The Next Secretariat?

John Allen talks with a Loggia favourite, and spreads something I've been hearing the past few weeks:

More from my conversation with Archbishop Diarmuid Martin, a veteran of curial service. Martin worked in the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace and as the pope's representative to the United Nations in Geneva. A charming, witty, and media-savvy figure, some have touted Martin as a possible candidate to be the next Secretariat [sic] of State, essentially the "prime minister" in the Vatican system.

I have one word to describe what it would be like if Diarmuid Martin became the Secretary of State: HEAVEN.

Heaven. Heaven. Heaven. Heaven. Heaven on Earth, in Rome, in San Damaso.

And to think: as CWNews has publicly vilified Martin, and we know how they feel about Levada (i.e. "heresiarch"), they'd be 0-for-2 from the Pope they allegedly love and trust implicitly.

Oh, the irony!

But let's look at what Martin -- who Lawler's crowd has already tarred as a "pagan," a "gassbag," and "a bad choice" -- has to say:

Martin sees a certain shift in the role of the pope under Benedict.

"His communication will be primarily theological and spiritual," Martin said. "That will be his legacy. John Paul II brought enormous prestige to the papacy, but Benedict XVI will refocus to some extent where its essential characteristics are."

Martin also sees Benedict having a somewhat more withdrawn, thoughtful style.

"John Paul II came into a curia that didn't want him, though in the end it served him faithfully," Martin said. "Benedict XVI doesn't need the curia for what he wants to say. He has his own theological vision."

"What he needs," Martin said, "is quiet and calm so that he can work out his ideas."

Remember, now, that the Secretariat of State runs in my blood; your humble writer counts a Cardinal-Nepos among my antecedents. And remember this: "As a former vice-rector of the Teutonic College in Rome, [Martin] is closer to Ratzi than some of his enemies might want to believe."

With Diarmuid at the helm, the old shop's glory would, indeed, be back.

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