Ouellet happy to serve new Pope

Unverifiable reports in the Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore and MacLean’s magazine have clarified Cardinal Marc Ouellet didn’t just tell media before the conclave that becoming pope would be a nightmare, he also threw his support to Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio before the fifth and final vote that chose Pope Francis.

Cardinals take a solemn oath never to reveal what takes place inside the conclave and support staff assisting the cardinals would be excommunicated under Vatican rules if they revealed the inner workings of the vote for pope.

However reliable the inside the- Sistine-Chapel reports may be, a close friend of the Canadian cardinal tells The Catholic Register she is happy for her friend.

“I know him personally very well,” said Dominican Missionary Adorers prioress general Sr. Gileberte Baril. “I was able to speak to him on Monday. We had a meeting at the Pontifical (North American) College. It would have been a terrible load on his shoulders and he’s a very sensitive man. He has a very vibrant attitude toward everything and I think it would have been very hard on him.”

Baril has no doubt Ouellet would have made a good pope.

“He would have been an excellent pope in many ways, because he has many qualities that could have been very important for the Church,” she said.

The head of the Quebec-based community of Dominicans doesn’t sense that Quebeckers are disappointed that Ouellet is not the pope.

“I’m not disappointed for him. I’m maybe disappointed for people who knew him and saw in him what could have been a wonderful pope. But I think it’s important to serve where you are called,” said Baril.

Ouellet and the former Cardinal Bergoglio — now Pope Francis — are good friends, said Baril.

“I’m sure he will be very close to the Pope because he’s known him for many years. He (Ouellet) had him come in 2008 to the Eucharistic Congress (in Quebec City). You can see they’re good friends.”

It is not as if the Church has lost the leadership and pastoral care of Ouellet, said Baril.

“He’s there. He’s staying on. He will be able to continue serving,” she said.

However the final vote actually came about, its human and political dimension are really secondary, said the Dominican sister.

“The Holy Spirit is there,” she said. “I think, possibly, Pope Francis has something special for our time. It’s a turning point in the life of the Church, relatively so.”