Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline or France Coud in Babies on Sunday in a church in the neighborhood of Monti in Rome. Cardinal Peter Erdo or Hungary requested prayers for other cardinals in a church near the Colosseum. Cardinal Fridolin Ambongo or the Congo joined priests from around the world at the altar of a church in western Rome.
The three cardinals, considered contestants, thought they are not favorites, to become the next Pope, were among those who celebrate Mass in Rome on Sunday, making among their public appearances before the conclave to choose a new Pope that begins on Wednesday.
Campaign rallies that were not. But in the homilies that the cardinals delivered, and in their interactions with the faithful, they offered clues about the messages they could be giving to other cardinals, and what guy could want or want to be.
All cardinals are assigned what is known as a titular church in Rome; When they are in the city, they can choose to celebrate the Mass there. Some, such as Cardinal Aveline and Cardinal Luis Tagle de Filipinas, a leading papal contender, had already done it last week. Cardinal Tagle attracted hundreds of faithful Filipino to his titular church in the sandy suburb of Centocelle on Thursday. A less known cardinal issue also moved throughout the city on Sunday, giving the anxious observers of the Vatican the opportunity to take photos of their eminences throughout the city.
But the two Italian favorites, the Cardinals Pietro Parolin and Pierbattista Pizzaballa, did not take the pulpit on Sunday, acting as fronts in a political campaign that chose to remain silent rather, perhaps, perhaps.
Some curious Catholics, and news journalists examining each movement of the cardinals, appeared to the head of Cardinal Pizzaballa anyway, hoping to take a look or a new pontiff.
“I will understand if you want to go,” the priest of the church of Sant’Onofrio al Gianicolo, in a hill with a view to Rome, spoke about the parishioners of a boxes. “Cardinal Pizza Balla will not be here or tomorrow or the day after tomorrow.”
The parishioners stayed. The half -box reporters go out, content to chat with Francesco Ziacos Ziaco, a 63 -year -old banker who had come to see Cardinal Pizzaballa, and who also looked a lot like him.
(Un periodista de Rai, la emisora italiana, le preguntó al Sr. Ziaco si era el cardenal, que iba clandestino con ropa civil. Aunque no lo era, reconoció: “La primera vez que vi su foto,” este tipo “))))))
The cardinals who celebrated the Mass were with enthusiastic support.
A crowd only stood the basilica of Santa Francesca Romana, also known as Santa Maria Nova, hoping Cardinal Erdo, the Archbishop of Esztergom Budapest. Several rows of gold -painted chairs near the church front were reserved for dignitaries, including Hungarian ambassadors for the Holy See and Italy.
In his homily, the cardinal, one of the favorites of the conservative Catholics, urged the faithful to pray for a new Pope “who will have to deepen the mission of the Church in a dramatic phase of the history of mankind.”
“Today’s Church must face the question of ambition itself,” he said, asking the traditions to be protected and the Church concentrates on evangelization.
Cardinal Erdo, 72, did not mix with the parishioners. He went out to the journalists who asked questions but lowered the window of their car on the way to greet a small child.
The tone of the Mass of Cardinal Aveline on Sunday felt lighter. He opened the service in Santa Maria Ai Monti thanking the Virgen de la Monte for having made a “little miracle.” Later in the service, the pastor, Reverend Francesco Pesce, explained that the cardinal’s bag had stolen his leg at the Mass in the church last week. Three days later, it was found.
The father joked that he would become Pope and make Cardinal Aveline his Secretary of State. There were laughs everywhere. The Cardinal thanked the parishioners for making him feel at home.
“Do not be afraid of the truth, will make us free,” said Cardinal Aveline, 66, the Marseille archbishop, during his homily. “Do not be afraid of those who are different from us, because every man and every woman are a brother and sister for whom Christ has increased.”
Cardinal Aveline individually appointed adolescents who had been confirmed, one of the sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church, a week earlier. He stopped by the front benches to shake hands with primary schools whom he later joined the sacristy to talk. Hi, he spoke with parishioners and babies with palmaditas. He did not talk to journalists.
In the San Gabriele Arcangelo All’acqua Traversa, Cardinal Ambongo, the Archbishop of Kinshasa, made a point to emphasize the universality of the church in a homily delivered from an altar with priests of the Philippines, India, Madagascar and Italy.
Cardinal Ambongo, 65, a favorite from Francis, asked the faithful to pray for the cardinals who enter the conclave to be illuminated with the Holy Spirit “to choose for the universal church of a Pope” who is ready for the world.
After the Mass, the cardinal with the journalists, staying in a message with the type of discipline that would make many political agents jealous.
“I asked for prayers, not by prayers by the way Cardinal, by a cardinal of a certain part of the world,” he said. “We pray for a shepherd that God moves by his universal church.”
Cardinal Ambongo dodged the questions about gay, lesbian and transgender Catholics, or who has less than inclusive bone, saying: “It is not time to talk about these things.”
Then he told the parishioners, kissed a baby and got used to lunch, waiting, he said, that the papal elections would be short. “We hope I don’t take much, much,” he said.
