Culture Society, Identity and Belonging
Pope Francis will be laid to rest on Saturday, but it will take much longer for cardinals to choose his successor and no one should expect the process to be harmonious.
The first rumbles of division have come from Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong, who complained that the first meeting of the General Congregations was being held at 9am on Tuesday – less than 24 hours after the death of Francis was announced.
“How are the old men from the peripheries supposed to arrive on time?” he wrote in a letter shared with Vatican watcher Diane Montagna.
Age will prohibit the nonagenarian cardinal, an anti-Communist considered by some to have been an opponent of Francis, from voting in the conclave.
And the meeting was to confirm details of the funeral, rather than discuss who will be next to don the papal hat.
But that letter is the sound of battle lines being drawn.
Photo credit: Andrew Medichini /AFP via Getty Images
