Cardinals Mull Pope Francis

Rome – “Holy smoke” has been called. And it is coded by color.

The swollen black and white columns of the boats during the weekend as the Massimilian pyrotechnics expert of Sanctis tested the mechanism that will indicate the fate of the Catholic Church and who will be The next man to lead their 1.4 billion followers.

If the smoke that emerges from the chimney in the Sixtine chapel is black, it will mean the 133 cardinal voters inside for the papal conclave He will continue voting. When it is white, it means that they have chosen the heir of San Pedro, and more recently, to Pope Francis.

“Until the election of Pope Benedict XVI, the smoke was carried out in the traditional way,” said De Sanctis, owner of the FD group fireworks. “The ballots were burned to make black smoke and the tickets burned with wet straw to make white smoke. But the Vatican realized that the smoke was not particularly intense, so it had a designed electrical control unit that controlled the classic pyrotechnic smoke. ”

The nine -day mourning period for the last Pope Franciswho died at the age of 88 on April 21 after 12 years leading the Catholic Church, officially ended on Monday. As that period, known by its Latin name, came to an end, dozens of cardinals, carpenters and pyrotechnics experts were already working at work for the conclave to choose Francis’s successor.

Vatican firefighters installed the chimney in the Sistine Chapel during the weekend, Together with the little stove in which the cardinals will burn their wrinkled ballots after each vote. The vote continues, with a round the first day of the conclave and then up to four newspapers until one is conclusive, with a new pontiff chosen by a two -thirds majority plus one of the 133 voters.

Different ideologies at stake while the cardinals reflect the next Catholic leader

This secret process begins on Wednesday, with the first vote, but the voters of the cardinals have already begun to descend in the city of the Vatican worldwide. And with them, comes the intrigue of the political process of the campaign to select one of his to lead the church forward.

Some of the The main believers Among the cardinals, they would be expected to align with the policies and philosophies of Pope Francis if they obtained the main work of the Catholic Church, including the Swedish cardinal Anders Arborelius of the Catholic Church. He told News themezone during the weekend about meeting with many of his classmates for the first time.

“I must say that it surprises me that it is so peaceful and such a friendly atmosphere,” he said. “If you read the newspapers, you have the idea that there are two parties that fight for power.”

“Of course, there are different points of view,” said Arborelius, who attends his first conclave. “It’s natural.”

Like Francis was, Arborelius is a firm defender of immigrants. He said that migrants to Europe have helped keep alive and well in the continent, making them “very important to the Church.”

“I know there are exceptions, but still, we live in a global time, and it is almost impossible to stop migration. And we also need it, I mean, in medical care, take care of the elderly, taxi drivers,” he said, and added that, of course, there must be some kind of order, some kind of harmonious migration and integration “to ensure that immigrant populations can live.

The Swedish cardinal also hopes that Francis’s successor will be pressing to integrate women, in a limited degree, more in Church’s operations.

“Some people are very anxious to have priests,” Arborelius acknowledged. “But we cannot have that. Therefore, it is important to show and help women find the positions and work they can do in the church.”

Asked why he, Like Francishe supported more roles for women, but not the priesthood, the cardinal said that: “According to our faith, Christ as a man is the icon of what it is to be a priest. Mary is the icon of what a woman can be in the Church.”

“Of course, today it is not easy to explain that,” he said, pointing out the example of the Lutheran Church in Sweden, who said he now has “more ministers than men.”

“So that is one of our tasks: demonstrate that women have a very important place in the church, but we have to show what they can do and how they can do it. And I think Pope Francis in the Vatican.

However, others among high -level prelates in the Vatican have been openly critical of Francis, including German cardinal Gerhard Muller, who has been a firm defender of traditional Catholic doctrine.

“Gay marriage is not possible, it is absolutely against the Word of God,” he told News themezone, and added that in his opinion, that impossibility extends to the practice of the priests who bless the same unions of the same sex, than Francis-Limado Green In a historic decision almost two years ago.

“We cannot have a blessing in the sense of justifying a behavior or a lifestyle that is against the reason why God himself gave Muller to News themezone, and added that he believes that the next Pope must contribute more clarity to interpret the Catholic doctrine,” I think not only for me, but for all Catholics in the world. ”

It is possible that this diversity in views between cardinal voters within the Sistine Chapel can lead to prolonged conclave.

In recent times, the cardinals have decided on a new Pope in just two or three days.

The longest conclave took place during the thirteenth century, in the nearby city of Viterbo. It lasted for almost three years, and the locals were frustrated so much with the dispersion that they removed the roof from the building where the cardinals stayed. Finally they chose Pope Gregory X.

Tucker Reals contributed to this report.

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