‘Cardinals need prayers of the humble and little ones, each of us’

By Delphine Allaire

“Don’t forget to pray for me,” were the words with which the late Pope Francis would always conclude his homilies and various speeches.

Seven days before the start of the conclave, on the eve of May 1 and the beginning of the Marian month, the College of Cardinals released a declaration inviting the faithful to pray for their discernment in choosing the next Pope.

The Cardinals, ensuring the continuity of the Apostolic See during the sede vacante, or interregnum period, describe prayer as a “true strength” capable “of fostering the unity of all members in the one Body of Christ.”

Fr. Sylvain Detoc, OP, a French-born professor of theology in Rome and Toulouse, spoke to Vatican News about the Cardinals’ invitation and their need for the prayer of the universal Church.

Q: How can the collective prayer of all the faithful foster the unity of the Church, so crucial at this moment?

Unity finds its source in the Holy Spirit, who animates the Church. If the Holy Spirit were not in the Church, we would be a kind of NGO. Pope Francis often emphasized this.

At best, an NGO that does good; at worst, it does not. But there would be nothing more—a sort of glass ceiling we could not break through.

It is the Holy Spirit who pulls us toward the world above, the world of the Lord, the world of God. He is the one who gives the Church her unity. When we pray, we open ourselves to receive that unity. If we approach the event of the election of a new Successor of Peter with a worldly attitude—that is, an attitude that is all too human, full of commentary and chatter—we risk missing the supernatural dimension that this event invites us to receive in faith.

The Holy Spirit is the conductor who brings us into harmony with one another, uniting us in this unanimous prayer. I think of the apostles in the Upper Room, praying with one heart to welcome the work of the Holy Spirit for them, in them, and through them.

The successors of the apostles, now gathered in Rome, are preparing to enter into this same process. It is not merely a human matter of electing a leader. There is an opening of the heart to a work that surpasses us, that comes from above us, beyond us. Are we receiving this supernatural work? Are we disposed to let it take place?

In their call to prayer, the Cardinals invoke the Pauline metaphor of the living body of the Church. The Church is a living body. The Church’s Magisterium, currently represented in an eminent way by the College of Cardinals, is a vital organ. Vital organs are not the body itself, but they are at its service.

What is extraordinarily beautiful is that one of the most decisive vital organs is now telling the entire body, all its cells, “we need everyone, we need the prayer of all.” We need the whole body to unite around the work the Holy Spirit wants to accomplish for the Church, through the Church, in the Church.

I find it incredibly beautiful that they see themselves as serving a living body that is greater than themselves.

If we go back to Saint Paul’s great images, Jesus is, in a way, the head; the Holy Spirit is like the soul animating the body. And within this body, we are all members, all cells. The Magisterium is one of the decisive vital organs. There are others—the Holy Scriptures, Sacred Tradition, etc. These vital organs serve a living body that is greater than they are.

Here we sense that without the whole body, something might fail. What the Cardinals are doing is for the sake of the entire living body animated by the Holy Spirit.

Q: Faced with the weight and grandeur of the task before the Cardinals, how is the prayer of the people of God an act of humility?

Your question makes me think of how appropriate the liturgical calendar is. There are no coincidences. We are in the post-Easter liturgical season, when the apostles, after the resurrection of Jesus, were still in a sort of in-between—they didn’t quite know what to do. They were groping.

After the Resurrection and the Ascension, Mary is with them. Mary prays with them. This Thursday, we begin the month of Mary. That is no small thing.

The Church senses this need to come together in unanimous prayer—the prayer of the little ones, the prayer of the humble.

There are countless anecdotes in popular tradition that highlight the power of humble prayer. Like the one about the great preacher in the pulpit giving a magnificent sermon, people are converting, and he becomes proud of himself. The Holy Spirit shows him that the reason for all this success is the little elderly woman beneath the pulpit praying her rosary, praying humbly.

The prayer of the little ones holds the Church up. It is important to rally everyone to this prayer so we may receive the will of the Holy Spirit for the Church. May hearts today be softened and become attentive to what the Spirit is saying to the Churches.

We are in the Easter season, and the liturgy invites us to meditate on the Book of Revelation. At the beginning of Revelation, there are those extraordinary passages where the risen Jesus invites the Churches to listen to what the Spirit is saying to the Churches.

What is the Spirit saying to the Church today? All the side questions are just worldly chatter. The question is not whether one should be traditionalist or progressive.

The central question is: What does the Holy Spirit want to accomplish for humanity today through the succession of the apostles? The Church is not a human project done for God. It is the work of God within human beings.