Australia’s most senior Catholic, who will likely be amongst a choose group of bishops serving to to select the following pope, has paid tribute to the late Francis as a “pope of peace”.
Melbourne-based Cardinal Mykola Bychock, Australia’s highest-ranking Catholic, learnt of the dying of Francis shortly earlier than boarding a flight to the Center East on Monday night.
He’s now on his option to Rome to attend the funeral and be part of the papal conclave to pick the following pope.
Bychok described Francis as a pope for the “marginalised and people on the periphery”.
“He was a person of easy piety who strove to deliver the Church nearer to folks. He gave freely of his items and had a novel private method to all he met,” he mentioned.
Who’s Mykola Bychok?
On the age of 45, Bychock grew to become the Catholic Church’s youngest cardinal on 7 December 2024, when he was elevated to the Faculty of Cardinals by Pope Francis at a consistory ceremony within the Vatican.
He was born within the Ukrainian metropolis of Ternopil in 1980, joined the monastery on the age of 17, and was ordained a priest at 25.
He served in varied Ukrainian cities, Poland, Siberia and New Jersey in the US earlier than arriving in Melbourne in 2020.
Bychok is the primary cardinal appointed from Australia since George Pell, and the eighth in Australia’s historical past.
He is been vocal and the affect it has had on his homeland. Final month, he addressed a crowd at a convention by the Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations, calling for an finish to the conflict.
Mykola Bychok (proper) says he advised Pope Francis to hope for Ukraine and the folks of Australia on the consistory ceremony in Saint Peter’s Basilica within the Vatican final 12 months. Supply: ANSA / Fabio Frustaci
Throughout his elevation ceremony within the Vatican, Bychok mentioned he advised Pope Francis to hope for Ukraine and “assist free stolen Ukrainian kids and to hope for me in my new mission as an Australian–Ukrainian cardinal”.
“I now pray that Pope Francis could intercede earlier than Christ for the folks of Australia and Ukraine and that God could grant me the grace to reside my mission as a cardinal of the Catholic Church,” he mentioned in a press release following the pope’s dying.
What’s his function in selecting the following pope?
Bychok will likely be amongst a number of cardinals below the age of 80 who will select the following pope when the conclave begins within the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel in about 15-20 days.
He will likely be in every day conferences generally known as common congregations to debate Church issues, and lay out the traits he and others consider the brand new pope ought to have.
“I additionally ask on your prayers for the cardinal electors that will likely be assembly in conclave, that the Holy Spirit could enlighten our hearts and minds that we could select a worthy candidate because the 267th Bishop of Rome and successor of Saint Peter,” Bychok mentioned.
The group will want a majority of not less than two-thirds plus one to elect the brand new pope, so the voting can take a number of rounds unfold over quite a few days. When the election is concluded, the brand new pope is requested if he accepts and what identify he needs to take.
The world learns a pope has been elected when an official burns the paper ballots with particular chemical substances to make white smoke pour from the chapel’s chimney. They use different chemical substances to make black smoke, indicating an inconclusive vote.
— With further reporting by Reuters
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