Cardinal says he's relieved not to have been elected Pope
A Catholic cardinal who was considered a leading candidate to be elected Pope has expressed relief that he was not chosen, saying anyone who actively wants the job is either 'a martyr or crazy'.
Mario Grech, from Malta, was one of a dozen or so cardinals that Vatican experts saw as a 'papabile' – literally 'Pope-able' cardinal – following the death of Pope Francis.
But he insisted he had no desire for the job and was deeply relieved to be able to leave Rome 'a free man' after the conclave, the secret election inside the Sistine Chapel that resulted in the nomination of Robert Prevost as Leo XIV, the first Pope from North America.
'Someone told me before the conclave: in order to want it [the papacy], you must either be a martyr – and I don't feel I'm one – or crazy,' Cardinal Grech said.
He said he had urged his brother cardinals not to push him forward as a candidate, telling The Times of Malta: 'Several people would tell me they're praying for me, and I would say, 'Continue praying, but according to my intention, not yours.''
Asked whether he was relieved not to have been elected by the 133 cardinals, he said: 'Yes, definitely. On Thursday evening, I returned home a free man.
'I only realised after the conclave why the new Pope takes a new name – because his old life is not his any more. He is not his own man any more. He cannot even go out for a coffee, or for a short walk. And those are just the little things.'
Cardinal Grech, 68, comes from the island of Gozo to the north of the main island of Malta. He was appointed a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2020.
He said it was wrong to think that every cardinal had a desire to become Pope, adding that the same reluctance to assume high office permeated throughout the Catholic hierarchy.
Around a quarter of priests who are chosen by the Pope to become bishops are turning down the promotion, and Cardinal Grech said: 'They don't want it, because the burdens of authority in the Church are truly immense.'
He said that as a member of the Synod of bishops, he saw the problem first hand, adding: 'When a bishopric becomes vacant anywhere around the world, we receive dossiers from the local nuncio detailing three nominees. We review these files, rank the candidates by preference, and submit them to the Pope for his final selection.
'Yet, it's increasingly common for the chosen candidate to decline – roughly 25 per cent refuse the appointment. One in every four priests chosen by the Pope to be bishops are refusing.'
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