Cardinal finds what it was once love to be a part of conclave to make a choice Pope Leo

Being sealed off from the sector within the conclave to make a choice the brand new Pope was once “immensely peaceful”, England and Wales’s maximum senior Roman Catholic has instructed the BBC.

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, chief of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, was once one in all 133 cardinals who have been close into the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel and later elected Pope Leo XIV on Thursday.

He instructed BBC Breakfast on Saturday that no one within the extremely secretive assembly was once announcing who to vote for or who not to vote for, including that there was once “no rancour” or “politicking” a few of the cardinals.

“It was a much calmer process than that and I found it actually a rather wonderful experience,” he added.

Conclaves have taken position within the Sistine Chapel for the reason that 15th Century and cardinals will have to don’t have any conversation with the outdoor international till a brand new Pope is elected. The contemporary conclave got here after the loss of life of Pope Francis on 21 April.

Cardinal Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, mentioned that his cell phone was once taken off him, including that he discovered he had “more time on my hands just to be prayerful, just to reflect, just to be still, rather than being constantly agitated… or prompted by what might be coming in” on his telephone.

“For me, one of the experiences of these last few days was to learn a bit of patience, to just take this step by step,” he mentioned.

“There was a calmness, a bit of solemnity,” he persevered, including that everybody he spoke to when in it was once “peaceful and just wanting to do this well”.

At 79 years outdated, Cardinal Nichols was once one of the most oldest cardinals within the conclave as they will have to be underneath 80 to be eligible to vote.

There is not any timescale on how lengthy it takes for a conclave to elect a brand new Pope, with earlier ones in 2005 and 2013 lasting two days. The conclave that elected Pope Leo lasted for someday.

“I think it was a short conclave in part because Pope Francis left us with a good inheritance,” the cardinal mentioned.

“He left a college of cardinals who were dedicated, who had this desire for the church to be more missionary, and that led us forward actually very, very easily to the decision that we made.”

Pope Leo will probably be officially inaugurated at a mass in St Peter’s Square on 18 May, which delegations from international locations all over the world will attend.

The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Edward, will attend on behalf of King Charles, Buckingham Palace showed on Saturday.

Speaking in regards to the new Pope, Cardinal Nichols mentioned Pope Leo is “very decisive” in a “quiet way”, including that he has observed him “make decisions which disappoint people but don’t destroy them”.

“A good thing about a pope is if he’s able to say, ‘No’, to you when he thinks something is not right and then give you a hug so you don’t go away offended, and I think he’s got that ability to do both those things, which is very important.”