VATICAN CITY: After a pontificate marked by deep divisions in the Catholic Church, the next pope will have to be a unifying figure, capable of “mending fences“ between various factions, predicts Vaticanist Marco Politi.
AFP asked the Italian expert to walk us through the main factors influencing the upcoming Conclave to choose the next pope.
Eighty percent of the cardinal electors have never been to a conclave and hardly know each other. How does that play a role?
It is the first conclave in 50 years in which there is a strong feeling of fracture in the Church… That is the main challenge of this conclave. Of course, there are a huge number of cardinals who come from the most distant places in the world, and many of them don’t know the others and many don’t know the mechanisms of the Church’s central government. They may have been good priests in their region… but they have no experience of the central machinery. All this makes this conclave difficult.
With a consensus-building pope, isn’t there a risk of stagnation in the next pontificate?
There is certainly a risk but ironically we can say there’s a choice between a pope who slows down and a pope who advances very slowly. Because we know there will be no Francis II. Francis was very impulsive and changed things through sudden gestures and words, even if they were thought out. Now, precisely because there’s this idea of bringing everyone together again, we need more careful, more collegial management. Francis made little use of teamwork with the offices of the Curia. There are even open-minded cardinals who criticise him for not convening the College of Cardinals.
What are the three main challenges of the next pontificate?
Apart from abuse, which is a recurring theme, there are three major challenges. One is to restore a sense of a collegial working system, in which the pope also takes into account the dicasteries of the Curia. Secondly, more collegiality with the cardinals, who represent the universal Church. Then the question of whether Francis’ synodal project goes ahead or not. Because when Francis was in the hospital, he signed a three-year programme with three points: promoting the role of women, accountability and consultative bodies. This is the challenge, will his successor continue this programme or trash it?
What criteria will the cardinal electors consider most when choosing a pope?
One of the strong points, important themes to discuss, to confront in the choice of a pope is the ability to revitalise the Church. Because none of the last three popes – Wojtyla (John Paul II), Ratzinger (Benedict XVI) and Francis — succeeded in overcoming the crisis of the Church in its diocesan and parish structures. Vocations have continued to fall… And this is a cause for concern. The next pope must be able to mend fences, to give new impetus to religious life at a grassroots level, to have an international presence, like Francis, and also capable of speaking to people. In other words, he must have charisma. Ratzinger, for example, didn’t have it, unlike Wojtyla and Bergoglio (Francis).
Could the pick also be a complete surprise?
I think we have to consider that there may be a surprise. I find it strange these days that a good conservative has not yet emerged as a real candidate. The ultraconservatives cannot decide the next pope, they must ally with the centre. So what’s needed is a conservative with a human face, a sympathetic conservative who maybe communicates but then puts the brakes on the diaconate, but does so gently. This figure has not yet appeared.
But the cardinals say they expect a short conclave. Isn’t that a paradox?
It is a paradox, but it expresses the desire not to show divisions.
