The Vatican during the time of Pope Francis resolved many issues. Today we can take stock of what Pope Francis has done during his 12-year mandate, he did a lot. He did as much as no pope has ever done, said the former Bulgarian ambassador to the Vatican, Prof. Kiril Topalov, in "The Day Begins with Georgi Lyubenov" on BNT.
He democratized the church. Love for the Bulgarian people, said Prof. Topalov. He added that Pope Francis was politically moderate and tried to look at problems not from the perspective of ideologies, but from the problems of people.
"That's why they loved him so much. He broke the papal institution to such an extent for the first time, he did it to such an extent that no one could imagine that the most powerful church institution in the world could reach".
The streets of Rome could not accommodate everyone who wanted to hear the words of the pope, he added. Regarding the election of a new pope, Prof. Topalov said that the preference is always for an older pope, not a young one, since he will rule them for a longer time.
"The College of Cardinals is extremely highly educated and professionally prepared. Many of them could become pope. Therefore, the predictions are uncertain. An interesting figure is that of the Archbishop of Marseille, who is also a figure that some followers in France call John 24th. He is the same as the pope - cordial, open, communicative, sunny, open to people. That is, he is closest to the Pope".
The very conservative candidates for Pope do not have much of a chance, this is the opinion of Prof. Topalov. The conclave has a majority and it belongs to Pope Francis, added our former ambassador to the Vatican. If the cardinals want to continue the Pope's model, they would choose a person, "whom he would also like".