Cardinals
urged to overcome divisions at special mass shortly after detectives mount dawn
raids in diocese of Angelo Scola
guardian.co.uk,
John Hooper and Lizzy Davies in Vatican City, Tuesday 12 March 2013
Roman Catholic cardinals have been urged to overcome divisions at a special mass ahead of the papal conclave, just hours after anti-mafia investigators carried out a string of raids in the diocese of the leading candidate.
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| The dean of the college of cardinals, Angelo Sodano, leads a grand mass in St Peter's Basilica. Photograph: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images |
Roman Catholic cardinals have been urged to overcome divisions at a special mass ahead of the papal conclave, just hours after anti-mafia investigators carried out a string of raids in the diocese of the leading candidate.
In a homily
before thousands of pilgrims and the most senior figures in the church, Angelo
Sodano, the dean of the college of cardinals, made a last-ditch attempt to
banish infighting, as he extolled the virtues of unity amid diversity.
But even as
preparations for the mass were being made, Cardinal Angelo Scola, the
archbishop of Milan – and reportedly the hot favourite to be the next pope –
suffered a blow.
Anti-mafia
detectives swooped on homes, offices, clinics and hospitals in Lombardy, the
region around Milan, and elsewhere. A statement said the dawn raids were part
of an investigation into "corruption linked to tenders by, and supplies
to, hospitals".
Healthcare
in Lombardy is the principal responsibility of the regional administration,
which for the past 18 years has been run by Roberto Formigoni, a childhood
friend of Scola and the leading political representative of the Communion and
Liberation fellowship. Until recently, Scola was seen as the conservative
group's most distinguished ecclesiastical spokesman.
But he has
progressively loosened his ties to Communion and Liberation, and in early 2012
publicly rebuked the movement after its leader was found to have written to
Pope Benedict, implicitly criticising the cardinal's liberal predecessors in
the Milan archdiocese.
The
regional administration headed by Formigoni – a member of Silvio Berlusconi's
party – collapsed last October amid a welter of accusations regarding alleged
corruption and misconduct. The final blow came when one of his regional
ministers was arrested, accused of buying votes from the 'Ndrangheta, the
Calabrian mafia.
Formigoni
himself is a formal suspect in an investigation into corruption and conspiracy.
He denies the accusations.
Among those
arrested on Tuesday was Massimo Guarischi, who in 2009 was given a five-year
jail sentence after being convicted of conspiracy and auction-rigging.
Guarischi is said to have organised expensive holidays for Formigoni that are
central to the investigation into the former governor's affairs.
Scola, who has
headed the Milan archdiocese since 2011, is regarded as the champion of a
largely non-Italian faction that is challenging the entrenched power of the
Vatican cardinals. He was close to the last pope, whose household was run by
women members of Communion and Liberation.
He entered
the conclave as favourite after the Italian daily Corriere della Sera reported
that his supporters were confident he had the support of up to 50 of the 115
cardinal-electors.
But Scola's
candidacy has been overshadowed by his past links to a movement that has been linked with pervasive sleaze in Lombardy. By the time Formigoni dissolved the
regional assembly last year, 13 members of the governing majority were under
investigation, suspected of offences ranging from taking bribes to incitement
to violence.
Formigoni
belongs to the Memores Domini, a core group of Communion and Liberation members
pledged to live by the values of fraternal love, obedience and poverty.
At the
pre-conclave mass in St Peter's basilica in Rome, Sodano called on the faithful
and electors to overcome divisions and unite behind the next pope.
"Each
of us is … called to co-operate with the successor of Peter, the visible
foundation of such an ecclesial unity," he said, quoting St Paul's letter
to the Ephesians.
The
basilica erupted in applause when Sodano, who is 85 and therefore not eligible
to vote in the conclave, paid tribute to the "brilliant" leadership
of Benedict XVI.
"At
the same time today, we implore the Lord, that through the pastoral solicitude
of the cardinal fathers, he may soon grant another good shepherd to his holy
church," he said.
In his
homily, Sodano, who is seen as representing the "old guard" of the
Vatican, stressed the pastoral and charitable role of the papacy, amid warnings
from many that Benedict's successor should primarily be a good manager capable
of reforming the troubled Roman curia.
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