(Crux. John L. Allen Jr.).
Will Cardinal Matteo Zuppi of Bologna, president of the powerful Italian bishops’ conference, be the next erstwhile darling of the Pope Francis era to fall from favor? The question may seem impertinent, but it’s being asked anyway amid a rare perceived contrast between Zuppi and the pontiff vis-à-vis Italian politics. Such a development could carry consequences not merely for Zuppi’s ecclesiastical standing in the here and now, but also for his prospects as a papal contender in a future conclave.
Should some distance begin to emerge between Francis and Zuppi, it would make the 68-year-old prelate the latest in a fairly long list of former papal confidantes who, for one reason or another, appear to have been exiled from the inner circle. They include the late Cardinal George Pell, the onetime tip of the spear for Francis’s financial reform, whose wings were clipped even before he faced sexual abuse charges in his native Australia; Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana, once the pope’s key adviser on social justice issues, who was forced out as prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development in 2021; Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines, who was deposed as president of Caritas in 2023 and now plays a diminished role at the Dicastery for Evangelization; and Italian Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, the former vicar general for the Diocese of Rome, who’s now marking time as head of the Apostolic Penitentiary.