Cardinal Sean O’Malley, regarded as a long shot to succeed Pope Benedict XVI, is credited with helping rebuild the Archdiocese of Boston after the devastating 2002 child sex abuse scandal.
The 68-year-old Capuchin friar, who is rarely seen out of his distinctive brown robe, is regarded as a calm leader who steered the diocese through the aftermath of a scandal which led to a global crisis for the Catholic Church.
O’Malley took over the diocese in 2003, and became one of the first to introduce a “zero tolerance” policy towards pedophile priests.
He is also regarded as representing a more modern face of the church. He maintains his own blog (www.cardinalseansblog.org), is fluent in Spanish and seems uninterested in the trappings of high religious office.
O’Malley has played down his chances of succeeding Benedict at the conclave, emphasizing that he purchased a return ticket for his trip to Rome and describing talk of him being a contender for the top job as “surreal.”
He also said he has no desire to swap his signature brown cloth robe.
“I’ve worn this uniform for 40 years and I intend to wear it until I die. I don’t see myself changing,” said O’Malley, who was elevated to the rank of Cardinal by Benedict in 2006.
While his fluency in Spanish allows him to converse comfortably with the church’s Latin American constituency, his Italian is “basic,” according to the National Catholic Reporter.
In addition to his blog, O’Malley has made efforts to broaden his reach through social networks, where he has 13,000 followers on Twitter.
The enduring fall-out from the sex abuse scandals of the past decade represents the church’s biggest challenge, said O’Malley, who was recently sent to examine the Archdiocese of Dublin following similar allegations there.
“There needs to be a path” for disciplining bishops, O’Malley said. “Right now, it’s not terribly clear, but it’s something the next pope will have to deal with.”
“My point is always that if you don’t have policies, you’ll be improvising, and when you improvise, you make a lot of mistakes,” he told the Boston Globe.
Nevertheless, O’Malley has not been able to completely escape criticism for his actions in the years leading up to the 2002 pedophilia scandal.
The US-based victims group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, on Thursday included O’Malley on a “dirty dozen” list of papal contenders it accused of failing to do enough to tackle pedophile priests.
O’Malley was born on June 29, 1944 in Lakewood, Ohio, and was educated in a Franciscan seminary before entering the Capuchin Franciscan order at the age of 21, where he changed his name from Patrick to Sean (Gaelic for John), in reference to Saint John. He was ordained five years later.
He has a doctorate in Spanish and Portuguese literature and founded the Spanish Catholic Center in Washington, DC, an organization which helps immigrants to the United States.
Appointed bishop in 1984, he led dioceses in the Virgin Islands, Fall River in Massachusetts and Palm Beach, Florida before his nomination as Archbishop of Boston by Pope Jean Paul II.
Cardinal Sean O'Malley – friar, blogger, pope?
