Of Soter Fernandez, papal conclaves, and leadership

His Eminence Cardinal Anthony Soter Fernandez.

YESTERDAY, we marked the sad passing of His Eminence Anthony Soter Cardinal Fernandez (pic), Malaysia’s very first Cardinal.

I am not quite qualified to write a proper, full obituary for Cardinal Soter, but I did read with interest the statement released by the Catholic Church.

It seems that Cardinal Soter led a rich and impactful life.

Born in 1932, his father passed away when he was 15, which compelled him to quit his studies and become the family’s breadwinner, working as a hospital assistant from 1947 to 1954.

One of the men who encouraged young Soter to explore becoming a priest was the late Archbishop Dominic Vendargon, who Soter would eventually succeed as Archbishop in 1983.

He retired as Archbishop after 20 years of service in 2003, and was made Malaysia’s very first Cardinal in 2016 by Pope Francis.

Cardinal Soter was known for his passion in a number of fields, not least of which were interfaith dialogue, fighting poverty, and social justice.

I have often disagreed with columnist Terence Netto, but I do appreciate the colourful stories in his own recent obituary of Cardinal Soter.

One of these stories involved La Salle Brother Anthony Rogers, who I had the great pleasure of getting to know a little as I was trying to learn more about mission schools some years back.

Exactly 33 years and a day before Cardinal Soter passed, Ops Lalang began. Then Archbishop Soter found himself face to face with Special Branch officers who had come to arrest Brother Anthony (then head of the archdiocese’s Office of Human Development) under the Internal Security Act (ISA), as part of the Ops Lalang sweep.

Archbishop Soter kept his cool - not only in that one incident, but throughout the years in which he strived for peace and justice in Malaysia.

He was also a patriot and a big supporter of the national language as a vehicle of national unity. When he was made Cardinal, he even used the Malay phrase “Keadilan dan Keamanan” (Justice and Peace) on his official coat of arms - which I am fairly certain would have been a first.

The last time I saw Cardinal Soter was probably at the funeral of Tenaganita co-founder Irene Fernandez in Shah Alam in 2014. The two Fernandez’s were not related, but had formed a close friendship - probably on the basis of their shared commitment to human rights and the welfare of all.

Regretfully, this is probably all of value I can personally write about the life of a remarkable man. In the space I have left, I hope I will be forgiven for talking about a few things I found myself thinking about after his passing.

Cardinal Soter was the first Malaysian to be appointed to the College of Cardinals - the body that is responsible for choosing the pope, the spiritual leader of 1.2 billion Catholics in the Catholic Church.

After a pope passes away - or in rare cases resigns - his successor is chosen by the College of Cardinals in a process that is called the papal conclave.

“Conclave” derives from the Latin “cum clave” which means ‘with a key’.

This refers to the fact that the cardinals are literally locked in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, and cannot leave until a new pope is selected.

The process of selecting popes is one that is steeped in history, and has evolved considerably over time, often in quite a fascinating fashion.

Much and more could be said in dissecting this historical process, but I thought for today I would focus on a few interesting and relevant elements regarding how a group of leaders would elect a leader among themselves.

The idea behind ‘locking up’ the cardinals until they agreed on a new pope (who holds the position for life) was to accelerate the process and break deadlocks by incentivising quick decisions.

Over the centuries, there were a few interesting variations and developments as to the process. Wikipedia has some colourful stories from 1269:

“To resolve prolonged deadlocks in papal elections in the earlier years, local authorities often resorted to the forced seclusion of the cardinal electors, such as first in the city of Rome in 1241, and possibly before that in Perugia in 1216. In 1269, when the forced seclusion of the cardinals alone failed to produce a pope, the city of Viterbo refused to send in any materials except bread and water. When even this failed to produce a result, the townspeople removed the roof of the Palazzo dei Papi in their attempt to speed up the election.

In an attempt to avoid future lengthy elections, Gregory X introduced stringent rules with the 1274 promulgation of Ubi periculum. Cardinals were to be secluded in a closed area and not accorded individual rooms. No cardinal was allowed, unless ill, to be attended by more than two servants. Food was supplied through a window to avoid outside contact. After three days of the conclave, the cardinals were to receive only one dish a day; after another five days, they were to receive just bread and water. During the conclave, no cardinal was to receive any ecclesiastical revenue.”

(I particularly enjoyed the last part. The equivalent would be members of parliament not receiving a salary until they agreed on who they would elect as Prime Minister).

I can only wish wistfully that we could expedite political processes in this day and age by subjecting politicians to such stringent measures.

If such old men could be made to endure such hardships in choosing a leader they were bound to obey for the rest of the latter’s life, surely it should be a smaller matter for others to choose a leader they would only be bound to live under for a few years.

In modern times of course, the measures are nowhere near as harsh. This isn’t to say the spirit of the process has changed.

The cardinals are still locked in without luxury, outsiders (beyond a few key staff members) are still strictly forbidden, and contact with the outside world is not allowed, as secrecy is of the utmost importance. To add a little modern flavour, wireless signal jammers are also now employed around the whole area.

There were other innovations over the years. One important one happened in 1970, when Pope Paul VI ruled that Cardinals (a position held for life) above the age of 80 were not eligible to participate in the papal conclave.

80 is of course by most normal standards a very advanced age, but within the context, this does (relatively speaking at least) avoid a dominance of older ideas in favour of a (relatively) younger generation of church leaders.

I cannot do a better job of Wikipedia or YouTube in providing the A to Z of how a papal conclave works, and the intricacies of that rather unique form of democracy. It is a fascinating phenomenon, which you may enjoy researching more on your own.

The key elements that were of interest to me, given the challenges we face here and now in Malaysia, was the idea of how a group of leaders were incentivised to make such a vital, important decision as quickly as possible, without dragging the process on and on.

I recently explored some ideas myself here, and on further reading was fascinated by how the Catholic Church navigated these issues over millennia.

In a system without measures to incentivise quick decision making, it is hardly surprising that a group of leaders would seem to bicker incessantly, going round and round exploring every single possible mathematical iteration and combination of alliances with no reference whatsoever to policy positions, principles, or shared values.

Cardinal Soter rose from humble beginnings in Sg Petani to the very highest ranks of the Catholic Church in Rome. He spent his last few years in what was essentially a simple old folk’s home - St Francis Xavier Home for the Elderly in Cheras run by the Little Sisters of the Poor.

He led his life simply, and with a dedication to his watchwords of justice and peace, with no grand ambitions for recognition or riches. Let us hope that more Malaysian leaders follow in his footsteps.

NATHANIEL TAN still hasn’t gotten around to watching The Two Popes. He is a strategic communications consultant, and can be reached at [e-mail]