As the Vatican prepares for the funeral of Pope Francis, cardinals are engaging in informal discussions to familiarize themselves with each other and contemplate the future leadership of the Catholic Church. Rev. Patrick Flanagan notes that while the election process for a new pope technically allows any male baptized Catholic to be chosen, historically, only cardinals are selected. Following nine days of mourning, the official conclave will commence to elect the next pontiff while the church is in a temporary "sede vacante" state, led by the camerlengo.
"What's happening now is they're having conversations - some of these cardinals may have only met each other in passing, so they're really getting to know each other first," said Rev. Patrick Flanagan, chair of St. John's University's theology department.
"People are taking bets on who he's going to be, how long the conclave is going to be, what his name is going to be," said Flanagan. "But I have no idea."
"He was chosen by the Pope in 2019 as the one who would oversee the church," explained Flanagan. "He's actually from Ireland, and when he emigrated to the United States, he became bishop of Dallas."
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