VATICAN CITY
Vatican Insider
The cardinal’s decision to pull out of the Conclave for health reasons has been confirmed by missionary news agency “AsiaNews”
Vatican Insider staff
Rome
“There will be 116 and not 117 cardinal electors, as first expected from the official list of those who will choose the future Pope, after Benedict XVI steps down at 8 pm on 28 February next. The 78 year-old Indonesian Cardinal Julius Riyadi Darmaatmadja, Archbishop Emeritus of Jakarta, has told AsiaNews that he will not be present – by “free and personal” choice – because of severe health problems.”
“Speaking over the phone from the Jesuit Emmaus House, a retirement home for elderly priests and prelates in Ungaran city, central Java, the prelate emphasizes the “progressive deterioration” of his condition, since he left the archdiocese in the capital two years ago, on having reached retirement age.
““It s mostly my eyesight,” he tells AsiaNews quietly but firmly, pointing out that the problem would impose a “serious obstacle” to work within the Conclave, where assistants are not allowed during the election. The inability to read texts and documents is also an obstacle too such a great task which requires serenity and autonomy.”
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