Election of the new pope: how does the conclave decide?
The conclave, in which 133 cardinals are convening in the Vatican to elect Pope Francis's successor, kicks off today. They will hold four ballots a day, after which the ballot papers are burnt and black smoke rises into the sky until white smoke proclaims: "Habemus Papam". Commentators take a closer look at the procedure.
A political and geostrategic contest
Dnevnik can't get enough of the papal election spectacle:
“It's almost impossible to predict the name of a new pope, and this time round it's even more difficult. In the coming days a political and geostrategic struggle at the highest level will play out beneath Michelangelo's frescoes. Religious, ideological and personal interests are at stake. From vote to vote, short-lived alliances will emerge and dissolve, old alliances will break apart and new ones will be forged in the blink of an eye. ... Conservatives and progressives, priests and theologians, members of the Roman Curia, cardinals from the global South and Vatican diplomats will face each off.”
A compromise pope likely
The Aargauer Zeitung doesn't believe the next pope will be reform-oriented:
“Francis elevated most of the cardinals to the purpurate because of their commitment to the poor. This is all the more true for the cardinals of the South, who currently make up half of them. What people tend to forget is that only very few of them are reform-oriented in the Western sense. It is therefore highly likely that the electoral body, 80 percent of which was appointed by Francis, will not choose a successor like him, but a compromise candidate, probably one from the South. ... The conclave is therefore likely to produce a correction of course rather than a linear continuation of Francis' pontificate.”
Always unpredictable
The election of Pope Francis, whose predecessors were very conservative, proved that the outcome of a papal conclave is unpredictable, The Irish Times points out:
“The fact that so many of the current cardinal electors do not know each other adds to the sense of unpredictability. The Roman saying that 'he who enters a conclave as pope exits as a cardinal' augurs badly for the prospects of supposed frontrunners such as Antonio Tagle from the Philippines or current Vatican secretary of state Pietro Parolin (one of three Italian contenders). Both men have been the subject of negative news reports in recent days, proving that dirty tricks are not confined to party politics.”
Undemocratic election of an absolute monarch
Author Isaac Rosa takes an ironic look at the conclave in eldiario.es:
“If you look at the conclave with different eyes, you can no longer take it seriously: a group of elderly men gather in secret and under oath according to a medieval protocol and announce their decisions via smoke signals. They elect the representative of their god on Earth, who then retires to the 'Room of Tears', where he changes both his clothes and his name and finally steps out onto the balcony to announce to the world his election as the absolute monarch of a tiny state and spiritual leader of millions of people. ... We can attatch all the historical and political importance we want to this procedure. ... But in the end it's nothing but an entirely undemocratic election that claims to be 'inspired by the Holy Spirit'.”