Open, uncertain and unleashed clear, the process will predictably require more negotiations and various votes for white smoke to announce the ‘Habemus Papam’
O for the election of the successor of It starts this Wednesday (7) in the majestic Sistine Chapel, with the eyes of the world facing the small chimney installed on the time ceiling, waiting for smoke-shaped news. Open, uncertain, and free favorites, the process will predictably require more negotiations and various votes for white smoke to announce the “Habemus Papam”.
The day began with a mass in the Basilica of São Pedro do chaired by the dean of the Cardinal College, Giovanni Battista Re, who does not participate in the conclave because he is 91 years old. Cardinals have entered the procession in the Basilica to ask for divine help in the crucial election of the future spiritual leader of 1.4 billion Catholics.
The purples should participate in a new prayer in the afternoon in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace, before following to the Sistine Chapel for the Conclave, one of the most secret and mysterious events in the world. On the first day a single vote is planned, in which someone is not expected to obtain most of the two -thirds needed to proclaim a new pontiff.
89 votes
The Sistine Chapel is prepared to receive the 133 cardinals who will participate in the election: tables adorned with brown and red tissues, on which the names of each voter appear, were positioned on site. Under the magnificent frescoes of the final judgment that Michelangelo painted in the fifteenth century, the so -called “princes of the church” will vote only “in the presence of God,” in a solemn silence.
The election of the 267th Pope requires a minimum of 89 votes. If there is no white smoke on Wednesday, the cardinals will vote four times from Thursday: two in the morning and two in the afternoon. The Sistine Chapel will not be a space for speeches, debates and negotiations that lead to a consensus name among the “Bergogolists”, devotees by Jorge Bergoglio, and the most conservative wing that greatly criticized his pontificate reformist aimed at the poorest.
The conversations will take place during meals or meetings at Santa Marta residence and other Vatican quarters, where cardinals will remain isolated, without internet access, mobile, television or press. “There is an environment of great familiarity and fraternity among cardinals,” Ecuadorian Cardinal Luis Gerardo Cabrera told AFP just before he went to his new room. “This facilitates the encounter and dialogue,” he added.
The elections of Benedict XVI and Francisco took two days. Most cardinals believe that the current conclave should last a maximum of three, while the pessimists believe in five days of voting. Participants swear to keep the details of the whole process confidential. Francisco created 80% of the cardinals who participate in the conclave, the largest and most international in history, with prelates from 70 territories.
“Outside all”
Inside the Sistine Chapel, the Italian Pietro Parolin – the oldest voter cardinal, according to the order of precedence – will lead the cardinals in the Latin invocation of Espírito Santo: “Veni, Creator Spiritus.” In addition to keeping secret, cardinals commit to “faithfully serving” as a Pope in the event of an election. And with the cry of “Extra Omnnes” (all outside), the doors close and the vote begins.
Each cardinal writes his candidate’s name, doubles the ballot and puts it on a silver plate, which is used to deposit the paper in a ballot box located against the final judgment. Banknotes are burned in a stove: if the two thirds are not reached, a chemical is added so that the smoke is black; When the Pope is elected, the smoke is white.
Parolin is among the favorites to succeed Francis, from whom he was secretary of state for 12 years. The Il Messaggero newspaper also includes in the “group of papibles” the Italian Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Hungarian Peter Erddo, Cingal Malcolm Ranjith and Spanish Ángel Fernández Artime. The cardinals have gathered almost daily since Francisco’s death on April 21 to get to know each other and to discuss crucial themes for the Church, such as Vatican’s finances, the scandal of sexual abuse, the unity of the institution and the profile of the next Pope.
*With information from AFP
