No Front-Runner for Pope

One of the most distinct memories any reporter will take away from covering the election of the new Pope is that as soon as there was speculation in print about a "front-runner" to become  the 266^th successor to St. Peter a particular cardinal was swiftly — and very harshly — fired upon in traditional and social media outlets. 

With a few hours to go before the 133 cardinals convene in the Sistine Chapel to begin secret deliberations and votes, then, it is becoming clear there is no front-runner for Pope.

Over the weekend, much of the press and talk in Rome was focused on Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state for 12 years and considered so close to Pope Francis that he was privately dubbed "Francis II" by Vatican insiders. 

But Parolin, 70, has been widely attacked in the press by conservatives as the architect of the 2018 Vatican accord with China which gave the communist regime a hand in the appointment of bishops — something which retired Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong has denounced as a sell-out to Beijing.

Zen is in Rome this week and freely denouncing Parolin to the press for the agreement he fervently believes undercuts the fight for freedom in China. According to Zen, Francis was "manipulated" by Parolin into making a pact with Beijing and the secretary of state "told a series of lies with his eyes open."

Other sources in the Vatican attempt to link Parolin to the $140 million the Vatican lost in a bad London property deal that resulted in a trial and conviction on embezzlement charges of Parolin's deputy, Cardinal Angelo Beccio (who is not voting in the conclave).

Early in the week, much press attention was focused on Filipino Cardinal Luis Tagle, 67, a close ally of the late Pope who is often dubbed by admirers the "Asian Francis." Tagle shares much of Francis' compassion and "everyman" style and was seen likeliest to carry on his work.

But as consideration of Tagle mounted, so did the attacks. A video resurfaced showing the prelate singing John Lennon's song "Imagine," which included a verse that goes "Imagine a world without religion." TikTok also ran clips of Tagle acting "un-Popelike" by singing to kariyoki and even dancing.

Simultaneously, there were reports from anonymous sources in an Italian newspaper accusing Tagle of ties to a casino network and even of being a gambling addict himself.

"Bahala na ang Diyos sa kanila [Let God take care of them]," Cardinal Pablo David told the CBCP News on the eve of the conclave, referring to the attacks on fellow Tagle.

As the cardinals prepared to enter the conclave Wednesday morning, there was considerable press discussion of Pierbattista Cardinal Pizzaballa, Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, as a prospective Pope. Like Tagle and Parolin, Pizzaballa was close to Francis and would almost certainly continue his progressive agenda, although he has made known his disagreement with the late Pope over limiting use of the church's Traditional Latin Mass and has frequently said Mass in the pre-conciliar way of facing the altar with his back to the worshippers.

Pizzaballa once made worldwide headlines by offering himself as a hostage in exchange for those captured and held by Hamas in October 2023.

But Pizzaballa, as is widely noted, is 60 and that would guarantee him a possible tenure of 20 years or more — something many of the cardinal-electors worry about, as there is no way of telling what he would do over such a long period.  More often than not, Popes are elected at a much older age so they will reign for a limited period — "God's term limit," as one wag put it.

As the cardinals concluded a final Mass before they began the first round of voting, one thing was obvious: there is no favorite to be Pope.