VATICAN CITY (RNS) — As the conclave to elect a new pope began Wednesday (May 7), the horde of journalists and other professional Vatican observers has fastened on a comment by the 91-year-old dean of the College of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re, asking whether he may have tipped his hand about his own expectations for the outcome of the election.
During the sign of the peace at the final Mass before the cardinal electors sequester themselves in the Sistine Chapel, Re, who is too old to vote in the conclave, gripped papal front-runner Cardinal Pietro Parolin’s shoulders and was caught on a microphone saying in Italian, “auguri e doppi,” which could mean either “congratulations twice” or “best wishes twice.”
Re, who said the funeral Mass for Pope Francis 11 days earlier, gave the homily at the service in St. Peter’s Basilica known as Pro Eligendo Pontifice (For the Election of the Pontiff). He weighed in on the two poles of unity and diversity, which in debates on the future of the church have come to represent the split between conservative and progressive views.
In his homily, Re said the readings issued “a strong call to maintain the unity of the church on the path traced out by Chris …