Vatican: Cardinals continue meetings – No consensus yet on Pope Francis’ successor | Orthodox Times (en)

Rome. The climate is feverish. There are only three days left to continue adding votes and the negotiations and meetings to organize “cordate” continue at a frantic pace. And with much uncertainty about what will happen next Wednesday, May 7 in the Sistine Chapel, when 133 cardinal electors from 70 countries – never so high and so global – will have to hold the first vote to elect the new head of the Catholic Church.

So far, no widely accepted candidate has emerged to succeed Pope Francis.

Discussions are intensifying on the two days of the Conclava. It grows the idea that the Church should continue to vote on its peripherals and that it will choose a cardinal “coming from far away”.

A few days before the beginning of the conclave in the Vatican, two congregations of cardinals were planned: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Since the beginning of the vacancy in the Holy See, the cardinals had met once a day.

While all eyes were turned towards the Vatican, Josephine Lebard had no choice but to devote her weekly chronicle to Pope Francis. The opportunity for her to review Habemus papam and the first speech of Peter's successor before his faithful in Rome.

Cardinal Walter Kasper pointed out that although only cardinal electors enter the Sistine Chapel, the people of God also cast their vote. The German hierarch emphasized that the faithful "vote with their feet." They do this by leaving the Church, being baptized as adults, or applauding the deceased pope. "The people of God have already voted at Francis' funeral and called for continuation," said Cardinal Kasper in an interview with the Italian d…