(ZENIT News / Rome, May 15, 2025) – On Thursday, May 8, 2025, Pope Leo XIV was elected after four rounds of voting. He appeared that same evening with his brother Cardinals on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, causing surprise and joy throughout the world.
This last Conclave brought together, behind closed doors, 133 Cardinals from 71 nations. Among them was French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, Archbishop Emeritus of Lyon, who was participating in his third Conclave. Following is ZENIT’s interview with Cardinal Barbarin.
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Question: Eminence, when did you arrive in Rome and how did you prepare for the Conclave?
Cardinal Barbarin: Like many other Cardinals, I arrived when I learned of the Pope’s death. We had time to settle in little by little at Casa Santa Marta. Unfortunately, we’ve expelled the usual inhabitants, because this Casa is entirely dedicated to the conclavists.
First, I went to pray at the tombs of Saint Peter, Saint John XXIII, and Saint John Paul II. I loved all three very much, but the one who had the greatest impact on me as a child was John XXIII. So I maintained this childhood affection for him. The other great figure is Saint John Paul II, whom I knew long before he became Pope. Praying at his tomb is something I never fail to do when I enter Saint Peter’s Basilica. There, for me, it was a way of speaking to the elder brother about the one we are about to elect.
Among the Cardinals, we then had long periods of interesting and fraternal exchanges, which gave us a universal overview of the life of the Church in today’s world. We discovered each other through long morning and evening sessions. It was an opportunity to receive feedback from around the world and see where the Catholic Church stands. During the General Congregations, we talked and listened a lot, but no one knew anything about what would happen next!
ZENIT: How was the voting?
Cardenal Barbarin: A Conclave, in short, is quite simple and can be resolved relatively quickly. There’s little partisanship: I only vote for one person, because I believe that person can be the Successor of Peter that the Church needs today.
The Conclave began one evening and ended the following night. We didn’t stay long! When there are four or five votes, it’s not much. I was told that a Conclave in the 13th century lasted two years because the Cardinals couldn’t agree. So I think that’s a beautiful testimony.
The first day we had a vote in the afternoon, around 4:30 p.m. From then on, everything changed, obviously. There were no more major discussions among us, except for private conversations. And only after this first vote did we find out how many votes there were for this or that person.
I knew some Cardinals well, and others not very well or not at all. But none of them told me who they were going to vote for. No one campaigned!
I saw that the one I cared about wouldn’t make it. The next day there were two votes by midday, and that’s when things became clear. The voices were going in different directions. So I chose one of the Cardinals who seemed most notable to me.
ZENIT: How many Conclaves have you attended?
Cardinal Barbarin: It was my third time participating in a Conclave; circumstances made it so. There are only five of us who have experienced the last three Conclaves. Having been created Cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2003, I found myself participating in the election of Pope Benedict XVI, then Pope Francis, and then Pope Leo XIV. Not all Cardinals experience this: some have never even participated in a Conclave.
I was deeply impacted by the Conclave that followed the death of Saint John Paul II, whose pontificate had been very long. It was extremely powerful. Perhaps it impressed me more because it was my first Conclave. Afterward, inevitably, we became something like «regulars»!
Popes succeed one another and are not the same. Pope Benedict XVI did not have the same style as John Paul II. And then came Pope Francis, from the most Christian Continent in the world, Latin America.
It’s beautiful to see that the Church follows the history of the evolution of Christian peoples and communities. The «center» of Catholicism used to be in Italy, Spain, or France, but that is no longer the case. Today we know the weight of Africa, which is increasingly important, and the weight of Latin America.
ZENIT: What impacts you most every time you attend a Conclave?
Cardenal Barbarin: These are very exciting times, with all these countries represented and this rich and varied Church. This allows us to step back from our own local mission and gain an incredible vision of the universality of the Catholic Church. A broad vision, where God’s grace circulates. It’s a beautiful thing.
I remember that at the previous Conclave, there were the Bishop of Hong Kong and the Bishop of Beijing. The Bishop of Hong Kong had started to speak, and then the Bishop of Beijing had said exactly the opposite . . . It wasn’t surprising, because they came from very different sociological and religious backgrounds.
I said to myself: «The Chinese is Chinese!» It’s hard to take it all in . . . But it was still very important to hear these two contrasting voices from the largest country in the world.
ZENIT: How did you receive the election of Pope Leo XIV and what does it inspire you for the future of the Church?
Cardinal Barbarin: I had never met Pope Leo XIV before. I don’t think I’ve ever seen or spoken to him in person, especially since he was only recently made a Cardinal in September of 2023.
He’s from North America, but his pastoral homeland has long been Latin America. When someone has been away for so long, in such a different country, you see that they’re someone who knows how to adapt, who isn’t self-centred. He is an asset. We also see this great issue of reconciling different worlds, the poor and the rich, and it’s joyful: we are truly one family and we will serve wherever we are sent. I’m very happy to have a Pope who has a Catholic heart. Catholic means to be as wide as the world, with attention to all. And we must pray a lot for him, because he will need help. We must pray for the burden he carries, because he carries a «crushing» burden.
Translation of the French original into Spanish by ZENIT’s Editorial Director and, into English, by Virginia M. Forrester.
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