Cardinals voting on new Pope: ‘Not fracturing the Church will be the priority’
Cardinals from around the world have gathered at the Sistine Chapel to select the next pope.
A memorial mass service was held at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Johannesburg on 23 April 2025 in honour of the late Pope Francis. Picture: Sphamandla Dlamini/EWN
702 and CapeTalk’s Africa Melane speaks with Lance Thomas, Project Manager at the University of Pretoria's Centre for Faith and Community.
Listen below:
The future direction of the Catholic Church is being decided by 113 cardinal electors, who are locked down at the Sistine Chapel.
The cardinals will have no interaction with the outside world until a new pope is selected.
On Wednesday evening, black smoke was seen coming out of the chimney at the Sistine Chapel, meaning a new pope was not chosen.
In the past two decades, the conclave has wrapped up in two days.
However, Thomas says this vote could take slightly longer as Pope Francis’s progressive legacy has divided some within the church.
He believes the cardinals will be very aware of the risk of fracturing the church if they do not balance the interests of both progressive and conservative followers.
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“At the forefront of the minds of the cardinals will be how to keep the church together and how to keep almost 1.4 billion people following the teachings of the church.”
- Lance Thomas, Centre for Faith and Community - University of Pretoria
He argues that the best thing the cardinals can do is find someone who will be a 'people’s pope'.
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