JOIN USCardinal Marc Ouellet once said that being pope “would be a nightmare.” He would know, having enjoyed the confidence of two popes as a top-ranked Vatican insider.
His high-profile position as head of the Vatican’s office for bishops, his conservative leanings, his years in Latin America and his work in Rome as president of a key commission for Latin America all make him a favorite to become the first pontiff from the Americas.
But the qualities that make him popular in Latin America — home to the world’s biggest Catholic population — and among the cardinals who elect the pope have contributed to his poor image in his native Quebec, where ironically he was perceived during his tenure as archbishop as an outsider parachuted in from Rome to reorder his liberal province along conservative lines.
By many accounts, Ouellet is not beloved in Quebec, where friends say he struggled following his appointment as archbishop in 2002. His comments condemning abortion even in the case of rape were attacked by politicians and commentators - sometimes viciously.
Some worry that the election of another conservative, intellectual pope known for his impenetrable speeches would further damage a church that is fighting losses in membership in Europe and North America due to growing secularism and sex abuse scandals. But the number of believers is growing in Africa and Latin America.
Bookies give weight to Ouellet’s accomplished resume when listing him among the top three likely future leaders of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics. The 68-year-old Ouellet “knows a lot of people and a lot of people know him.
And when I mean people, I mean those who count, the cardinals,” said Anne Leahy, a former Canadian ambassador to the Holy See. He is particularly well-regarded among cardinals from Latin America, a part of the world that is home to 40 per cent of the world’s Catholics.