Pope John Paul II named Archbishop Justin Rigali of St. Louis to succeed Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua as archbishop of Philadelphia on Tuesday. Bevilacqua, who celebrated his 80th birthday on June 17, resigned for reasons of age. He has served at the helm of the five-county archdiocese of Philadelphia, home to 1.5 million Catholics, since February 1988. His retirement and the subsequent appointment of a successor have long been expected.
Once he takes office on Oct. 7 in a ceremony in Philadelphia, one of the region's most prominent pulpits will belong to Rigali, 68, a native of Los Angeles. Before being sent to St. Louis in 1994, Rigali served for three decades in various capacities at the Vatican.
In Rome, he was known as one of the "widows of Benelli," a group of four close aides to an Italian cleric who served as papal chief of staff through the 1970s. In 1999, he hosted the pope in St. Louis as the pontiff made a daylong stop there after a visit to Mexico.
Associates say Rigali's affinity for Rome still runs deep, as does his desire to one day don the red hat worn by a cardinal.
Cardinals are the pope's principal advisors. Those under 80 have the power to elect a new pope. Of the 109 cardinals in the world who are of voting age, 10 are Americans.
Each Philadelphia prelate since Dennis Dougherty in 1921 has become a cardinal. It is likely that a consistory, or solemn assembly, could be scheduled as early as Oct. to add new cardinals, according to Vatican observers. Most expect Rigali to get the nod alongside Archbishop-elect Sean O'Malley of Boston, who was named to succeed the embattled Cardinal Bernard Law earlier this month.
If history is any indicator, Rigali will be a familiar face on campus, where the Catholic presence is based at St. Agatha-St. James Church and its neighboring Penn Newman Center.
"All through his years as archbishop, Cardinal Bevilacqua has been a frequent visitor to and a tremendously supportive presence for the University, " Director of Penn Newman Father Chuck Pfeffer said.
Among the many memorable moments the chaplain recalled was in March, when Bevilacqua returned one last time to preside over the Newman Center's popular 10 p.m. Sunday liturgy. Pfeffer praised the cardinal's "spectacular homily" before the overflow crowd which, despite its place at the end of a workday which began before sunrise, "was still so personal and so encouraging." Bevilacqua socialized and posed for photos with students until midnight.
Pfeffer sees the transition as "an exciting time for new growth," and commended the initiatives Rigali undertook in St. Louis to recognize the importance of young people in Catholic life. He said he is hopeful that the new archbishop will make his first on-campus appearance in November as the Penn Newman Center -- the nation's oldest -- celebrates its 110th anniversary.
Despite the new face on the scene, Rigali's positions on controversial elements of Catholic teaching -- birth control, capital punishment, homosexuality, and the opening of the priesthood to women and married men, among others -- keep to the conservative standard for every major appointee of John Paul II's 25-year papacy, the fourth longest in history.
The archbishop-elect's age, combined with recent prostate removal surgery, made him an unlikely candidate to be tapped as the eighth archbishop of Philadelphia.
However, once his name started to circulate among church insiders both here and abroad in early May, the focus gradually shifted to Rigali.
A previously scheduled celebration in honor of Bevilacqua's birthday went forward last evening in Center City. Despite the end of his mandate as archbishop, Bevilacqua will continue to serve as administrator of the archdiocese until Rigali takes up residence in Philadelphia.
