Late British cardinal lobbied for election of Pope Francis, new book claims
September 04, 2017
» Continue to this story on Daily Telegraph
CWN Editor's Note: The late Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor held a reception in Rome just before the 2013 conclave to encourage cardinals from the British Commonwealth nations to support the election of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, according to a new book.
The British cardinal, who died last week, was ineligible to participate in the papal election because of his age. But he joined in pre-conclave talks and organized a reception at the British embassy to discuss his enthusiasm for the Argentine cardinal. That account appears in a forthcoming book, The Keys and the Kingdom” Britain and the Papacy from John Paul II to Francis, by Catherine Pepinster, the former editor of the Catholic weekly The Tablet.
If the report of the reception is accurate, it would seem to be a clear violation of the rule against lobbying before a conclave.
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