Cardinal Godfried Danneels of Belgium, one of Europe's most influential cardinals, carries a reputation as a forceful moderate unafraid of taboos. And Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, an Italian, will share the spotlight as a prelate with long service at the center of church power. The three-day session that opens Monday will give them an opportunity to check out the beds in Santa Marta, the Vatican hotel built to house cardinals during a conclave, and to check out each other. And while the meeting won't be in the Sistine Chapel, where conclaves are held, the location in the Synod Hall is just across St. Peter's Square. Pope John Paul II summoned all 183 cardinals to the three-day meeting to discuss church strategy in the new millennium.
Vatican officials describe it as an open meeting with no fixed agenda.
Talking points suggested by the Vatican include such issues as the church's missionary activities, the sharing of authority among bishops, the response of ordinary Catholics to church teaching on sex and the role of the papacy. It is the first such meeting since 1994 and was called by the pope in February just days after he elevated 44 new cardinals. But few doubt the cardinals will have that in mind and that their dinners will be peppered with such conversations. All but 10 of these men were named cardinals by John Paul, most of them sharing his conservative views. The field is considered wide open, with no apparent favorite among the dozen names frequently mentioned as possibilities.