He said the the funeral’s spectacle of national leaders coming together, “the biggest in the world, next to the smallest in the world,” alongside migrants, the poor and the unhoused, gave him hope that the meeting between the American and Ukrainian “will bring peace — Pope Francis’ greatest fight,” he said. As Vesco and his fellow cardinals convene to elect Francis’ successor, he added, he hopes “they will let the Holy Spirit talk to our hearts and elect a good pope.”
Asked about the meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy, German Cardinal Reinhard Marx said he too was impressed by the fact that so many politicians were willing to be present at the funeral and exchange the sign of peace during the Mass.
“If the church provides a space where politicians at that level can encounter each other in the atmosphere of such a Eucharistic celebration, with the message of such a pope, I do hope that that is an impulse for them to say, ‘Let us look forward, how do we now find a solution?’ A just solution. But a solution that truly contributes to peace,” he said.
At the upcoming conclave, expected to begin May 5 or 6, the cardinals will consider more than the geopolitical situation around the globe. On Wednesday, Cardinal Aquilino Bocos Merino, who will take part but not vote at the conclave, having surpassed the age of 80, said, “The cardinals will seek the best candidate, according to the spirit of the gospel and the needs of the world.”
This article originally appeared here.
, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump sat leaning toward each other on solitary chairs in the marbled hall outside the Baptistry Chapel of St. Peter’s Basilica.){kind=link}