"I believe it will be a very short conclave. This kind of events finish quickly in our days. It will last a few days, 2 or 3, not more," the archbishop said at a Moscow press conference.
However, Archbishop Kondrusevich believes it is impossible to predict the result. "It is like doing guess-work."
He declined to comment on the cardinals portrayed in the western media as the most probable candidates for the papal post. "A leader will emerge when all cardinals gather at the conclave," he believes.
In comments on rumors that John Paul II appointed a cardinal for Russia in secret, the metropolitan said: "When the Pope last talked about the cardinals, he said that the name of one of them would always be in his heart. It is not impossible in the Catholic Church that the Pope waits for an appropriate moment to announce a cardinal," said the metropolitan.
He said it was not the first time a pope had died and had not disclosed the name of a cardinal in question.
However, Tadeusz Kondrusevich suggested the unannounced candidate could be the cardinal for Russia, Korea or any other country where there were no cardinals.
