Vatican: Conclave to elect new pope may start sooner than expected
Newly-elected Pope Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedetto XVI, gestures to the crowd in St. Peter's Square April 19, 2005 in Vatican City. The 265th Pope would lead the world's 1 billion Catholics. /Arturo Mari-Pool/Getty Images
VATICAN CITY The Vatican raised the possibility Saturday that the conclave to elect the next pope might start sooner than March 15, the earliest date possible under current rules that require a 15 to 20 day waiting period after the papacy becomes vacant.
Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said that Vatican rules on papal succession are open to interpretation and that "this is a question that people are discussing."
"It is possible that church authorities can prepare a proposal to be taken up by the cardinals on the first day after the papal vacancy" to move up the start of the conclave, he said.
The 15 to 20 day waiting period is in place to allow time for all cardinals who don't live in Rome to arrive, under the usual circumstance of a pope dying. But in this case the cardinals already know that this pontificate will end Feb. 28, with the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, and therefore can get to Rome in plenty of time to take part in the conclave, Lombardi said.
The date of the conclave's start is important because Holy Week begins March 24, with Palm Sunday Mass followed by Easter Sunday on March 31. In order to have a new pope in place in time for the most solemn liturgical period on the church calendar, he would need to be installed by Sunday, March 17, because of the strong tradition to hold installation Mass on a Sunday. Given the tight time frame, speculation has mounted that some arrangement would be made to start the conclave earlier than a strict reading of the law would allow.
Questions about the start of the conclave have swirled since Benedict stunned the world on Feb. 11, by announcing that he would retire, the first pontiff in 600 years to abdicate rather than stay in office until death. His decision has created a host of questions about how the Vatican will proceed, given that its plans for the so-called "sede vacante" — or vacant seat — period between papacies are based on the process starting with a papal death.
"In this moment we are not prepared," said Cardinal Franc Rode, the former head of the Vatican's office for religious orders who will vote in the conclave. "We have not been able to make predictions, strategies, plans, candidates. It is too early, but we will get there. In two or three weeks things will be put in place."
Once the conclave begins, it will be governed by the following rules:
Cardinals eligible to vote — those under age 80 — are sequestered within Vatican City - including handing over cell phones and other devices - and take an oath of secrecy. The Cardinals meet every day in the Sistine Chapel until a new pope is elected and have no contact with the outside world until the process is complete.
Any baptized Roman Catholic male is eligible for election as pope, but only cardinals have been selected since 1378.
Two ballots held each morning and two each afternoon in the Sistine Chapel. A two-thirds majority is required. Benedict in 2007 reverted back to this two-thirds majority rule, reversing a 1996 decision by Pope John Paul II, who had decreed that a simple majority could be invoked after about 12 days of inconclusive voting.
Ballots are burned after each round. Black smoke means no decision; white smoke signals that cardinals have chosen pope and he has accepted. Bells also signal the election of a pope to help avoid possible confusion over color of smoke coming from chimney of the Sistine Chapel.
The new pope is introduced from the loggia overlooking St. Peter's Square with the words "Habemus Papam!" (Latin for "We have a pope!") and he imparts his first blessing.
Meanwhile, a German journalist who has published several long interviews with Benedict over the years suggested that the pope strongly foreshadowed his retirement during an August conversation.
Peter Seewald said in an article for the German weekly Focus published Saturday that the pontiff had told him that his strength was diminishing and "not much more" could be expected from him as pope.
"I am an old man and my strength is running out," Seewald quoted the pope as saying. "And I think what I have done is enough."
Asked by Seewald whether he was considering resignation, Benedict responded: "That depends to what extent my physical strength will compel me to." The summer interview, as well as another in December, were for a new Benedict biography.
Seewald's 2010 book-length interview with Benedict, "Light of the World," laid the groundwork for a possible resignation.
In it, he quoted Benedict as saying: "If a pope clearly realizes that he is no longer physically, psychologically and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right, and under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign."
He stressed then, however, that resignation was not an option to escape a particular burden, such as the scandal over sexual abuse by clerics which had erupted earlier in 2010.
In Saturday's article, Seewald recalled asking the pope in August how badly the 2012 scandal over leaks of papal documents, in which the pope's ex-butler was convicted of aggravated theft, had affected him.
Benedict said the affair had not thrown him off his stride or made him tired of office. "It is simply incomprehensible to me," he said.
The journalist said that when he last saw Benedict about 10 weeks ago, his hearing had deteriorated and he appeared to have lost vision in his left eye, adding that the pope had lost weight and appeared tired.
