WINNEBA, Ghana – The papal resignation/abdication of Pope Benedict (who wants “OUT” ASAP) has been scrutinized and analyzed by authors, bloggers and prophets.
I personally commented on one blog “I think it would be wonderful to have an African Pope who hopefully will not call himself “Peter” or any derivation thereof so that we can move past the second “Doomsday” scenario now that the Mayans have been discredited.”
That was before I became aware that, as John Hogue discussed: “…The next pope will never be named Peter II, because an unwritten rule says the first Pope only, St. Peter himself, will be called Peter. Just like, I suppose, no one, even from the Latin American candidates would dare call themselves Pope Jesús.
So, when St. Malachy gives us the name Petrus Romanus (Peter of Rome) one might look for papabille with the Christian birth name “Peter”, or some symbol of St. Peter on their heraldry, or they might belong to an order of priests serving St. Peter, or they may come from a town called San Pietro or St Petersburg, etc.”
Hogue names a few possibilities: Peter Erdo, 61, Hungarian; Odilo Pedro Scherer, 63, Brazilian; Peter Turkson, 64, Ghanan. Africa’s great black pope hope for pontiff. These men all have obvious nom refs to Peter.
Before you click away, dismissing Hogue and his writings, know that the resignation of Benedict has now been linked into “Vatican gay officials” according to the British newspaper, The Guardian. Here is the link.
Habemus papam? Hogue’s most startling statement: “The person most likely to be pope is not on the papabille list. It is the Camerlengo himself, the Secretary of State. Cardinal Ratzinger (Benedict’s) former secretary when he was heading John Paul II’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (aka The Inquisition).
It is Cardinal Tarcisio Pietro Evasio Bertone, the former Vatican diplomat, Archbishop of Vercelli, Archbishop of Genoa and Cardinal-Bishop of Frascati. He is Italian and is fluent in French, Spanish, German and Portuguese. He can read Latin, Greek and Hebrew. This Sagittarian born Cardinal is 78, but unlike Benedict, he appears vital and much younger than his years.
Not only does his full Christian name contain “Peter” (Pietro) but also his birthplace plays with St. Malachy’s name for the last pope. Petrus Romanus, need not only mean Peter “of Rome”. Romanus could also indicate Bertone’s birthplace, Romano Canavese in Piedmont. Thus he is Pope Peter of Romano Canavese and Rome!” Kinda makes one go hmmmmmmmm…, does it not?
In “Why the next Pope should come from the Global South” The Washington Post draws an interesting analogy: “Think of what would happen if, when the words “Habemus Papam” are announced, an African face appears at the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica. Simply consider how a 14-year-old African-American in Detroit felt about America when Barack Obama was sworn in as president, and multiply that by the feelings of several hundred million toward their church.”
the pope can read greek, hebrew, and latin… all pretty much dead in the water languages. we need a pope who can speak the universal language of jaloff
So does this mean Peter Turkson won’t be called Peter if he is the new pope? What would he be called then?
Pope Django
I hope that Peter turkson is the new pope. It has been so many hundred years since there’s been an African pope. So many Africans follow Catholicism for there not to be a black leader. It would be hypocritical to choose a pope now based on anything other than who is next in line – but we shall see what is to come. If Africans would be better off following their own religion if they are not being welcome in this one.