Loggia wonders if the answer is actually to be found in “the direction of democracy,” proposing an alternative solution: “a further strengthening of the role of the Pope,” which includes, however, “certain changes in his designation so as to satisfy both the need for more participation and the need to reduce the current phenomena of careerist curial rivalries.”
Given that the cardinals “constitute a real oligarchy, and the Pope is in fact an oligarchic Caesar,” the electoral base must be broadened, “extending the right of passive and active election from the current College of Cardinals to all bishops throughout the world, which could include (with the sole right of active election) representatives of various religious orders.
We are talking about a total number of about six thousand figures: a diverse and large enough body of people to avoid factiousness.
According to Galli Della Loggia, nominations to the papacy could be submitted through a “certain number of signatures of support.”
A Pope elected in this way would have stronger authority.
The political scientist’s proposal in Corriere della Sera is striking for several reasons - not least his notorious proximity to a well-known academic think tank which has become the authoritative interpreter of the Ratzinger papacy, and which counts Director of the Vatican’s daily broadsheet L’Osservatore Romano, Gian Maria Vian, and , historian Lucetta Scaraffia, who is a columnist for the same newspaper, among its members.
Certainly Galli Della Loggia is influenced by his position as a scholar of political science: it is the only way to justify, for instance, what can seem like the equating of “democratization” and “collegiality.”
It should also be noted that idea of expanding the Pope'a electoral base is not new. It was proposed by progressivists after the Second Vatican Council.
Paul VI discussed this possibility with his collaborators, considering extending the right to vote in a conclave to Eastern patriarchs who are not cardinals, and to the presidents of Episcopal Conferences. Among the most strenuous opponents of the proposal was Cardinal Giuseppe Siri, Archbishop of Genoa, but also included Giuseppe Alberigo, founder of the Bologna school.
“Expanding the electoral base in that sense,” historian Alberto Melloni explained to Vatican Insider, “emphasizes the centralism of the papacy and alters the link with the Roman Episcopal see. Let us not forget, however, that the Pope is the Pope because he is the Bishop of Rome, not the other way around.”