2025 conclave: Cardinal of Ecuador explains criteria for the choice of Pope Francis’s successor

Cardinal Luis Cabrera, archbishop of Guayaquil (Ecuador) explains some criteria for the choice of Pope Francis’s successor, in the conclave that will be held in a few days in the Vatican and in which 134 Cardinals will participate so far.

In press conferencethe Purpurado of 69, created Cardinal in 2024, recalled that when he greeted Pope Francis in October last year after knowing his designation that he almost kills him “of the scare”, the Holy Father smiles and said: “Quiet, do not worry. What I do guarantee you one thing, that when they look at you red, you will die of shame”.

“And that is what sometimes happens to me, right? Then once, to say a word, a very close Pope, the last time we saw each other, we greeted each other, we shake our hands, gave us the blessing. And they are those gestures that are recorded in the heart.”

1. In the conclave the successor of San Pedro is chosen

As for the selection criteria, Cardinal Cabrera stressed that “who is chosen is the successor of St. Peter, it is not so much to the successor of Pope Francis, and of course you know who Saint Peter, a sinful man.”

“Peter is also who denied Jesus and yet Jesus trusts Him, the care, the guide of his Gray. So that is the important thing: that it is to choose the successor of St. Peter.”

2. The church server is chosen

“All criteria and to choose will be the criteria of the Gospel and one of them the most important is that a church server is chosen. That is why the maximum title that exists for Jesus The Pope is servant of the servants. It is a server,” said the archbishop.

3. “Progressive the conservative?

The Ecuadorian cardinal warned that “some criteria that are political, sociological, do not fit. For example, if it is the right -wing Pope, if it is left, or if it is progressive, if it is conservative, if it is traditionalist, if it is a reformer. Those categories are for others, really.”

“Let’s not fall into the temptation to typecast at that time who comes to happen to San Pedro, logically after Pope Francis,” he added.

“Now we have those right -wing categories, from now on. Two thousand years ago there was nothing like that. There were other categories that also had to do sometimes with the ambition of power, of course, but logically Jesus made an option for serving others.”

4. “Who enters Papa comes out cardinal”

After specifying that all cardinals under 80 years of age “can choose and be chosen”, the archbishop stressed that they have “this mission of choosing the one who inspires us.”

“What is said is that who enters Pope Cardinal (…) so that they are not thinking, say, since he entered the potato and leaves potatoes, no.” “In fact, Pope Francis entered as a cardinal and left potatoes, and other papables left Cardinal,” he added.

5. In the conclave it is necessary to “be guided by the Holy Spirit”

The conclave to choose the new Pope, the Cardinal Cabrera continued, “it is a space where one is invited to pray a lot, to reflect, to be guided by the Holy Spirit, because ultimately it is He, the Holy Spirit who assists us, the one who accompanies us.”

After commenting that “as most part we are unknown, they will also give us some time to know, to find out” about others, the cardinal stressed that “beyond all wisdom, holiness, the experience that the cardinals may have, God chooses. God, then, illuminates.”

Finally, the Ecuadorian cardinal made votes to “be the Holy Spirit and not our human criteria or calculations, that they may appear out there, those who prevail. Let God be, that Jesus is, that it is the Gospel, the good news that the Pope who is named, since he will continue to announce Jesus”.