Cardinal O'Malley: Haven't lost sleep over papal chances
(CBS News) BOSTON -- Leave it to others to point to Cardinal Sean O'Malley as a papal contender; he's having none of it.
"I haven't lost any sleep about it, and I have bought a round-trip ticket, so I am counting on coming home," he says.
But that hasn't stopped prominent American Catholics from making O'Malley's case. Former Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez worked with O'Malley in poor Hispanic neighborhoods during the 1970s.
"I don't think he would deviate on doctrinal matters, but he would -- I think he would change a lot of the pastoral things -- the role of women in church activities, I think it would increase a lot, the role of lay people," Suarez says.
O'Malley speaks six languages, worked in Latin America and belongs to the Capuchin order, known for simplicity.
Cardinals set date for conclave to elect new pope
Cardinals ordered to keep mum about pope process
Complete Coverage: Change at the Vatican
Brother Celestino Arias lives in a Boston friary O'Malley often visits.
"He's dealt very firmly with the scandal in several diocese now," Arias says. "People can criticize particulars, but he has been firm and consistent in his critique, and I think for the church to regain some of its credibility that it's lost -- this is vital."
O'Malley inherited the child abuse scandal when he came to Boston in 2003. He's tried to restore the diocese's credibility, in part by reaching legal settlements with more than 500 abuse victims for $85 million.
Bernie McDade was abused by a priest. He complains O'Malley was slow to release names of alleged pedophile priests.
Asked whether O'Malley would make a good pope, McDade says, "If he can open up and see that there is more to this than just the settlements in his job, he probably could be something special for this church."
Cardinal O'Malley says the papacy is something that he has never aspired to. But if he is called, he says it will be God's will.
