Pope moves leading Italian papabile to Milan

BY LUKE COPPEN
THE POPE has appointed a renowned moral theologian to lead the largest diocese in Europe.
In one of the most significant appointments in recent years, John Paul II named Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi of Genoa the 143r1 Archbishop of Milan.
Commentators said the decision underlined the Cardinal's position as the leading Italian candidate in the next papal election. Seizing on the fact that five Milan archbishops have gone on to be pope, one Italian magazine proclaimed "Habemus papabilem" —"We have a papabile" — playing on the traditional post-conclave announcement "Habemus papam".
The Cardinal, who is an expert on bioethics and family life, has advised John Paul II on several major encyclicals, including Evangelium Vitae ("The Gospel of Life"). He has been an influential and outspoken Church voice in Italy and has developed a reputation as an able mediator, gifted writer and strong leader.
Cardinal Tettamanzi, who has served as archbishop of Genoa since 1995, replaces Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, a Jesuit biblical scholar who reached the retirement age of 75 in February. Cardinal Martini, Milan archbishop for 22 years, plans to spend his retirement continuing Scripture studies in the Holy Land.
Born March 14, 1934, in Renato, Italy, Cardinal Tettamanzi began his studies for the priesthood in Milan. He was ordained a priest in 1957 by the future Paul VI and, two years later, earned a degree in theology from Gregorian University in Rome with a thesis on the apostolate of the laity.
Returning to Milan, he spent more than 20 years teaching moral theology and sacramental theology in the archdiocesan seminary. In 1987, he was named rector of the Milan archdiocese's seminary in Rome.
In 1989, Cardinal Martini consecrated him Archbishop of Ancona, but Tettamanzi stepped down two years later when he became general secretary of the Italian bishops' conference. For the next six years, he helped guide the Church through a tumultuous period when the political party closest to traditional Catholic teaching fell from power and dissolved amid a massive corruption scandal.
In 2000, two years after he was given the red hat, Cardinal Tettamanzi published a 650page bioethics textbook called New Christian Bioethics, which examined the Church's teaching on such topics as cloning, AIDS and abortion. He teamed up with Microsoft to publish the book online, a venture touted at the time as the Church's "first global multimedia project".
Last year, ahead of the Genoa G8 summit, he backed Catholic anti-globalisation protesters who called for greater attention to the poor. But he was later forced to condemn clashes with police that left one protester dead.
In a letter to Cardinal Martini, Cardinal Tettamanzi promised to devote his energies to the pastoral renewal of the archdiocese. Invoking Milan's copatron, St Ambrose, he said: "I renew my profession of faith and my total dedication to the task entrusted to me, asking that I will remain always faithful in the full knowledge that, as St Ambrose said, 'Christ is everything to us'."
Amid fevered speculation that Cardinal Tettamanzi may one day become pope, one observer struck a measured note — the Cardinal's devoted mother, Giuditta. Mrs Tettamanzi, 91, said her son would take the appointment in his stride.
"What the Lord wills has happened, and this is what matters, because Fr Dionigi was, and is, his," she said. "From an early age he already expressed the desire to be a priest. I can only repeat to God: 'He is yours, do with him what you will.'
"I remember what I told him when he became a priest. I repeated to him: `Only with humility will you be able to take souls to God'."