Cardinals' Catch-22: eager for conclave, but need time to choose well

March 2, 2013: Cardinal-electors are caught in a Catch-22. They are eager to give the world a new pope; however, they need time to pick the right leader, said South Africa's cardinal.

"There might be a need for a long delay" as the cardinals try to gauge how much they do or don't know enough about each other, Cardinal Wilfrid Napier told Catholic News Service on March 1, the first day of the "sede vacante."

No church leader wants to be away from his diocese for too long, he said, and no one wants to miss Easter on March 31.

"Yet no cardinal, on the other hand, wants this process to be fouled up by ill-considered actions" and haste, he said.

Because there will be no mourning period, which usually lasts at least 10 days after the death of a pope, he said there may be many cardinals here in Rome who are thinking "'If we're all here, why should we delay it?'"

"There's a whole church out there that needs to get an answer, and I'd say sooner rather than later, but they want the right answer," he said.

The quandary is: "Are we going to get the right person if we hurry things up? Will we get a better person if we slow things" down, he asked.

One part of the process begins March 4 with the general congregations, daily meetings in which the cardinals prepare for a conclave, discuss the needs of the church and handle more serious church business that must be attended to between popes. Cardinals over 80 may participate in these meetings, but they are not required to. The general congregations end when the cardinal-electors enter into conclave.
Cardinals will use informal meetings and the general congregations to get to know each other. But a key part of the general meetings will be to exchange views and reports about the various situations of the church in different parts of the world, he said.