From left, Cardinals Miloslav Vlk of the Czech Republic, Walter Kasper of Germany, Giuseppe Betori of Italy and Dominik Duka, also of the Czech Republic, arrive for a cardinals’ meeting Wednesday at the Vatican.VATICAN CITY – Cardinals heard a final appeal for unity Tuesday before sequestering themselves in the Sistine Chapel for the conclave to elect the next pope, as they celebrated Mass amid divisions and uncertainty over who will lead the 1.2 billion-strong Catholic Church and tend to its many problems.
A Gregorian chant wafting through St. Peter’s Basilica, the 115 cardinal electors filed in wearing bright red vestments, many looking grim as if the burden of the imminent vote was weighing on them.
A few hundred people braved thunderstorms and pouring rain to watch the Mass on giant TV screens in St. Peter’s Square. A handful knelt in prayer, eyes clenched and hands clasped.
In his homily, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, called for unity within the church, a not-so-veiled appeal to the cardinal electors to put their differences aside for the good of the church and the next pope.
“Each of us is therefore called to cooperate with the Successor of Peter, the visible foundation of such an ecclesial unity,” Sodano said.