The Cardinal's Virtues

Sunday, Dec. 04, 2005 By JEFF ISRAELY / ROME
RIGHT-HAND MAN: Ruini's support helped to secure Pope Benedict's election
PLINIO LEPRI / AP
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That's possible because the relationship between Church and state has been in flux for well over a decade. In postwar Italy, the Christian Democrats held or shared power in every government until 1992. But despite its leaders' intimate ties to the Vatican hierarchy, the party continued to stress the secular nature of politics. Its collapse after a bribery scandal in the early 1990s created a diaspora of former Christian Democrats into rival parties, and fierce competition among erstwhile colleagues. Each sought to demonstrate greater fidelity to the Church and better connections to the Holy See. "There was a whole political class of orphans, and Ruini was skillful in realizing that he could see which would offer more [help in pushing Catholic values]," says Edmondo Berselli, editor of the political journal Il Mulino. This "created something akin to a ratings agency for politicians' positions on moral values issues." Emma Bonino, a leader of the Radical Party, which led successful referendum battles to legalize divorce and abortion, is one of the few high-ups who aggressively challenges Ruini. "It has never been this bad, where their influence is so extensive and leveraged publicly on such a daily basis," she says of the Church hierarchy. "In the past, no matter what the debate, it was politicians on the front line, not the bishops."

Ruini's defenders say he has every right to seek to influence government policy. Francesco Rutelli, leader of the the centrist opposition Margherita party, used to be a Radical Party ally of Bonino, but rediscovered his Catholic faith while serving as mayor of Rome in the 1990s. He angered many of his center-left allies by backing Ruini's boycott of the assisted fertility referendum. Rutelli told Time that Italy remains a strongly secular state, but that it is "fully legitimate" that the bishops take public stances.

Italian Minister of Culture Rocco Buttiglione had his own battle over Church–state issues last year. His nomination as a European Commissioner was torpedoed after he defended Catholic teaching on abortion and homosexuals in his confirmation hearings in Strasbourg. Buttiglione, who has known Ruini for more than 30 years, says he is "very irritating for the intellectual establishment because he doesn't have an inferiority complex about his Catholic values. He says quite clearly what he thinks ... that what the Church does in Italy is positive for the country, that religion offers important values you need in public life." Buttiglione adds that the Cardinal has a talent for communicating with his countryfolk. "Cardinal Ruini is deeply, deeply Italian," he says.

That's a talent that will be in even greater demand in the run-up to April elections, when Italian voters will decide whether to reinstall Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for another five years or to oust him in favor of former European Commission President Romano Prodi. Thirty-six years ago, a young priest officiated at the wedding of a fresh-faced economics professor, who, like the priest, came from a region near Bologna. The priest and the professor, Ruini and Prodi, have weathered the years; their early rapport may have endured less well. Prodi ignored the Cardinal's call to boycott the June referendum, saying he was "a grown-up Catholic and I'm going to vote." But Prodi has since been more careful. As Italians are learning, the Cardinal wields enough influence to preside not only over marriages, but over the funerals of political hopes.