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Eleonore Schoenborn, 92, the elderly mother of Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn’s hopes her son will not become pope.
Fearing she would never see him and that he would be overwhelmed by Vatican intrigues, she told the Kleine Zeitung newspaper,”The whole family is afraid that Christoph will be elected pope.”
Recalling Pope Benedict’s farewell speech, which made clear that popes belonged entirely to the Church, she said her son’s elevation would mean “it is over for me. Then I will not see Christoph ever again because I no longer have the strength to travel to Rome”.
Schoenborn, 68, is often mentioned as a possible papal candidate, but some cautious stands on reform and strong dissent by some Austrian priests could hurt him.
He has a firm grip on the Vienna archdiocese, but leading the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics would be too much of a challenge for Schoenborn, she said.
“Christoph would not be up to the bitchiness in the Vatican. The intrigues in Vienna are enough for him,” she said, adding that he got really annoyed when people were dishonest.
But the paper said Schoenborn had told his family before the conclave: “Don’t get worked up. I certainly won’t become pope.”
Source
- Reuters
- Image: Vienna Online
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