Does Emmanuel Macron try to influence the cardinals? This is what the Italian conservative press suggests. “Macron even wants to choose the pope,” denounced the very right -handed Milanese newspaper on Wednesday. “Macron is even embedded in the conclave,” titled the conservative daily Libero. “Macron’s grandeur does not know any limits,” said he was the tempo.
The reason for their annoyance? Two recent meals from the French head of state in Rome. On April 26, five days after the death of Pope Francis, Emmanuel Macron would have brought together four French cardinals around a lunch at the French Embassy in Rome: Jean-Marc Aveline, Archbishop of Marseille and Papabile (potential pope), Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio in the United States, Philippe Barbarin and François Bustillo, bishop of Ajaccio.
The day before, he would have dinner in a famous restaurant in the eternal city with the influential Andrea Riccardi, founder of the community of Sant’Egidio. This association of Catholic faithful engaged in the fight against poverty in the world claims 60,000 secular members in 74 countries. Under François, the community, according to Le Monde, would have played an important role in the international relations of the Holy See.
“He wants to get through the Sistine Chapel window”
These two meetings in any case speculate the Italian right, according to the publications of the conservative titles. Libero accuses him of wanting to promote the French candidate for the Holy See, the Archbishop of Marseille Jean-Marc Aveline. “If he managed to raise his favorite cardinal to the pontifical throne, the French head of state would instantly regain international weight,” analyzes the daily life that makes fun of the way the French president was put to the door by Donald Trump during his meeting with Zelensky in the Saint-Pierre basilica.
“After having been rejected unlike discussions between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky in the Saint-Pierre basilica, the French president aims to enter at least through the Sistine Chapel window,” mocks the newspaper that explains Macron’s attitude by his “personal antagonism” with the far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Promote Aveline?
“Ready to do anything to go back in the polls that see him in free fall in terms of popularity, the tenant of the Élysée would even have thought of playing a role in the next Conclave,” attacks Il Tempo who affirms that the candidacy of Aveline knows “strong growth” in the Vatican. According to this newspaper, Macron questioned the French cardinals on the way of building a consensus around the Archbishop of Marseille.
The conclave supposed to elect the next pope will open on May 7. The 135 cardinals voters – those under the age of 80 – will meet, to choose, behind closed doors in the Sistine Chapel, the future head of the Catholic Church.
