Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini played a decisive role in the 2005 conclave that elected Benedict XVI in order to prevent the election of a “curial candidate”.
This is among the recollections of Jesuit Fr Silvio Fausti who was the late Cardinal Martini’s confessor and spiritual guide.
Fr Fausti died on June 24, but his views are expressed in a video interview on the Italian news website Gli Stati Generali.
Vatican Insider reported that according to Fr Fausti’s reconstruction, Cardinal Martini apparently handed his votes over to Cardinal Ratzinger in order to avoid “foul play” which attempted to eliminate both in order to elect “a thoroughly obsequious member of the curia, who didn’t make it”.
According to Fr Fausti, there had apparently been a scheme to elect a curial cardinal.
“Once the ploy had been unveiled, Martini went to Ratzinger in the evening and said to him: tomorrow, you agree to become Pope with my votes . . . He said to him: you accept, you have been in the curia for 30 years and you are intelligent and honest: if you manage to reform the curia great, if not, you step down.”
Vatican Insider journalist Andrea Tornielli qualified Fr Fausti’s account of the conclave.
Tornielli wrote that the only organised group trying to persuade other cardinals was behind Cardinal Ratzinger.
He noted that Cardinal Martini was ill with Parkinson’s Disease and had agreed to be considered as a candidate, but only as a “flag-bearer”, in order to allow his supporters to count how many there were.
Tornielli noted that the second “favourite” in the 2005 conclave was Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who was to be elected Pope France in 2013.
The journalist wrote that the Martini camp went over to Ratzinger to prevent an impasse, which could have eliminated both Ratzinger and Bergoglio and could have led to new candidates emerging.
Sources
- Vatican Insider
- Image: The Guardian