Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma hopes that the cardinals will choose a “Pope who is a true leader” just like the previous Popes.
“I am praying that we will have a Popes that is truly a leader. Makita man diha sa ilaha that they are prayerful, their wisdom, their self-sacrificing efforts to make the people believe that we have a church which is served by the Lord and led by the Lord,” he said.
“In this church we are all called to live as one big family united in faith, hope and love and of course, manifested by our desire for peace and service for one another,” he added.
Palma also said that the church in the country will join the cardinals in prayer in choosing the pope.
“As requested by the cardinals we’ll join them in prayer that the Holy Spirit will guide the cardinals to elect the pope whom they would consider would be the one anointed to serve our church,” he said.
The College of Cardinals has decided to start the conclave to vote the next Pope on March 12.
The conclave date was set last week during a vote by the College of Cardinals, who have been meeting all week to discuss the church’s problems and priorities, and the qualities the successor to Pope Benedict XVI must possess.
On Tuesday, the cardinals will celebrate a Mass for the election of St. Peter’s successor at St. Peter’s Basilica in the morning and in the afternoon they will enter the Sistine Chapel for the conclave, Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican’s spokesperson, said.
After entering the Sistine Chapel, the cardinals will listen to a meditation on the challenges facing the Roman Catholic Church. The 87-year-old Cardinal Prospero Grech, a member of the Augustinian order, will give the meditation. The cardinal from Malta will then leave the Sistine Chapel before the voting begins since he is not among the cardinal-electors.
Manila Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle will be joining the conclave. Vatican observers have considered the 56-year-old Filipino cardinal among the papabile or worthy of being and eligible to be Pope.
115 cardinals will select the next pope. Cebu Archbishop Emeritus Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, 82 is also in Rome but he will not be eligible to vote in the conclave as voting is only reserved for cardinals below 80 years old.
The over 80 years old cardinals can be part of the preconclave meetings called general congregations. /Carmel Loise Matus, Correspondent