All 133 cardinals who plan to enter the conclave to elect a new pope tomorrow have arrived in Rome, the Vatican press office said yesterday. Source: OSV News.
They participated in the morning general congregation, a meeting that gives all the cardinals – those under the age of 80 and eligible to enter a conclave as well as those over 80 – a chance to discuss priorities, challenges facing the Church and the qualities needed in the next pope.
The cardinals voted to meet again yesterday afternoon and this morning because so many cardinals were on the waiting list to speak.
Matteo Bruni, director of the Vatican press office, said 26 cardinals spoke at the morning session yesterday.
The topics, he said, included canon law; the importance of Catholic charities “in advocating for the poor”; and the need for a pope who “should be a person present and close, a door of access to communion, to unity in a world where the world order is in crisis, a pastor, a shepherd close to the people”.
They also spoke about evangelisation, the challenges of climate change and war, and “they spoke with concern about divisions within the Church,” Mr Bruni said. Others spoke of a lack of vocations to priesthood and religious life in some regions, and the importance of the family.
United States Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, who as camerlengo (chamberlain) of the Holy Roman Church, is in charge of dealing with practical matters, drew lots on Saturday to assign the cardinals their rooms for the conclave, which begins tomorrow, Mr Bruni said.
Some of the cardinals will stay in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, the guesthouse St John Paul II built to house cardinals in a conclave. It was where Pope Francis chose to live after he was elected in 2013.
Because Pope Francis’s rooms were sealed with his death and because the late pope named so many cardinals, some of them are staying next door at the “old Santa Marta,” which shares a courtyard with the guesthouse.
FULL STORY
Final preparations, discussions underway before conclave begins (By Cindy Wooden, OSV News)
