Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan or New York has some advice for cardinals who are about to experience their first conclave.
“Bring a book,” he said in an interview on Tuesday afternoon, while the cardinals packed their bags to move to move Casa Santa Marta, the guest house in the city of the Vatican, where dozens of cardinals remain giving the conclave, the next leader of the Catholic Church.
“I do,” said Cardinal Dolan, “because in the conclave it is mainly silence.”
When the cardinals gather for the conclave, they meet in the Sistine Chapel. All cardinal voters must make a secret oath and vote for secret vote. The cardinals cast repeated votes until there is a two -thirds majority, and the next Pope is selected.
The voting process can take one or two hours each time, so there is a lot of wait while each cardinal fills its ballot and presents it in an elaborate ritual to ensure that there are no electoral violations, he said.
“It is not as if you were on the edge of the seat, and see them all do that,” said Cardinal Dolan, who attended the conclave that chose Pope Francis in 2013.
He is bringing a biography of Miguel Ángel, who felt appropriate, since he will be surrounded by some of the artist’s fish teachers, including “The Fast Judge”, which represents the second coming of Christ and covers the wall of the altar of the Sistine Chapel.
Cardinal Dolan said that he had in mind the main candidates for Pontiff, men whose writing and work has studied.
“You want to see a guy who speaks well, you are looking for a linguistic ability. It would be very difficult for some who did not know enough Italian,” he said. “If you do not know the difference between Carcara and Taglialle, you are in trouble. It would be very difficult for someone who only Meet the Italian, because you are also a universal shepherd. “
While talking, he looked at the Basilica of San Pedro from the terrace of the ceiling of the Pontifical North American College.
“I think it will be longer than the last time,” he said, referring to the process that selected Pope Francis, who took two days. He said he had brought 12 peanut butter packages, thinking it would be enough to eat three a day while he was kidnapped. “So you understand that,” he said in mathematics.
The meetings held before the conclave have been “strenuous,” he said, with “one cardinal after another” get up to speak.
Cardinal Dolan said that the cardinals had shared their concerns about what they see as challenges for Christians in Islamic countries; In countries with oppressive governments; In regions without enough Catholic priests; Or where religious freedom is suppressed.
“Think of the Cardinal of Sudan. Think of the Cardinals of the Holy Land,” he said.
A Cardinal thanked that Francis had traveled all over the world, he said, while another said that perhaps the next stay of Pope Cervía in the Vatican and bring the cardinals to meet him there.
“One of the cardinals said: I love Pope Francis, and I am grateful for his 12 years. But we are here to choose Peter’s successor, not Francis’s successor,” he said, referring to St. Peter, the first Pope. “That, of course, is true. We have to remember that.”
Ancient and elaborate rituals of the conclave can be disconcerting for those who observe from afar. But the new cardinals “will also say that we do not become the rituals and the protocol, we do not know what to wear,” he said. “They are so honest and so fresh.”
After a morning mass on Wednesday, the cardinals are expected to go home Santa Marta, unpack and lunch. Accommodation and kitchen are relatively simple. “The food is not so good,” said Cardinal Dolan.
The process is also extremely reserved, so much that in the last conclave, only the blinds of the windows of Cardinal Dolan were secured so that no one could see inside or outside.
The city of the Vatican closes, and the cardinals are kidnapped, but they have an available doctor and confessor, “if we need help in the body or soul,” he said.
