Despite their origins in 70 different countries, 133 cardinal voters seem to fundamentally unite to insist that the question before them is not whether the church has won the first Asian or African pope, or whether it is a conservative or progressive person. Instead, they said that when the conference opened on Wednesday, their main task was to find a pope who could be both a pastor and a teacher, who could unite the church and preach the bridge of peace.
“We need a superman!” said Cardinal William Seng Chye Goh, the Archbishop of Singapore.
Given that sexual abuse and financial scandals have damaged the reputation of the church and secular trends in many parts of the world, it is indeed a high task that keeps people away from organized religion. Beyond that, the horrible financial situation and bureaucracy of the Holy See are often dysfunctional bureaucracies, and the work of becoming a pope in the 21st century seemed almost impossible.
Francis named 108 of the 133 electors as his image. But uncertainty about elections is a factor of uncertainty, as many people didn’t know each other before last week, meaning they don’t have much time to pick out who is best suited to lead 14 billion billion churches.
The Cardinal held the last day of the pre-criticism meeting Tuesday morning, during which Francis' fisherman ring and his official seal were destroyed in the final formal ceremony of his religious transition to the next.
The Cardinal will begin trying to find the new pope Wednesday afternoon, when those “princes of the church” solemnly walked into the Sistine Church for a meditative ode to “the little gift of the saints.” They will sworn in Michelangelo's The Last Judgment, hear the meditation of the senior cardinal in the daunting vision of heaven and hell, and then make their first vote.
Assuming there is no candidate that can secure the necessary two-thirds majority or 89 votes, the Cardinal will retire on the day and return on Thursday. They will vote twice in the morning and then twice in the afternoon until the winner is found.
Asked what are the priorities for cardinal voters, Goh told reporters this week that the first issue’s question was that the new pope must be able to spread the Catholic faith and “make the church relevant in today’s times.
The future pope, but in addition to that, there are some realistic geopolitical issues to consider. The Catholic Church is growing in Africa and Asia, with both faithful and faithful baptized, and a career in priesthood and religious order for women. It is shrinking in traditional European Catholic fortresses, empty churches and faithful formal departures in places like Germany, many citing abuse scandals.
“Asia has matured, it is the maturity and professional harvest of evangelicalism,” said Robert Reyes, a Filipino bishop, who studied at the seminary.
But should the Pope necessarily reflect the new face of the Catholic Church and inspire believers, especially in areas of the world that are already developing momentum? Is it even important?
Pope Francis was the first Latin American pope, and the region remains the majority of Catholics in the world.
Oswald Gracias, India’s cardinal of retired archbishop of Mumbai, said the church needs to become more Asian culturally and spiritually.
“The focus of the world is shifting to Asia,” he said. “The Asian church has a lot to give to the world.”
Gracias will not be in the conference at 80, but India has four Cardinal Telecom and Asia’s total of 23, making it the second largest voting group after Europe, with 53 (or possibly 52) in Europe, given that the group is not expected to be involved for health reasons).
One of the biggest geopolitical problems facing the Cardinal is the plight of China and the estimated 12 million Chinese Catholics there.
Under Francis, the Vatican reached a controversial agreement with Beijing’s appointment in 2018, which was appointing bishops, and many conservatives were rejected short selling of underground Chinese Catholics who have been loyal to Rome during decades of communist persecution. The Vatican has defended the deal as the best deal possible, but it remains to be seen whether Francis’ successor will comply with the policy.
According to Vatican statistics, Catholics make up 3.3% of the Asian population, but their population is growing, especially in seminaries, while Catholics have about 20%.
Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, the cardinal of the Archbishop of Kinshasa, Congo, said he elected the pope of all Catholics in Rome.
He told reporters: “I am not here in Congo, I am not here in Africa, I am here to attend the Global Church. This is our focus, the universal church.” “After finishing, I will return to Kinshasa, and I will return to the Archbishop of Kinshasa Hat, and the struggle continues.”
Algeria Chat Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, the archbishop of France, lamented last week because there was not enough time for the cardinals to know each other, as many of them had never seen and 70 countries from the most different conclusions in history were from 70 countries.
He said, “Every day, I said to myself, 'Ah! Oh my god! We have it!'”
The role of the Holy Spirit in the Cardinals also has a belief that they are guided by the Holy Spirit.
In 1997, then-supervisor Joseph Ratzinger made a famous offer in his comments on Bavarian TV. Future Pope Benedict XVI said the Holy Spirit acted like a good educator in a conference, allowing the Cardinal to freely choose the pope without deciding on the exact candidate.
“The only guarantee he offers is that this thing cannot be completely ruined,” Rasingh said, according to reports. “The Holy Spirit obviously won't pick a pope to have too many incidents to the contrary.”
