Edward Pentin: Vatican Correspondent on what to expect in the upcoming conclave and the politics behind closed doors at the Pope's funeral

Following Pope Francis' death last week, the process begins in electing a new head of the Catholic Church. 

The conclave will begin early next month. 

Vatican Correspondent Edward Pentin talks to Mike Hosking about what we can expect. 

LISTEN ABOVE. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sort of the next step in selecting the new pope.
We have no official data is yet, but tradition dictates
the conclaves no earlier than sixteen days after the pope's passing,
no later than twenty one. That takes us to really
may of course, that it can Correspondent Edward Penton back Edward,
morning to you, Good morning. I'll tell you what. Saturday
was quite the picture, wasn't it.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Yes, it was certainly quite a spectacle. Yes, yes, always
papal funerals are like that, and this was no exception. Yet.
We had a huge, huge numbers of people I think
two hundred and fifty thousand came to pay their respect. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
How much political chet is going on now? How many
deals behind doors? What's going on and how does it work?

Speaker 2 (00:40):
Well, we don't know for sure, because a lot of
it is done, you know, behind closed doors, but we
know that well. For example, President Emmanuel Macron had lunch
on Saturday after the funeral with four French cardinals. This
quite possibly there was some sort of discussions there about
who be the next pope. And I know that President

(01:02):
Macron would very much like Jean Marc Avelene Cardinal Avelene
who's a French cardinals. So yes, there's certainly some of
that going on, and but we'll know certainly more this
week when the General congregations get fully underway, because that's
when the cardinals get to meet and discuss the challenges
facing the church, and then it'll become quite clear which

(01:26):
cardinal is up to facing those challenges. So we'll know
much more this week.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
And when we last talked, there was no clear favorite.
If there's no clear favorite, does that mean we're waiting
a longer period of time or we can't say that either.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
Yes, well it's likely that will take longer. Yes, because
there are more cardinals. There one hundred and thirty four
cardinal electors, which is the highest for I think it's
in records on records, so's, you know, a lot of
cardinals to be heard in these general congregations. And then
they're all from very disparate parts of the world, so
that also adds a level of complexity to it, and

(02:02):
so it could be quite protracted. It could go on
for quite a bit, a bit longer than people expect.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
Does geography play any role at all, Like you know,
the United Nations, it's sort of Europe's term, it's sort
of South America's turn or not.

Speaker 2 (02:15):
Yes, it does. Yes, It's a good question because often
well up until Benedict, there was it was considered to
be very Eurocentric and there was a push to to
move away from that, which is why they chose Cardinal
Bargoglio from Latin America, the first pope from the Latin
from Latin America. So yes, And whether there's be a

(02:36):
push to bring it back to Europe. Let's some say
there would be particularly back to the Italians because they
a lot of cardinals want a greater sense of calm
in the in the Sacred College and in the Vatican.
So yes, that could be quite it could be very significant.
Also in this it will be very significant the geographical location.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
Yes, and we follow with interest. It would appreciate your time.
Once again, it would paint in Vatican. Correspond.

Speaker 2 (02:58):
For more from The Micaskey Breakfast, listen live to News
Talk SETB from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast
on iHeartRadio.