French President Emmanuel Macron, in addition to attending the funeral of Pope Francis, used his visit to the Vatican to hold several meetings with cardinals who will begin the conclave on May 7—the process of electing the new leader of the Catholic Church.
According to Euronews, Macron’s meetings with high-ranking cardinals and senior officials of the Catholic Church, held on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral last Saturday in the Vatican, have stirred controversy in Italy. Many are speculating whether the French president is trying to influence the selection of the next pope.
Italian media have described this as an act of “interference by the modern Sun King,” referencing Macron’s private meeting at the French embassy in Rome with four fellow French nationals who will participate in the conclave: Archbishop of Marseille Jean-Marc Aveline, Bishop of Ajaccio François Bustillo, Apostolic Nuncio to the U.S. Christophe Pierre, and Archbishop Emeritus of Lyon Philippe Barbarin.
All four are full-fledged cardinals, and two of them—Aveline and Bustillo—are considered potential candidates to become the next Pope.
Before the embassy meeting, Macron is said to have dined at a well-known restaurant in Rome with Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Sant’Egidio Community—a powerful organization within the Church known for its humanitarian efforts and peace missions abroad.
This was enough for local media to speculate that the French leader is organizing a sort of “pre-conclave” of his own, with the aim of promoting his preferred candidate—ideally a French one.
However, Riccardi—who is believed to have the trust of many cardinals and is one of the most connected lay figures in the Church, and who also has a fondness for France where he studied—dismissed these rumors. Speaking to the Italian newspaper Il Foglio, he called the theory of a “Macron–Sant’Egidio conspiracy” nothing but “idiocy.”
France has not had a pope since the 14th century. The last French pope was Gregory XI, who died in 1378.
