Catholic pontiffs begin key pre-conclave talks in Vatican
5 March 2013 6:45 AM IST
Catholic cardinals began talks on Monday ahead of a conclave to elect a new pope after Benedict XVI's resignation, as an absent British cardinal admitted to sexual misconduct with priests.
The Vatican meetings will set the date for the start of the conclave this month and help identify candidates among the cardinals to be the next leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.
‘We’re going to take as much time as we need to think about what sort of pope the Church needs now,’ French cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois told reporters as he arrived for Monday’s meetings.
‘I’d be keen to have a polyglot, a man of faith, a man of dialogue... The new pope will certainly have to confront problems within the Curia,’ the government of the Catholic Church, he said.
Benedict’s eight-year pontificate was often overshadowed by Vatican intrigue and scandals in Europe and North America over sexual abuse by paedophile priests going back decades and the cover-up of those crimes by senior prelates. A total of 115 ‘cardinal electors’, cardinals aged under 80, are expected at the conclave after Britain’s Keith O’Brien opted out and an Indonesian cardinal said he was too sick to attend.
O’Brien had already recused himself from the conclave and resigned as head of the Scottish church after allegations of misconduct surfaced.
‘My sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal,’ he said in a statement yesterday.
The field for next pope remains wide open after Benedict became only the second pontiff to step down by choice in the Church’s 2,000-year history and the first to do so since the Middle Ages.
The Vatican says it expects a new pope by Easter, the most important date in the Christian calender which this year falls on 31 March. Vatican observers say there are possible candidates from every corner of the world and from both progressive and traditionalist wings of the Church.
Church leaders are also concerned about issues like priestly celibacy, treatment of gays, attitudes towards divorcees, the Catholic stance on contraception and inter-faith dialogue, particularly with Islam.
APOLOGISING FOR HIS CARDINAL SIN!
Keith O'Brien, who resigned last week as Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic cleric after claims of sexual impropriety, admitted today that his conduct had ‘fallen below the standards expected of me’.
In a statement, O'Brien also apologised ‘to those I have offended... to the Catholic Church and people of Scotland.’ O'Brien resigned as head of the Catholic Church in Scotland on Monday in the wake of claims that he made sexual advances towards priests.
‘In recent days certain allegations which have been made against me have become public,’ said the cleric. ‘Initially, their anonymous and non-specific nature led me to contest them. However, I wish to take this opportunity to admit that there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal,’ he added.
O'Brien, who steps down as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, initially denied the allegations, which date back to the 1980s.
The 74-year-old had been due to be the only British cardinal to vote on a replacement for Pope Benedict XVI following the pontiff's shock resignation on 11 February.
The Vatican meetings will set the date for the start of the conclave this month and help identify candidates among the cardinals to be the next leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.
‘We’re going to take as much time as we need to think about what sort of pope the Church needs now,’ French cardinal Andre Vingt-Trois told reporters as he arrived for Monday’s meetings.
‘I’d be keen to have a polyglot, a man of faith, a man of dialogue... The new pope will certainly have to confront problems within the Curia,’ the government of the Catholic Church, he said.
Benedict’s eight-year pontificate was often overshadowed by Vatican intrigue and scandals in Europe and North America over sexual abuse by paedophile priests going back decades and the cover-up of those crimes by senior prelates. A total of 115 ‘cardinal electors’, cardinals aged under 80, are expected at the conclave after Britain’s Keith O’Brien opted out and an Indonesian cardinal said he was too sick to attend.
O’Brien had already recused himself from the conclave and resigned as head of the Scottish church after allegations of misconduct surfaced.
‘My sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal,’ he said in a statement yesterday.
The field for next pope remains wide open after Benedict became only the second pontiff to step down by choice in the Church’s 2,000-year history and the first to do so since the Middle Ages.
The Vatican says it expects a new pope by Easter, the most important date in the Christian calender which this year falls on 31 March. Vatican observers say there are possible candidates from every corner of the world and from both progressive and traditionalist wings of the Church.
Church leaders are also concerned about issues like priestly celibacy, treatment of gays, attitudes towards divorcees, the Catholic stance on contraception and inter-faith dialogue, particularly with Islam.
APOLOGISING FOR HIS CARDINAL SIN!
Keith O'Brien, who resigned last week as Britain’s most senior Roman Catholic cleric after claims of sexual impropriety, admitted today that his conduct had ‘fallen below the standards expected of me’.
In a statement, O'Brien also apologised ‘to those I have offended... to the Catholic Church and people of Scotland.’ O'Brien resigned as head of the Catholic Church in Scotland on Monday in the wake of claims that he made sexual advances towards priests.
‘In recent days certain allegations which have been made against me have become public,’ said the cleric. ‘Initially, their anonymous and non-specific nature led me to contest them. However, I wish to take this opportunity to admit that there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal,’ he added.
O'Brien, who steps down as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh, initially denied the allegations, which date back to the 1980s.
The 74-year-old had been due to be the only British cardinal to vote on a replacement for Pope Benedict XVI following the pontiff's shock resignation on 11 February.
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