Cardinal Zuppi: The Regrets of a Papabile

In Bologna, under the summer sky of Piazza Maggiore, a singular spectacle unfolded on June 15, 2025. At the closing of the conference La Repubblica delle Idee – organized by La Repubblica – Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi, Archbishop of Bologna and President of the Italian Bishops' Conference (CEI), delivered a melancholic ode praising the merits of Pope Leo XIV's predecessor.

From the very beginning of the dialogue between the high prelate and Francesco Merlo, the tone was set. Stefano Cappellini, deputy editor of La Repubblica, introduced the two guests with a barely concealed hint of irony, playfully hinting that many had hoped the debate would not take place, because "one of the guests here could have been detained by a more prestigious engagement in another city."

The implication is clear. The center-left La Repubblica had dreamed of seeing Cardinal Zuppi, its favorite, emerge from the conclave, don the papal mozzetta, and grant his Urbi et Orbi blessing from the loggia. This dream, alas, was shattered, and the newspaper, true to its editorial line, made no secret of its disappointment at the election of a pope it deemed, in barely veiled terms, inadequate.

Francesco Merlo, with his rhetorical ease, drives the point home. "A year after our last meeting, what happened?" he asks, before answering himself: "Francis is no longer with us, and we are the ones who miss him." He describes Leo XIV as a "cold" pontiff, a man who "acts like a pope" without embodying his soul, unlike Francis, whose charisma shone precisely because it seemed to transcend the traditional attributes of the pontificate.

Merlo, with a touch of exaggeration, deplores a return to a solemn liturgy, perceived as a step backwards in the face of the former Pope's spontaneity. At this precise moment, all eyes turn to Cardinal Zuppi, whose authority and wit could have tempered this harsh judgment. But the cardinal, with a prudence bordering on complacency, chose silence.

Rather than defend the reigning Pope, even out of courtesy, the patron of Italian bishops joins the chorus of nostalgic souls. "We all miss Francis," he declares, before listing the legacies of his pontificate: the "visionary" aspect of a pope denouncing a "piecemeal third world war," the call to build bridges rather than walls, and the encyclical Laudato si'.

For nearly 45 minutes, the dialogue was limited to an exclusive celebration of the deceased pontiff, to the point of obscuring the relevance of the new pontificate. Leo XIV, the first American Pope, seems never to have existed. This silence is all the more understandable given that La Repubblica has never hidden its support for Cardinal Zuppi as a potential candidate for the papacy. 

Even before the conclave, the newspaper's columns were full of praise for him, portraying him as the natural heir to Francis, a man of dialogue, a follower of the "theology of consensus." The audience, crushed by the summer heat, listened in resigned silence.

Enthusiasm was lacking, and the applause were rare. Both betrayed a certain weariness. Towards the end of the debate, Francisco Merlo, with a touch of mischief, slipped in a flattering remark: "You've been the favorite of two popes, let's hope you'll be the favorite of a third."

This allusion was to the fact that the high prelate was elevated to the episcopate by Pope Benedict XVI and created a cardinal by Francis. "Let's hope so," Cardinal Zuppi replied with polite irony, confirming that the tide seems to have turned since May 8, 2025.