ARCHBISHOP William Keeler's recent elevation to cardinal has been characterized in the media as evidence of Pope John Paul II's attempt to keep the Roman Catholic Church moving in a conservative direction -- even after his death.
While many of the 30 new cardinals may be considered conservative, I don't interpret their appointments as simply a move to create a solidly conservative College of Cardinals.
Just as President Clinton wanted his cabinet to look like America, I believe Pope John Paul II wants the cardinals to reflect what the church looks like today. So he selected cardinals from tiny countries such as Cuba, Albania and Vietnam, where the church is in peril, to let those even in communist countries know that they are remembered. He considers their people and priests as the heirs of the early Christians exposed to harassment, prison and martyrdom.
He also selected prelates from such places as Uganda and Lebanon, not traditional places for appointments of cardinals. He also elevated the archbishop of Sarajevo, Monsignor Vinko Puljic, a way to show his support for Roman Catholics there.
The Holy Father also recognized as cardinals four octogenarian retirees from rather obscure situations.
In selecting Archbishop Keeler, John Paul was recognizing the archbishop's leadership as demonstrated He elevated the archbishop of Sarajevo to show his support for Roman Catholics there.
in his ecumenical outlook as well as in his guidance of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops. Archbishop Keeler's elevation marked only the third time in more than two centuries that a cardinal has been chosen from Baltimore's archdiocese.
Similarly, he selected Archbishop Adam Joseph Maida of Detroit to be a cardinal in recognition of his ability to stabilize that strife-torn archdioceses. The closing of about 15 churches was opposed by many parishioners there. The fact that Archbishop Maida is of Polish descent also may be a factor.
Notably, only four Italian prelates were selected, underscoring John Paul II's belief that the shift in the geographical center of the church must be reflected in both the curial bureaucracy and the College of Cardinals.
Ordinarily, powerful archbishop-secretaries of the various papal congregations or bureaus would expect a cardinal's biretta as the crown of their ecclesial career. Now most of them will die uncrowned.
As John Paul II finds new strength in supplying the church with a competent leadership he can look forward with confidence. Rumors as to his proximate demise have proven exaggerated.
Father Murphy is a Redemptorist emeritus professor of the Academia Alfonsiana in Rome. Currently living in Annapolis, he covered Vatican Council II for the New Yorker under the pseudonym Xavier Rynne.