Cardinals “prepare to undertake act of highest responsibility”

The world is at a difficult and complex turning point in history, a leading cardinal said, as his brother prelates entered the Conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis.

“To pray, by invoking the Holy Spirit, is the only right and proper attitude to take as the cardinal electors prepare to undertake an act of the highest human and ecclesial responsibility and to make a choice of exceptional importance,” said Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals. “This is a human act for which every personal consideration must be set aside, keeping in mind and heart only the God of Jesus Christ and the good of the Church and of humanity.”

The College of Cardinals gathered in St. Peter’s Basilica on the morning of May 7 for the Mass for the Election of a Roman Pontiff. From there, they were to prepare for the procession into the Sistine Chapel in the afternoon, when the conclave formally began.

Cardinal Re likened the Mass in St. Peter’s to the scene described in the Acts of the Apostles when, after Christ’s ascension into heaven, while waiting for Pentecost, “all were united and persevering in prayer together with Mary, the Mother of Jesus.”

ACN’s presence at Mass

“This is precisely what we are doing a few hours before the beginning of the Conclave, under the gaze of Our Lady beside the altar, in this Basilica which rises above the tomb of the Apostle Peter,” the 91-year-old cardinal said in a homily. Over 5,000 of the faithful were in attendance, including Regina Lynch, executive president of Aid to the Church in Need International, and benefactors of ACN who are beginning a three-day pilgrimage in Rome for the Jubilee Year of Hope. 

“We feel united with the entire People of God in their sense of faith, love for the Pope, and confident expectation,” Cardinal Re said.

“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,” said Re, who presided at the Funeral Mass of Pope Francis on April 26.

Re, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, spoke of the essential qualities of the man who will be elected to succeed Francis. 

“Among the tasks of every successor of Peter is that of fostering communion: communion of all Christians with Christ; communion of the Bishops with the Pope; communion of the Bishops among themselves,” he said.

He reminded listeners that the unity of the Church is willed by Christ, but it does not mean uniformity. Rather, the unity of Christians is a “firm and profound communion in diversity, provided that full fidelity to the Gospel is maintained.”

“Let us pray, then, that the Holy Spirit, who, in the last hundred years, has given us a series of truly holy and great Pontiffs, will give us a new Pope according to God’s heart, for the good of the Church and of humanity,” Cardinal Re concluded. “Let us pray that God will grant the Church a pope who knows how best to awaken the consciences of all and the moral and spiritual energies in today’s society, characterized by great technological progress but which tends to forget God.”