Cardinals have not made up minds on next pope despite some front-runners

While some names have been floated to replace Pope Francis, many cardinals who will be voting in the conclave say they have not yet made up their mind.

Catholic cardinals entering a conclave on Wednesday to pick a new pope do not yet have a clear idea of who will emerge as Pope Francis’ successor, several said, and speeches by individual clerics in meetings this week may be decisive.

The 133 cardinals are holding near daily meetings to discuss issues facing the 1.4-billion-member Catholic Church before the conclave, when they will be sequestered in a hotel and barred from contact with the outside world.

While there are a few cardinals seen as front-runners to succeed Pope Francis — two often mentioned are Italian Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle — many of the clerics who will vote have not made up their minds.

“My list is changing, and I think it will continue to change over the next few days,” British Cardinal Vincent Nichols, participating in his first conclave, told Reuters. “It’s a process which for me is far from concluded, far from concluded.”

As the cardinals are meeting this week in what are called “general congregations,” individual clerics can offer speeches to give their vision for the future of the global faith.

During the 2013 conclave, it was in this period that Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio gave a speech that, by many accounts, deeply impressed his peers. Days later, he was elected as Francis.

Nichols, the highest-ranking Church official in England and Wales, said the speeches this time have again been pivotal in helping form opinions about who could be the next pope.

“There’ll be these moments when like a stone is dropped into a pond and the ripples will go out and I’ll sit there thinking, ‘Ah, yeah, that’s important,'” said the cardinal.