The Pope prepares his succession with the appointment of 20 new cardinals

Pope Francis, who deals with the infirmities of age and does not exclude resignation for health reasons, is preparing his succession with the investiture, this Saturday, of 20 new cardinals, 16 of whom with the right to vote in conclave for the election of the successor of the Argentine pontiff.

The 85-year-old Pope has summoned all the cardinals of the world an unprecedented two-day meetingwhich will take place after the “creation” – which is the religious term – of the 20 new “principles of the Church”.

The investiture ceremony of the new cardinals will take place during a solemn ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.

The announcement is dedicated to the reform of the Pontifical Constitution, approved in March and in force since 5 June nearly 300 cardinals it is a sort of pre-conclave, during which the situation of the Church will be assessed after almost 10 years of leadership of the Latin American Pope.

speculations

The meeting also sparked speculation of all kinds, in particular on the state of health of the Pope, who had a colon surgery in 2021 and suffers from pain in his right knee that prevents him from walking and forces him to use a wheelchair.

Francisco also did not rule out the possibility of resigning due to health problems, as he admitted to the journalists who accompanied him on his trip to Canada at the end of July.

“Changing the Pope would not be a catastrophe”, he told them, even though he explained: “I have not thought about this possibility, but this does not mean that I will not think about it the day after tomorrow”.

He added: “The door is open.”

With the investiture of the new cardinals, the first Latin American Pope in history proposes for his succession religious from the peripheries of the worldcertainly more open, less accustomed to the intrigues of the Roman Curia.