Follow the live updates on the conclave to choose a new Pope.
There are so many unknown faces, the cardinals use name labels. The Vatican guest house for fodder who come to choose the next Pope is exaggerated. The daily meetings of the Vatican have tasks about the sensation of the theological sessions of rapid dating.
“The cardinals do not know themselves so well,” said Cardinal Anders Arborelius of Sweden, who has spent the last days in a Vatican room full of people listening to concerns and learning the names of the record number of the Popeales of the cardinals.
Cardinal Arborelius sat in a section reserved for a small group of newcomers from countries that never had cardinals before. They included one of Mali, who, he said, had “disappeared” after the first day, and De Laos, who, many days in the meetings, “has not appeared.” He said, he felt “lost all the time.”
However, never, he and dozens of other cardinals will be presented to the Sistine Chapel from Wednesday afternoon to launch votes for the next Pope under imprisonment and the frescoes of Michelangelo, in one of the oldest dramas in the world.
All papal elections are unpredictable. But this conclave has so many unknown faces with unknown policies, priorities and groups that could be more frantic than usual.
It also arrives at a particularly dangerous moment for a church that Francis left deeply, with progressive factions by pressing for greater inclusion and change, and the conservatives who turned around to shoot things, under the appearance of the unit.
The first Pope in centuries from outside Europe, Francis extended the global scope of the Church to better reflect the diversity of faith. The conclave that chose it 12 years ago had 115 cardinals from 48 countries. This conclave is expected to have 133 cardinals of voting age (those under 80), representing about 70 countries. The new Pope will need at least 89 votes.
Some Cardinals silently hold Spinning sessions in the rooms of the churches and the books covered with books or under the adorned candlesticks of religious orders. Vatican officials, experts, experts and waiters, and even columnists of gossip that generally specialize in sociality that behave badly, all claim to have an internal track about the dynamics that take shape on the obvious and clandestine candidates, creators of kings, veteran operators and young impressions.
Actually, nobody knows who will emerge on the balcony overlooking the Plaza de San Pedro after the white smoke points out that the cardinals have made their choice.
The lounge full of people is more “anonymous” members, without strong international leaders, or even national blocks, said Andrea Riccardi, founder of the community of Sant’Egidio, a Catholic group near Francis and some of the Italian cardinals.
The result, he said, is a fragment of alliances and more a dynamic of the Assembly that “benefits the well -known” and allows more “moral pressure of the elderly.”
One of the most pressing questions before the cardinals will be whether it will advance further along the path that Francis pointed out or will bring the “home” of the papacy to Europe.
The first favorites reflect those tensions. Among them are Cardinal Pietro Parolin, 70, an Italian who was the Secretary of State of the Vatican under Francisco. It is seen as someone who could horch both the modification and more liberal fields, thought is apparently objectable for conservatives. In the days before the conclave, a Catholic publication of the United States eliminated the rumor that it had passed out in the hall. The Vatican said it was a lie.
Another contender mentioned is often the cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, 67, of the Philippines, who embodies the impulse of a progressive of the church’s expanding kingdoms. And finally, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, 60, the Italian patriarch or Jerusalem, who, as Francisco is known for his pastoral sensitivity, but which is, again, Italian.
“There are three that everyone knows: Parolin, Tagle and Pizza Balla,” said Cardinal Arborelius, who is sometimes mentioned as a possible Pope, and who called himself part of a “very special group” or newcomers.
The rookies
Not everyone is delighted with the acceleration of geographical diversity and the new cultivation confident to decide the future of the novel Catholic Church.
Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller of Germany, a conservative who used to direct the Church’s office on doctrine before Francis dismissed him from that work, recalled a meeting during Francisco’s pontificate when one of the new types: “A cardinal of 25 Catholics on an island at the South Sea” – entered a subcommittee meeting.
“He said three things,” said Cardinal Müller. “First, I don’t speak English. Secondly, I don’t know anything about theology. And third, I didn’t know why Cardinal made me. He is now a voter of the Pope.”
The conservatives complain that Francis stacked the university with cardinals with the usual 120 members. It passed over the archbishops in the western capitals, sometimes put in the hands of the conservatives, to create a more global university that reflects their pastoral vision and its ascending vision of the Church.
But it is not clear that all the cardinals that Francis created are in their mold. In lovely political matters for Western liberals, such as the inclusion of LGBTQ Catholics and women, they can be more conservative.
