As the cardinals of the Catholic Church prepare to enter the Sistine Chapel Wednesday to choose the next pope, a surprising dynamic has emerged. One cardinal has made comments about his African confrères that are difficult to interpret in a light other than that of racism.
In an interview with the New York Times, Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerny made the baffling statements. He said, “I can think of some African cardinals — they make me shudder.”
In the most charitable reading, the New York Times could have divorced this sentence from the fuller context of Czerny’s statements. But, as it is, this quote reads as though Cardinal Czerny is saying he feels reproach for cardinals from one particular continent. It’s a sad thing to hear as cardinals from all over the world seek to unite around one man to lead the Church. (RELATED: Papabile Stresses Need for a Holy Pope)
The New York Times reports that it then asked Czerny “whether conservatives were rallying behind an African pope as a Trojan Horse to further their agenda.” Czerny’s response seemed to give full agreement to the notion that African cardinals are acting as mere pawns for conservative Western cardinals to control. He said, “Certainly, certainly, certainly, and that’s why it’s so, so, so stupid to say things like Africa’s time has come.”
The cardinal has not publicly apologized. However, after the New York Times article went to press, an interview with Czerny was published in America magazine that gave a much less disconcerting reason for Czerny’s belief that it’s “stupid” to say it’s time for an African pope. In this America interview, Czerny said: “I become agitated when they say it’s time for an American, it’s time for an African, it’s time for a South Islander. I think that is so stupid. It’s time for the successor of Peter for 2025.” In this explanation, Czerny reasons that the focus should be on the qualities of the man chosen, rather than, as he does in the New York Times interview, portraying calls for an African pope as a ruse for rolling back Pope Francis’s reforms. The author of the America article reported that this interview was conducted on April 30, which would have been prior to the New York Times interview.
Cardinal Czerny has been quite outspoken with the media in the lead-up to the conclave, having spoken to the New York Times, CNN, and CBS News. In several of his interviews, he has portrayed calls for unity in the Church as a smokescreen for turning away from Pope Francis’s reforms. In an interview with the New York Times last week, for instance, Czerny said unity “sounds really good,” but “it means reversal.” (RELATED: Some Progressive Cardinals Express Displeasure With Pre-Conclave Meetings)
Cardinal Czerny’s statement that some African cardinals “make [him] shudder” comes as prelates from that continent are set to play a greater role in the conclave than in years past. On Wednesday, 17 cardinal electors from Africa will enter the conclave — up from the 11 African cardinals who voted in 2013. Still, Africa will remain proportionally underrepresented in the conclave, as Sub-Saharan Africans constitute 19 percent of the global church, yet only 12 percent of cardinal electors, according to the Pew Research Center.
Apart from being offensive, Czerny’s portrayal of African papabili as a Trojan horse for conservatives is simply not accurate. Cardinals from Africa discussed as potential candidates for the papacy represent the full breadth of the Church. Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana gives priority to social justice issues; Cardinal Cristóbal López Romero of Algeria gives priority to interfaith dialogue and the plight of migrants; and Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu of the Democratic Republic of the Congo emphasizes pastoral care, yet also led the opposition to blessings of same-sex couples. Cardinal Robert Sarah, a theological conservative from Guinea who was considered a papabile in 2013, is not conventionally considered to have a legitimate possibility of being elected pope in this conclave. Additionally, Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline of Marseille, France, who is believed to be one of Pope Francis’s preferred successors, was born in Algeria. Also, French Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, who is considered to be a moderate, was born in Morocco.
Perhaps Czerny was shuddering at Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, who is probably the most conservative of the African papabili. Ambongo Besungu is far from one-dimensional; he was on Pope Francis’s Council of Cardinals and benefited from the pope’s favor. He has long stressed peace, environmentalism, and opposition to Western exploitation of Africa. At the same time, he led the effort among the African bishops to put out a statement titled “No blessing for homosexual couples in the African churches” — with the permission of Pope Francis. Ambongo Besungu also has a history of denouncing Western cultural decadence and moral decay. In recent days, it has been speculated that conservative cardinals from the Global South are rallying around Ambongo Besungu, even as Western conservative cardinals “remain unconvinced.” In other words, Ambongo Besungu, whose diocese includes a huge six million Catholics, is not some limp figure propped up by Western conservatives.
Or perhaps Czerny was shuddering at other African cardinals who are taking part in the conclave or simply the general congregations. This could include the 79-year-old Cardinal Sarah, who served as the prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments under Pope Francis. In 2016, Sarah published a book titled The Power of Silence; in it, the cardinal calls silence “the indispensable doorway to the divine.”
Regardless of who exactly Czerny had in mind when he said African cardinals were making him shudder, one would think that the 17 cardinal electors from Africa, particularly those from Sub-Saharan Africa, would be reticent to join an alliance led by Cardinal Czerny, given his comments. In fact, it’s possible that Cardinal Czerny’s comments could embolden those from the Global South who favor the election of Cardinal Ambongo Besungu.
On Tuesday morning, the prominent Jesuit priest Father James Martin recorded a video message in front of St. Peter’s Basilica to address “the poisonous attacks that have happened in the last couple of days.” He listed as examples of this Cardinal Beniamino Stella’s criticisms of Pope Francis in one of the general congregations, Cardinal Gerhard Müller’s calling Pope Francis a “dictator,” news stories that claimed Cardinal Pietro Parolin had fainted in a general congregation, and comments made about Cardinal Luis Tagle’s singing of John Lennon’s Imagine.
Father Martin did not mention Cardinal Czerzy’s assertion that some African cardinals make him “shudder,” but Father Martin’s statement that “Even through these sinful people, the Holy Spirit is at work, right? So, we have to continue to pray, even in the midst of these stories, for the cardinal electors” could apply all the same.
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