VATICAN CITY (AP) – They have entered a conclave since last week, which has greatly exceeded and smart after being removed by Pope Francis for 12 years.
Nevertheless, conservatives and traditionalist Catholics are cautiously optimistic about the historical elections of Pope Leo XIV, hoping that he will return doctrinal rigor to the papacy, even as the progressives will feel that he will continue the reform agenda of Francis.
Cardinal Gerhard Müller, Titan of the Conservative Bloc, said on Monday that he was very pleased with the election and expects that Leo will cure the divisions that escalate during Francis’s hinge. Muller, who was fired by Francis as a doctrinal chief of the Vatican, suggested as a first step that Leo would restore access to the old Latin liturgy, which his predecessor limited significantly.
“I am convinced that he will overcome this unnecessary tension (which were) harmful to the church,” Mueller said in an interview with the Associated Press. “We cannot avoid all conflicts, but we must avoid the necessary conflicts, unnecessary conflicts.”
His sense of hope is significant, given that conservative cardinals entered the conclave with a numerical flaw. Francis has appointed 108 of the 133 elect, including former Cardinal Robert Pressee and other pastors in his image.
But in the secret dynamics of the Conclave the Augustine missionary, who spent most of his priestly life in Peru provided much more than the majority of two-thirds needed at the fourth vote at an extremely fast, 24-hour conclave. The speed and the margin denied expectations, given that it was the largest, most geographical conclave in history and the cardinals barely knew each other.
“Good impression” in a conclave
“I think it was a good impression on him for everyone, and in the end it was a great Concordia, great harmony,” Mueller said. “There was no controversy, no fractionation.”
In an interview in his apartment library, right next to St. Peter’s Square, Muller said that Francis’s repression against traditionalists and the old liturgy creates unnecessary divisions that Leo knows he should cure.
Pope Benedict XVI has loosened the restrictions on the Latin Liturgy festivities, which has been used for centuries before the modernizing reforms of the Second Vatican Council of the 1960s, which allowed the liturgy to be celebrated in the people. Francis turned the liturgical heritage of Benedict’s signature, saying that the spread of the Latin mass created divisions in dioceses. But the repression had the effect of galvanizing the conservative enemies of Francis.
“We cannot absolutely condemn or prohibit the legal law and form of the Latin Liturgy,” Mueller said. “According to his character, I think that (Leo) is able to talk to people and find a very good solution that is useful for everyone.”
A pleasant surprise of the name “Leo”
Muller is not alone in his optimism.
The longtime secretary of Benedict, Archbishop Georg Gensvine, who was also fired by Francis and exiled by the Vatican, said he was pleasantly surprised by the election of Leo and Hope for the future.
In an interview with Corriere Della Sera, Gaenswein said the choice of the new Pontiff in his name, mentioning Pope Leo XIII, who led the church from 1878-1903, as well as Leo the Great and other Papi, sent a signal that he would observe the tradition, restore the doctrine.
“Pope Purvation gives me great hope,” Gainshine quoted.
In newspapers, social media publications, television interviews and private conversations among friends, some of Francis’s most vocal critics also sound cautiously optimistic, enjoying some of the smallest ones – but significant to them – gestures.
They liked that Leo read a written statement when he came out of the conclave for the Lodgy of the Basilica “St. Peter”, not to improvise. They liked that his first words refer to Jesus Christ. They loved that he decided to carry the official red nose or moosa of the papacy they regard as a show of respect for the office that Francis had escaped.
Another plus: he sang the Latin American prayer Regina Kaeli on Sunday instead of reciting it.
Many point out the fact that one night before the conclave began, the transth was seen entering the apartment of Cardinal Raymond Burke, another who was set up to the tradition of Cardinal, whom Francis fired as the Chief of the Vatican Supreme Court. Burke would play the role of a “royal producer” in the Conclava, bringing conservative votes behind a particular candidate.
Asked if he voted for Presses, Mueller enchanted.
“Oh, I can’t say. But I’m pleased, right?” he replied.
Still, Prevost also pleases the moderate ones, with many seeing in their first words a continuation of Francis’ priorities for bridge. Buzzwords signal to some pope that reaches the LGBTQ+ community and people from other religions. But for others, this is the literal meaning of “pontifex” and a sign of internal construction of a bridge for the treatment of divisions.
“The Pope, as the heir to St. Peter, must unite the church,” Mueller said.
Müller said he expects Leo to move to the papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace, which he believes is the right place for Pope. Francis chose to live at Domus Santa Martha Hotel in the Vatican because he said he should be around people. But the solution had a practical effect of taking over the entire second floor of the hotel, reducing rooms to visit priests.
Both the progressives and the conservatives see what they want in Leo
Part of the dynamics in the game in these early days of Leo’s papacy is that it seems that progressives and conservatives can see in Leo what they want. He has virtually no published history and has played his cards very close to his vest while in Rome as the head of the Vatican Bishop office. He provided several interviews and deviated from public appearances that fill the Vatican Cardinals days: book presentations, conferences and academic lectures.
George Weigel, the biographer of St. John Paul II and a senior associate at the Center for Ethics and Public Policy, said that Leo’s doctrinal position should be obvious: “a man who spent many of his life in the Peruvian missions believes in the truth of the Gospel and the truth of the world.”
As for the papal nose and stolen, it means “we have a pope who understands the nature of Petrine’s office, who should not bend to personal idiosyncrasia,” Wigel says in an email.
___
The Associated Press Religion coverage receives support through AP collaboration with the US conversation, such as funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. AP is only responsible for this content.