As the Church’s College of Cardinals prepare to enter the papal conclave Wednesday, American Cardinal Robert Prevost is reportedly among the prelates most-discussed for election to the papal office.
While Prevost reportedly has high-profile advocates among the cardinals, the prospect of a Prevost papacy is also prompting pushback.
And as cardinals tell The Pillar they’re aiming for a pontiff unsullied by the prospect of scandal, it is not clear whether the allegations and reports about Prevost’s leadership will prove a deterrent to the prospect of his election, or whether cardinals will consider them a kind of weaponized smear campaign against a candidate in the mold of Pope Francis.
Prevost, 69, is the prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, a high-profile position that’s made him known to cardinals from around the planet, and which has put him in fairly regular contact with many of them.
Moreover, as an American who spent the whole of his episcopal ministry in South America, sources have told The Pillar that Prevost is regarded by some electors as having a now-desired Western approach to management and governance, without the perceived limited ecclesial vision often attributed to American bishops.
As the prospect of electing the cardinal to the papacy has made headlines in recent days, Prevost has reportedly gained support from two-high profile advocates urging votes his way. The first, according to sources close to the process, is Cardinal Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the U.S.
The second, reported in Italian and Spanish-language media, is Cardinal Oscar Maradiaga, the 82-old-year Honduran cardinal who is widely credited with helping to see Francis elected in 2013, and who is also regarded as responsible for the meteoric 2014 rise of Cardinal Blase Cupich to become Archbishop of Chicago, and later a key member of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops.
But as Maradiaga and Pierre seemingly urge votes toward Prevost, abuse advocates are raising concerns about the cardinal’s candidacy, suggesting that Prevost’s handling of abuse cases should disqualify him from office.
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