The Archbishop of Guayaquil, Cardinal Luis Cabrera, said that in the conclave the purple do not choose the pontiff according to the geopolitical counterweights, but that they look for a close pope who feels “in his heart the passion for Christ”.
Speaking to DNews, the Ecuadorian cardinal was consulted about the possibility of being chosen again in Latin American Pope. Cardinal Cabrera responded that the sloping “do not enter into those geopolitical pesos and counterweights that of Asia, that if from Africa, that if Europe and Latin America.”
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He affirmed that within the Cardinal College it is desired “a Pope who is willing to work with others, a nearby Pope, a Pope who feels in his heart the passion for Christ, the passion for the world, the passion for others. A Pope who invites us to be men and women of hope.”
He also ruled out that there is a division of conservatives and progressive, because “those categories do not exist among us”, but “the faithfulness to the Gospel.”
“I believe that Pope Francis just uses a metaphor, dusting the gospel and putting it in the center of life, in the heart of the Church, communicating that novelty that Jesus brought us to say that we are children of God, that we are brothers,” he added.
Cardinal Cabrera, one of the 133 wandering voters, also recalled that the main protagonist of the conclave is the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Holy Trinity who will attend whoever is chosen “with his strength, with his wisdom”, but also, he added, the new Pontiff will have the support of all Catholics because he will not be alone.
In the interview, the Archbishop of Guayaquil clarified that in the conclave “there is no secretisms, nothing mysterious”, but that the confinement is only to “create an environment, a space where each cardinal can, in their conscience, vote for the person who considers most appropriate, only asking the Holy Spirit to enlighten him, to assist him.”
“In such a way that this enclosure is to guarantee full freedom, so that there are no pressures that are social, economic, political, religious and also other interests that may appear,” he added.
On the duration of the next conclave, the purple recalled that the 2013 election lasted three days, “but we take into account that some of the cardinals were already known and that this time 108 we have been chosen by Pope Francis and we do not know each other.”
“Then, it will take more or less time. I could not risk making a calculation, it can be one day, two days, three days, in short. The times will be what they are,” he said.
Eduardo Berdejo
Professional in Social Communication of the National University of San Marcos in Peru, I have more than 20 years of experience in Catholic digital journalism. As part of ACI Press, I have been sent to cover the trips of Pope Francis to Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Peru, in addition to the Synod of Sinodality in the Vatican in 2023.