The Cardinals who choose the next Pope should choose the best person to lead the church through “difficult and complicated” times, a Vatican official said.
Cardinal Giovanni Batista Leh, dean of Cardinals University, commented, hours before the start of the Conclave, leading the morning mass at St. Peter’s Cathedral on Wednesday.
The 91-year-old RE, who cannot vote in the Pope election because he is over 80, urged his peers to awaken people’s consciences and set aside their personal interests to find leaders who can unite the church.
“This is a powerful call to maintain unity in the church… not to mean uniformity, but to mean solid and deep communion in diversity,” said RE, who headed Pope Francis’ funeral last month.
By mid-afternoon Wednesday, 133 Cardinals had been locked up in the Sistine Chapel. They will not come into contact with the outside world until they find a new leader in the Church’s powerful herd of 1.4 billion.
Since the death of the late Francis on Monday on Easter, speculation has grown that who might be chosen to succeed him.
Potential candidates include Pietro Parolin, Louis Antonio Tugle, Fridrin Ambongo Besching and Peter Eldo.
Parolin, a 70-year-old Italian, the Vatican Secretary of State, and Tagle, a 67-year-old former archbishop of Manila, are considered candidates who can continue the legacy of Pope Francis.
Meanwhile, Besungu, the 65-year-old Congolese cardinal who leads the church’s biggest archdiocese in Africa, and Erdő, a 72-year-old Hungarian theologian and scholar, are considered two of the leading conservative candidates.
Pope Francis nominated 108 out of the 133 cardinals to vote in Conclave, so the ultimate winner could be someone in line with his policies.
The late Pope increased the geographical spread of the Cardinal University, and new appointees came from countries that had not been previously represented, including Mongolia and Tonga.
The next Pope is one who wins at least 89 votes, or a two-thirds majority in the Conclave.
For most of the last century, it took 3-14 votes to choose a new Pope.
Pope Francis was voted for the fifth time in 2013.
