In the 2005 Conclave “they used me” to try to ensure that Joseph Ratzinger was not elected Pope. Pope Francis says this in the interview book “El sucesor” (The Successor), on his memories of Benedict XVI, written with the Spanish journalist Javier Martinez-Brocal for Editorial Planeta. The book will be released on Wednesday 3 April, but a chapter, entitled ‘Conclave’, was previewed yesterday by the ABC newspaper.
“In that conclave – the news is known – they used me. Before continuing I’ll tell you something. The cardinals swear not to reveal what happens in the conclave, but the popes have the license to tell it”, explains Francis. “It happened that I obtained forty votes out of one hundred and fifteen in the Sistine Chapel. They were enough to stop the candidacy of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, because, if they had continued to vote for me, he would not have been able to reach the two thirds necessary to be elected Pope.” When asked if they could not have chosen Bergoglio himself, “this was not the idea of those behind the votes – he replies -. The maneuver consisted of putting my name, blocking Ratzinger’s election and then negotiating a third different candidate They then told me that they didn’t want a ‘foreign’ pope.”
“It was a complete maneuver – recalls Francesco -.
The idea was to block the election of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. They were using me, but behind them they were already thinking of proposing another cardinal. They still couldn’t agree on who, but they were already on the verge of pronouncing a name.” When asked when this happened, the current Pope explains: “The Conclave began on Monday 18 April 2005. In the afternoon it was the first vote took place. This operation took place in the second or third vote, on Tuesday 19th morning.
When I realized this in the afternoon, I said to a Latin American cardinal, the Colombian Darío Castrillón: ‘Don’t joke with my candidacy, because now I say I won’t accept, eh? Leave me here.’ And there Benedict was elected.”
Bergoglio also says that Joseph Ratzinger “was my candidate”. “He was the only one who at that time could be Pope – he observes -. After the revolution of John Paul II, who had been a dynamic, very active, enterprising, traveling Pontiff… there was a need for a Pope who maintained a healthy balance, a Pope of transition”. Francis reiterates that he was very happy with the election of Joseph Ratzinger, as he already said in his first in-flight press conference, returning from Rio de Janeiro. “And it’s true – he confirms -. If they had chosen someone like me, who causes so much trouble, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything. At that time it wouldn’t have been possible. I left happy.
Benedict XVI was a man who accompanied the new style. And it wasn’t easy for him, huh? He met a lot of resistance in the Vatican.” And with that election, for Francis, the Holy Spirit said to the Church: “Here I am in charge. There is no room for maneuver.”
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