VATICAN CITY, (Reuters) – The cardinals who elect the pope are sworn to secrecy about their deliberations, but details began to filter out on Thursday about how rank outsider Jorge Bergoglio quickly emerged as a frontrunner to replace Pope Benedict.
Bergoglio was a runner-up to the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger at the 2005 conclave that made Ratzinger pope. But he was not even mentioned in many media long lists of the likely papal candidates or “papabili” this time around. In the arcane world of papal conclaves, keeping below the parapet until the last minute is, however, considered an advantage. “Enter as a pope and come out as a cardinal” is the saying in Rome, describing how frontrunners leave disappointed.
Bergoglio, a Jesuit known for his humility, lack of pretension and frugality, seems to have had the two qualities that the cardinals had said they were seeking – pastoral skills capable of revitalising the Church and the potential to bring its dysfunctional government or Curia under control.
He appears to have benefited from anger and resentment among world cardinals about the rivalry and infighting inside the Curia, which sapped the strength of the traditional powerful Italian voting bloc – almost a quarter of the cardinal electors. This is believed to have undermined the chances of Milan Archbishop Angelo Scola, one of the two frontrunners before the conclave, alongside Brazil’s Cardinal Odilo Scherer.
The Curia problems are widely seen as the fault of a scheming group of Italian prelates close to Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone.
Brazilian Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz had an open argument in one of the pre-conclave congregations with Bertone after the latter accused him of leaking verbatim details of their deliberations to the Italian media.
Braz de Aviz got a round of applause from other cardinals when he jumped up, denied the charge and said he believed someone from the Curia had done it.
The 115 cardinal electors were focused on finding a pontiff capable of facing a crisis caused by a global scandal over priestly child abuse, the “Vatileaks” case that revealed the rivalry and alleged corruption in the Curia, and the rise of secularism, particularly in Europe.
“We were looking for a pope who was spiritual, a shepherd. I think with Cardinal Bergoglio, we have this kind of person,” French Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard told journalists on Thursday.
“He is a person of great intellectual character who I believe is also a man of governance.”
Vienna Archbishop Christoph Schoenborn confirmed that Bergoglio had quickly emerged as a very strong candidate, winning election after only five ballots by cardinals ensconced in the Renaissance Sistine Chapel. This is only one more than Benedict, who was a very clear frontrunner in 2005. “I won’t tell you how our talks went; that is an internal thing. You can say one thing with certainty, Cardinal Bergoglio wouldn’t have become pope in the fifth ballot if he had not been a really strong contender for the papacy from the beginning,” Schoenborn told reporters.
“You can use your own wisdom to judge that a conclave that lasts little more than 24 hours, one of the shortest in the history of the papacy, shows great unanimity, great togetherness and a strong common view on who we think at this point that God has designated as the follower of Peter,” he said, referring to St. Peter, revered by Catholics as the first pope.
Bergoglio kept a low profile going into the conclave. All cardinals from around the world have a “titular church” in Rome, but Bergoglio did not attend Mass at his last Sunday on the eve of the conclave, unlike frontrunners Scola and Scherer, who faced crowds of journalists among their congregations.