The beginning of the Conclave To decide who will be Francisco’s replacement as the new Pope. The Cardinals They will meet on May 7 to choose the spiritual leader of 1,400 million faithful from the Church Catholic
The cardinals were summoned to Rome to choose the new Pope. Of the total of 135 with the right to vote -because they are under 80 years old -, 80% were designated by Francisco. There are at least two less that they will not be present for health reasons, while another would not have allowed to do so by decision of Francisco himself.
The meeting of the so -called “Princes of the Church” will consist of up to four daily votes until the new occupant of the San Pedro throne has been chosen. It will be two in the morning and two in the afternoon until one obtains two thirds. If after 30 votes there is no consensus, the last choice will be defined by a simple majority.
Once the new Pope is chosen, the white smoking will go out by one of the Vatican chimneys. Otherwise it will be black smoke.
The first Latin American pontiff was buried on Saturday after a solemn goodbye in the presence of international leaders and 400,000 people.
“Open personality”
Patricia Spotti hopes that the new Pontiff “be like the Pope who died, like Francisco.” “He must have an open personality for all,” this 68 -year -old woman who traveled from Milan to Rome for the Holy Year held this 2025 told AFP.
Many faithful fear that the new Pope is a step back with respect to the legacy of the Argentine Jesuit, marked by the fight against sexual abuses to minors in the Church, for a greater place for women and laity and by the defense of poor and migrants.
“Our desire is to find someone who looks like Francisco, who is not the same but in continuity,” Argentine Ángel Sixto Rossi, 66, told the press. “It is possible that 5,” he said about the start of the conclave.
“It’s hard to say how we imagine the profile of the new Pope,” said Italian Cardinal Giuseppe Versaldi, 83, without the right to vote. There must be “continuity but also advance in front, not only repeat the past.”
The Spanish cardinal José Cobo told El País that it will not be “anything predictable.” “If Francisco has been the Pope of surprises, this will be this conclave,” he said in an interview published on Sunday.
How in the movie?
The conclave, which is celebrated behind closed doors in the Sistine Chapel, has aroused fascination for centuries.
The recent homonym film by Edwar Berger, who won in March with the Oscar for best script adapted, popularized it even more.
“More than half of us will live our first conclave. It is an opportunity to show the world that films such as ‘Conclave’ and other similar ones are not reality,” said Spanish cardinal Cristóbal López Romero to the official media Vatican News.
The film takes place during the choice process of a new Pope, in closed door meetings. The fictional story plays with the tensions between Vatican’s factions.
But divisions within the Church are not a fiction. The reforms promoted by Francisco and his simple style aroused criticism among the most conservative sectors, which are committed to a change more focused on doctrine.
“Today we need to unite, do not divide,” said Mali Cardinal Jean Zerbo, 81, after a prayer of the sloping before Francisco’s tomb.
The bets
The German Cardinal Reinhard Marx awaits a conclave of just “a few days.”
But Roberto Regoli, professor at the Gregorian Pontifical University, believes it will not be fast. “We are in a period in which Catholicism is experiencing several polarizations” and the cardinals must “find someone who knows how to forge a greater unit,” he said.
With diplomatic conflicts and crises extending around the world, the Italian Pietro Parolin It appears as one of the favorite “papables.” This cardinal served as Secretary of State with Francisco after being a nuncio in Venezuela.
The British British House William Hill puts it ahead of the Filipino Luis Antonio Taglefollowed by Cardinal Ghanés Peter Turksson and also Italian Matteo Zuppi.
News in development.-
Source: Ambito
