For a cardinal-elector, brief online disconnection is 'incredible pleasure'

VATICAN CITY – While the entire world eagerly awaits news and social media updates for the papal conclave on May 7, a cardinal-elector expressed his appreciation of his brief disconnection from the digital world.

At several key sites for the papal election – around the Sistine Chapel where the ballot will be held and Casa Santa Marta where the cardinal electors temporarily reside – phone signals will be cut off at 3:00 p.m. (9:00 p.m. Manila) to prevent electronic communication or surveillance.

“It will be just an incredible pleasure,” Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, the Archbishop of Algiers, told journalists after the cardinals’ twelfth and final congregation. “No phone, no computers, nothing.”

Cardinals already surrendered their mobile devices and would receive them back once the conclave ends.

Responding to questions whether there were “divisions” among cardinals after the congregations and the upcoming vote, Cardinal Vesco told the media that his colleagues have already “brought their positions” closer.

“I’m happy to be alone, to pray in the chapel. We need this time [of silence] and I hope we will have this time,” he said.

In the highly secretive conclave, which means “with key”, cardinal electors will be locked up inside the Sistine Chapel during their vote.

Outside, media personnel are stationed at designated remote points at Piazza Pio XII, directly in front of St. Peter’s Square, to access mobile connections for live reporting. — BAP, GMA Integrated News