www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Canadian bishop: next pope needs to have centrist leanings

Aloha again,

Would you agree that the next pope is a centrist pope?


Local News
Next pope needs to have centrist leanings Tb News Source
Web Posted: 4/7/2005 2:37:39 PM

Like papal prognosticators around the world, the Bishop of Thunder Bay will watch and wait to see whom the College of Cardinals ultimately chooses to replace Pope John Paul II, who died last weekend at 84. Bishop Fred Colli, who oversees more than 75,000 Catholics in Northwestern Ontario, thinks a centrist-minded successor would best serve the needs of the religion�s followers around the world.

�I don�t think a very liberal pope or a very conservative pope would be good for the church,� said Colli in an exclusive interview with Thunder Bay�s Source. �I think we have to have someone who is along the middle of the road but who has a good sensitivity for both sides of the church, for both the liberal and he conservative sides; a man who�s sensitive to the call and to the concerns of all in the church and someone who will do his best to try to bring the Church together.�

John Paul, whose funeral was held in Rome today, was a strong man with even stronger convictions, though Colli said those traits occasionally meant he was unwilling to bend on some issues and led him to ignore others altogether, something he�d like to see change in the man chosen to continue the late pontiff�s legacy.

�I�m hoping the next pope will be open to continued discussion and dialogue in the Church in all issues because the Church is a large place and it�s made up of all kinds of people and they all have faith and they all have a place,� said Collie, who received his call to bishophood from John Paul II in 1995. He went on to say whomever that may be needs to have compassion and sensitivity to all and understand the struggles many Catholics face living in the modern world.

Colli said there are a number of potential popes who will emerge as top candidates for the post, though like John Paul II, who was not a frontrunner in 1978 after the untimely death of Pope John Paul I, he said the closed-door cardinal conclave often produces surprises.

�Are there leading contenders? Yes there are some that are potential popes, but it all depends on what (the cardinals) discuss, what they think is best, what they think the direction of the church should be and who could best serve that direction,� he said.


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http://www.tbsource.com/Localnews/index.asp?cid=74184

John Paul II was a centrist Pope. Is this bishop saying that we need another pope like John Paul II or does he want one that will approve homosexual marriages and the like.

Dan L

Aloha Dan ,

well, its Canada ....what do you expect? read the whole article again.

A centrist, in my mind, is someone whose positions accurately reflect my own.

Randy,

What he wants is a good Western Materialist. He must be a hypocrite who denies that truth exists and will allow for endless discussions upon matters already settled. One could put a cardboard figure in the Papacy and have the same results. Here's a small representative quote from the article:

"John Paul, whose funeral was held in Rome today, was a strong man with even stronger convictions, though Colli said those traits occasionally meant he was unwilling to bend on some issues and led him to ignore others altogether, something he�d like to see change in the man chosen to continue the late pontiff�s legacy."

It's a sure fire way to cripple the Church for the next generation at least.

Dan L

From the article,

"John Paul, whose funeral was held in Rome today, was a strong man with even stronger convictions, though Colli said those traits occasionally meant he was unwilling to bend on some issues and led him to ignore others altogether, something he�d like to see change in the man chosen to continue the late pontiff�s legacy."

From Merriam-Webster online, Legacy-something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past

So if John Paul "was a strong man, with even stronger convictions", and the next pontiff does not have the same strength of conviction, he would not be continuing our late pontiff's legacy. For those convictions are most surely a large part of John Paul's legacy.

I therefore find Bishop Colli's statement to be inherently contridictory.