(4 of 5)
Within the college, liberal cardinals look for leadership to Bologna's Giacomo Ler-caro and Milan's Giovanni Montini. Both men have fought to clean out Communism from Italian labor unions. Best known of possible compromise choices is Agagianian, who according to Roman gossip came within a handful of votes of winning election in 1958. Then, as now, some cardinals would not vote for him out of dislike for having "a Pope with a beard." Another Roman papabile is not yet a cardinal: Archbishop Pericle Felici, 50, secretary-general of the Central Preparatory Commission for the Ecumenical Council. A veteran of 15 years in the Curia ranks, Felici will undoubtedly win a red hat. at the next consistory if the Vatican Council is a success.
Outside Italy, few cardinals have much influence on the slow-turning wheels of Rome. New York's Francis Cardinal Spellman was a trusted confidant of Pius XII, is not so close to Pope John. But, as boss of the nation's richest diocese, he carries more weight than the four other U.S. archiepiscopal cardinals, Richard Gushing of Boston, Albert Meyer of Chicago, James Mclntyre of Los Angeles, and Joseph Ritter of St. Louis. Also respected is Polish Primate Stefan Wyszynski, whose skillful battle to keep the church alive in a Communist land is admired by the Pope.
John XXIII has done much to internationalize the College of Cardinals, by giving Japan, Uruguay, Mexico, Venezuela and the Philippines their first red hats. But he has also placated conservatives by rewarding a flock of little-known Vatican veterans for their loyal service, done nothing to internationalize control of the Curia.
The Curia's Critics. Although non-Italian cardinals are all formally assigned to congregations, few enjoy sitting in on the daily work when they are in Rome. Resident professionals often resent the presence of outsiders, conduct all business in Italian, a language that their visitor may not understand. Since nearly all dioceses in the world are short of priests, bishops are reluctant to let their best men work in the Vatican. Moreover, few non-Italian priests want to give up the hope of becoming a bishop for the life of a church bureaucrat. "I'd rather be a bishop in the poorest diocese in the world," admits one priest now in the Vatican, "than a cardinal in the Roman Curia."