Cardinals assemble to elect pope and set course for church A

FP | Vatican City

Email : editor@newsofbahrain.com

All 133 Catholic cardinals who will vote for a new pope have arrived in Rome, the Vatican said Monday, two days before they gather in conclave to elect the next head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.

Hailing from 70 countries across five continents, the group -- summoned following the death of Pope Francis on April 21 -- is the largest and the most international ever.

At stake is the direction of the Catholic Church, a 2,000-yearold institution with huge global influence but which is battling to adapt to the modern world and recover its reputation after the scandal of widespread child sex abuse by priests.

The 133 cardinals who will vote -- all those aged under 80, minus two who are absent for health reasons -- will gather on Wednesday afternoon under the frescoed splendour of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel.

They are sworn to secrecy, risking excommunication if they reveal what happens -- as are their support staff, from medics to lift operators, canteen and cleaning staff, who took their oath Monday.

Cardinals of all ages had met earlier Monday for the latest in a series of closed-door preparatory meetings. Discussions so far have covered everything from the Vatican’s finances to the abuse scandal and Church unity. On Monday morning “the focus was on the missionary nature of the Church: a Church that must not withdraw into herself”, the Vatican said.

Cardinals discussed the profile of the next pope -- “a figure who must be present, close, capable of being a bridge and a guide, of favouring access to communion for a disoriented humanity marked by the crisis of the world order”.

He should be “a shepherd close to the real life of the people”, the Vatican added.

On Monday morning, technicians also installed red curtains on the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica, where the new pontiff will make his first appearance. Francis was an energetic reformer from Buenos Aires, who helped open up the Church during his 12-year papacy but was accused by critics of failing to defend key Catholic doctrine.

The question now is whether his successor will follow the progressive line, or take the Church on a more conservative, traditionalist path.