Italy: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is manipulating the papal conclave with a campaign to have Pope John Paul made a saint, compelling his successor to follow in his footsteps, according to leading theologian Hans Küng.
Cardinal Ratzinger's drive would put pressure on cardinals to name a successor who would follow the Pontiff's conservative line, Dr Küng, one of the church's most prominent liberal dissenters, said yesterday.
The agreement by cardinals not to talk to the media ahead of their secret conclave also did not bode well for the chances of getting a reform-minded leader, he said.
"I haven't given up all hope that we will get the right man," Dr Küng said in an interview. "However, Cardinal Ratzinger is clearly manipulating the whole conclave."
Dr Küng (77), from Switzerland, served under Pope John XXIII as a theological adviser to the second Vatican Council, a key event in the church's process of modernisation in the 20th century.
However he was banned from teaching Catholic theology in 1979 after he rejected papal infallibility.
At the Pope's funeral on Friday, crowds chanted "subito santo" ("make him a saint immediately"), putting pressure on the next pope to bow to the popular will, he said.
Vatican rules say the long process leading to sainthood cannot start until five years after the death of the candidate, so emotions have time to calm down. The new pope however could waive the rule as John Paul did for Mother Teresa. - (Reuters)