The Cardinals, who elected the new Pope, weighs some basic questions beyond whether to give the Catholic Church the first Asian or African pope, or conservative or progressive.
They come from 70 countries, but the 133 Cardinals seem fundamentally united by finding a pope who can enhance the churches that were two thousand years ago today, especially for young people.
It’s a tall job given the reputation of the church and the sexual abuse and financial scandals that have violated the secular trends in many parts of the world that have alienated people from organized religions.
On top of that, there is the dire financial state of the sacred Shee and often dysfunctional bureaucracy, and the job of being a 21st century pope seems almost impossible.
“We need a Superman!” said William Sen Chai Go Cardinal, 67-year-old archbishop of Singapore.
The Cardinals begin to try to find him Wednesday afternoon as the “Prince of the Church” walks strictly into the sacred chapel of the contemplative chant of “Rittany of the Saints.” They take secret oaths under the difficult vision of heaven and hell in Michelangelo’s “last judgment,” hear meditation from the senior cardinal before making their first vote.
Assuming the candidate doesn’t secure the required two-thirds majority, or 89 votes, the Cardinals will retire and return on Thursday. They vote twice in the morning, then two times until a winner is found.
Asked what the cardinal electoral priorities are, Go told reporters this week that the first issue is that the new Pope must be able to spread the Catholic faith and “contain the church in today’s age.”
The future prince
But beyond that, there are some real-world geopolitical concerns to consider. The Catholic Church is a number of professions to the religious order of women, rowd and baptized, loyalty and women, in Africa and Asia. It has traditionally been reduced in Catholic fortresses in Europe, with empty churches and faithful people officially leaving the church in places like Germany, where many have cited abuse scandals.
“Asia is ripe for evangelizing and profession harvest,” said Pastor Robert Reyes, who studied at the seminary along with Cardinal Louis Antonio Tugle, who considered the Filipino cleric to be the first Asian pope.
But should the Pope necessarily reflect a new face of the Catholic Church, inspiring faithful people, especially in parts of the world where growth momentum is already underway? Is that important too?
Pope Francis was the first Latin American pope, and the region still counts most of the world’s Catholics.
India’s Cardinal Oswald Gracias, retired archbishop of Mumbai, said the church needs to be more Asian, cultural and spiritual.
“The world’s center of gravity is shifting towards Asia,” he said. “The Asian Church has a lot to give to the world.”
At the age of 80, Gracias will not be taking part in the Conclave, but India has four cardiac electors, with 23 in Asia, making it the second largest voting block after Europe.
One of the major geopolitical issues facing the Cardinals is China, the light-form of an estimated 12 million Chinese Catholics there.
Under Francis, in 2018 the Vatican announced a controversial agreement with Beijing to govern the appointment of the bishop. Many conservatives accused them of sold-out Chinese Catholics, underground, who remained loyal to Rome during decades of Communist persecution. The Vatican defended the agreement as the best deal it could get, but it remains to be seen whether Francis’ successor will maintain the policy.
African churches
Vatican statistics show that Catholics make up 3.3% of the Asian population, but their numbers are increasing, especially in the seminary perspective, like in Africa, where Catholics make up about 20% of the population. Catholics are 64% of the American population, 40% of the European population and 26% of the Oceania population, according to Vatican statistics for the last year, 2023.
Cardinal Fridrin Ambongo Beschung, Archbishop of Kinshasa of Congo, said he was in Rome to elect the world’s 1.4 billion Catholic popes.
“I’m not here for the Congo. I’m not here for Africa. I’m here for a universal church. That’s our concern, the universal church,” he told reporters. “When we’re done, I’ll go back to Kinshasa and be the archbishop of Kinshasa’s hat, and the struggle continues.”
Cardinal Jean Paul Vesco, the chatty archbishop of Algiers in Algeria, lamented last week that the Cardinals didn’t have enough time to get to know each other.
But by this week he said the number of candidates is possible.
“That’s what I call the heart of an artichoke,” he said. “Every day I say to myself, ‘Ah! Ah, my goodness! We have it there!”
The role of the Holy Spirit
Cardinals also have the belief that they are guided by the Holy Spirit.
Comments to Bayern television stations include a famous quote attributed to Joseph Ratzinger, then in 1997. Future Pope Benedict XVI said the Holy Spirit acted like a good educator in Conclave, allowing the Cardinals to choose the Pope freely without directing accurate candidates.
“The only guarantee he’s probably offering is that you can’t completely ruin something,” Ratzinger reported. “There are too many cases of opposition from those who were clearly not chosen by the Holy Spirit.”
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Associated Press correspondent Jim Gomez for Sylvia Stellacci in Manila, the Philippines, and Trisha Thomas and Giovanna Delto of Rome contributed.
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