Indonesian Cardinal says unable to participate in Conclave
February 22, 2013 - Indonesia's cardinal, one of the 117 eligible to participate in
the Conclave to elect the successor of Pope Benedict XVI, will not go to Rome for
the vote due to ailing health. In an interview with a Catholic magazine Cardinal
Julius Riyadi Darmaatmadja, the 78-year old retired archbishop of Jakarta, said his
eyesight was failing and that he would not be able to handle reading the "texts, materials,
rules, and so on" necessary for the event. "I will not go. My eyesight does not
allow me to be involved," he told Hidup Katolik magazine in the February 24 edition.
"For this, I ask forgiveness from the Catholic Church of Indonesia, that I cannot
represent [the country] in this very important event," he said. Meanwhile in the
Vatican, Holy See’s spokesman Fr. Federico Lombardi told reporters on Friday about
Cardinal Darmaatmadja’s health condition, but said it was up to the College of Cardinals
to officially make a statement regarding the prelate’s inability to participate in
the Conclave. Pope Benedict has decided to step down as Pontiff on Feb. 28 at 1900
GMT. He will become only the second pontiff to resign of his own free will in the
Church's 2,000-year history. Cardinal Darmaatmadja said he supported the Pope's decision,
saying he too left a busy post as Archbishop of Jakarta several years ago when his
health began to deteriorate. The conclave to elect the new Pope is scheduled to
start between March 15 and 19, though Pope Benedict, before retirement, may bring
some change for an earlier conclave.