Why Only Kenyan Cardinal Missed Out In The Sistine Chapel Election Of New Pope

<h4>Why Only Kenyan Cardinal Missed Out In The Sistine Chapel Election Of New Pope<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that the Catholic Church in Kenya has responded to concerns that the country&&num;8217&semi;s only cardinal will not be participating in the election of the next pope because he had not been asked to attend&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Following Pope Francis&&num;8217&semi; death last month&comma; senior Catholic leaders&comma; known as cardinals&comma; who are younger than 80&comma; are eligible to elect his successor&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>They resumed meeting in the Vatican on Wednesday&comma; but Kenyan Cardinal John Njue&comma; 79&comma; was quoted in a Kenyan newspaper saying that he had not been invited and he did not know why&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Catholic officials in Kenya later said that he had been invited but was not able to go because of ill health&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Although the cardinal is eligible to participate and was officially invited&&num;8230&semi; owing to his current health condition he was unable to travel to Rome&comma;&&num;8221&semi; a statement signed by Archbishop Philip Anyolo said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Let us also continue to pray for the good health of His Eminence John Cardinal Njue&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The archbishop did not explain the health issues further&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A statement by the Nairobi archdiocese noted that it was reacting to concerns over Cardinal Njue&&num;8217&semi;s participation and &&num;8220&semi;various enquiries&&num;8221&semi; about whether he would be at the cardinals&&num;8217&semi; meeting&comma; known as a conclave&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Daily Nation newspaper had quoted him as saying that he had not been invited adding that &&num;8220&semi;it is not because of health&&num;8230&semi; I don&&num;8217&semi;t know really&&num;8230&semi; it&&num;8217&semi;s difficult to comment about it&period; &&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Cardinal Njue was the Archbishop of Nairobi from 2007 until his retirement in 2021&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He was appointed a cardinal in 2007 by Pope Benedict XVI becoming the second cardinal to have come from the country&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He and Spain&&num;8217&semi;s Cardinal Antonio Cañizares&comma; 79&comma; are the only cardinals who will not be participating in the papal vote out the 133 who are eligible&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A two-thirds majority&comma; or at least 89 of them&comma; are required to elect the new pontiff and successor of Pope Francis to lead the world&&num;8217&semi;s 1&period;4 billion Catholics&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;