Colombia's 'audacious' cardinal
Apr 19, 2005
Among the contenders to replace Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Dario Castrillon may have one of the most colorful résumés.
(Houston Chronicle, April 18, 2005) BOGOTA, COLOMBIA - The 75-year-old Colombian, who heads the Vatican's office for priests, has ridden on horseback into the jungle for peace talks with his country's left-wing guerrilla groups. He once met with infamous cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar. In his spare time, he likes to water-ski.
"He's very audacious," according to Monsignor Guillermo Melquizo, a Colombian who studied with Castrillon at the seminary.
As the College of Cardinals begins secret meetings in Rome today to select a new pope, many analysts believe that the eventual winner could hail from Latin America, home to more than 40 percent of the world's Roman Catholics.
A close friend of John Paul's, Castrillon is among a handful of cardinals from the region who are considered papabile, or potential popes.
Castrillon recently played down his chances, telling Bogota's El Tiempo newspaper that his nationality will mean little in the voting.
"For our Lord, geography is a secondary factor," Castrillon said.
Still, Vatican watchers describe Castrillon as a talented bureaucrat and a quick study. He speaks eight languages, including Arabic. Like the late pope, he is conservative on social issues, such as abortion and artificial birth control.
But if his past is any indication, Castrillon would not shy away from taking controversial positions as pope.
In Colombia, where dozens of clergymen have been gunned down by drug traffickers, rebels, and right-wing paramilitary fighters, Castrillon has spoken out against the nation's ills and has personally attempted to set things right.
In the late 1980s, Escobar, the head of the Medellin drug cartel, waged a terror campaign against the Colombian government. At one point, he requested a meeting with Castrillon, who was then the bishop of Pereira.
"The two talked about spiritual matters and about the possibility that Escobar might leave behind his life of drug trafficking," said Monsignor Francisco Arias, a vicar who attended the meeting. "But it didn't work out."
Escobar was finally shot dead by police in 1993.
The following year, Castrillon urged Colombians to vote against presidential candidate Ernesto Samper because, among other things, he thought he was soft on drugs. Samper won the election but was nearly impeached when it was learned his campaign had accepted more than $6 million from the Cali drug cartel.
Among the Catholic hierarchy, Castrillon is better known for his work in Rome.
Castrillon was called to the Vatican in 1996 and named prefect of clergy, the official in charge of priests around the globe. He was elevated to cardinal in 1998.
According to Javier Dario Restrepo, a journalist who is friends with Castrillon, the cardinal won points for managing large budgets and promoting a more modern curriculum in seminaries to better connect priests to the real world.
Like John Paul II, Castrillon is a master of using the media to spread his message. In 1999, he gave an interview to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the Nobel-prize winning Colombian novelist, who wrote a fawning magazine profile titled The Papal Candidate.
Colombia's 'audacious' cardinal