0:00

politics well underway now that Pope Francis

0:02

has been laid to rest your

0:04

purists They argue the Vatican's gone a

0:06

bit woke too much focus on

0:08

inclusion and diversity Not enough talk about

0:10

the Bible and how it can

0:12

be quite well strict actually on a

0:14

lot of social stuff The conclave

0:16

must start by May 10th at the

0:19

latest our Rome correspondent Joe McKenna

0:21

is at the Vatican for us this

0:23

morning Joe welcome to the show Hello,

0:26

Ryan. How are you? Very well. Thank

0:28

you. And nice to have you at

0:30

the Vatican for us. So this is

0:32

all starting to get a bit political.

0:34

What actually happens now and when does

0:36

the conclave have to start? Well,

0:40

the politics, of course, is fascinating.

0:42

It's very medieval. After

0:44

the Pope's death, the

0:46

conclave has to start within 15

0:49

to 20 days. So

0:51

we're expecting that to get underway,

0:53

probably Monday or Tuesday next

0:55

week. What do you rate

0:57

the chances of them going even more progressive than

0:59

Francis was? Or do you think it's going

1:01

to go the other way, and Alina

1:03

bit more conservative? Look,

1:06

it's an interesting time and

1:08

the Conservatives were very angry, very

1:10

upset with Pope Francis, even

1:12

though he was so loved and

1:15

so popular. You're right, as

1:17

you said earlier, there was a

1:19

concern that he was too ambiguous

1:21

on things like gay rights and

1:23

the role of women in the

1:25

church and whether divorces should be

1:27

allowed to have communion. They didn't

1:29

like it. They didn't like him

1:31

being buried in a very simple

1:33

coffin. They didn't like his informality.

1:36

They didn't like the fact that he

1:38

gave up all the traditional robes

1:40

and the papal apartment and decided to

1:42

live out the back in a

1:44

little tiny room in the Casa Santa

1:46

Marta. So these conservatives are

1:48

pushing back big time. And there is

1:50

a lot of chewing and froing

1:52

going on behind the scenes right now.

1:54

The other thing that's interesting, I

1:56

ran into a Vatican insider last night

1:58

who had a senior position no

2:00

longer. And he told me

2:03

off the record, the Italians want to

2:05

see a European Pope. They want

2:07

to see an Italian Pope. And even

2:09

though the Italians don't have a

2:11

huge number in terms of the total

2:13

electors, there are only about 16

2:15

Italians. He said they have

2:17

enormous influence. they see it as a

2:19

family business. And they didn't like

2:21

the fact that some outsider came in from

2:23

Argentina and shook things up. That's

2:25

me. Joe, it's interesting

2:27

because there's a hundred, I mean,

2:29

just the word family business and

2:31

Italian. It's

2:34

a dangerous combination. Anyway,

2:38

the 130 Cardinals who were there, I

2:40

was reading yesterday that, you know,

2:42

obviously Francis appointed a lot of them.

2:44

And a lot of them don't actually know each other.

2:46

They've never met each other before. They're from far -flying

2:48

parts of the world. This is almost going to

2:51

be like the first day of school when they get

2:53

together. Yeah, it's

2:55

a very good way of putting it.

2:57

They've had a couple of meetings

2:59

already But things will really crank up

3:01

tomorrow They've got this old -fashioned thing

3:03

where they don't really like to

3:05

say too much before the funeral itself

3:08

But things will really crank up

3:10

and as you said, you know, there

3:12

a lot of newcomers They're being

3:14

sworn in before they have what what's

3:16

called these congregations where it's really

3:18

an opportunity for the players

3:21

to showcase what their

3:23

papacy would be like. And

3:25

that's what really happened with Pope

3:27

Francis when he gave a speech

3:29

way back in 2013. It

3:31

really moved the Cardinals to get behind

3:33

him because he had a vision for how

3:35

he wanted to take the church. Not

3:38

all of them were happy with what happened,

3:40

but that's really what happened behind closed doors.

3:43

And so we've had some of the Cardinals

3:45

meeting, not all of them there. That

3:47

will step up tomorrow. And

3:49

don't forget the Cardinals that

3:51

cannot vote in the Conclave

3:53

also take part in these meetings.

3:55

So you've got the elderly Cardinals

3:57

over the age of 80 who will

3:59

also have some influence on the newcomers

4:02

in terms of the direction of the

4:04

conclave. Joe, thank you very much for that.

4:06

Great to have you on the show as always.

4:08

Joe McKenna, our Rome correspondent at The Vatican. For

4:10

more from early edition with Ryan

4:12

Bridge, listen live to news talks

4:14

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