The 135 Cardinals towards the Sistine Chapel: the successor from Americas or Africa is unlikely to come, watch out for the Spaniard López Romero. The former prefect “degraded” wants to vote
Yesterday morning the first general preparatory congregation for the future Conclave took place. Yesterday was a “technical” appointment called by the Cardinal Giovanni Battista Redean of the cardinal college and true Deus ex machina of the whole preparatory phase which will then lead the cardinal voters to the Sistine Chapel to express their vote. About fifty pipers who responded to the first appeal, for a meeting that took place rather quickly and which focused on the aspects related to the funeral of the late Pontiff. It will be from April 28 that the congregations will begin to get live with the interventions that will orient themselves towards the profile of the successor of Francesco.
The voters are 135, of which 108 created by Bergogliowhich would be 109 considering the Sardinian Cardinal Angelo Becciualready prefect to the causes of the saints, who on a September evening of 2020 was defensed in the space of a moment by the Pope himself in a stormy interview, after which the ex -faithful was found without assignment, “degraded” and then subjected to trial. A controversial case, officially linked to the speculations on a Vatican Palace in London and on the CEI funds finished to a cooperative linked to the family Becciu. In this storm, the Pope would also have removed a Becciu “Rights and prerogatives of the cardinal”, among which there would also be participation in the vote of the Conclave, but just yesterday atSardinian union The cardinal declared that “recalling me to the last Constoro (the one in which he became a cardinal Arrigo Miglioformer archbishop of Cagliari and who welcomed Bergoglio In his historical visit of September 2013) the Pope recognized my cardinal prerogatives intact as there was no explicit will to ignore me from the conclave or the request for my explicit renunciation in writing “. In all likelihood, the cardinals in the general congregations will dissolve this node that remained in suspense and which does not go to be one of the best pages of the pontificate just ended.
In vote, however, the cardinal will not participate Vinko Puljićformer archbishop of Sarajevo not yet eighty -year -old, who yesterday made it known that he could not be “for health reasons”. But he also made it known that “this pope (Francescoed) He will certainly leave many memories but also many disappointments, because many expected something else ». A message not too too much in code which is already an advance of the interventions that will follow one another from 28 April to the congregations. As well as the one issued by the cardinal Odilo SchererBrazilian, who, on the other hand, will be present at the vote (and he was also one of the second floor papabili in the 2013 Conclave in competition with Bergoglio). «The outcome of the conclave could reserve surprises. Dad Francesco It was a surprise, it was not in the predictions. And it was a beautiful surprise ». To then add: “I would not be surprised if the new Pope came from a continent other than Europe or America. The Catholic Church is all over the world ».
But will it really be a conclave of surprises? It is said, and it is true, that it is a very globalized college of voters, with origin from the suburbs and with many cardinals who do not even know each other. This could actually open by surprises, but there are other elements to be taken into account. The first is that, beyond the numbers, it is unlikely that a candidate from South America can be re -proposed immediately, just as it is unlikely that a United States candidate may be rewarded, for more geopolitical reasons that are not ecclesial (difficult to combine with a presidency like that of Donald Trump also the highest moral authority of the planet). It is equally complex to think that the time has come for an African candidate, above all because the resistance of African episcopates to certain “openings” on themes of sexual morality would find Central European purple willing to make wall. In addition, in general, the African churches are still believed to be still rather young. To elect an African purple, the one on pole would be the cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besunguit would take a very particular trend of the votes, with majorities that flakes and resorted to each other. Be careful, however, to the figure of the cardinal Cristóbal López RomeroSpanish but stationed in Morocco, a very welcome profile to the most liberal front and a name that circulates a lot in trace.
Asia has the cardinal as a very strong candidate Luis Antonio Taglepro-prefect of the Dicastery for evangelization, 67 years old. A true prodigy enfant of the world episcopate, created cardinal by Pope Ratzinger and similar to the so -called “school of Bologna”; is in full line with the openings of Francesco. Many votes could flow on him from the center and the suburbs. In the end Europe, at this moment, has the strongest names of the conclave. On the one hand there are those closest to the mens Of Francescothat is the cardinals Matteo Zuppihead of the CEI, the cardinal Jean-Marc Avelinebishop of Marseille, and the Maltese driving the powerful synodal machine, Mario Grech. There are more moderate the cardinals Péter EndoHungarian, Anders ArboreliusSwedish, and the patriarch of Jerusalem, Pierbattista Pizzaballa. Above all, for the mediation profile that represents, one cannot fail to indicate the secretary of state, Pietro Parolin.
92 votes are needed to elect the Pope, up to the thirty -three vote. This means that at least 45-50 block votes are needed to prevent the first candidates of the “flag” from reaching the election. Who will be chosen as a flag candidate from the two main souls of the voting college? The numbers say that if the most liberal part manages to be cohesive, it will be difficult to find space for more conservative candidates. But if something went wrong, then there would be room for more unifying candidates. In the first scenario, the strongest names seem to be those of Tagle And Zuppiin the second the name that would agree many remains that of Pietro Parolin. The third hypothesis is that of surprises.
