Andrea Riccardi: "Leo XIV Is Not Anti-Bergoglio But Francis’ Preferred Successor"

Francis wanted Cardinal Robert Prevost as his successor, Andrea Riccardi, founder of the lay Catholic Community of St. Egidio, said at a press conference on June 10 in Rome: "I suspect, though I have no proof, that in recent years Bergoglio considered Prevost as his successor."

Riccardi said that although Francis and Prevost initially had a rocky relationship when they met in Buenos Aires, Argentina, it improved over time, culminating in Francis's appointment of Prevost as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops in 2023.

"Pope Leo will continue the path laid out by Pope Francis with a different approach and a different character", Riccardi said: "Pope Leo is not the pope of the restoration. He is not the anti-Bergoglio."

Riccardi added that the pre-conclave gatherings at the Vatican (general congregations) were "a trial against Pope Francis": "It wasn’t easy."

However, he said that the conclave was "very easy".

Picture: Andrea Riccard © wikicommons, CC BY-SA, #newsVjwtdocpzl