Death of the Pope: Church lawyer Schüller expects difficult conclaves

The canon lawyer Thomas Schüller expects a difficult conclave after the death of Pope Francis. The meeting for the new election of the Pope will probably take longer, said the renowned expert from the University of Münster of the German Press Agency. “I think it will be a longer conclave, a more complex conclave because the group of voters is heterogeneous.” Many of the cardinals from a wide variety of corners in the world in the past few years could hardly be divided into certain factions and directions. You also have no experience with already setting the course in the so-called pre-concrete, Schüller said.

“It will be exciting to observe: First: Will the reform -oriented group prevail and agree on a candidate? And secondly: How are the freeplayers to see from Mongolia, Timor or wherever the Pope has named cardinals who are not familiar with the Roman customs, but hopefully have the inner freedom to choose the one you think of the best?”

Pope ended the church’s Eurocentrism

Schüller said that the main income of the late Pope was to have broken up the Eurocentrism of the Catholic Church – the fixation on Europe – and led the church to the edges. “You can also see that from the fact that all peoples and nations are now represented in the Cardinal College.” To what extent the reform course from Francis will exist, depend on who will now be elected to his successor. “But let’s put it this way: You saw in 1989: Once this spirit of freedom is awakened, then it does not let himself be pushed back into the tube. And Francis emphasized the believers.”

Incidentally, the first Pope from South America was an elite-critical Pope. “The economic, including the theological elites, never liked it. His successors would be measured.