Even before Pope Francis was buried in the Roman cathedral on Saturday, the conservative cardinal believed his purpose was a separatist catastrophe, and the separatist catastrophe that endangers the tradition of the church had begun political seats to sweep the meeting to elect the next pope.
They have a seductive simple slogan: Unity.
It is hard to imagine a not-so-offensive rally crying, but in the ears of Francis's most determined supporters, it is a code word as it reverses Francis's vision of a more inclusive Roman Catholic Church.
These concerns clearly indicate that ideological camps have already occurred among the Cardinals as their shared mourning gives way to the imminent task of voting for Francis’ successor at the meeting, expected to begin in the first week of May.
Discussions leading to the election may involve whether Francis' successor should move forward or withdraw backward from women who may be appointed as deacons, or make some married men clergy or provide communication with divorced and remarried Catholics, among others.
The Cardinals have gathered in daily meetings behind the Vatican walls. In a study set against his books last week, a conservative cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Müller, a conservative cardinal in Germany, launched the sandals he wore with black socks last week at a such meeting last week, and he said he had spent the whole morning.
He said the cardinal needs to “find the unity of the church”, Cardinal Miller removed from the church’s supreme doctrine position in 2017.
Some progressives within the church fear that the dozens of new cardinals Francis has chosen around the world are less proficient in the Vatican and can be attracted by the sweetness of the unified sirens.
“It sounds really good,” said Canada's Cardinal Michael Czerny, one of Francis' closest advisers, but “it means a reversal.” For those who opposed Francis, many of which were appointed by his predecessor Benedict XVI, the unification meant “new introversion” and promised to “solve all of our problems,” he said.
“If you ask me, ‘How would you name the wrong tracks for the conference?’ I would say the idea that solidarity is a priority. “Unity is not a priority issue. ”
The two cardinals sit at the opposite end of the ideological gap. People like Cardinal Czerny will focus on another word: diversity.
Pastor Antonio Spadaro, secretary of the Vatican Office of Culture and Education, said: “They are two keywords of diversity and solidarity, diversity and solidarity, and have a lot to do in the balance between them.”
Like Francis, he believed that the future of the church lies in diversity. Francis chose dozens of new cardinals outside Rome and authorized local churches. Father Spadaro said the trick is avoiding “freezing the church” to maintain unity while spreading and “dividing” in pursuit of diversity or progress that the church is not prepared for.
“Francis maintained this very delicate balance and moved the church forward,” he said. The next pope, he said, also “need to put the two together.”
That's why Cardinal Miller said, “We have to talk now.”
This is not a new theme for conservatives. “If we don't work for unity,” Robert Sarah, a deeply conservative cardinal in Guinea, said at a seminar in Kenya last year.
During Francis' religious activities, Cardinal Sarah became a central critic, and Francis deprived him of his formal influence on church liturgy. “If we introduce rupture and revolution, we will destroy the unity of the Holy Churches of all ages,” the Cardinal said in 2019.
But solidarity is also at the heart of Francis’s vision for the church. He just saw something different. In 2021, Francis suppressed the celebration of Cardinal Sarah and other traditionalists worshipping the Latin masses because he believed it was used by ideologically motivated Catholics to undermine the unity of the church.
This decision would only incite conservative criticism of Francis as an autocratic one. “That's his style,” Cardinal Miller said in his apartment. “All dictators are split.”
As Francis entered the late stages of his mission, his progressive supporters wanted him to start making concrete changes. Instead, concerns about church unity seemed to prompt him to fade away.
When bishops from remote South America came to the Vatican in 2019 to attend a major conference Francis wanted, they suggested that to address the shortage of clergy, the pope should allow older married Catholics to become pastors in good credibility.
Francis gave all the signs that this practical solution was what he wanted, but around that time Cardinal Sarah reiterated a book with retired Benedict.
The pope said he needed more time to think about this because the issue “became ideologically polarized and able to break the church apart.” Francis was not influenced by Benedict, but conservatives claimed victory, he said.
On other issues that have the potential to split the church, including whether women are allowed to serve as deacons, ministerial positions, Francis allowed long debates, but ultimately did not make any decisions, saying the issue requires more research. The unification crowd breathed a sigh of relief again.
When Francis did make a major change, allowing or even promoting priestly blessings for same-sex couples, he praised liberals in Europe and North America. But the opposition from the African church leaders is huge, and this is where many people think it is the future of faith, forcing him to go back. Towards unity, Francis exempted Africans from unspecified time to participate in the program, essentially allowing them to opt out.
Father Spadaro argued that African carvings were “more revolutionary postures” than actual gay blessing measures because it legalized pastoral diversity. “He said this is how Francis acknowledged cultural diversity and differences in a United Church.
Cardinal Müller, on the other hand, considered the controversy, and Francis worked to unite the bishop and laymen to make a decision to disperse the church’s true mission of defending its teachings and to defend its teachings without considering popularity contests and revealing its truth to the world.
“This blessing of a homosexual, and of a priest of women, is not a good question for humanity,” he said.
For other cardinals who will vote in the meeting, solidarity is also important, but it means different things.
He said that for Cardinal Lazarus, the North Koreans, the Koreans who led the Vatican department to take charge of clergy, united “for me, open heart.” Francis, he said, “teached me that I had to be open to heart to love others.”
Claudio Gugerotti, the county magistrate who served as the office of the Eastern Church in Francis, said it was too early to discuss the real issue. “We have to decide to put it on the table and discuss it,” he said.
For Cardinal Gugerotti, sometimes referred to as the possible successor of Francis, or the King Maker at the meeting, “the lack of unity is always a disaster.”
But, he said, “It doesn’t mean that everyone has to say the same thing.” He added: “There may be a difference. Don’t object because that’s destructive.”
