Intellect, courage and a huge heart: what the new pope will need for the years ahead

White smoke rises from the chimney on the roof of the Sistine Chapel in 2013 signifying that a new pope has been chosen. Picture: AFP.

Regardless of how close or far away they live, every cardinal is assigned a titular or honorary parish in Rome. And on Sunday of the last weekend before the conclave, the more pastorally minded said Mass at those Parishes. At Our Lady of Guadalupe, between the Vatican and Fiumicino Airport, New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan, 75, described his ideal candidate to be the 267th Pope … “a mix of the last popes. Francis, but I also think of the intellectual intensity of Benedict XVI – and John Paul II with his courage and his call to follow Jesus … if we could combine these great characteristics … it would be a blessing.’’ During the collection, his customary humour surfaced. Referring to a visiting group from the US, he quipped to the parish priest, “I hope that the Americans will give something too!”

Cardinal Dolan’s instincts, on the character of the incoming Vicar of Christ and boosting church finances, were pertinent.

In addition to powerful, supernatural faith and an ability to exude the love of God to hundreds of millions of people, the spiritual, pastoral, and practical leadership challenges awaiting the new pope will demand intellect, courage, and a huge heart.

So does the Vatican’s financial imbroglio, on which cardinals were briefed in pre-conclave meetings.

The problems, senior Vatican financial officers, told The Australian, include a structural budget deficit of around 80 million euros a year and the unfunded, growing liability in the Vatican pension fund that is expected to reach 800m to 1bn euros by 2030. Without big change, they said, “bankruptcy is around the corner’’.

St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, ahead of the conclave. Picture: AP.

In an unusual move in November, the Vatican released a letter from Pope Francis to cardinals warning: “The current system is not capable of ensuring the fulfilment of pension obligations for future generations in the medium term”.

Australia’s Cardinal George Pell, as Vatican Prefect for the Economy, warned of the looming shortfall a decade ago, but no action was taken. In November, Francis handed the problem to Irish-born former US bishop and Vatican official Cardinal Kevin Farrell to handle.

On the church’s core business, cardinals, bishops, priests and worshippers are looking to the new pope to restore clarity, consistency and unity – in addition to compassion and more effective pastoral support and teaching – on issues of faith, morals and worship. As Cardinal Pell warned in the infamous Demos memo to all cardinals in Lent 2022, the “Christo-centricity of teaching is being weakened. Sometimes Rome even seems to be confused about the importance of a strict monotheism, hinting at some wider concept of divinity, not quite pantheism, but like a Hindu pantheism variant.’’

Regardless of the new pope’s liturgical preference, he would heal deep hurt and divisions by lifting recent restrictions on the traditional Latin Mass, which has attracted a strong, counter-cultural following, especially among young people. Banning it, as Francis and English Cardinal Arthur Roche did, caused intense unrest and incredulity from outsiders as to why the Church would suppress its most central 1500-year-old liturgical tradition.

Cardinals will start the conclave to elect a new pope on Wednesday. Picture: AP.

Clerical sex abuse also remains a major problem. Around the world, dioceses are supporting victims, have acted against perpetrators and put guardrails in place to prevent abuses. But the Vatican itself has been weak and ineffective in dealing with serious allegations and cover-ups involving prominent figures, including church leaders in South America and artist Fr Marko Rupnik.

On the diplomatic front, amid anger over China’s high-handed disrespect for the Vatican despite their secret bilateral pact, many cardinals, in the interests of transparency, want details of the agreement opened up for scrutiny and possible reform. Not only has the Chinese Communist Party cracked down hard on missionary activity from May 1, threatening arrests, it has blatantly thumbed its nose at the 2018 agreement by appointing two new bishops, in Shanghai and Xinxiang, since Francis’s death. Lack of Vatican support for those under attack and persecution in Hong Kong, China and Ukraine during the Russian invasion has is a concern.

After the collapse of electricity systems in Spain and Portugal, green activism. embraced by the Vatican in recent years, will be as unpopular inside sections of the conclave as a mid-winter or mid-summer blackout.

Among 133 electors in the Sistine Chapel, it will take 89 votes to elect a new pope. And it will take 45 votes, stubborn resistance and good organisation in advance, from either the conservative or progressive camps to block a candidate they regard as unacceptable. The length of the Conclave will reveal whether compromise is in the air and a leader both wings are prepared to tolerate emerges. The more divided the College, the longer the process – although it is unlikely to match the 1006 day conclave from 1268 to 1271 that elected Pope Gregory X. During that gathering, three of 20 cardinal-electors died, one resigned and local residents took the roof off the building and restricted the cardinals to bread and water to hurry up the process.