This Saturday will take place in the Vatican The Pope’s funeral Francisco And in the subsequent days the conclave will begin to define who his successor will be. The 91 -year -old Italian, Giovanni Battista redean of the Cardenalicio College, will be in charge of leading both events by decision of the own own High pontiffwho ratified him in office a few months ago despite his age.
In January 2023, the own Re had been celebrated the funeral mass of Benedict XVI that had been chaired by the Argentine Pope.
On the other hand, he already summoned the cardinals to Rome To advance with the conclave, which is expected to start between May 5 and 10. Anyway, he will not be present during the process since they are only part of the purpurated under 80 years. It is expected that in the previous days it will be “The Master of Kings” while meetings that will serve to meet and begin to forge their alliances are held.
Another of its functions is to put according to the cardinals to choose the date of the conclave.
Pope Francis ratified Giovanni Battista Re in his position
Just a few months ago, Francisco avoided the Choice of the new Dean of the Cardinal Collegealthough he himself established the rule of 5 years of mandateand confirmed to Re, who, with 91 years, will organize the congregations.
The Pope also confirmed to the Vice Dean, the italo-Argentine Leonardo Sandri, 81, for another five years.
Although Re and Sandri are over 80 years old-what it means that they cannot enter an eventual conclave-both Cardinal-Decano and the Vice Dean of the Cardenalicio College They have key roles in everything that precedes this event.
In addition, Re has to preside over the Mass ‘Pro choosing Pontifice’, which marks the start of the conclave.
Who is Giovanni Battista Re
Giovanni Battista re was Priest for 68 years, bishop for 37 and cardinal for 24Re was born in Borno (North) on January 30, 1934, entered the seminar at age 11 and was ordered priest in 1957.
He worked in diplomacy, particularly in the nunciatures in Panama and Iran, until 1971 when he began his service in the State Secretariat where he occupied the Substitute charge for general matters (number three in the Vatican hierarchy) of 1989 to 2000.
From 2000 to 2010 it was Prefect of the Congregation for Bishopsacquiring a deep knowledge of the world episcopate. In 2001 he was appointed Cardinal and since then he played a Key paper in the conclaves for the election of both Ratzinger and Bergoglio.
Source: Ambito
