Latest news with #JeanPaulVesco
Sky News
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News
Conclave live: Smoke to rise from Sistine Chapel chimney after first round of secret voting for pope
'What an adventure': Cardinals' final posts to online flock before surrendering phones Before surrendering their phones, some of the cardinals now locked away from the outside world until they decide on the new pope took a final opportunity to post on social media. Fernando Chomali Garib, the Archbishop of Santiago de Chile, posted a video on X of himself washing a shirt with the message: "Today I enter the conclave without a cell phone. You can vote on who will be the pope before God alone. A responsibility that overwhelms me." Jean Paul Vesco, the Archbishop of Algiers, used Facebook to send a message to his online friends. "Tonight I enter the silence of the conclave, I can't wait," Vesco said. "This archaic 11th-century institution is demonstrating an incredible modernity in the age of over-media, of social media and of our digital addictions. "No more phones or internet, the windows of our rooms are sealed.... We will emerge with the proclamation: 'habemus papam! What an adventure indeed!" Conservative Cardinal Raymond Burke made an appeal via a video in another Facebook post. "Your prayer is urgent for the cardinals who enter the conclave to choose the successor of Saint Peter," he said. Ukrainian Mykola Bychok, the youngest member of the College of Cardinals at 45, said via social media that: "While I'm in the Sistine Chapel I'll pray for a just peace for Ukraine."
Al Arabiya
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
Who's going to be the next pope? Cardinals to move into Vatican on eve of conclave
Cardinals will on Tuesday begin moving into the Vatican accommodation where they will stay during the conclave, on the eve of their historic, secretive meeting to elect a new pope. Following the death of Pope Francis on April 21, 133 cardinal electors will gather on Wednesday in the Sistine Chapel for an election that could last hours, days, or even months. They normally stay in the Vatican's Santa Marta guesthouse, which has en-suite bathrooms and hotel-style room service, but there are not enough rooms for them all. With representatives from 70 countries across five continents, this conclave is the largest -- and the most international -- ever. As a result, some of the cardinals will be housed at Santa Marta Vecchia, a building next door usually used to accommodate Vatican officials. They will be able to access their rooms -- assigned by drawing lots -- between Tuesday and the mass on Wednesday morning that precedes the conclave. Both Francis and his predecessor Benedict XVI were both elected within two days, but the longest papal election in Church history lasted 1,006 days, from 1268 to 1271. The cardinal electors -- those aged under 80 -- and other, older cardinals on Tuesday morning began the last of their near daily preparatory meetings for the conclave. Discussions so far have covered everything from the Vatican's finances to the abuse scandal and Church unity, and the profile of the next pope. Franco-Algerian cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco told the Corriere della Sera daily that the meetings, held since Francis's death, have helped bring together a very disparate group. 'We've come from so many countries, many of us had never met before. Finally we have got to know each other,' he said. There are 'at least five or six' contenders, he said. 'It will happen' 'There were the so-called 'natural' candidates, those already known for their role and personality. And there are those who speak and make you think 'that is strong.'' 'But there is no-one who 'trounces' the others, who you think 'he's the one'. Yet it will happen,' Vesco said. Francis was an energetic reformer from Buenos Aires, who helped open up the Church during his 12-year-long papacy, but was accused by critics of failing to defend key Catholic doctrine. The question now is whether his successor will follow a similar progressive line, or take the Church on a more conservative, traditionalist path. Francis appointed around 80 percent of the current cardinal electors, but experts caution they may not choose someone to follow in his footsteps, with many suggesting there could be surprises. The cardinals are sworn to secrecy, risking excommunication if they reveal what happens in the conclave, and are forbidden from contacting the outside world until they have a decision. The Vatican announced late on Monday that it would cut the phone signal within the tiny city state from 3:00 pm (1300 GMT) on Wednesday until a new pope is elected -- although this will not affect St Peter's Square. Required to leave their mobile telephones behind when the voting process begins, the cardinals will let the world know their progress by burning their ballots to produce smoke -- black for no decision, white for a new pope. The staff who will support them during the election, from medics to lift operators, canteen and cleaning staff, are also bound to secrecy, and took their own oaths on Monday.
