Pope Francis says that at the 2005 conclave that elected Benedict XVI, there was “maneuvering” among the cardinals and they tried to exploit him because they did not want to elect a foreign pontiff, but he favored the election of the German Joseph Ratzinger.
This situation is described in the book of interviews “El Sucesor” (“The Successor”), written by the Spanish journalist Javier Martinez Brocal, in which he talks for the first time about the ten years he lived with Benedict XVI.
The book’s chapter on the 2005 conclave was published this Sunday by the ABC newspaper, and in it Francisco recounts the intricacies between the cardinals gathered in the Sistine Chapel.
“It turned out that I had 40 of the 115 votes in the Sistine Chapel. There were enough of them to prevent the candidacy of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, because if they had continued to vote for me, he would not have been able to get to two.” it takes a third to be elected pope,” Francisco describes.
Reproducing the text from the ABC newspaper, the Pope continues: “The maneuver was to name me, block the election of Ratzinger, and then negotiate for a third, different candidate. Later they told me they didn’t want a ‘foreign’ Pope.” …It was a complete maneuver. The idea was to block the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. They used me, but behind my back they were already thinking about an offer from another cardinal.”
“The conclave began on Monday, April 18, 2005. The first vote took place in the afternoon. This operation took place on the second or third vote, on the morning of Tuesday, April 19. When I realized, in the afternoon, he told the Latin American cardinal, Colombian Dario Castrillon: “Don’t joke with my candidacy, because right now I’m going to say that I will not accept it (…). And that’s when Benedict was elected,” says Francisco.
The Argentine Pope stated that his candidate was the German Joseph Ratzinger because “he was the only one who could be Pope at that time.”
“After the revolution of John Paul II, who was a dynamic pontiff, very active, proactive, traveling… there was a need for a pope who could maintain a healthy balance, a transitional pope,” he explains, adding. : “If they chose someone like me, who causes a lot of trouble, I wouldn’t be able to do anything. At that time this would have been impossible. I came out of the situation happy. Benedict XVI was a man who followed the new style. And it wasn’t easy for him, because no? This met with great resistance within the Vatican.”
Francisco, 87, born in Argentina, was elected pope on March 13, 2013, becoming the first Jesuit to lead the Catholic Church.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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