IN THE final hours before the conclave began, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re called on his fellow cardinals to be guided by a spirit of love and unity in selecting a pope who can lead the global Church through a “difficult and complex turning point in history.”
The 133 cardinal-electors comprising the most diverse conclave in the Church’s 2,000-year history gathered at St. Peter’s Basilica on May 7 for the “Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice” (For the Election of the Roman Pontiff) Mass, before being sealed off inside the Sistine Chapel to begin the secretive process of electing the next pope.
Reflecting on a passage about love, Re reminded the cardinals that, like Jesus, their thoughts and actions should be guided by love as they help build the “civilization of love” in choosing the next pope.
“Love is the only force capable of changing the world,” Re, the dean of the college of cardinals, said in his homily.
“This message of Jesus connects to what the prophet Isaiah reminded us that the fundamental quality of pastors is love to the point of complete self-giving…The liturgical texts of this Eucharistic celebration, then, invite us to fraternal love, to mutual help, and to commitment to ecclesial communion and universal human fraternity,” he added.
Re, who regarded the conclave as the “highest human and ecclesial responsibility” as it is tasked to “make a choice of exceptional importance,” also urged the cardinal-electors to set aside their personal considerations.
“This is also a strong call to maintain the unity of the Church on the path traced out by Christ to the Apostles. The unity of the Church is willed by Christ; a unity that does not mean uniformity, but a firm and profound communion in diversity, provided that full fidelity to the Gospel is maintained,” he said.
Pope Francis’s 12-year papacy marked a period of significant reform, leaving behind a Church that is more inclusive but still internally divided between progress and tradition.
“We are here to invoke the help of the Holy Spirit, to implore his light and strength so that the Pope elected may be he whom the Church and humanity need at this difficult and complex turning point in history,” Re said.
“Today’s world expects much from the Church regarding the safeguarding of those fundamental human and spiritual values without which human coexistence will not be better nor bring good to future generations.”
Since Re, 91, is no longer eligible to participate in the conclave, former Vatican secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin will take his place inside the Chapel to enforce the rules of Universi Dominici Gregis, the apostolic constitution that governs the conclave.
Three Filipino cardinals, including one Thomasian, and five members of the Dominican family are among the electors in the conclave to elect the 267th pontiff who will lead the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics.
