A private dinner and formal gathering of hundreds of cardinals across Rome, speaks between church leaders who will next lead the church.
World leaders gather at the Vatican for Pope Francis’ funeral
Current and former US presidents and other world leaders gathered at the Vatican for Pope Francis’ funeral.
The Pope has passed away. Hundreds of cardinals gather in Rome. Secret votes for successors have not begun. But among church leaders, experts say, who will lead the next 2,000-year-old church.
Pope Francis, the first head of the Catholic Church in the Americas and advocate for the affiliated people, passed away at the age of 88 on Easter on Monday, leaving an empty seat for the head of the ancient facility, which has 1.4 billion followers around the world. Approximately 250 cardinals, including the chief, were summoned to Italy during the Pope’s funerals and duties.
However, the drama of the Pope’s choice has already begun. The days before the May 7th Conclave at the Vatican were not idle, and the implicit selection process is already underway in whispers in corridors and cafes in other cities in Rome and Italy.
“This is a very important time, because in fact, every election needs momentum,” Robert Harris, author of the novel behind the blockbuster Conclave, told USA Today. “Even if you’re not quite well known, I don’t know how you can do it.
A lot is happening now in terms of the Pope’s politics and attitude. The week before the Conclave is just as important as the Conclave itself, many experts say.
The next Pope’s choice will be made in the Sistine Chapel under the careful eyes of Michelangelo’s final judgment, where the Cardinals vote under the Oath of Secret. The mystery of what happens behind a locked door is inspired by books, podcasts, books nominated for Best Pictures at the latest Academy Awards, podcasts and conclave films.
With private meals and formal gatherings of aperitifs and Cardinals across Rome, church leaders find out who they trust to take over. This process differs from the wheels and trade that became famous for the works of 15th century diplomat and philosopher Niccolo Machaveli, and is another central entity at the heart of Italian history.
Harris, who has come to write a thriller novel about his career as a political journalist, said: “Don’t think of this as an election where someone says, ‘I’ll vote for me.’
Pope’s attitude in Rome
Over 130 Cardinals vote in Conclave. This is limited to cardinals under the age of 80. Francis appointed 108 people. Most come from Europe, but they also represent 20 African and Asian countries, as well as Asian countries from Iraq and Iran to China and Indonesia.
Many people have never met before, and the day leading up to Conclave is when they met.
117 non-voting cardinals also make the most of the time. They may not be able to vote for the next Pope, but they still have a huge amount of shaking and have the only opportunity to express what the church thinks it needs.
Much of the pre-competition debate occurs in formal gatherings of cardinals called generals. Church leaders rarely reveal details of the meeting, but the story of Francis’ own election returns to a speech he gave to Congress in the period before the conversation in 2013, after Pope Benedict XVI resigned.
According to John L. Allen Jr., editor of Catholic news outlet Crux, experts on events at the Vatican say there are already clear signs of potential successors seen in the Cardinal Balthazar Enrique Pola Cardoso.
“Polas, a Venezuelan cardinal, told reporters after he came out of the general that he thought the conclave would end in two days,” Allen, a veteran Vatican whisper, told USA Today over a call from Rome. “That would suggest that consensus is beginning to form. He didn’t say it around anyone, but at least he gave the impression that there was “a kind of consensus that started to take shape.”
The Cardinals are quarantined in the Sistine Chapel and are less than a week after the vote begins.
Private lunch, dinner, drinks
According to Allen, the Cardinals raise the question of who would make a more direct pope more directly with private lunches, dinners and drinks throughout the Italian capital.
According to Allen, an American correspondent based in Rome for the past 30 years, talks about who could become the next Pope goes far beyond the Vatican wall.
“These are also opportunities to crush political sausages, and in such situations the conversation is also very direct. ‘What do you think?’ Allen said. “That’s exactly what this period is about.”
Cardinals’ favorite restaurants include L’Auu Vive, a simple and elegant French restaurant located across from the Vatican on the Tiber River.
Cardinals like Paulette for the atmosphere. The restaurant is run by a woman who is a member of the Catholic religious association Les Travailleuses Missionnaires de L’Mimmaculée.
Diners eat with consideration of the group’s inspirational portrait: St. Telez of Liese. And at 10pm, staff will take a break from service to sing Salbrevina, a Gregorian chant that praises Mary, who dates back at least to the 1200s.
