Lady in red: Linda tipped to be cardinal
The Catholic world is abuzz with rumours that the Pope may soften the church’s stance on women

Linda Hogan, a professor at Trinity College, Dublin, could be a contender to join the papal enclave (Andrew Medichini/Sasko Lazarov )

Sunday Times, The (London, England) - Sunday, November 3, 2013
Author: Justine McCarthy

SHE may be a woman, married, a feminist and only 49, but an Irish theologian called Linda Hogan is being tipped as the Vatican's first lady in red .

There has never been a female cardinal , but since Pope Francis took charge in Rome eight months ago and emerged as a social liberal the unthinkable has become possible. Speculation is rampant that the reformist Argentinian Pope will invite a woman to don the red hat and sit in the Holy See's papal conclave, which will pick his successor one day. In theory she could become pope herself.

The new Pope has repeatedly said he wants to increase the role of women in the church and that it needs to develop "a truly deep theology of women".

The prospect of the first female cardinal was triggered by Juan Arias, a former priest from Brazil, who wrote in the Spanish newspaper El Pais in September that it was "not a joke".

Arias quoted an unnamed priest — a Jesuit like Francis — as saying: "Knowing this Pope, he wouldn't hesitate before appointing a woman cardinal . And he would indeed enjoy being the first Pope to allow women to participate in the selection of a new pontiff."

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York was recently asked on a Catholic television channel if a woman could become a cardinal .

Saying it was "theoretically" possible, Dolan added: "You know, in fact, get this — and I've heard it from more than one person — that one time somebody said to Blessed John Paul II, 'You should make Mother Teresa of Calcutta a cardinal '. And the Pope said: 'I asked her. She doesn't want to be one.' " Father Federico Lombardi, the Pope's spokesman, did his best to dampen things down last week, saying: "There is no woman cardinal on the cards. Stay calm, no nominations of women cardinals are due."

Nonetheless, the hunt is on for a potential candidate — and Hogan, who once taught at Leeds University and is now the vice-provost of Trinity College Dublin, is in the lead.

Hogan did not return telephone calls last week, but colleagues say she is a feminist with a strong interest in theological ethics, human rights and gender.

She also has an eye for popular culture. Last year she was photographed giving a gold medal of the college philosophical society to Seann William Scott, Steve Stifler from the American Pie franchise, for his contribution to acting.

"She's a fine theologian and very academically bright," said Gina Menzies, a Dublin theologian.

"She'd be quite radical.

One of her strong beliefs is something Pope Francis has been hinting at, too: that the basis of moral theology starts from human experience."

Hogan was a founding member of the International Association for Catholic Social Thought and was on the Irish Council for Bioethics.

James Keenan, professor of theology at the Jesuit Boston College, and a friend of Hogan for 20 years, has started a post on his Facebook page promoting nine women as potential cardinals.

Hogan is one, two are Brazilian, three are African, one is Australian, one is from the Philippines and one from Germany. Francis is expected to name at least 14 new cardinals in advance of his first consistory in Rome next February.

The conclave consists of more than 100 elderly males who have been criticised for their mismanagement of child abuse scandals and for putting church politics ahead of their pastoral duties.

Does Francis have the power to put a woman among them? For seven centuries a pope was technically free to appoint whoever he wished to the college of cardinals. Pope Alexander VI made his illegitimate son, Cesare Borgia, a cardinal when he was 18 years old.

Church historians say no woman has made it to the cardinalate since the position was codified in the 12th century and cardinals were given the right to elect a pope. Women are banned from becoming priests and a canon law in 1917 instructed that a pope could appoint only ordained men as cardinals.

Church sources say, however, there is no impediment to a pope choosing a woman if he wishes to do so.

Mary McAleese, Ireland's former president, who was previously the Reid professor of law at Trinity College Dublin and who has studied canon law in Rome, is also being spoken of as a possible contender.

Were McAleese or Hogan — or any woman — to take the red hat she would be the most prominent woman in the Catholic church since the legendary Pope Joan who featured in 13th-century chronicles.

Joan's papacy, however, is now regarded as a myth.

Pope Joan: myth or trailblazer? If legend is to be believed, the Catholic church has already had a female pope — and she had English origins. The story of Pope Joan first appeared in the 13th century, several hundred years after her supposed reign. Born in Germany to English parents, she disguised herself as a boy to enter a monastery and pursue the life of a scholar — a route forbidden to women at that time.

After travelling to Rome, she rose through the ranks of the Catholic church. She eventually became a cardinal and after Pope Leo IV's death was unanimously elected Pope about 853.

According to one version of the tale, Pope Joan met her downfall after falling pregnant and then giving birth — while riding through Rome. Dragged from her horse, she was killed by an angry mob.

Different accounts suggest she may not have met such a violent end, but was instead imprisoned by the church and made to offer penance. Later, according to the same records, Pope Joan's son became the Bishop of Ostia who ensured that she was entombed in the cathedral.