Informal Talks to Select New Pope Begin
RTE News
Talks on the process of electing the next pope have begun in Rome. However, the starting date of the closed-door conclave to choose Benedict's successor is not expected to be announced today. The church hopes to have the new pope elected next week and officially installed so he can preside over the Holy Week ceremonies starting with Palm Sunday on 24 March. The general congregations will hold morning and afternoon sessions. The Vatican seems keen to have only a week of talks so the 115 cardinal electors - those under 80 years of age - can enter the Sistine Chapel for conclave next week. High on the agenda will be church governance after last year's Vatileaks scandal exposed corruption and rivalries in the Vatican's Curia bureaucracy. Cardinals expect to be briefed on a secret report to the pope on the problems it highlighted. "We should know about some things we don't have enough information about because of our work or the distance (from Rome)," Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga told Italian television. Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, archbishop of Galveston-Houston in Texas, noted more than half the cardinal electors had been named since the now retired Pope Benedict was chosen in 2005 and had to find out how this most secretive of elections is conducted. "Part of this is learning," he told journalists. Cardinals over 80 can attend the general congregations and discuss issues with the electors, but not take part in conclave itself. The meetings are also a time for sizing up the undeclared candidates by watching them closely in the debates and checking discreetly with other cardinals about their qualifications. "I don't think any of us will go in saying 'this is who I will vote for'," Boston Cardinal Seán O'Malley said. "You're faced with a number of choices." One urgent decision the cardinals must take is when to go into conclave. Only all 115 electors can make the decision and not all are in Rome yet, so it may take a few days before the actual date is set. Cardinals never reveal publicly who they prefer but drop hints in interviews by discussing the identikit for their ideal candidate. The most frequently mentioned quality is an ability to communicate the Catholic faith convincingly. Several strike a note of nostalgia for the charismatic late Pope John Paul after eight years of his shy successor Benedict, who shocked the Catholic world by becoming the first pope in hundreds of years to resign last month. Most cardinals say the new pope could come from outside Europe, but it is not clear if conclave, which has a slight majority of European cardinals, will break the long-standing tradition of choosing only men from the continent. The sexual abuse crisis haunting the church should also play a role, especially since one elector - Cardinal Keith O'Brien - quit as Edinburgh archbishop last week and pulled out of attending conclave because of abuse accusations against him. Cardinal O'Brien initially denied the allegations but issued a statement yesterday apologising because "my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal". Two cardinals mentioned as possible candidates added other issues to the discussion list in interviews with Reuters. Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, an Argentine who heads the Curia department for Eastern Catholic Churches, said the church must give women more leadership positions in the Vatican and beyond. New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan said the growing phenomenon of people believing in God but rejecting organised churches, known among sociologists of religion as "believing without belonging", was a major challenge for the church in future. An Italian consumer group on Monday urged Rome prosecutors to question U.S. cardinal Roger Mahony, who is in the city to attend the conclave to elect a successor to Pope Benedict, over a sexual abuse cover-up scandal in the United States. Roman prosecutors asked to question cardinal over abuse Meanwhile, an Italian consumer group urged Rome prosecutors to question US Cardinal Roger Mahony, who is in the city to attend the conclave. The Codacons group said it had asked Rome prosecutors several days ago to investigate sexual abuse the cardinal is accused of covering up in the 1980s, and to try to establish whether minors or Italian citizens were among the victims. As archbishop of Los Angeles from 1985, Cardinal Mahony worked to send priests known to be abusers out of the state to shield them from law enforcement scrutiny, according to church files unsealed under a US court order in January. His successor, Archbishop Jose Gomez, has removed him from all public and administrative duties, but Cardinal Mahony has made clear his intention to be among 117 cardinals allowed enter conclave. Cardinal American and Italian Catholic activists in February petitioned Mahony to exclude himself from the conclave, saying he would taint the new pontiff with the same scandal that dogged Benedict. An Italian abuse victims group is separately petitioning the Vatican to exclude Cardinal Domenico Calcagno from the conclave, saying the former bishop of Savona failed to report an abusive priest in his diocese to civil authorities.
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