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Cardinal Law in Rome

Aired December 09, 2002 - 14:12   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A mystery in Boston, why has Cardinal Bernard Law been called to Rome? This unannounced Vatican visit comes amid growing calls for his resignation as the Boston Archdiocese contemplates bankruptcy.
We're waiting for a statement from the Boston Archdiocese, but let's go to Rome and talk with CNN's Vatican analyst, John Allen.

John -- I understand you ran into the cardinal at a dinner, is that right? Did you get a chance to talk to him?

JOHN ALLEN, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: Yes, it was one of those freakish set of circumstances that only occurs a couple of times in a lifetime. I was taking some friends -- some out-of-town friends out for dinner last night, and we ended up sitting at the very next table from Cardinal Law and Bishop James Harvey, who is an American who is the pope's secretary -- very, very surreal set of circumstances -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, so indeed you confirmed he was there. So, what do you think he is saying to the Holy Sea...

ALLEN: That's right.

PHILLIPS: ... and what's happening?

ALLEN: Well, as you say, officially speaking, the Vatican has told us only that he's here, and that he's discussing diverse aspects of the situation in Boston. We are, of course, awaiting some more specific information from the archdiocese as to what the topic of these meetings might be, but I don't think it involves a great leap of imagination to infer that at least one of these central agenda items is the possibility of bankruptcy in the Boston Archdiocese.

This would be an unprecedented move. No American Catholic diocese has ever declared bankruptcy. And it's generating considerable concern here in the Vatican, in part because they're worried about what this would do to contributions. I mean, you know, bankruptcy does not exactly inspire investor confidence.

And they're also worried about the issue of passing control of the church's assets over to an independent judge that is sort of outside the ecclesiastical universe.

So, I think Law has a good deal of explaining to do this week about what exactly is going on.

PHILLIPS: What about the faithful? How do you see it affecting the congregations? And do you see a domino effect?

ALLEN: Well, I think that has always been the fear about the idea of Law resigning, that the bleeding would not stop with him. There are, of course, bishops out there in the United States who are Law's aides who are involved in some of these personnel reassignments with him, and by strict logic, if he's to resign because they were wrong, then probably some of those other bishops would face pressure to do so.

There are other cardinals in the United States that face similar sorts of accusations. To name two, you have Cardinal Egan in New York and Cardinal Mahoney in Los Angeles. And there are other cardinals outside the United States -- Cardinal Murphy O'Connor in England, Cardinal Connell (ph) in Ireland. All of them are under tremendous pressure.

And if the precedent were set by Cardinal Law's resignation, I think the fear is that in this moment of crisis for the church, you could wipe out a big chunk of its senior leadership. And from the point of view of institutional management, from the Vatican's point of view, that looks extraordinarily dangerous.

PHILLIPS: So, let's say Cardinal Law does resign, what happens to him next?

ALLEN: Well, that's an excellent question. You know, there is -- in a way there is nothing so lonely in the Catholic Church as a cardinal who's lost his job. There aren't too many precedents over what a resigned cardinal would go do. You know, it is possible that he might choose to go very quietly and sort of retire from public life. It is possible that some sort of position serving the Vatican and serving the universal church in Rome might be found for him, although I think that's kind of a long shot.

You know, the truth is that this is an extraordinarily unprecedented situation. There just isn't a script for what happens in times like this.

PHILLIPS: All right, John Allen our Vatican analyst, thank you so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired December 9, 2002 - 14:12   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: A mystery in Boston, why has Cardinal Bernard Law been called to Rome? This unannounced Vatican visit comes amid growing calls for his resignation as the Boston Archdiocese contemplates bankruptcy.
We're waiting for a statement from the Boston Archdiocese, but let's go to Rome and talk with CNN's Vatican analyst, John Allen.

John -- I understand you ran into the cardinal at a dinner, is that right? Did you get a chance to talk to him?

JOHN ALLEN, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: Yes, it was one of those freakish set of circumstances that only occurs a couple of times in a lifetime. I was taking some friends -- some out-of-town friends out for dinner last night, and we ended up sitting at the very next table from Cardinal Law and Bishop James Harvey, who is an American who is the pope's secretary -- very, very surreal set of circumstances -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, so indeed you confirmed he was there. So, what do you think he is saying to the Holy Sea...

ALLEN: That's right.

PHILLIPS: ... and what's happening?

ALLEN: Well, as you say, officially speaking, the Vatican has told us only that he's here, and that he's discussing diverse aspects of the situation in Boston. We are, of course, awaiting some more specific information from the archdiocese as to what the topic of these meetings might be, but I don't think it involves a great leap of imagination to infer that at least one of these central agenda items is the possibility of bankruptcy in the Boston Archdiocese.

This would be an unprecedented move. No American Catholic diocese has ever declared bankruptcy. And it's generating considerable concern here in the Vatican, in part because they're worried about what this would do to contributions. I mean, you know, bankruptcy does not exactly inspire investor confidence.

And they're also worried about the issue of passing control of the church's assets over to an independent judge that is sort of outside the ecclesiastical universe.

So, I think Law has a good deal of explaining to do this week about what exactly is going on.

PHILLIPS: What about the faithful? How do you see it affecting the congregations? And do you see a domino effect?

ALLEN: Well, I think that has always been the fear about the idea of Law resigning, that the bleeding would not stop with him. There are, of course, bishops out there in the United States who are Law's aides who are involved in some of these personnel reassignments with him, and by strict logic, if he's to resign because they were wrong, then probably some of those other bishops would face pressure to do so.

There are other cardinals in the United States that face similar sorts of accusations. To name two, you have Cardinal Egan in New York and Cardinal Mahoney in Los Angeles. And there are other cardinals outside the United States -- Cardinal Murphy O'Connor in England, Cardinal Connell (ph) in Ireland. All of them are under tremendous pressure.

And if the precedent were set by Cardinal Law's resignation, I think the fear is that in this moment of crisis for the church, you could wipe out a big chunk of its senior leadership. And from the point of view of institutional management, from the Vatican's point of view, that looks extraordinarily dangerous.

PHILLIPS: So, let's say Cardinal Law does resign, what happens to him next?

ALLEN: Well, that's an excellent question. You know, there is -- in a way there is nothing so lonely in the Catholic Church as a cardinal who's lost his job. There aren't too many precedents over what a resigned cardinal would go do. You know, it is possible that he might choose to go very quietly and sort of retire from public life. It is possible that some sort of position serving the Vatican and serving the universal church in Rome might be found for him, although I think that's kind of a long shot.

You know, the truth is that this is an extraordinarily unprecedented situation. There just isn't a script for what happens in times like this.

PHILLIPS: All right, John Allen our Vatican analyst, thank you so much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.