Doha – Cardinal Cristóbal López Romero, the Spanish-born Archbishop of Rabat, will join 133 cardinals from around the world to elect Pope Francis’s successor starting May 7 in the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel.
“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a Francis mark II, a Francis impersonator,” López told AFP. “I am happy for him to be a good impersonator of Christ, that he is a good Christian, a good person and pays attention to what happens in the world.”
The 72-year-old prelate, who was made cardinal by Pope Francis in 2019, admitted feeling “a little apprehensive” ahead of his first conclave but expressed confidence in the process. “We believe in the Holy Spirit and we will see what it shows us and where we have to go,” he said.
López has emerged as one of the prominent candidates to lead the Catholic Church, which counts over 1.4 billion followers worldwide, following Pope Francis’s death on April 21 at age 88.
Several international media outlets, including CNN, Sky News, and Spain’s Antena 3, have included him on their shortlists of potential successors.
When asked about the possibility of becoming pope, López firmly rejected the idea. “If anyone says they like being pope and want to be one, either they’re unconscious or seeking power; both things are bad,” he told Argentine radio. “Either their head or heart is wrong.”
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Born in Spain but also holding Paraguayan citizenship after living there for nearly two decades, López has been Archbishop of Rabat since 2017. His experience in Morocco has profoundly shaped his ministry.
“I hear confession barely once every six months,” he noted, as Christians comprise less than one percent of Morocco’s 38 million population. “That helped me to realize that I wasn’t there to serve the Church but rather, as the Church, to serve the world — in this case the Muslim world.”
López has been advocating for continuing Pope Francis’s legacy of dialogue with Islam and support for migrants. “Francis reconnected us with the gospel and made us drink from the most pristine tradition while launching us into the future, putting us at the level of today’s world,” he stated.
The conclave will begin with a solemn Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica before the cardinals proceed to the Sistine Chapel. There, they will take an oath of secrecy and vote by secret ballot until a candidate receives a two-thirds majority.
Smartphones will be banned, the room swept for listening devices, and cardinals prohibited from outside communication. White smoke from the chapel’s chimney will signal when a new pope has been elected.
López hopes the process will not last more than “two or three days,” noting, “It’s already many days that I have been out of Morocco and I’m eager and need to return.”
Head of government Aziz Akhannouch attended Pope Francis’s funeral on April 26 on behalf of King Mohammed VI, who sent a message praising the late pontiff’s commitment to peace, dialogue, and religious coexistence.
