Crown prince of the church?

Pope B16 just named Bertone as camerlengo--the guy who takes care of all the papal funeral arrangements, according to the International Herald Tribune. First the pope names Bertone Secretary of State, and now this: Is someone already laying the groundwork for his predecessor? Let's hope not.

Of course, papal conclaves have proven resistant to papal planning--except for this last one? Still, it is widely claimed that Bertone was the real theological hammer at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, where he was secretary under then-Cardinal Ratzinger, a claim I find a little hard to believe, though it's true that Papa Ratzi has so far largely disappointed the most conservative Catholics. If Bertone was the hammer, Ratzinger was certainly the one driving the nails. I'd bet Bertone would probably be even more theologically conservative than the current pope. Of course, I'm the one who picked this rather grim-looking picture, so don't go by the visuals.

Of course, I think Papa Ratzi has at least another 10 years in him--a little to early yet for papal prognostication.