Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin reportedly suffered a small health scare this week during a general congregation meeting with his fellow papal electors.
Outlets in Italy and abroad claim the cardinal fainted on Wednesday at the conclusion of the cardinals’ assembly, saying that the high-ranking prelate recovered from his bout of “high blood pressure” with no lasting effects.
It’s a rumor typical in times of conclave, with intrigue into the health of a front-running prince of the church, allegedly occurring behind closed doors amid rising tensions as the election of the pope draws ever closer.
Whether or not Parolin collapsed inside the Vatican, there’s no doubt his doctor will be concerned about his blood pressure over the next weeks. The 70-year-old is widely regarded as among the most likely candidates to become the bishop of Rome, a prospect that has stressed even the most serene clergymen and monks throughout history.
Parolin’s curriculum vitae
Parolin is considered the walking, talking embodiment of the Vatican establishment. As leader of the Secretariat of State, he was the de facto No. 2 under Pope Francis. He is a stuffy, logistically minded politician more at home in embassies than a parish rectory — and many argue that is what the Catholic Church needs.
The papacy has many charisms. Francis embraced his role as a pastor. The world welcomed his gestures of mercy, but Vatican bureaucrats fumed at his governance.
By contrast, Parolin’s career is that of the arch-diplomat. He’s a Pontifical Gregorian University and Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy alum who entered the Vatican’s foreign service in his early 30s. He was the youngest secretary of state in almost a century when Francis appointed him in 2013 at the age of 58.
The pontificate of Francis was characterized by a radical shift to the margins of the church. The late pope was more concerned about advocating the poor than international politicking, more interested in dining with prisoners than meeting with world leaders, and more at home responding to children’s letters than addressing the Vatican’s financial implosion.
A hypothetical Parolin papacy would offer a more traditional politician to steer the church.
Cardinal Beniamino Stella, a former prefect for the Congregation for the Clergy, allegedly drew attention to this dynamic during the cardinals’ April 30 congregation.
America magazine, a Jesuit publication in the United States, claimed Stella “openly attacked” several policies under Francis during the meeting and “[pushed] hard to convince cardinals to vote for Cardinal Parolin in the conclave.”
The China question
The most obvious black mark on Parolin’s diplomatic record is the Holy See-China agreement that he oversaw in 2018, giving the Chinese Communist Party extensive powers governing the church within its borders.
It was championed as a warming of relations with the atheist People’s Republic, but Chinese Catholics weary of the CCP’s influence felt betrayed.
Catholic churches in China are now required to operate under the oversight of the government, which selects bishops to lead churches within its Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association. The bishops picked by the government are universally seen as toadies of the Communist Party.
According to the agreement, each bishop selected by the government must still be ratified by the Holy See. That was thrown into question last month when the CCPA held an “election” of local Patriotic Catholic leaders to select a new bishop in the Diocese of Xinxiang. The diocese already has a bishop approved and appointed by the Holy See.
It’s a naked power grab capitalizing on the recent death of Francis and the power vacuum at the top of the Catholic hierarchy — an unfortunate development for a cardinal defined by his diplomatic career.
Zen opposition
Cardinal Joseph Zen, a 93-year-old retired prelate of Hong Kong and advocate of the underground Catholics opposing communist influence, points the finger directly at Parolin for refusing to acknowledge the slow collapse of authentic Catholicism in China.
His office took an aggressive stance from the beginning of the sede vacante period when the cardinal challenged the early start of general congregations, which made it practically impossible for far-flung members of the college to arrive on time.
“Cardinal Zen would like to know why the first session of the General Congregations has to start so early,” his office said in a statement. “How are the old men from the peripheries supposed to arrive on time. There is the kind word reminding them that they do not have the duty to attend, but they have the right — yes or no?”
Compared to the Hong Kong prelate’s previous statements, it was a mild irritation. Zen has railed against Parolin for years, accusing him of “telling lies shamelessly” and falsely pushing the 2018 agreement as aligned with the vision of the late Pope Benedict XVI.
“The most repugnant thing is the insult to the venerable Benedict XVI by saying that he approved at the time the agreement signed by the Holy See two years ago, knowing that our sweetest, most gentle Benedict certainly will not come out to deny it,” Zen said in 2020 before the pope emeritus’s death.
None of this is to assert that Parolin is a stooge or puppet for China. His negotiations with Beijing are cold and pragmatic, seeking to dodge the worst possible outcomes for slightly more bearable concessions. But he seems to have been duped, and that public failure looms dark over the establishment candidate.
The Chinese government keeps its cards close to its chest when dealing with the Vatican, and observers should not expect President Xi Jinping to tip his hand on what outcome the Communist Party is hoping for. Perhaps they are rooting for Parolin to take the throne, confident they can further manipulate his openness to dialogue. It is also possible they’re praying for a new mark for their con.
CONCLAVE TO ELECT A NEW POPE WILL START ON MAY 7
The conclave to elect Francis’s successor will begin on May 7.
If white smoke pours from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney and it is Parolin who steps out on the balcony in papal attire, the Catholic Church may expect a logical continuation of the Francis papacy with a bit more administrative sobriety and far fewer candid conversations with the public.
The preelection messaging is clear — calmer waters, less dramatic gestures, and renewed professionalism from a political animal forged in the furnace of geopolitics.
Whether that outcome is desirable is up to each believer.