The former head of migrants during the pontificate of Pope Francis has caused controversy by stating in an article published on Sunday that some African cardinals “shake” and believe that the “conservatives” ask for an African Pope to promote his own agenda.
He Cardenal Michael CzernyJesuit who was a prefect of the Dicasterio for the Service of Integral Human Development in the last years of Francisco’s pontificate, made these mocking comments to the New York Times in the context of the strong African opposition to the LGBTQ agenda.
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“I can think of some African cardinals,” they shake, “said Cardinal Czerny in the article published on May 4. When the newspaper asked him if the conservative Catholics supported an African Pope as a “Trojan horse” to boost his agenda, Czerny replied: “Certainly, certainly, certainly, and that is why it is so, so, as stupid to say things as the time of Africa has come.”
It is not clear to which African cardinals Czerny was referring to. Several are considered papable, such as Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo of Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo); Cardinal Ghanés Peter Turksonformer chancellor of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences; and Cardinal Guinean Robert SarahEmeritus Prefect of Dicastery for the Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
It is also not clear if Cardinal’s comments were taken from context. In one different interview With the magazine Americaregistered on April 30, Czerny made similar comments, although more moderate.
In that interview he said that he is “stirred” when people say it is time for an American, African Pope or the “South Islands.” “I think that is so stupid,” he said. “It is Pedro’s successor time for 2025.” The priority, he added, “is evangelization; bringing the gospel to society in time and wrong; bringing the gospel to all creation.”
The cardinal, born in Czechoslovakia and nationalized Canadian, is currently not available for interviews, since it will participate in the conclave.
His statements occurred before the comments of the American bishop Robert Barron, founder of the Catholic Ministry Word On Fire, who, in contrast, considers that geography is important in relation to the Papacy, especially in the case of Africa.
Mons. Barron I explain EWTN’s Colm Flynn On May 5 that the Church is flourishing in Africa, especially in Nigeria, where around 94% of Catholics attend Mass, vocations increase and the Church faces persecution.
“Why are we so worried about the Church in Germany, where the Church is somehow wither?” Asked Mons. Barron. “Why don’t we study the Nigerian Church and see what they are doing, and we imitate it?”
“So yes, I think it could be the moment of Africa,” the bishop continued. “And I think in the Synods during Francisco, the Africans found their voice in a new way.”
The empowerment of African cardinals
Cardinal Czerny’s comments probably empowered African cardinals, who have never accepted hostility towards their traditional positions on moral issues, especially in relation to homosexuality.
This was evidenced during the controversy by Confidence in supplicatingthe 2023 statement that allows non -liturgical blessings to same -sex couples, when African bishops They rejected the Vatican document.
It was also evident in 2014, when, in the context that homosexuality is a taboo in Africa, German cardinal Walter Kasper caused outrage and accusations of racism By saying (and then denying) that Africans should not tell the Church in the West “too much to do” regarding homosexuality and other issues accepted in the western secular culture.
Dominican priest Anthony Alaba Akinwale, deputy vice-rector of the Augustine University in Ilara-Epe (Nigeria), acknowledged that “some people will not feel comfortable with an African Pope”, despite the fact that the Church is flourishing there and is “reason for joy.”
Pointing out that “some people hold the heretical vision that nothing good can leave Africa,” he told the National Catholic Register that he is not worried about having an “African Pope”, but that, given the current ecclesial and global concerns, he wait and pray so that the Cardinal College chooses “a successor of Pedro Sabio, holy and the most appropriate.”
“That successor can come from any continent,” said Fr. Akinwale. “As Pedro in the first reading last Sunday, he must have the courage to stand before today’s Sanhedrin and proclaim with courage the truth of the Gospel, even when he is not popular or ideologically convenient to do so.”
Jonathan Liedl, senior editor of the National Catholic Register, contributed to this article.
Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in the National Catholic Register.
Edward Pentin
Edward Pentin is a collaborator of the National Catholic Register and Vaticanist of Ewtn News. He began informing about the Pope and the Vatican on Radio Vaticana before becoming a correspondent in Rome for Ewtn. He has also informed about the Holy See and the Catholic Church for several other publications, including Newsweek, Newsmax, Zenit, The Catholic Herald and The Holy Land Review, a Franciscan publication specialized in the Church and the Middle East.