Some close allies of Francis exhausted the concern.
“You can find opposition figures in all the countries in which Cardinals did,” Cardinal Michael Czerny, a progressive and Canadian Jesuit who was a nearby advisor to Francis, and pointed out that the Pope had passed them. “I don’t think he is choosing people who disagree with him completely.”
Other cardinals were privately worried that the new members of the university could be beaten by the big names or would be easily manipulated by the power players of the Vatican, which results in a rapid conclave that chooses a favorite.
On the other hand, newcomers, who have not yet forged alliances, could be difficult to pass, attenuating the vote.
The Italians
There is a feeling among some in the room that “we now need an Italian Pope,” said Cardinal Arborelius, the newcomer from Sweden. Other cardinals have also noticed that Italians seem to be suffering a papal withdrawal.
“How long have not had a Pope?” Cardinal Juan José Omella or Barcelona said with a smile.
The answer: 47 years. Forever, in the Italian era.
After Adrian VI, a Pope of Holland, died in 1523, the Italian hero a squeeze of papal power for 455 years until John Paul II of Poland left the conclave in 1978. It was happened by Benedict XVI of Germany, and after Argentina.
Italian cardinals, fractured by ideological, personal and cultural conflicts, traditionally do not vote as a block. Some sponsors of non -Italian candidates argue that this is still the case.
But a reduction in Italian ranks by Francis can cause more cohesion than usual among the 17 remaining Italian voting cardinals, Churches’ experts say.
With approximately 12 percent of the total vote, they are still the largest national group, and have candidates and creators of strong kings among them.
But some church traditionalists argue that doctrine and theology should overcome all other considerations. For them, the Italian effort to bring the papacy home is nonsense.
“One of us,” said Cardinal Müller, mocking the cry of Italian rally. “It’s childish.”
The unlikely allies
There is no shortage or potential coalitions.
Voting blocks can form around geography, ideology, language or cultural sensibilities. Or around priorities such as financial transparency or doctrinal problems. They can even form around the old score or antagonism configuration.
Some Vatican officials said that Asian cardinals considered themselves well organized and united, becoming a powerful block that could join more progressive Americans and South American who do not want an Italian, for example.
Instead, says speculation, they could align behind someone like Cardinal Tagle of the Philippines.
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“He cries,” said Cardinal Müller with a Shug, added that he considered that the “outgoing” Philippine.
The conservatives designated by the previous Pontificates are considered a cohesive group, even if they do not have a decisive number. Some liberal cardinals concern conservatives will seek a force multiplier when looking at Africa.
Africa is the home of one of the most booming Catholic populations of the Church, and of some of its most conservative cardinals, many of which deeply oppose the inclusion of LGBTQ Catholics.
The most frequently cited candidate of Africa is Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, or the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He was a favorite from Francis, who appreciated his pastoral pedigree.
But he opposed a rule change that Francis allowed blessings or same -sex couples. Instead, he has pressed other priorities, such as pastoral care for polygos.
The emphasis does not excite European conservatives, and the question is whether they are willing to overlook to advance other priorities.
It has also enraged liberals who ask for a greater inclusion of LGBTQ Catholics and women in the Church, and who see a clear double standard, politically motivated.
“What is more widespread? Polygamy or homosexuality?” The Reverend James Martin said, an American who personally received Francis’s breath for his ministry to LGBTQ Catholics. “Why does one deserve pastoral consideration and the other condemnation?”
Cardinal Ambongo is not the most conservative African cardinal. Cardinal Robert Sarah from Guinea directed the resistance to Francis and is feared by the liberals who see him as someone who pulled the church back.
“I can think of some African cardinals, they make me shiver,” said Cardinal Czerny. When asked if the conservatives were gathering Behaind to an African Pope as a Trojan horse to promote his agenda, Cardinal Czerny said: “Certainly, certainly, certainly, and that is why,” added the time of things, so he has done so, he has done so, he has done so, soe, soe, soe, soe, soe, soe, soe, soe, soe, soe, soe, soe, soe.
Some progressives argue that, on the other hand, the Church should look east. Conservatives accuse that a progressive tacit prejudice against Africa may be behind the pivot to Asia.
“Asia!” Cardinal Müller said. “I think there are hidden prelimons that Africa is not so developed. Nobody would say it, but in the heart, right?”
