- World Catholic attention turns to Rome before the secret voting secret on Wednesday.
Vatican City: Before the elections of a new pope, the cardinals of the Catholic church held their ninth meeting on camera on Saturday, continuing a series of daily discussions at the Vatican.
These rallies, called “general congregations”, allow cardinals to reflect the challenges that the next pontiff will face before entering the formal conclave process.
Wednesday, 133 cardinals-electors will be locked up inside the Sistine Chapel, where they will secretly vote until a two-thirds majority is reached for the next chief of the Catholic church.
The cardinals traveled crowds of pilgrims and journalists early on Saturday, but offered few comments on the process or the duration of the conclave.
“We do not know, we are just waiting for the Lord to tell us,” said Cardinal William Goh, Archbishop of Singapore, considered one of the most conservative members of the College of Cardinals.
The cardinals were summoned to Rome around the world after the death of Pope Francis on April 21. Francis, originally from Argentina, was Pope for 12 years and was known for his reformist program and his efforts to modernize the Church.
“We recognize his success, but no pope is perfect, nobody is able to do everything, so we will find the best person to succeed St Peter,” Goh told journalists.
Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, archbishop of Algiers, expressed the hope that the conclave would choose a leader aligned with the management of Francis. “We have to discover the one that the Lord has already chosen,” said Vesco. “We could have had much more time to pray together, but I am sure that at the right time, we will be ready and we will give to the Church the Pope that the Lord wanted.”
The upcoming elections are closely followed by the 1.4 billion members of the church worldwide. He also drew the attention of external religious circles.
On Friday, American president Donald Trump published a digitally modified image of himself disguised as a pope on his social media platform, social social, joking that he would like work.
The conclave should start on May 7. Until a new elected pope, the church remains under the governance of the college of Cardinals.
