PETER ERDO

Peter Erdo

Il cardinale primate di Ungheria Peter Erdo potrebbe essere il prossimo papa. Almeno così afferma il Washington Post. Teologo, parla sette lingue. Allievo del cardinale Midszenty, perseguitato dal regime comunista ungherese, 

"his faith was forged under communism, as a Catholic enduring persecution in officially atheist Hungary. Now Cardinal Peter Erdo is a contender to become the leader of global Catholicism, with memories of the Pope John Paul II, a fellow Eastern European, still fresh.

The fast-rising Erdo was the youngest cardinal to participate in the 2005 

conclave that selected Pope Benedict XVI. Now, at 60, the canon lawyer 

is seen by many Vatican insiders as the top non-Italian, European papal 

candidate.

The African connection could be an important factor in a year in which 

the odds are better than ever that a non-European pope could be elected. 

If the College of Cardinals decides to pick a European, Erdo could be 

considered a compromise choice, having started a biannual conference of 

cardinals that alternates locations between Europe and Africa, where 

Catholicism is growing fastest.

For a church that has at times struggled with its outreach efforts, Erdo 

has also pushed efforts online. His Sunday sermons are loaded onto a 

church Web site shortly after he delivers them. Although he doesn’t use 

Twitter, he has spoken of the importance of direct communication to 

Catholics via social media — especially, he told bishops last year, since he 

believes traditional news outlets distort religion.

Erdo is seen as a solid conservative on religious matters, which could be 

attractive to a conclave comprised exclusively of cardinals appointed by 

Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI, both doctrinal conservatives.

He said last month that the most important qualities for a pope are not 

geographic origin but “what the candidate represents in the life of the 

church,” Hungary’s MTI news agency reported.

Erdo was born in 1952 in Budapest, the first of six children. To punish 

his parents for practicing their faith, the communist government barred 

his father, a lawyer, from the courtroom.

Erdo studied theology in Hungary, then at the Pontifical Lateran 

University in Rome. He also spent a year at the University of California 


at Berkeley. He ran Hungary’s main Catholic university between 1998 

and 2003.

He has a reputation for being more contemplative than charismatic. But 

he also is known as an alliance-builder, having been twice elected 

president of the Council of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe, an 

influential oversight body on the continent.

“Erdo is seen as a capable administrator, someone tough enough to get 

things done,” John L. Allen Jr. wrote in the National Catholic Reporter. 

But he is also “a broker of compromise and consensus, with the capacity 

to hold a highly disparate body of European bishops together.”

Il mio personale pronostico è per l'arcivescovo di Manila, Luis Antonio 

Tagle.