The countdown to the conclave that will elect a successor to Roman
Pontiff Emeritus Benedict XVI began in earnest in the Vatican yesterday
when 103 of the 115 cardinal electors who will vote in the Sistine
Chapel met for the first of their pre-conclave “Congregazioni Generali”.
These
meetings represent the real pontifical talking shop, where the
cardinals will hammer out a vision of the challenges faced by the
Catholic Church, and in the process hope to identify a candidate capable
of dealing with those challenges.
Not for nothing the Archbishop of New
York, Cardinal Tim Dolan yesterday told Italian daily Corriere Della
Sera “We’re going to try to wrap this up quickly . . . This week of
meetings will be very important, I want to talk with all my fellow
cardinals, to meet them all . . . Then after this week’s labours, we’ll
do it [elect a new pope] quickly.”
Uncomfortable shadows
Judging
by yesterday’ two “congregation” sessions, Cardinal Dolan’s hopes for a
quick conclave may have been a little optimistic. One of the first
decisions needed was on the frequency of these meetings, with some
cardinals already asking if it was necessary to have two sessions a day.
The
uncomfortable shadows of two men not present hung over the first day.
Both Benedict and Scottish cardinal Keith O’Brien, in their very
different ways, made themselves felt.
At his daily briefing,
senior Holy See spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi was asked about Cardinal
O’Brien who is not attending the conclave but who on Sunday issued a
statement confessing that he had been involved in gay “sexual
misconduct” with three priests and one ex-priest. Asked about newspaper
reports that a fifth person was involved , Fr Lombardi declined to
comment.
Scottish sources have told the London Times that this
fifth person lodged a formal complaint about Cardinal O’Brien directly
to the Holy See, probably the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith,
last October.
Cardinal O’Brien was then summoned to Rome, where
he met Canadian cardinal Marc Ouellet, the prefect of the Congregation
of Bishops, and a leading candidate for the papacy. All of this happened
five months before Cardinal O’Brien’s resignation, which was announced
by the Vatican last week.
Asked about these reports, Fr Lombardi
said: “We are here to talk about today’s congregation of the cardinals.
We can’t spend all week talking about Cardinal O’Brien. We have already
told you all we know . . . We’ve nothing else to say.”
Message to Benedict
The
Cardinals yesterday decided to send the pontiff emeritus a message of
“affection and gratitude for his service to the church”. For the last
three weeks, the Holy See has been adamant that Benedict will have no
influence over the choice of his successor.
Yet yesterday’s decision
would suggest that many of the cardinals still have him on their minds.
As for the timing of the conclave, the picture remains cloudy.
The
fact that 103 of the 115 elector cardinals were in attendance yesterday
might suggest that the conclave will be brought forward from its
scheduled date of March 15th to March 10th or 11th.
However, this is by
no means certain since a number of cardinals are reluctant to be rushed
into a conclave ahead of time.