Red Hat for the Right-Hand Man

When the man who was to become Pope Paul VI was serving as the No. 2 official at the Vatican Secretariate of State back in 1948, he chose shrewd, witty Giovanni Benelli as his right-hand man. Four years after assuming the papal throne in 1963, Paul installed Benelli in his own former job at State, and ever since then Benelli has been the tireless "executive director" of the Vatican.

Last week Paul announced that he would elevate Benelli to the College of Cardinals at a consistory on June 27 and appoint him the new Archbishop of Florence. The news stirred worldwide speculation that Paul, who turns 80 on Sept. 26 and is visibly tired and suffering from arthritis, is preparing for the end of his papacy.

The conventional speculation was that Paul was giving Benelli the cardinal's hat in order to make him a prospect for election as the next Pope. Although Benelli, 56, has a wide background as an administrator and diplomat (attache to France, Brazil, Spain; nuncio to Senegal), he lacks the pastoral experience that he will gain as archbishop in his native Tuscany, as did Paul before he took the See of Milan. In a region long under Communist influence, Benelli will have to deal at firsthand with problems ranging from unemployment to abortion reform.

Too New. The inside interpretation is quite different. Although it is true that Pope John XXIII himself made it clear that he favored Paul as his successor, papal attempts to influence future elections have usually been ignored by the cardinals. Aside from that, Benelli's style in taking the heavy administrative burden from Paul's shoulders has made him probably the most unpopular man inside the Vatican. He dislikes delegating authority, busies himself even with such trivia as the allocation of Vatican apartments, and has trampled on a good many official sensibilities. And he is too new a cardinal to be Pope any time soon.

Although they believe Benelli unlikely to become the next Pope, Vaticanologists do see a major role for him when Paul dies or retires. "Benelli would be the 'great elector' and not the candidate," predicts one archbishop. More generally, it is thought that Paul wants Benelli to possess a cardinal's clout, the better to press Pauline principles in the inner circle of the Italian hierarchy and the College of Cardinals.

Paul is not known to possess any sickness unto death, but rumors persist that he might resign, possibly on his 80th birthday. No Pope has resigned for centuries, however, and Paul has never indicated that he is considering it. Moreover, he would be highly unlikely to quit on his birthday since that would disrupt the Synod of Bishops that opens Sept. 30, which has been in preparation over the past three years. Paul's moves last week have brought the voting membership of the College of Cardinals up to 119 out of the full 120 permitted. He also named as cardinals:

>Frantisek Tomasek, 77, the church's chief administrator in Czechoslovakia since 1969. Tomasek was made a cardinal in secret a year ago, but relations with the Communist regime have remained so poor that the Vatican decided that revealing the appointment would do no harm and might give oppressed Czech believers a focus for unity.

>Dominican Father Luigi Ciappi, 67, who has been Paul's personal theologian since 1968.

> Joseph Ratzinger, 49, a well-known conservative theology professor in Germany who became Archbishop of Munich only two months ago.

> Bernardin Gantin, 55, of Benin, pro-president of the Vatican's Justice and Peace Commission, who becomes one of nine African cardinals.

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