Cardinals attend a meeting, at the Vatican, Monday
Cardinals said Monday they want to talk to Vatican managers about
allegations of corruption and cronyism within the top levels of the
Catholic Church before they elect the next pope, evidence that a scandal
over leaked papal documents is setting up one of the most unpredictable
papal elections in recent times.
The red-capped "princes" of the church took an oath of secrecy and
decided to pen a letter of "greeting and gratitude" to Benedict XVI,
whose resignation has thrown the church into turmoil amid a torrent of
scandals inside and out of the Vatican.
"I would imagine that as we move along there will be questioning of
cardinals involved in the governing of the Curia to see what they think
has to be changed, and in that context anything can come up," said U.S.
Cardinal Francis George.
The Vatican's administrative shortcomings were thrust into stark relief
last year with the publication of documents stolen from Benedict XVI's
desk that exposed the petty infighting, turf battles and allegations of
corruption, nepotism and cronyism in the highest echelons of the
Catholic Church.
The pope's butler was convicted of stealing the papers and leaking them
to a journalist; he eventually received a papal pardon.
The emeritus pope, meanwhile, remained holed up at the papal residence
at Castel Gandolfo, his temporary retirement home while the discussions
on picking his successor kick into gear in Rome.
No date has been set yet for the conclave and one may not be decided on
officially for a few more days; the dean of the College of Cardinals
has said a date won't be finalized until all the cardinals have arrived.
Twelve more voting-age cardinals were en route to Rome; some had
previously scheduled speaking engagements, others were due in later
Monday or in the coming days, the Vatican said. Their absence, however,
didn't otherwise delay the conclave's preparations.
Speculation has mounted that the conclave might begin around March 11,
with the aim of having a new pope installed by March 17, the Sunday
before Palm Sunday and the start of Holy Week.
With 115 electors, 77 votes are needed to reach the two-thirds majority
to be elected pope.
Those who were in Rome prayed together Monday, chatted over coffee and
took an oath to maintain "rigorous secrecy with regard to all matters in
any way related to the election of the Roman Pontiff."
The core agenda item is to set the date for the conclave and put in
place the procedures to prepare for it, including closing the Sistine
Chapel to visitors and getting the Vatican hotel cleared out and swept
for bugs or other electronic monitoring devices, lest anyone try to
listen in on the cardinals' secret conversations.
Yet the first day of discussion was rocked by new revelations of
scandal after Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien admitted that his "sexual
conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest,
archbishop and cardinal."
O'Brien last week resigned as archbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh
and said he wouldn't participate in the conclave after four men came
forward with allegations that he had acted inappropriately with them —
the first time a cardinal has stayed away from a conclave because of
personal scandal.
The Vatican on Monday refused to confirm whether it was investigating
O'Brien, even though the Scottish church's press office said the
allegations had been forwarded to the Vatican and that it expected Rome
would pursue the case.
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