Vatican City (AP) — The Catholic Cards set on Monday, May 7th as the start date for the conclave to select a successor to Francis, delaying the two-day secret vote to help them find the consensus of candidates before they get to know each other and find the consensus of candidates.
The Cardinals set the date after their arrival on the first day of an informal meeting, following Pope Francis’ funeral on Saturday. In the chaotic scene, the journalist cried out the Cardinals questions about whether there was unity and when the Conclave would begin. Reporters for the satirical Italian television program repeatedly asked whether Italian cardinal, convicted by the Vatican Criminal Court over financial accusations, would be allowed to vote.
“There is hope for unity,” said Argentine Cardiac sixto Rossi, 66-year-old Archbishop of Cordoba, who was created by Francis in 2023.
Many Cardinals cited Francis’ desire to continue his idyllic focus on those opposed to alienated war. However, rather than continuing the focus of Francis’ social justice and outreach to women and gays, the rank’s conservatives may be focusing on refocusing the Church on the core doctrines highlighted by St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.
The 79-year-old archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Nichols of England, asserted that the church must seek unity, and he downplayed the division.
“The role of the Pope is essentially to unite us, and that is the grace we have given us,” Nichols said.
Venezuela’s Cardinal Balthazar Enrique Pola Cardoso expressed confidence that the “two to three days” decision will be quicker once the conclave begins.
Election Cardinal
The new Pope-elect Cardinal of College includes members of the far-off horns of the Earth, which Francis named in the Pope for 12 years, to bring a new perspective on the Catholic hierarchy. Many people spend little or no time in Rome, getting to know their colleagues and injecting uncertainty into a process that requires two-thirds of the cardinals of voting age to unite behind one candidate.
Nichols admitted that 135 cardinal electors (108 of whom were appointed by Francis) didn’t know much about each other. The final 20 was appointed in early December.
“We’ll be there all week,” Nichols said as he arrived Monday.
Only Cardinals under the age of 80 are eligible to vote, and it is not clear how many out of the 135 will participate. The Spanish cardinal has already said that he will not come to Rome for health reasons.
The great uncertainty is whether Cardinal Angelo Bexiu, once one of the Vatican’s most powerful cardinals, will be allowed at the Sistine Chapel. In 2020, Francis was forced to resign as head of the Vatican Holy Making Office and waive his rights as cardinal due to allegations of embezzlement and economic fraud. Becciu denied any misconduct, but was tried in Vatican Criminal Court and was convicted in December 2023 of financially related charges.
He is pleading for conviction and attending a pre-conclave meeting, but there are lingering questions about whether he has the right to vote. Official Vatican statistics list him as “non-player.” When he was banished in 2020, Bethweh told a hurry-organized press conference that he would not vote in a future Conclave, but recently he argued that he was entitled to vote and plagued that Quillan’s lawyers were troubling Vatican documents to adjust the batave to determine if it was correct.
Pope Candidate
Francis has accumulated ranks with his Cardinals, but it is not necessarily the case that they all want to continue the church in his image.
A glimpse into the red hat that appears along the imposing colonnade of St. Peter’s Square on Monday morning, journalists with cameras and audio recorders capture the mood inside, but fleeting mood.
Italian cardinal Matteo Zuppi, considered the candidate and the next pope, navigating the scrum that converges journalists with humor, but gave nothing. He joked that he was “holding his breath,” as the microphone and camera surround him all the way up to the Vatican gate.
African voices
Nigeria’s Cardinal John Orolunfemi Onaiyekan, Abuja’s Honorary Archbishop of Abuja, was asked if African Cardinals are coalescing around certain candidates.
African bishops last year created a very united position on Francis’ outreach to LGBTQ+ people and refused to implement his declaration that would allow priests to offer blessings to same-sex couples. Given such a position, there is speculation that 18 African cardinal electors can help progressive candidates emerge.
“We haven’t come here for political gatherings. We’ve started to kick the Pope out,” said Oneiekan, who is too old to vote at 81, but can play a role in how young electors influence.
Asian and Latin American voices
India’s Cardinal Anthony Pula, 61-year-old archbishop of Hyderabad, said he had experienced a sense of unity among his fellow cardiacs, but allowed him to say “anything can happen.” As a relatively young cardinal, Pula was one of four Indian electors participating in the Conclave, three of whom were named by Francis, including Pula.
“Everyone who comes has to be a successor to St. Peter. We all hope that he will become a good pope,” he said.
Rossi of the Argentine Cardinal said he hopes Francis’ message of “mercy, proximity, charity, kindness, faith” will accompany him when he finds a successor.
However, he admitted that the job was difficult. He asked how he felt about his first conclave participation, and he replied with a laugh: “Fear.”
