What to Expect at the Conclave

On May 7, cardinals of the Catholic Church will gather to elect a successor to both St. Peter and Pope Francis. Here’s what you need to know, as opposed to what you may have seen in a movie.

The conclave to elect a new bishop of Rome and successor of Peter, better known as “the Pope,” starts May 7. Here are a few things to consider as you begin to hear more about the future of the Church and the several cardinals considered to be the “front-runners.”

The word conclave comes from the Latin for “with a key,” as the 135 cardinal electors will deliberate in secret, locked in the Sistine Chapel. This is not secrecy for secrecy’s sake but rather prudential discretion to allow for uninhibited conversation and debate. These are the same reasons why America’s 1787 Constitutional Convention was held in secret.

There are 252 cardinals in total, but to be an elector one must be under 80 years old to vote. I don’t like this rule, which is only about as old as I am, because there are cardinals over 80 who are holy and temperate men from whose wisdom the Church could benefit. Thankfully, all cardinals are allowed to participate in the congregations (i.e., meetings) to be held between now and the conclave. This means that any cardinal can be influential in these private discussions about the immediate future of the Church.

Conclaves have often produced surprising results, so do not necessarily trust those promoted as a “cardinal papabile” (a likely candidate), especially when the promoter is either (a) not Catholic, (b) a Catholic who is wishing more than thinking, or (c) a journalist who thinks only in political terms.

There are controversies, however, to consider.

Among those voting for a new pope is Cardinal Parolin, who wrote the controversial Vatican deal with the Chinese Communist Party, defended Cardinal Becciu (who was found guilty of embezzlement and sentenced to prison, with no conclave-voting rights), and was accused but never indicted for a Vatican-London real estate scam.

Others have a history of pushing against the Holy See, including Cardinal Ambongo of the Democratic Republic of Congo, who led the African bishops’ response to Fiducia Supplicans, calling its allowance of same-sex-couple blessings “a kind of Western imperialism, but on a cultural level.” Said the cardinal, Fiducia seemed to want to impose on “other peoples” certain “practices that are considered normal on the West.” In the end, the Vatican had to clarify the document. Meanwhile, Ambongo is under investigation for sedition in the DRC.

Some Americans seem to like Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the patriarch of Jerusalem, both because his name conjures a character from a Terry Pratchett or Douglas Adams novel and has “pizza” embedded in it. Yet there is much more to admire about Pizzaballa than his name, not least his gesture to Hamas in offering himself in exchange for hostages.

And just imagine Cardinal Tagle stepping out on the papal loggia.

The point is that, as the old saying goes, whoever enters the conclave as a pope leaves as a cardinal. The papabili to watch are the ones not acting like a papabile.

Here are a few other things to keep in mind as the conclave approaches.

First, it is true that Pope Francis appointed most of the cardinal electors. Some of them, like Timothy Radcliffe, O.P., have questionable credentials when it comes to settled moral teaching. Yet Popes St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI appointed all the men who voted in the conclave of 2013. And that conclave, after only two days, elected Jorge Bergoglio of Argentina, who took the name Francis.

Second, do not think in American political categories when it comes to papabili and the papacy. Was Pope Francis progressive? He compared abortion to “hiring a hitman” and called gender ideology the worst form of “ideological colonialism.” Benedict XVI was called the “green pope” before journalists began calling Pope Francis that. And the Soviets for a long time thought Cardinal Wojtyła would be malleable because he talked so much about the poor. But once he was John Paul II, he praised the “market economy” as a model when it is placed “at the service of human freedom in its totality” and bound by the rule of law. He also helped bring down communism and the Soviet Union. So, if you’re an American-style progressive, be careful what you pray for.

Third, know the difference between principle and policy. The mission of the successor of Peter is to preserve and pass on in their fullness the teachings of the apostles. His competence is in the fundamentals that underpin faith and morals, not in prudential minutiae. In other words, the bishop of Rome serves the universal Church by laying out a schema of principles rooted in Catholic teaching, but he traditionally leaves it to Catholics in their diverse places and circumstances to make prudential decisions based on these principles. When a pope does wade into prudential matters, it only weakens his moral authority, creates needless division, and obscures the authentic role of the papacy as the sign of the universality of the Catholic Church.

Lastly, a brief history lesson brought to you by Cardinal Ratzinger.

Before his election, Ratzinger was asked whether the Holy Spirit chooses the pope. His response? “I would say that the Spirit does not exactly take control of the affair, but rather like a good educator, as it were, leaves us much space, much freedom, without entirely abandoning us. Thus the Spirit’s role should be understood in a much more elastic sense, not that he dictates the candidate for whom one must vote.” The only assurance we can have, said Ratzinger, “is that the thing cannot be totally ruined.” The historical record matters, and “there are too many contrary instances of popes the Holy Spirit obviously would not have picked.”

If you want to learn more about the conclave and who is considered a cardinal papabile, visit Acton Institute’s Substack, at churchinmodernworld.com.