Conclave, cardinals gather in Vatican for «General Congregations»

VATICAN CITY - The members of the College of Cardinals - including both voters and non-voters - gathered this morning in the Vatican’s Synod Hall for the first General Congregation in preparation for the Conclave, which will choose Benedict XVI’s successor. The Dean of the College of Cardinals, Angelo Sodano, who presides over the session, declared the congregation open. Many of the 115 cardinal electors have still not arrived in Rome; this is the reason why the date for the Conclave may not be set today. In any case, the date for the opening of the Conclave should not be before next Monday, 11 March.



Today in the afternoon, at 5 p.m., the second General Congregation will take place. Among the first to arrive in the morning were the Dean of the College of Cardinals Angelo Sodano, Tarcisio Bertone, Camillo Ruini, Giuseppe Betori, Angelo Bagnasco, Fernando Filoni, Claudio Hummes, Vinko Puljic, Reinhard Marx, Walter Kasper, Kurt Koch, and Claudio Caffarra. Some cardinals came alone and others arrived in small groups. Cardinal Ruini arrived with the former secretary general of the Italian Episcopal Conference, Giuseppe Betori. Then, the Germans Marx and Kasper, and the Archbishop emeritus of Milan, cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, together with the cardinal of Krakow, Stanislaw Dziwisz, who has been Pope Wojtyla's personal secretary. American cardinals arrived all together, aboard a spacious minivan. Brazilians came in two separate groups. None of them made any particular statement to reporters.



(translated from Italian by Luna De Bartolo)