Santorum Claims Minority Cardinals Voted Twice in Papal Conclave
Former Republican presidential candidate and conservative Catholic Rick Santorum is pushing for reforms to the papal conclave process, claiming some ethnic minority cardinals may have voted more than once in the recent election of Pope Francis I. The suspicion comes on the heels of theÂ electionÂ of Jorge Mario Bergoglio to the papacy, theÂ first non-European pope in a thousand years, and the first ever Hispanic. âIt seems odd that for nearly aÂ millenniumÂ the Catholic Church was led by aÂ European,â said Santorum at a hastily-called press conference in Pittsburgh, âand then suddenly, this happens.â The last several papal conclaves have resulted in Republican claims of voter fraud and Democratic counter-claims of voter suppression, with both sides calling for legal reforms. After the election of Pope Benedict XVI, there were unsubstantiated rumors of robo-calls telling minority cardinals to arrive at the Sistine Chapel the day after the conclave was to begin, which liberals claim tipped the election to the recently-retired Pope. Rush LimbaughÂ regurgitatedÂ several Vatican election fraud theories on his nationally-syndicated radio show today, including that there have been reports of people voting in the names of dead cardinals. âSome of the people voting might not even have been Catholics, he bellowed, "I have heard from undisclosed sources of several Jehovahâs Witnesses voting in this latest papal election.â A spokesman for the Jehovahâs Witnesses has pointed out that followers of the faith do not vote in any political elections. The liberal-leaning Brennan Center for Justice, a New York-based organization that monitors voter rights issues, released a report in 2007 debunking claims of voting irregularities in the papal conclave, but many of the debunked theories are still aired in conservative media and blogs. Fox News host Bill OâReilly has also weighed in on the controversy in a rant during a broadcast todayÂ in which he stated, âCome on, those guys donât even have to show ID. Anyone could walk in there and vote. Itâs just stupid.â He has previously spoken out in favor of legislation banning cardinals with felony convictions from voting in papal elections. Santorum Â also claimed that non-residents of Vatican City may have sneaked into the country and voted in the conclave. âWe donât want to take away the rights of legal cardinals to vote,â said Santorum at a hastily-called press conference in Pittsburgh, âbut when illegals are allowed to vote, it undermines the entire process. We know theÂ HispanicsÂ do it here, the question is have they done it there?â U.S. Senator, Diane Feinstein-D, released a statement in response to the latest round of controversy by pointing out that, âThese are the same, tired arguments they bring out after every election. There have only been a handful of cases of voting irregularities in papal conclave history and they were all shown to be due to clerical errors.â A Vatican spokesman responded to Santorumâs comments and reports of Republican calls for voting reform by stating, âWhat do they have to say about it? Donât they know that we are a sovereign country?â Santorum is still vague with regards to his future political plans, although many, including fellow Catholic Speaker of the House, John Boehner and former Republican and U.S. Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin have publicly urged him to run for Pope the next time around.