Is Macron seeking to influence the election of the new Pope?
Macron’s numerous meetings with senior cardinals and high-ranking Catholic Church officials last Saturday, on the sidelines of the funeral of Pope Francis, the leader of the world’s Catholics, in Rome, have caused controversy in the Italian press.
Italian media, covering the meetings of the French president, have called the action “the interventionism of the modern Sun King,” a term referring to Macron, who met with four senior Vatican figures who are French while in Rome: Archbishop of Marseille Jean-Marc Avelin, Bishop of Ajaccio François Bustillo, Christophe Pierre, the papal ambassador to the United States, and retired Archbishop Elione-Philippe Barbarin.
Euronews has identified all four as senior cardinals, two of whom, Avelin and Bustillo, are among the contenders to be the next pope.
According to reports, Macron also had lunch with Andrea Ricciardi, founder of the Society of Sant’Egidio, a highly influential church organization for its charitable work and peace missions abroad, before these meetings, which was enough for the Italian press to speculate that the French president was interfering in the election of the next pope.
However, in an interview with the Italian newspaper Il Folio on Thursday, Ricciardi dismissed the rumors, saying that the Macron-Sant’Egidio conspiracy was “stupidity.”
Euronews further recalled that France has not had a pope since the 14th century, and the last Catholic leader elected from this country was Pope Gregory XI, who died in 1378.
But Macron is not the only leader who seems to be trying to elect a new pope; US President Donald Trump also challenged himself on Tuesday by saying he “would like to be pope” and then jokingly said he would be the “first choice” for the next pope.
However, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham took the joke seriously, writing in an X post supporting Trump: “Trump is truly going to be an unexpected candidate.” He then urged members of the secret society for papal election and the Catholic faithful to “prepare their minds for this possibility.”
Graham concluded by adding: “There are many positive aspects to the combination of pope and US president. I look forward to the white smoke.” He was referring to the ceremony after the election of the new pope in the Vatican and the white smoke rising from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel.