At Pope Francis’s request, Cardinal Gianfranco Ghirlanda, SJ, 81, is drafting changes to papal election procedures, “sources close to the Vatican’s Secretariat of State” have told The Pillar.
Under the proposed changes, cardinals who are 80 years of age or older, and thus ineligible to vote in the papal election, would be barred from the general congregations that take place before the vote. In addition, cardinals would no longer address all of their confrères: instead, they would speak with one another in small groups, with their remarks being summarized for their brother cardinals.
Diane Montagna, a journalist accredited to the Holy See Press Office, reported that in addition, “Cardinal Ghirlanda is seeking to convince Pope Francis to undertake a truly revolutionary act, by revolutionizing who elects the Pope.”
“Professing to ‘return to the early Church,’ the idea would be to have cardinal-electors, the majority of whom Pope Francis has chosen, comprise 75% of the vote, while the remaining 25% percent would be made up of laymen and women and religious sisters, papally appointed by Pope Francis in advance of the Apostolic See becoming vacant,” wrote Montagna, who cited “well-informed Vatican sources.”