Starts today – the 133 cardinals decide on the next pope

Today, Wednesday, May 7th, the Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church will begin the process of electing a new pope after being isolated from the rest of the world until white smoke comes out of chimneys in the Vatican and heard the long -awaited « Habemus Papam ».

The Conclave, which will include 133 electors, may be the most ambiguous of all time and will be called upon to choose the Franciscan successor who died at the age of 88 on April 21.

It has not been a clear favorite though the Italian cardinal Pietro Parolin and the Philippine Cardinal Luis Antonio Tangle are considered the dominant one.

The voting process will begin at 17:30 (Greek time) at Sistine Hat, which will remain closed to the public during these days, as the Vatican News.

There will be only one vote today, and in the coming days, if necessary, up to four votes can be made. No pope has been elected since the first day of Conclavium for centuries. The votes will continue until one of the Cardinals to receive two -thirds of the vote and become the 267th Pope.

When black smoke comes out of the Vatican chimneys then it will mean that a vote has proved fruitless, and when there is white tobacco, Francis’ successor will have been elected.

For today, the first day of the process, if there is an election, white tobacco may appear around 18:30, and otherwise we will have black smoke at around 20:00 in the afternoon.

‘We need a Superman’

The Euronews He notes that the 133 Cardinal Electors from 70 countries appear to insist that the question they have in front of them is not so much whether the Catholic Church will acquire its first Asian or black modifika or whether it is conservative or progressive.

On the contrary, they argue that the primary task is to find a Pope who can be both a shepherd and a teacher and someone who can unite the Church and declare peace.

« We need a Superman, » said Cardinal William Seng Chai Goch, 67 -year -old Archbishop of Singapore.

This is a difficult task of given the scandals of sexual abuse and economic scandals that have hurt the reputation of the Church and the trends of secularization in many parts of the world that remove people from organized religion, according to Euronews.

Add to this the dire financial situation of the Holy See and the often dysfunctional bureaucracy and his work to be a pope in the 21st century looks scary, added to the same article.

The conclave and its composition

Of the 133 cardinals to vote, Pope Francis set 108 of them, but there is an element of uncertainty about the election, as many of them did not know each other before last week.

This means that they did not have much time to determine which of them is the most appropriate to lead the Church of 1.4 billion people.

The Cardinals held the last day of the meetings before the Conclavian, during which the ring of Pope Francis and his official stamp were destroyed in one of the last official ceremonies of his papal post to the next Pontiff.

If no candidate ensures the necessary majority of two -thirds, ie 89 votes, the cardinals will be withdrawn for today and return on Thursday.

They will make two votes in the morning and two in the afternoon until the winner is found.

Asked what are the priorities of the cardinals, Goch told reporters that the top issue is that the new Pope must be able to spread universal faith and « make the church timely in today’s era. How to approach young people, how to show a person of love, joy and hope. « 

The geopolitical issues

However, there are also geopolitical concerns of the real world that need to be taken into account.

The Catholic Church is increasing in Africa and Asia, both in number of baptized believers and in the number of clergy or members in the female religious battalions.

However, it shrinks to Europe’s traditional Catholic strongholds, with empty churches and faithful officially leaving the church in places such as Germany, many of whom citing the scandals of abuse.

But whether the upcoming Pope must reflect the new face of the Catholic Church and inspire the faithful in parts of the world where the dynamics of development has already begun is one of the questions that will inevitably concern the cardinals during Conclavium, the Euronews notes.

Pope Francis was the first Pontiff of Latin America and the region still counts the majority of the Catholics in the world.

The Indian Cardinal Oswald Grasias, a retired Archbishop of Mumbai, believes that the Church should become more Asian, culturally and spiritually.

‘The center of gravity of the world shifts to Asia’

The « center of gravity of the world is shifting to Asia, » Grasias said. « The Asian Church has a lot to give to the world. »

In his 80s, Grasias is not able to participate in the Conclave, but India has four cardinal electors and Asia has a total of 23, making it the second largest block of voters after Europe, which has 53.

One of the great geopolitical issues faced by the cardinals is China and the about 12 million Catholics living there.

Under Pope Francis, the Vatican signed in 2018 a controversial agreement with Beijing regulating the appointment of bishops, which many conservatives denounced as a sell -off of hidden Chinese Catholics who remained faithful to Rome during decades.

The Vatican defended this agreement as the best possible deal, but it remains to be seen whether Pope Francis’ successor will continue on the same line.

No one can be sure who the new pope will be.

The church in Africa

According to the Vatican statistics, Catholics account for 3.3% of the population in Asia, but these numbers increase, especially with regard to the hierarchs, as well as in Africa, where Catholics account for about 20% of the population.

Cardinal Friedolin Abongo Besungu, Archbishop of Kinshasa, and another cardinal who regularly appears on lists of potential popes, said he was in Rome to elect a modifika for all the Catholics in the world.

« I’m not here for Congo, I’m not here for Africa, I’m here for the World Church. This is our concern, the world church, « he told reporters.

« When we are done, I will return to Kinshasa and put back the hat of the archbishop of Kinshasa and the race will continue, » he added.