High-level Vatican vacancies provide fuel for rumor mill

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High-level Vatican vacancies provide fuel for rumor mill
Cardinal George says no offers of a papal post have come his way

By Manya A. Brachear and Steve Kloehn
Tribune staff reporters
Published April 22, 2005


VATICAN CITY -- Pope Benedict XVI began to shape his Vatican administration Thursday, reappointing three top diplomats and providing another bridge to the last pontificate.

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Speculation has centered on several cardinals who were seen as papal candidates, and at least one man who was not: Chicago's Cardinal Francis George.

Unlike the papacy, for which American citizenship is considered a major obstacle, several top members of the clergy from the U.S. serve as Vatican officials. With his training, temperament, seniority and respect in the Vatican, George seems to many observers a logical option.

In an interview with the Tribune on Thursday, George said nobody has approached him about a Vatican job.

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