Benedict, however, appeared in good form on Saturday for some of his final audiences. He met with the Guatemalan president, a group of visiting Italian bishops, and had his farewell audience with Italian Premier Mario Monti.
"He was in good condition," Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina told reporters afterward. "He didn't seem tired, rather smiling, lively — and happy and very clear in his decision to resign."
Cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan and a leading contender to succeed Benedict, said several of the visiting bishops noted at the end of their audience that they were the last group of bishops to be received by the pope. "`This responsibility means you have to become a light for all,"' he quoted Benedict as saying.
Lombardi also gave more details about Benedict's final public audiences and plans for retirement, saying already 35,000 people had requested tickets for his final general audience to be held in St. Peter's Square on Feb. 27.
He said Benedict would spend about two months in the papal summer retreat at Castel Gandolfo south of Rome immediately after his abdication, to allow enough time for renovations to be completed on his retirement home — a converted monastery inside the Vatican walls.
That means Benedict would be expected to return to the Vatican, no longer as pope, around the end of April or beginning of May, Lombardi said.
He was asked if and when the pope would meet with his successor and whether he would participate in his installation Mass. Like many open questions about the end of Benedict's papacy, Lombardi said, both issues simply haven't been resolved.
Every one seem to have an opinion as to why the Pope is leaving so here is mine. Maybe it is because the Pope is realizing how his church has corrupted the word of God to benefit the leaders at the time of the beginning of Rome becoming a Christian empire. The article in the London Telegraph is a recent clue. The headline was "Jesus was born years earlier than thought, claims Pope". Apparently Dennis the Small, a monk, made a miscalculation in the year Yeshua (Jesus) was born. This is a big deal for any church to admit they were wrong about a belief. People who understand the Tanakh (Old Testament) and read the New Testament believe that Yeshua was born Tishrei 15, 3756 or September 25, 5 BC (Sukkoth` or first day of Feast of Booths) not December 25 the day most nations at that time celebrated the sun god and Julius Caesar declared himself god.
God is very clear that He wants a relationship with man; however, that relationship will be on His terms not mans. Mattityahu (Matthew) Chapter Seven in a portion that Yeshua speaks to us is very clear that man will be separated from God if man does not do what He wants.
21?"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, only those who do what my Father in heaven wants. 22?On that Day, many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord! Didn't we prophesy in your name? Didn't we expel demons in your name? Didn't we perform many miracles in your name?' 23?Then I will tell them to their faces, 'I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness!"
So maybe the Pope wants time to reflect and repent.
The Church will certainly want to hold the conclave at the earliest possible moment because of the many liturgical duties of the new pontiff during Holy Week which begins on Palm Sunday, March 24th this year, and ends on Holy Saturday, March 30th.
Of course, Easter Sunday which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ will be a most important day for the new pope.
By the way for those of you who are interested is knowing the mind of Benedict a little better, consider reading two book length interviews with him that do a wonderful job of allowing him to spell out his understanding of the Church in the world. They are, "The Ratzinger Report" his interview with Italian journalist Vittorio Messori, and "Light of the World" his interview with German journalist Peter Seewald. Both are first class.
Perhaps those who post denunciations here could help us all with the issue of pedophilia.
Criminal laws and punishments have not eliminated it. Religious condemnations have not ended it. Psychiatric treatment does not reform its practioners. Repentance and forgiveness do not work.
So, those of you who know so much more than others, please tell us what the solution is that will end this behavior, which has gone on for at least 2500 years.
What is it that you are prescribing? As far as I can tell, none of you has done a thing to improve the situation. And some of you, like the fmr USMC sgt. (thank god that such an imbalanced mind has been separated from the military service), wait for every post about Catholics in order to release some obsessive, bigoted diatribe. Contribute something constructive, if you have a shred of sense.
Yes, that's about what is to be expected from such a profound thinker as slow-news. Close an institution with 1.5 billion members because slow-news has a brain cramp.
Here's a start: go after the producers and financiers of child porn. Start in the liberal nations such as Canada, the US and the EU. Then go after the traffickers in children who infest SE Asia and China. But that would take a concerted effort by governments that show almost no interest in attacjing the problem. Tracing the money would be especially interesting and could yield a few nasty surprises.
Here's a second proposal: stop using illegal substances, because everybody knows that the drugs' gangs finance porn through complicit banks.
