“At most four days, I’m wondering,” Dom Raymundo Damasceno told journalists,
André Fontenelle
For the Brazilian cardinals present at the Vatican, the conclave that will have its first scrutiny on the afternoon of Wednesday (7) will not be too long.
“Two, three days,” predicted Dom Jaime Spengler, 64, Archbishop of Porto Alegre and president of CNBB (National Conference of Bishops of Brazil), in an interview with GloboNews.
“At most four days, I’m wondering,” he told journalists at a news conference, Dom Raymundo Damasceno, 88, Archbishop Emeritus of Aparecida. “The cardinals have already gathered, have already exposed their opinions, and today the media favors contact between people,” he added, to explain the guess.
However, a football metaphor applies historically to the conclaves. “It’s a box of surprises, no doubt,” says Dom Raymundo, with the experience of those who voted for the latter and witnessed another older much, the 1963 (at the time, was a student of theology in Rome). “What also attracts, in a way, in the Pope’s election is this surprise.”
The Romans have a famous proverb for these zebras in Conclaves: “Chi enters Pope Esce Cardinale.” Who enters Pope leaves Cardinal.
Although he cannot vote this time, because he had already exceeded 80 years old, Dom Raymundo participated in the preparatory meetings, the general congregations: “They were very rich, in terms of information, about the situation of each cardinal, where he lives, where he operates.”
To the extent of what it can reveal, it describes a cordial environment, in which the cardinals present themselves and expose their ideas without proposing names directly. “The interventions were quiet, in a very fraternal climate, without any tension, no controversy.”
During the congregations, cardinals make brief interventions for ten minutes on average with simultaneous translation in six languages. Some, according to Dom Raymundo, made a strong impression, such as those of the Italian cardinals Pietro Parolin, Matteo Zuppi and Pierbattista Pizzaballa. He also observes the expansion of cardinalato, promoted by Francisco, “on the outskirts of the world.” “East Timor, Mongolia… In Mongolia there are only 1,500 Catholics.
He [o cardeal italiano Giorgio Marengo] You can personally know each one. “Among the trends that caught the attention of cardinals in recent days is the large number of adults who sought baptism in France and Belgium in the last Easter.“ There were more than 12,000. It is interesting to note that the number is growing, ”says Archbishop Emeritus.
For Dom Raymundo, however, this does not necessarily increase the chance of a cardinal from one of these countries to be chosen to succeed Francis.
The imprisonment at Casa Santa Marta, says, is conducive to reflection: “There is a very quiet atmosphere. Meals, at the table, everyone goes where you want, talk to those who want. But there are usually no tours, there are no lectures, nothing, there is no group pressure, a normal conversation. Someone ask a cardinal look like a candidate, but everything very discreetly.
One of the most impactful moments occurs in the Sistine Chapel, when cardinals take the oath to the fresco of the final judgment, produced between 1536 and 1541 by Michelangelo. “You are there, before that judgment that will happen to each of us at the end of life. And the cardinal is taking his oath before Christ himself,” Damascene describes.
This generates, according to him, a profound responsibility: “What is moving your vote? Are interests? Are they sympathies? Or is it the good of the Church? The good of humanity?”
In the first scrutiny of a conclave, according to Dom Raymundo, it is common for votes to be more dispersed among the cardinals. Some voters take the opportunity to honor cardinals without a chance of victory. In the next vote, the concentration in the strongest names increases.
Featured by Pope Movies, Dom Raymundo says he wants to watch Edward Berger’s recent “Conclave”, fiction on the backstage of a pope’s election, criticized by some vaticologists for alleged inaccuracies.
In a scene of the feature, one cardinal tells another that everyone has a “pope name” on his head. For your part, Dom Raymundo denies. “I didn’t even think about it. If you want to have a name, you want to be a Pope. And no one wants to be a Pope. Who wants to be is because they are unaware of the mission.”
Vanity, to the archbishop, disqualifies the papable.
