VATICAN CITY (AP) 鈥 Cardinals arriving for the first day of informal meetings after Pope 贵谤补苍肠颈蝉鈥 funeral were swarmed at the city-state鈥檚 gates by journalists eager for hints of whether any consensus was building around the election of a successor. A date for the start of the highly anticipated conclave could come as soon as Monday.
In a chaotic scene, journalists shouted out questions about the mood inside, whether there was unity, and when the conclave would begin. A reporter for a satirical Italian television program repeatedly asked whether an Italian cardinal who has been convicted by the Vatican criminal court on finance-related charges would be allowed to vote.
鈥淭here is the hope of unity,鈥 said Argentine Cardinal 脕ngel Sixto Rossi, the 66-year-old archbishop of Cordoba who was made a cardinal by Francis in 2023.
Many cardinals cited the desire to continue pastoral focus on people who are marginalized and against war. But conservatives in the ranks may be more focused on forging unity and refocusing the church back to core doctrines emphasized by St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, rather than continuing Francis' social justice focus and outreach to women and gays.
British Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the 79-year-old archbishop of Westminster, was adamant that the church must strive for unity, and he downplayed divisions.
鈥淭he role of the pope is to essentially hold us together and that鈥檚 the grace we鈥檝e been given from God,鈥 said Nichols.
Venezuelan Cardinal Baltazar Enrique Porras Cardozo expressed confidence that once the conclave begins, a decision would be quick, "between two and three days.鈥
Cardinal electors
The that will elect a new pope includes members from far-flung corners of the globe whom Francis named over his 12-year papacy to bring in new points of views of the Catholic Church hierarchy. Many have spent little or no time in Rome getting to know their colleagues, injecting some uncertainty into a process that requires two-thirds of the 135 voting-age cardinals to coalesce behind a single candidate.
Nichols acknowledged that the 135 cardinal electors 鈥 108 of whom were appointed by Francis 鈥 don鈥檛 know each other very well. The last 20 were appointed in early December.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got all week,鈥 Nichols said as he arrived Monday.
Only cardinals under 80 are eligible to vote, and it is not clear how many of the 135 will participate. A Spanish cardinal has already said he won鈥檛 come to Rome for health reasons.
A big uncertainty is whether Cardinal Angelo Becciu, once one of the most powerful cardinals in the Vatican, will be allowed in the Sistine Chapel. Francis in 2020 as head of the Vatican鈥檚 saint-making office and renounce his rights as a cardinal because of allegations of embezzlement and financial fraud. Becciu denied any wrongdoing but was put on trial in the Vatican criminal court and in December, 2023.
He is appealing the conviction and has participated in the pre-conclave meetings, but there is a lingering question about whether he is entitled to vote. The Vatican鈥檚 official statistics list him as a 鈥渘on-elector.鈥 When he was ousted in 2020, Becciu told a hastily arranged press conference that he in any future conclave, but recently, he has insisted he is entitled to vote and canon lawyers have been poring over the Vatican document regulating the conclave to determine if he鈥檚 right.
Papal candidates
While Francis stacked the ranks with his cardinals, it is not necessarily the case that all of them will want to see the church continue in his image.
On Monday morning, any glimpse of a red cap appearing along St. Peter鈥檚 Square鈥檚 stately colonnade set journalists running with cameras and voice recorders aloft to capture the mood inside, however fleeting.
Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, considered a contender to be the next pope, navigated the scrum of converging journalists with humor, but didn鈥檛 give anything away. He joked that he was 鈥渉olding his breath鈥 as the microphones and cameras surrounded him all the way to the Vatican gate.
African voices
Nigerian Cardinal John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan, the emeritus archbishop of Abuja, was asked if the African cardinals were coalescing around a particular candidate.
African bishops had made a remarkably united stand last year against 贵谤补苍肠颈蝉鈥 outreach to LGBTQ+ people, refusing to implement his declaration allowing priests to offer blessings to same-sex couples. Given such a stand, there is some speculation that the 18 African cardinal electors could help block a progressive candidate from emerging.
鈥淲e have not come here for a political rally. We have come to get a pope out,鈥 said Onaiyekan, who at 81 is too old to vote but can have a role in influencing how younger electors might.
Asian and Latin American voices
Indian Cardinal Anthony Poola, the 61-year-old archbishop of Hyderabad, said he had experienced a sense of unity among his fellow cardinals but allowed that 鈥渁nything could happen.鈥 As a relatively young cardinal, Poola is one of four Indian electors who will participate in the conclave, three of whom, including Poola, were named by Francis.
鈥淎nyone who is coming up must be the successor of St. Peter, and we all hope that he will be a good pope,鈥 he said.
Rossi, the Argentine cardinal, said he hoped that Francis' message of 鈥渕ercy, closeness, charity, tenderness and faith," would accompany them in finding a successor.
But he acknowledged the job was daunting. Asked how he felt about participating in his first conclave, he responded with a laugh: 鈥淎fraid.鈥
