American...Papabile?

Really, really interesting stories from two top observers of the Catholic Church.

First, John Allen, in the midst of a longer story about the ongoing leaks of confidential Vatican documents, makes some very interesting observations.  Excerpts:

...There are also two dimensions of the story with American implications.



First, the profile of American bishops in Rome has long been that while most might not be great intellectuals or towering spiritual figures, they tend to be good managers, meaning practical figures able to get things done. Although some Americans might quibble, that view is still largely in force here.

Privately, many Italians are already saying that the Vatican needs a shake-up, a fresh approach, and it's natural for them to think of the States as one place where it might be found.

Whether that will be enough to offset the historical taboo against a "superpower pope" is anybody's guess. However, it could render somewhat more plausible a move that would be equally shocking to longtime Vatican insiders: an American Secretary of State...

Next, Rocco Palmo writes about Archbishop Timothy Dolan's unique role at the consistory today, and posts several New York news outlets saying some very interesting things about him.  Excerpts:

For Timothy Michael Dolan, this weekend caps a meteoric rise of the kind only he could make look natural.

To use just one example, before the 62 year-old prelate, never have the terms "Archbishop of New York" and "President of the American Bishops" been able to exist in the same sentence, unless historians were discussing the dual legitimacy which Francis Spellman lusted, and even John O'Connor earnestly sought, yet neither would ever know.

...At the Pope's choosing, the cardinals' study day (over which Benedict will preside) is dedicated to the New Evangelization, arguably his most emphatic priority in the Western church. And in a half-hour Italian talk followed by questions from himself and the floor, the pontiff has tasked Tim Dolan with making the case for it. (SVILUPPO: Fulltext of Dolan's talk.)

To fully understand the significance of the keynote assignment, it bears recalling that, until now, presentations in these sessions have been given exclusively by the seniormost chiefs of the Roman Curia -- names like Sodano, Levada, Re, Cañizares and Castrillón -- on key matters ranging from the church's response to clergy sex-abuse and Catholic-Muslim relations in the Middle East, to what would become Summorum Pontificum and Benedict's respective efforts toward full communion with Anglican groups and the traditionalist Society of St Pius X.

To be sure, Benedict already has an office dedicated to the reproposal of faith in the West -- the first Vatican dicastery to be established in a quarter-century -- which the Pope launched in 2009. Yet while his Curia's top hand on the New Evangelization, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, is slated to take a second speaking-slot later in today's session, the pontiff's selection of Dolan as Poster Prelate for his signature push serves as a staggering sign of Roman acclaim for his performance in a town that, to employ a B16 term, is often viewed in Vatican circles as the global seat of the "dictatorship of relativism."...

Cardinal Dolan will be entrusted with Rome's national parish for the city's Mexican expats: Our Lady of Guadalupe in Monte Mario, a largely immigrant neighborhood.

In a way, though, perhaps today's speaking gig contributed a touch to the choice: per the Popes of recent years, Guadalupe has been given the title "Star of the New Evangelization." And after this week, it seems plausible to say that, here below, New York's cardinal has been tapped to share it...

Go to Rocco's post to see the news coverage with similar speculation. I share here my favorite of the news pieces--the Cardinal's biological mother and his mother in the faith: