The Donald's Big Move?

On 8 February -- while JP lingered at the Gemelli and in the midst of a piece which announced that Stanislaw Dziwisz "will" be the next archbishop of Krakow four months before it actually happened -- I wrote the following about the sitting bishop of Pittsburgh:

[Cardinal John] Wright was brought to Rome as prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy and took the young [Donald] Wuerl as his secretary. ("Wuerl ran that office before," the current buzz goes, "and he might well run it again.")

Again, that was in February.

Ann Rodgers of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, known for her illustrious network of sources, runs with the building buzz in this morning's paper

In little more than a month, [Wuerl] spoke on diocesan administration at the Vatican's school for new bishops -- an honor reserved for those considered the best of the best; he ordained 21 U.S. seminarians in Rome to the diaconate, a rite typically conducted by a top Vatican official; and he was the only U.S. representative elected by 250 other prelates at the Synod on the Eucharist to the council that will help the pope draft a final statement.

Bishop Wuerl, 64, brushed aside the honors and the rumors with a joke.

"All that shows is that they are scraping the bottom of the barrel...." he said....

A certain Great Mentioner also appears

The post reportedly under discussion is the Congregation for Clergy. He worked there in the 1970s as an assistant to Cardinal John Wright -- some say he ran the office during the cardinal's final illness. He is an expert on the office's work in teaching the faith and training priests.

"People in Rome have told me, 'He's run that office before,' " said Rocco Palmo, U.S. correspondent for the British Catholic weekly The Tablet.

While John Paul often appointed bureaucrats with no expertise in the work of the office, "this pope wants people in the major offices who know the subject matter and are respected in that field. ... Bishop Wuerl is respected beyond this country," Mr. Palmo said.

A year ago this month, four votes kept Donald Wuerl from the vice-presidency of the USCCB. If the result was flipped, we wouldn't be having this buzz right now.

"Whatever it takes."

(And, for the record, I'm a US correspondent for The Tablet, not the. A high tip to my CiW colleagues on this side of the pond. The readership can expect my next major contribution in the 12 November edition....)

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