Lombardi ‘corrects’ papal biography

The Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi has denied that there was any collaboration among cardinals in the run-up to the election of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio at the papal ­conclave last year, writes ­James Roberts.

In his biography The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope published last month, Austen Ivereigh stated that a “Team Bergoglio” led by reform-minded European churchmen sought Cardinal Bergoglio’s “assent” that he would not refuse the papacy if voting favoured him.

According to Ivereigh’s book, Bergoglio “said that he believed that at this time of crisis for the Church no cardinal could refuse if asked”.

On Monday 1 December, Fr Lombardi issued a statement saying that the cardinals cited by Ivereigh “have expressly denied this description of events, both in terms of the demand for a prior consent by Cardinal Bergoglio and with regard to the conduct of a campaign for his election”.

Ivereigh has said that in future reprints of The Great Reformer, the paragraph that refers to securing Bergoglio’s assent will be amended to say: “In keeping with conclave rules, [the ­cardinals] did not ask Bergoglio if he would be willing to be a candidate. But they believed this time that the crisis in the Church would make it hard for him to refuse if elected.”