VATICAN CITY (RNS) —Rumors have crashed into the pre-conclave meetings, potentially upsetting a frontrunner for the next pope.
The Italian daily Il Tempo published an article on Thursday (May 1), reporting papabile favorite Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state under Pope Francis, suffered a sudden drop in blood pressure and was assisted by medics for about an hour, a report the Vatican denied.
“No, it did not happen,” said Vatican spokesperson Matteo Bruni during a meeting with Vatican journalists on Friday (May 2) in Italian.
Colombian Cardinal Jorge Enrique Jiménez Carvajal, who is not an elector due to his age, also denied the report, telling RNS and other reporters in Spanish, “I was in a meeting with Parolin yesterday. He was very well.”
Il Tempo mentioned the alleged health incident only at the end of a long report concerning disgraced Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who withdrew from the conclave due to his involvement in Vatican financial scandals. Some Italian media reports have claimed Parolin is likely to enter the conclave with between 40 and 50 votes out of the 89 needed for the two-thirds majority to elect the next pope.
In the 2013 conclave that elected Pope Francis, media outlets speculated about the ill health of Argentine Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, po …