Pope changes conclave rules, allows earlier start
26 Feb 2013 8:16 AM IST
Pope Benedict XVI has changed the rules of the conclave that will elect his successor, allowing cardinals to move up the start date if all of them arrive in Rome before the usual 15-day transition between pontificates.
Benedict signed a legal document, issued Monday, with some line-by-line changes to the 1996 Vatican law governing the election of a new pope. It is one of his last acts as pope before resigning on Thursday.
The date of the conclave’s start is important because Holy Week begins 24 March, with Easter Sunday on 31 March.
In order to have a new pope in place for the church’s most solemn liturgical period, he would need to be installed by Sunday, 17 March a tight timeframe if a conclave were to start on 15 March.
‘ONLY NEW POPE TO SEE VATILEAKS’
The Vatican said on Monday that a secret report on a leaks scandal in 2012 had revealed human ‘imperfections’ in the running of the Church and would be shown exclusively to the future pope, not to voting cardinals. ‘The Holy Father has decided that the documents, which only he has seen, will be exclusively available to his successor,’ Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said at a press conference. ‘Their work made it possible to detect, given the limitations and imperfections of the human factor of every institution, the generosity and dedication of those who work with uprightness and generosity in the Holy See,’ it said.
‘SINNERS’ HAVE RIGHT TO VOTE
Cardinals suspected of having protected predator priests should be allowed to take part in next month’s papal conclave, the Vatican’s former prosecutor on child sex abuse cases has said. Amid mounting criticism over the presence of such cardinals, notably Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, among the men who will choose a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, Monsignor Charles Scicluna said today that they had kept quiet ‘out of fear of scandal’. Citing canon law, he said the cardinals ‘have the right and duty’ to vote in the conclave.
Benedict signed a legal document, issued Monday, with some line-by-line changes to the 1996 Vatican law governing the election of a new pope. It is one of his last acts as pope before resigning on Thursday.
The date of the conclave’s start is important because Holy Week begins 24 March, with Easter Sunday on 31 March.
In order to have a new pope in place for the church’s most solemn liturgical period, he would need to be installed by Sunday, 17 March a tight timeframe if a conclave were to start on 15 March.
‘ONLY NEW POPE TO SEE VATILEAKS’
The Vatican said on Monday that a secret report on a leaks scandal in 2012 had revealed human ‘imperfections’ in the running of the Church and would be shown exclusively to the future pope, not to voting cardinals. ‘The Holy Father has decided that the documents, which only he has seen, will be exclusively available to his successor,’ Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said at a press conference. ‘Their work made it possible to detect, given the limitations and imperfections of the human factor of every institution, the generosity and dedication of those who work with uprightness and generosity in the Holy See,’ it said.
‘SINNERS’ HAVE RIGHT TO VOTE
Cardinals suspected of having protected predator priests should be allowed to take part in next month’s papal conclave, the Vatican’s former prosecutor on child sex abuse cases has said. Amid mounting criticism over the presence of such cardinals, notably Roger Mahony of Los Angeles, among the men who will choose a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, Monsignor Charles Scicluna said today that they had kept quiet ‘out of fear of scandal’. Citing canon law, he said the cardinals ‘have the right and duty’ to vote in the conclave.
Next Story
