Rumors are becoming more and more insistent that Bergoglio is about to modify the apostolic constitution that regulates the conduct of the conclave, removing the two-thirds quorum established as mandatory by John Paul II for the election of the new pontiff to be valid.
The proposal would be to set the quorum at 50 +1 of the cardinal electors. News that has been denied by the sacred palaces but that today is relaunched in an interview with the newspaper Il Tempo by Luigi Bisignani, a former journalist considered very well-connected within the Roman Curia. Who reported that he is aware of this operation that would be anything but unfounded. It seems that Francis is increasingly determined to resign if he were to overcome the critical phase of the illness that for weeks has forced him to hospitalize at the Gemelli, where he alternates serious respiratory crises with moments of recovery. However, it seems that before resigning he wants to ensure his succession, or rather, to steer the election of the new pope.
Rumors claim that Bergoglio has long had his sights set on two names in particular: the Archbishop of Bologna and President of the CEI Matteo Zuppi and the Archbishop of Luxembourg Jean Claude Hollerich, both of whom he appointed cardinals. But he knows perfectly well that it is unlikely that his favorites will be able to win with the two-thirds quorum that requires a very broad convergence and the need to focus on transversal candidates.
He is also aware of the objective impossibility of being able to steer such a complex vote, especially for two names like Zuppi and Hollerich who are considered incapable of gathering a broad consensus. Zuppi could even make it, being a moderate progressive who has always tried to keep the Bolognese Church united, for example showing himself available and tolerant with the traditionalist faithful who asked for the mass to be held in Latin, but he is still considered a staunch Bergoglian and does not seem to find much support among the cardinals of the so-called Western bloc, while he would be appreciated by the cardinals of the other continents. Hollerich, on the other hand, is considered too progressive but could win with a simple majority.
But above all it seems that Bergoglio wants to block the path of the secretary of state Pietro Parolin who, according to rumors, has been in the midst of an electoral campaign for weeks and has already started negotiations and preliminary agreements with a good part of the college of cardinals. It seems that Francis, from the hospital bed where he is confined, is following with great irritation the maneuvers of his prime minister, who in truth has been building and consolidating his candidacy for some years now.
After having attempted to shield the college of cardinals by appointing cardinals he trusts most, fishing especially in the most modernist circles of the episcopates, Bergoglio now seems to want to play his last card to be able to leave the Church in the hands of a successor capable of continuing his work by lowering the electoral quorum and facilitating agreements in his entourage, apparently composed of around seventy cardinals (but to reach two thirds, more than 90 votes are needed).
Will he succeed?
Will he have the strength, authority and time to do so?
Given the situation, it probably won’t take long to figure it out.
Posted from Stilum Curiae