VATICAN CITY -An elite group of pilgrims flocked to Rome yesterday, princes of the church who have started sizing each other up and expressing their views before they closet themselves in the Sistine Chapel to elect one among them as successor to John Paul II.
Some of the cardinals flew to Rome while John Paul was still dying, even at the risk of seeming too eager to be visible. Others lingered at home to comfort the faithful in their diocese before heading to the Vatican for the funeral and the secret voting sessions of the conclave.
Either way, politicking vied with piety as the cardinals spoke before congregations in cathedrals or gaggles of microphones at airports.
Only the Holy Spirit knows who the successor is to His Holiness
although it makes me happy that I'm mentioned so that the world knows that good things exist in Honduras said Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, archbishop of Tegucigalpa. He is a papabile Italian for someone who has pope potential.
Being in pole position might or might not be an advantage. An Italian bishop, Libero Tresoldi, reminded reporters in Milan's Gothic cathedral about the oft-quoted proverb warning cardinals against overconfidence: He who enters a conclave as pope leaves as a cardinal.
Tresoldi, from northern Italy, appeared concerned that a remark on Sunday by Milan Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi would put the cardinal in the proverb's risk category. Tettamanzi, 61, spoke of a very affectionate caress that John Paul gave him three years ago when tapped to lead the high-profile diocese.
Bishop Tresoldi apparently fretted that it appeared that Tettamanzi was depicting himself as a favorite of the widely beloved John Paul II.
Paris' cardinal, Jean-Marie Lustiger, who at 78 is two years under the cutoff age to be eligible to vote for the next pope, gave short shrift to the widely circulated lists of touted candidates.
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