Another destination for the small group of Cardinals is the Borgo district, a medieval alley warren filled with classic Italian eateries in the shadow of Hadrian’s spirit us.
The Rise of the Ratzinger Cardinal – later Pope Benedict XVI – dates back to a block of Cardinals formed on a plate of pasta and wine bottles at Alpassett Diborgo just beyond the Vatican.
Despite captivating Roman restaurants, many cardinals prefer to eat “from the spotlight,” Allen said. They gather at the apartments of colleagues based in Rome and at the headquarters of the religious order.
According to Allen, so far, Cardinals wants a Pope who can take up the mantle of Frances, leading in a caring and positive example, but clarifies the issue of the church to soothe the conservative elements of the church.
“They want people who can inspire people and attract faith, especially in Europe where the church is in need of being open-minded. They want a pope who can light a fire,” Allen said. But “the world is going through uncertain times where the old pillars of the world order seem to be falling apart, so Donald Trump, Vladimir Putinz, and those who can hold themselves on the world stage with Xi Xin pings.”
What you need to become a “Papaville”
The congregation of Cards, potentially all 252 Cards gather together to discuss the looming church issues, is the most public part of the advance process.
According to Bry Jensen, a historian and host of a podcast specializing in Pope history, the general traditionally offers preparations for the Pope’s funeral and days of mourning for the deceased.
However, after the Pope is buried, the cardinals of the General Congregation often turn their attention to the pressing question of who will become the next Pope.
According to the host of the Pontifacts podcast, they are indirectly addressing questions through speeches about what the church needs and what makes something worthy of the “Papaville” or the Pope. The show’s name is a play by Pontifex, a traditional name for the Pope.
“This is where we see the jockeys,” Jensen said. “And we have a lot of very well-known cardinals over 80, so this is where they get their chances.”
According to the Vatican, there are 117 non-voting cardinals.
The Cardinals have held at least seven general congregations so far. Official news from the Vatican about the assembly is landing like a dull sermon.
A total of 183 Cardinals attended the Congress on Tuesday, according to the Vatican official news outlet. Of those, 124 voted for Cardinals and gave 20 speeches.
The Vatican summed them up as addressing “themes related to the church and the challenges it faces, as well as the perspectives of their continent and the places of origin, and reflections shaped by the church’s possible response.”
Jensen said Vaticanologists warned that German conservative Cardinal Gerhard Muller could split if Orthodox successors were not chosen, and Vatican scholars said cardinals outside the formal gathering were private and were watching what was going on.
“It’s about wanting to stick to Francis or break into traditionalism,” Jensen said. “The fact that Muller came out and felt the need to say that the argument was more Francis-oriented.”
A typical congregation also offers a chance for frontrunners to appear, as Francis did in 2013.
At the meeting, Francis gave a compelling four-minute speech about the need for the Church to re-evaluate its mission to exercise compassion for those on society’s ties. Church leaders saw that the man they could trust was Jorge Mario Bergolio, the archbishop of Buenos Aires.
“That’s what the cardinal electors said, um, this would probably be a good candidate,” according to Father Alice Sison, a spokesman for the Parish of Cubao in the Philippines. “We need a church that focuses outside of itself.”
Francis’ speech was later seen as a blueprint for his approach to leading the church. In it, he uses the term “periphery” in particular, referring to the expansion of church outreach to those who were oppressed.
The term became a hallmark of his pope, and ultimately he won him the “peripheral pope.”
Jumper under careful eyes
In widespread speculation about who will become the next Pope, theologians say they are faithfully looking at the jockeys of the pre-conclub as an opportunity for God to intervene in human issues.
According to Notre Dame theologian Jennifer Newsom Martin, the new Pope “does not fall like manna from heaven.” “There is a very realistic process of asserting positions. It is a human process that respects what the Cardinals thinks about what the Church needs at this moment.”
A longtime Catholic university professor emphasized the longevity of the church as an example of how jockeys are guided by higher powers.
“From a theological perspective and Catholic practice perspective, the Catholic Church is clearly a flawed institution, as long as it is clearly filled with humans,” she said. “But the truth of the matter is that it has been endured for many years. So there’s something about the durable apostolic process, not the subject of accidental forces.”
She added: “These are saints who pray and invest in the outcome, and it is difficult to unravel humans from God’s actions.”
(This story has been updated to fix spelling/typos.)