Cardinal George on the Papal Visit

http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/religion/880945,CST-NWS-cardinal07.article

Cardinal awaits papal visit
CATHOLIC CHURCH George to be pontiff's escort as he makes his first trip to United States
April 7, 2008

BY MIKE THOMAS Religion Reporter/mthomas@suntimes.com
The pope's host is ready to roll.
As president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Chicago archbishop Cardinal Francis George will accompany Pope Benedict XVI to a slew of events public and private when he visits Washington, D.C., and New York City April 15-20.
It's the pontiff's first trip to America since being elected to the post in 2005.
Healthwise, the 71-year-old George, who has had his share of ailments, said he felt "pretty good" and up to the challenge.
Ignores talk of image
"Last April, less than a year after undergoing successful surgery for bladder cancer, the cardinal slipped and fractured his hip while blessing Easter baskets on Holy Saturday."
"A lot of people prayed for me and I'm very grateful for that," he said during a recent interview at his sprawling Gold Coast residence. "I firmly believe that sustains us. And so I have more stamina now, I have more strength than I had six or eight months ago. So, I expect to be able to keep pace, more or less.
"[The pope] is 10 years older than I am. So, if he can keep the pace, I guess I can," George added with a hearty high-pitched laugh.
Like Benedict, George supports the strict interpretation of Church laws. But theologically speaking, he doesn't feel a deeper kinship with his boss because of that.
"I don't think there's any substantial difference at all between the two popes," he said, referring to Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II.
There is, however, a well-documented difference in personalities.
"Pope John Paul II was a more outgoing man," George said. "[Benedict] is a more introverted man, a more studious man. So, you stick close to the ideas in this case. And if you want to talk about ideas, he's really very good. He's an interesting speaker."
George chuckled when questioned about Benedict's much-scrutinized sartorial flourishes (flashy loafers, stylish shades), which some have framed as an attempt to exude more of the charisma that came naturally to John Paul II.
"I don't pay much attention to that," he said.
He's not alone.
George agreed that there's a "certain truth" to the notion that people are drawn more to Benedict's words than his actions.
Those words, of course, aren't universally lauded. Far from it.
In a society of varying and ever-shifting mores, Benedict's unapologetically hard-line (critics say harsh) views on such issues as homosexuality and embryonic stem cell research stand defiantly apart. They don't fit.
Church not a feel-good spiritual club
In the same way, neither does the morally absolutist Catholic Church. According to George, that's as it should be -- as it always has been.
"The Church's mission is to convert the world to Jesus Christ," he said, "not to create a spiritual club where people can feel good about themselves. So, that creates tensions. Some people live in such a way that it creates resentments. 'Who are you to judge me?' "
What, then, can the pope say during his visit to ease those tensions and resentments? Or as a recent edition of U.S. News & World report put it, can he "calm his troubled flock?"
"His primary rule is to strengthen the faith of that flock, troubled or untroubled," George said. "So, it's not just a question of calming people. I'm not sure what that means. If it means keep them settled in their ways, well, he's not going to do that. He's going to call us to conversion, and that's his job."