Dear Parishioners:
Post-Easter greetings from the rectory! I hope you all had a lovely Easter.
As you know, I was away for a few weeks assisting with the Prison Mission for the National Guard. I was visiting the troops at eight different prisons, including Attica – of the famous riot in 1971. Of course, I remember watching the riot on T.V., but most of the troops on the Prison Mission were born in the late 1990’s or 2000’s. They had no idea about the riot at Attica.
Pope Francis died on this Monday. The election of a new Pope begins between 15 to 20 days after the death. The camerlengo, a cardinal in the Catholic Church, oversees organizing the election in a process known as the conclave.
The actual election, however, is preceded by general congregations that are called both to discuss challenges facing the Catholic Church. The general congregations must be attended by all cardinals who “are not legitimately impeded.”
Right now there are more than 250 cardinals. While all cardinals can participate in the daily meetings that occur prior to the election, only 120 cardinals—all of whom have to be under the age of 80—can actually vote in the conclave.
Electors all vote secretly via ballots that read “I elect as supreme pontiff _______. The ballots are placed in urns and counted by three cardinals chosen by a random draw from the electors to be scrutineers. Votes are then recorded and read aloud to the cardinals. The process continues until a candidate receives two-thirds of the vote.
The public is kept abreast of the voting process through smoke signals created by the burning of ballots. White smoke means that cardinals have selected a new Pope, while black smoke means another round of voting needs to take place.
Once the conclave elects a Pope, the dean of the College of Cardinals—currently, Italian Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re—asks him if he accepts the title, and the candidate is dressed and picks his papal name before he walks out to the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica. There, the senior cardinal deacon—who is French Cardinal Dominique Mamberti—tells the crowd assembled below, “Habemus Papam” (Latin for “we have a Pope”) and introduces the new Pope by the name he has chosen.
Let us pray that the Holy Spirit guides the upcoming election!
In Christ,
Fr. Brian