Pope Francis could create more cardinals to ensure his succession: who are the eligible candidates?

By the end of the year, the number of cardinal electors who will elect a new pope gathered in the Conclave, they will drop to 114 of the current 123. Nine cardinals will turn 80, which excludes them from the vote.

The Argentine will be among them from November Leonardo Sandri, who celebrated the Mass on Palm Sunday presided over by the Pope, who due to an illness in his knee You cannot move around the altar.

So far Francis he convened eight consistories create cardinals and revolutionized internal balances by creating cardinals on the outskirts of the Church Latin Americans, Asians and Africans.

Currently the cardinals appointed by Jorge Bergoglio represent 65.58% of the voters, ever closer to the absolute majority which expands in each Consistory.

What is a consistory

The Pope can summon a Consistory at any time, i.e the highest advisory body of the Church and the institution where the Supreme Pontiff resided create new cardinals.

It is also in consistories where they are raised to the altars a the blessed and the saints which are then proclaimed.

It was in a consistory that he had convened to increase the number of blesseds and saints that Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger, surprisingly announced, speaking in Latin, his historic resignation from the pontificate, on February 11, 2013. A month later Jorge Bergoglio was elected Dad.

In the Consistory the Pope can consult the cardinals on the problems of the Church, including secretly.

There are two possible dates this year according to the tradition of the announcements. One is the solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, on June 29. The other, the solemnity of Christ the King, the November 26th.

Dad announce a month in advanceon the Sunday in which the Angelus at noon prays in front of the crowd gathered in San Pedro, who have been chosen to be created cardinals in the Consistory.

Paul VI has established that the number of cardinal electors is out of 120, but the figure is only indicative. Popes name more taking into account the losses for reaching the age of 80 e deceased.

In November of last year the new cardinals they were twenty.

The Conservative Opposition

Bergoglio’s reformist line is answered with growing disgust for conservatives and after the death on the last day of 2022 of Joseph Ratzinger, Benedict XVI, as pope emeritus, it is likely that the Synod of Synods, which are worldwide assemblies of bishops convened by the Pope, show a clear comparison between reformist and traditionalist lines.

Some analysts agree that the next one will be one of the most difficult conclaves of the last century and a half in the history of the papacy.

Among progressives or reformists there are two lines: one of Francis, the other of the German Church which pushes towards bolder reforms such as the priesthood of women, the end of celibacy and a new approach to sexual matters, especially the blessing of gay couples.

On the other, traditionalist or orthodox conservatives contrary to changes in depth, whose main bulwark is the North American Church, led by the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

In the Roman Curia, the central governing body, waiting for the purple are two “ministers”, Archbishop Claudio Gurerotti, of the Department of Oriental Churches, and Archbishop Robert Pvost, Prefect of the Department of Bishops.

The eligible candidates

On the reformist front, the Pope’s current favorite is the Archbishop of Bologna, Matteo Zuppi, Roman, 67 years old, president of the Italian Episcopal Conference. The previous Bergoglian favorite has gone, the prefect of the Department of Evangelization, Philippine Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle65 years old, former archbishop of Manila.

In Europe, investigations into sexual abuse have wreaked havoc in national churches. So much so that, unless the Pope elects a Frenchman to the next Consistory, a Conclave could be achieved without a cardinal from France, which has the title of Favorite daughter of the Church.

Furthermore, European Catholicism faces a popularity crisis. It is in the east of the continent that hosts a papabile like Cardinal Pietro Erdo, Primate of Hungary. The Pope is planning a visit to the country, and the figure of Erdö concentrates many expectations.

Among the conservatives, the most prominent leaders are New Yorker Timothy Dolan, the Dutch Willem Jacobus Eijk, the archbishop of Utrecht and the Guinean Roberto Sarah.

Cardinal Dolan intervened beyond the formalities by sending a book on the subject as a gift “The Next Pope” contrary to Bergoglio, to all cardinals. The Pope who is known did not protest the gesture which must not be liked.

If, as expected, the confrontation escalates in the coming months, the conservative strategy could focus not on the promotion of their own figures but on the search for the next Pope be the result of a compromise For avoid a long and dramatic Conclave.

They say that among all, there is none like the moderate esteemed by all and with great experience, at the top of the church: Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, 68 years old.

Cardinal Parolin is a refined diplomat, in line with the pope who appointed him, but he is not a “very observant Bergoglian”.

The conservative newspaper “Libero” foresees that “with an agreement on its name, the ‘fumata bianca’ (the column of smoke announcing the Habemus Papam) might as well come in record time“.

Despite the problems, the Argentine Pope’s health is good and he avoids overwork could extend his pontificate until 2024which gives them more chances to defend their line of reforms.

With a new consistory, Francis could further increase the number of cardinal electors in favor of the progressive cause.

Bergoglio supports it he doesn’t want to give up Even if he talks about it often. Among the various interventions that are read on social media and in the press, a new Jesuit or Latin American pope is excluded.

The conservatives will not reach a majority to impose the future pontiff with their own candidate. If the cardinals of the reformist line continue to enlarge the numerical majority, they only have the ability to do so negotiate a compromise.

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