Schönborn wants a team player as the new Pope
"The world has become more complex and it can lead an individual to the limits of being overwhelmed. Therefore, it is the conviction of many cardinals that the office of the pope requires strong teamwork - with the Curia, with the bishops, with the entire church," said Cardinal Christoph Schönborn to Kathpress a few hours before the start of the papal election.
Schönborn cannot elect the new pope
Schönborn had turned 80 in January and is not allowed to participate in the papal election. Like the other cardinals, however, he was involved in the so-called "pre-conclave." The difference from the consultations in 2005 and 2013, in which Schönborn also participated, is the geopolitical situation, which plays a significantly larger role. "Now polarization, war, and violence are very defining themes," said Schönborn. The emeritus Archbishop of Vienna returned to Vienna on Tuesday evening. For the first time since 1958, no Austrian will participate in the conclave beginning on Wednesday afternoon. Schönborn emphasized that he would be "very intensely involved internally." "And I am actually in the same situation as those who go in: No one knows who it will be. God alone knows. Everything that is spoken is already directed at him - even if we do not know him yet. That is what makes the depth and mystery of this process."
Schönborn sees "clear line of continuity" between Pope Francis and predecessors
Schönborn also countered critics of the deceased pope, whose orthodoxy some cardinals had publicly doubted. He addressed the topic at the cardinal assembly. "Even though John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and Francis were very different personalities, in retrospect I see a clear line of continuity - even beyond these three, for example to Paul VI and John XXIII: All were shaped by the Second Vatican Council, whose central concerns they continued: The renewal of the church from its roots, the opening to the world, the service to people," emphasized the former Archbishop of Vienna. That Francis particularly emphasized the themes of environment, poverty, interreligious dialogue, peace, and migration were "not breaks with the past, but deepening." The synodality that Francis valued was also a continuation of the Second Vatican Council, which envisioned the church as "Communio" (community), Schönborn noted, pointing out that the synods are merely advisory.
(APA/Red)
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