The Kasper-Ratzinger Debate & The State of the Church

Pope Francis turns 85 tomorrow. For the occasion, this from Philip Blosser at the New Oxford Review archive (April 2002). He began,

"My priest and I occasionally share articles with each other in an ongoing amicable discussion about the state of the Church. He recently gave me a copy of an article written by Walter Cardinal Kasper entitled 'On the Church' from the Jesuit magazine America (April 23-30, 2001), which was directed against Cardinal Ratzinger by name. My priest suggested that the comparatively young Kasper might make a good pope someday ('Kasper, the friendly pope?'), perhaps right after Cardinal Martini of Milan, who, he said, might make a good immediate successor to Pope John Paul II." ...