Day five of preparations

The seventh General Congregation took place this morning Friday, 8 March, from 9:30am until 12:30am local time in Rome. There were 153 cardinals present, of whom 115 were Cardinal electors. There were no other new cardinals expected.

The Cardinal Dean, in accordance with the provisions of the Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis, informed the College of Cardinals of the reasons presented by two Cardinal electors to justify their absence: Cardinal Julius Riyadi Darmaatmadja, S.J., for health reasons, and Cardinal Keith O’Brien, for personal reasons. The Cardinal Dean asked if the College accepted to recognize the reasons presented. The response was affirmative. The definitive number of Cardinal electors is thus established at 115.

All the Cardinal electors, convoked for the election of the new Pope by the Cardinal Dean, or by another Cardinal in his name, are required, in virtue of holy obedience, to obey the announcement of convocation and to proceed to the place designated for this purpose, unless they are hindered by sickness or by some other grave impediment, which however must be recognized as such by the College of Cardinals (UDG, 38).

The Cardinal Dean then noted that, because there are no other Cardinal electors expected, it is unnecessary to wait fifteen days from the beginning of the Sede Vacante to begin the Conclave, in application of the Apostolic Constitution as amended by Benedict XVI’s recent Motu Proprio, which states:

I furthermore decree that, from the moment when the Apostolic See is lawfully vacant, fifteen full days must elapse before the Conclave begins, in order to await those who are absent; nonetheless, the College of Cardinals is granted the faculty to move forward the start of the Conclave if it is clear that all the Cardinal electors are present; they can also defer, for serious reasons, the beginning of the election for a few days more. But when a maximum of twenty days have elapsed from the beginning of the vacancy of the See, all the Cardinal electors present are obliged to proceed to the election. (UDG, 37)

 

The cardinals’ activities then continued during which 18 Cardinal Fathers intervened. The total number of interventions—and correspondingly of speakers—has thus been over one hundred.

Topics covered—along with those issues already noted over the past few days—included:

• intereligious dialogue,
• bioethics,
• justice in the world,
• the Gospel as a proclamation of love, joy, and mercy,
• collegiality, and
• the role of women in the Church.

This afternoon’s Congregation is expected to vote on the date for the Conclave, which will probably be one of the first three days of this coming week.