Rome.– The climate is electric. While continued the massive farewell to Francisco –A “man dressed as a potato”, as many Italians say, who worshiped him-, the Cardinals gathered in the general congregations (pre -main meetings) began on Thursday to talk about The challenges facing the Catholic Church.
And Rome prepares for Saturday funerals in which 130 delegations are expected, some of them headed by about 50 heads of state and 10 kings and queensinformed the Vatican press room, overwhelmed by the accreditation orders that come from all corners of the world.
The regressive account for the final goodbye to Jorge Bergoglio, as well as the exceptional security operation that will include More than 11,000 peoplebetween forces of order and army, to take care that everything goes well.
The eternal city already begins to arm with fences, there are helicopters that fly over the sky and in the Vatican area have already finished installing giant screens and chemical baths Waiting for a flood of at least 250,000 people.
The Romans who can, and above all, taking advantage of the April 25 holiday, Liberation Festival, began to escape outside the capital over the weekend to avoid Saturday’s chaos and continue everything on television.
In the midst of a climate of mourning and farewell, with half -mast flags and advertising luminous posters where the image of Pope Francis and the legend “Grazie” (“thank you”) appears, all reflectors really point to the new classroom of the Synod.
There he concluded on Thursday the third session of the general congregations, in which 113 cardinals participated, of which Less than half were voters, that is, under 80 years of age and with the right to participate in the election of the new Popeaccording to the director of the press room, Matteo Bruni.
Precisely because there are still many of the sloping ones, they still did not decide what everyone wants to know: when the conclave will begin that must choose the 267th Pontiff of the history of the Catholic Church.
The norms establish that it should begin between 15 and 20 days after the death of the pontiff, that is, Between May 6 and 10.
“We still don’t have clear ideas, so figure if we are going to say it abroad,” joked a cardinal when leaving the predictive meeting. In addition to that all the cardinals are expected to arrive, which in total are 252 (135 voters and 117 not voters) – which lend an oath about maintaining the secret of discussions -,, It is believed that the date of confinement and entry into the Sistine Chapel will be decided when discussions about the “identikit” or profile of the future Pope will have exhausted.
In this context, an issue that divides and never before in the modern history of the conclaves had appeared, is the “Cash Buddy.”
The dilemma is whether the cardinal questioned Angel buckoo -A whom Francisco Defensestró in September 2020 for a corruption scandal, forcing him to resign from his position as the prefect of the then called the Congregation of the Causes of the Saints already your cardinal rights (that is, your entry into the conclave)maintaining the title of cardinal- It may or may not participate in the choice process.
Already before the death of his chief Máximo, Becciu, who was sentenced in the first degree and always manifested innocent, launched a campaign to change things and achieve being readmitted to the College of voters. Challenging Pope Francis, now he cries out that, in truth, he was pardoned by him and that For a cardinal choosing a Pope is a duty, beyond a right.
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In this argument it is supported by the conservative sectors and must be decided if the cardinals who participate in the general congregations eventually have the power to reverse a decision of the Pope.
Apparently, Becciu participated in the first general congregation, last Tuesday. “Everyone has been invited,” Bruni said, without confirming or denying the version. But the truth is that, while they began to occur, outside the public spotlights, the classic meals and gatherings in which the pre -main maneuvers are woven, the “Becciu case” is the one that monopolizes the conversation.
And the big question is whether the cardinal rights ever returned to some history.
“The situation is very different from all cases of the past because At the moment no papal document is known to say what your status isbut we simply know a statement from the Vatican press room that said that Cardinal Becciu lost cardinal rights, but what are the cardinal rights? ”He told The nation The priest Roberto Regi, professor of the Church of the Church of the Pontifical Gregorian University, in an interview.
“There is no papal document to tell us and at the time Professor Alberto Melloni (another famous expert historian in the Catholic Church) commented that The choice of a Pope is not a right, but a duty of the cardinals”He added.
Could Cardinal Becciu be right? “The point is whether or not there is a document that says from Francisco that he lost this right and lost this duty,” replied.
Bruni informed that in the third general congregation there were 34 interventions. Some logistics issues were decided, such as that the Argentine cardinal Victor Manuel “Tucho” Fernández – One of the people closest to the Pope– He will celebrate the Mass of the sixth of the nine days of mourning “novelty” by Francisco, instead of Cardinal Camarlengo, Kevin Farrell. And that “a shared reflection on the Church and the world began.”
Was the conflictive “Becciu Case”, defined by the Italian Vatican Domenico Agasso as “A loose cannon”?
Beyond this topic, for Agasso these cardinal meetings are marked by a great division between progressives and conservatives regarding several issues.
Consulted in this regard, Regol considered that it is simplifying things too much to talk about a struggle between reformists and conservatives, since someone can be a reformist on certain issues, but conservative in others.
“In addition, what does reformer, reformist mean?” Although he confirmed that there is a climate of great division.
“Obviously the urgency of the Church is now to avoid polarizations and internal ones and create rather a dynamic of unity among the shepherds. There will always be differences, but It is not possible that they are all looking sideways at each other”Said the professor and historian, who stressed that, according to his point of view, “It takes a candidate who is recognized as someone capable of putting together the various pieces of the Catholic Church.”
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