Electing the Successor of St Peter

Wednesday 7th May 2025

Parishioners from across the diocese gathered together yesterday evening to pray for the College of Cardinals on the eve of conclave.

This afternoon, the 133 eligible cardinals from across the world entered the Sistine Chapel where they will begin the process of electing a new pope through prayerful discernment.

Catholics from our diocese united in prayer yesterday evening to pray for this process and for the cardinals during a special Mass at Salford Cathedral’s Temporary Church.

During his homily, Vicar General Canon Cooke, who celebrated the Mass, shared his thoughts on the significance on the occasion and what it means to be a successor of St Peter.

Over the past two weeks, since the death of Pope Francis, there have been many news articles or interviews asking the question “Who might be the next Pope?” “Who will be the successor of Pope Francis?”

I think it was our own Cardinal Nichols that gave an interesting answer to that question, who said that, whilst the new Pope will indeed be the successor of Pope Francis, what we need to remember is that the cardinals are being asked to elect a successor to St Peter.

That’s a great reminder to us of what the office of Pope is all about; it is our link, here and now, here in the present time, with the person that Jesus Christ first chose to be leader of the Church he had founded. And that gives us two further avenues of thought.

First of all, when we look at Peter in the Gospels, we see a man who was enthusiastic in his following of Jesus and clearly had the gifts needed to be a leader – but also got things wrong from time to time. So, whoever is elected now (as his successor) will be a man with his own particular mixture of strengths and weaknesses. There will be things he does that we will all applaud and other things we might be less keen on. That doesn’t matter. Our new Pope will be the person God wants to lead the Church at this time.

Secondly, when we think about the successor of Peter, we recognise that he will not be a mirror image of the first Pope – and nor should he be. He is not being chosen, as Peter was, to lead the Church in the first century but to lead it in the present time. So, we need someone equipped to lead and guide us in the world of today, with the issues faced by the Church and the world at this time.

The thing that will unite our new Pope with St Peter (apart from the obvious matter of his Apostolic Succession) should be the qualities that we hear described by Jesus in the Gospel tonight:

• He will be a friend of Jesus, to whom the Lord will make known all that he has heard from his Father;
• He will be a person who lives out the commandment of love, loving others as Jesus loves them, to the extent of laying down his life for them;
• He will be someone who has been chosen for this task, rather than choosing it for himself;
• He will be someone who abides in the love of Jesus and invites others to do the same;
• He will have God-given gifts and talents “to equip [them] for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of faith”.
• Most of all, his chief task is to be a shepherd to Christ’s flock (the Church). Remember, again, that the Pope is successor to St Peter – and Jesus commissioned Peter three times to look after and feed his lambs, his sheep.

It will be the task of the new Pope to continue in that vein, as his predecessors have from the time of Peter

Synodal Listening

Hopefully, the cardinals meeting for the Conclave will adopt one very important lesson from the ministry of Pope Francis – Synodal Listening.

As Pope Francis described it, it is not about discussion or argument or fighting one’s own corner; it is not about pressing your own point of view or listening to others with your answer already prepared. It is about listening to what each person feels inspired to say, reflecting on all of that, and then discerning what the Holy Spirit is saying to the Church at this time. That Synodal Listening will hopefully be the mark of this Conclave.

So, let us pray tonight – and in the days ahead (for however long the Conclave lasts) – that the cardinals will be attentive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit in their important task of choosing a successor to St Peter and providing the Church with the gift of a new chief shepherd. 

Tagged | Catholic Church