Vatican says conclave to elect new Pope on will begin on May 7
The Cardinals present in Rome made the decision on Monday at their fifth General Congregation
The Holy See Press Office announced on Monday that the conclave to elect a new Pope will begin on May 7.
“The Cardinals present in Rome made the decision on Monday at their fifth General Congregation. The conclave will take place in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, which remain closed to visitors during those days,” The Vatican wrote on X.
The announcement of the event was high on the agenda of cardinals holding informal meetings to decide on the affairs of the Catholic Church after the death of Pope Francis on April 21. The announcement of the date was deferred till his funeral on Saturday.
The College of Cardinals, a smaller group of 135 is eligible to elect the new Pope. The Vatican said that more than 180 cardinals participated in the fifth informal meeting in Rome on Monday.
As reported by HT, four Indian cardinals are also eligible to vote in the conclave to elect the new leader of world Catholics.
The four Indian cardinals are – Filipe Neri Ferrao, the Archbishop of Goa and Damman; Baselios Cleemis, Major Archbishop of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church in Kerala; George Koovakkad, former head of the Journeys Office of the Secretariat of State of the Holy See, and Anthony Poola, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Hyderabad and the first archbishop from the Dalit Christian community.
The College of Cardinals include 108 members from around the world selected by late Pope Francis over his tenure of 12 years. According to an AP report, many have not spent enough time in Rome to understand the views of their counterparts.
This diversity of members has reportedly created a perception of uncertainty in the process to elect a new Pope, a process that requires two-thirds of the voting-age cardinals to support a single candidate.
“There is the hope of unity,” said Argentine Cardinal Ángel Sixto Rossi, the 66-year-old archbishop of Cordoba.
The conservatives among the cardinals are reportedly inclined to forge unity among members and take the church's focus back to core doctrines emphasized by St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. Other cardinals cited the desire to continue Francis's focus on social justice and outreach to marginalised sections of society, besides an open criticism of global conflicts.
(With AP inputs)