My prescription is to end MANDATORY celibacy. As long as the Catholic Church continues to put their wealth and greed (= power and control) paramount, as their false god, as forbidden by the very FIRST commandment of God, these aberrations and cover-ups will continue. Since Medieval times, when the Church was going broke, and mandatory celibacy was instituted as a primary requirement for being a priest, the Church has gradually lost its way, changing to its false god. You see, wives, children, and separate housing cost money, and celibacy allows the Church to hoard all that money into their coffers, building their power and control! These men, who are mandated into the abnormal celibate life, which only a rare individual can manage successfully, quell their frustration with mental illnesses, alcoholism, drugs, sexual aberrations, including affairs, homosexuality, pedophilia, etc. Even Christ did not mandate celibacy onto His Apostles. A rare person can voluntarily sublimate sexual appetite into acceptable holy and creative outlets, but, since Medieval times, the sacrifice has been MANDATED onto EVERY single man who has the vocation to be a priest. Most have no clue of the power of that sex drive at the time their vows are taken. It is a sick and sinful racket, and some Pope should have abolished it years ago, but they LOVE the money and power! We have never had a Pope with the cojones to do what is right under God's laws! Sex is one rung of Maslow's very essential, hierarchy of needs, but that is for thinking priests to work on, and join together to rebel against the mandate, which is at the root of years of sinfulness, and loss of God in so very many of our Church leaders. Greed, money, power and CONTROL is the "god" they worship!
slow_news replies: Dan's a white supremacist, even though Jesus wasn't white, Sarge.
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Unless Dan's from Iceland, he's not all white....none of us are.
Dan30030 replies: Slow is so obsessed with the pedophile issue....
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Yeah well, pedophilia obviously doesn't bother you much as you support the largest network of pedophiles on the planet.
Dan30030 says:Slow is not worthy of being a Catholic....
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Well, he's certainly not Catholic material as he finds pedophiles and their accomplices to be vile individuals and would never support an organization that protects them....
What are you drinking Seattle Boy He is the top criminal of the Organized Crime RIng posing as a Church. Find all the info you need by checking BishopAccountability.org and look it all in black and white right from Ratzinger's own letters to Dolan in Milwaukee. It's not pretty
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God is very clear that He wants a relationship with man; however, that relationship will be on His terms not mans. Mattityahu (Matthew) Chapter Seven in a portion that Yeshua speaks to us is very clear that man will be separated from God if man does not do what He wants.
21?"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, only those who do what my Father in heaven wants. 22?On that Day, many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord! Didn't we prophesy in your name? Didn't we expel demons in your name? Didn't we perform many miracles in your name?' 23?Then I will tell them to their faces, 'I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness!"
So maybe the Pope wants time to reflect and repent.
I admire Pope Benedict's bold and humble move. Truly he is a great person and will not be forgotten.
Of course, Easter Sunday which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ will be a most important day for the new pope.
By the way for those of you who are interested is knowing the mind of Benedict a little better, consider reading two book length interviews with him that do a wonderful job of allowing him to spell out his understanding of the Church in the world.
They are, "The Ratzinger Report" his interview with Italian journalist Vittorio Messori, and "Light of the World" his interview with German journalist Peter Seewald.
Both are first class.
God bless.
Learn to separate and/or differentiate religious movements and cults from God!
Criminal laws and punishments have not eliminated it. Religious condemnations have not ended it. Psychiatric treatment does not reform its practioners. Repentance and forgiveness do not work.
So, those of you who know so much more than others, please tell us what the solution is that will end this behavior, which has gone on for at least 2500 years.
What is it that you are prescribing? As far as I can tell, none of you has done a thing to improve the situation. And some of you, like the fmr USMC sgt. (thank god that such an imbalanced mind has been separated from the military service), wait for every post about Catholics in order to release some obsessive, bigoted diatribe. Contribute something constructive, if you have a shred of sense.
Here's a start: go after the producers and financiers of child porn. Start in the liberal nations such as Canada, the US and the EU. Then go after the traffickers in children who infest SE Asia and China. But that would take a concerted effort by governments that show almost no interest in attacjing the problem. Tracing the money would be especially interesting and could yield a few nasty surprises.
Here's a second proposal: stop using illegal substances, because everybody knows that the drugs' gangs finance porn through complicit banks.
---
Unless Dan's from Iceland, he's not all white....none of us are.
---
Yeah well, pedophilia obviously doesn't bother you much as you support the largest network of pedophiles on the planet.
---
Well, he's certainly not Catholic material as he finds pedophiles and their accomplices to be vile individuals and would never support an organization that protects them....
He is the top criminal of the Organized Crime RIng posing as a Church.
Find all the info you need by checking BishopAccountability.org and look it all in black and white right from Ratzinger's own letters to Dolan in Milwaukee. It's not pretty