The Congregation of Cardinals has asked the faithful for prayers as they prepare to enter the conclave to elect a new pope next week. Source: The Tablet.
In a statement issued yesterday, the cardinals invited “the People of God to live this ecclesial moment as an event of grace and spiritual discernment, listening to the will of God”.
“Faced with the enormity of the task ahead and the urgency of the present time, it is first of all necessary to make ourselves humble instruments of the infinite wisdom and providence of our Heavenly Father, in docility to the action of the Holy Spirit,” the statement said, emphasising the cardinals’ “need to be supported by the prayers of the faithful”.
More than 200,000 people have “adopted a cardinal” to pray for before and during the conclave via the website praycardinal.com.
The site assigns users a cardinal and encourages them to pray for their “physical health and spiritual strength”, and that they be “open to the guidance of the Holy Spirit”, receive “wisdom and clarity of mind as they consider who should lead the Church” and that they may “remain focused on the needs of the Church and the will of God”.
Cardinal Raymond Burke, the former prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, who is widely perceived as a critic of Pope Francis, asked Catholics to join a novena to Our Lady of Good Counsel beginning today.
He said her intercession was “especially important, given the critical decisions which will be made during the coming days and weeks for the good of the Church and of the whole world”.
Meanwhile, the congregation yesterday declared all 135 listed cardinal electors will be eligible to vote in the conclave despite the official limit of 120 electors.
The cardinals issued a statement saying that cardinals exceeding the limit, set out in the apostolic constitution. Universi Dominici Gregis. that governs conclaves, had acquired “the right to elect the Roman pontiff from the moment of their creation and publication”, by the late Pope Francis’s authority.
The statement also acknowledged Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu’s decision to renounce his claim to participate in the conclave. It said he had acted for “the good of the Church and in order to contribute to the communion and serenity of the conclave”.
Two other cardinals said they would not attend due to poor health, bringing the number of cardinal electors expected at the conclave to 133.
FULL STORY
Cardinals request prayers and confirm election rights (The Tablet)
