#2025 Conclave

[wardensantoineandevka]

(x)

[deadpresidents]

"In the fourth vote, the ballots overwhelmingly shifted" to Cardinal Prevost, Cardinal You of South Korea said.

Cardinal Müller sat behind the American front-runner in the Sistine Chapel and noticed that he seemed calm. Cardinal Tagle, who sat next to Cardinal Prevost, noticed him taking deep breaths as votes amassed in his favor.

"I asked him, 'Do you want a candy?' and he said, 'Yes'," Cardinal Tagle said.

During one of the votes, Cardinal Tobin, as he held his ballot high and put it in the urn, turned and saw Cardinal Prevost, whom he had known for about 30 years.

"I took a look at Bob," Cardinal Tobin said, "and he had his head in his hands."

-- A fascinating inside-the-Sistine-Chapel look at the Conclave that elected Cardinal Robert Prevost as Pope Leo XIV, via the New York Times.

I love the image of one Cardinal offering candy to another Cardinal who is trying not to hyperventilate because he realizes he's about to be elected Pope.

[vro0m]

One person asked to see it here ya go

[dontbeanassbutt]

[strawberryblondebutch]

Someone call the man up right this second to give a definitive answer on his baseball fandom. The people (one mentally ill Catholic lesbian) must know

[deqncas]

the cardinals voting quickly for the new pope because they have to get home to watch buddie go canon tonight

[apenitentialprayer]

"Is the Holy Spirit Responsible for the Election of a Pope?"

I would not say so, in the sense that the Spirit picks out the Pope . . . I would say that the Spirit does not exactly take control of the affair, but rather, like a good educator, as it were, leaves us much space, much freedom, without entirely abandoning us. Thus the Spirit's role should be understood in a more elastic sense — not that He dictates the candidate for whom one must vote. Probably the only assurance He offers is that the thing cannot be totally ruined . . . There are too many contrary instances of popes the Holy Spirit obviously would not have picked!

- the future Pope Benedict XVI, in a 1997 interview with a Bavarian newscast, quoted in translation in the article cited below.

Benedict's notion of elasticity is wise and compelling. It combines the light touch of love with the firm grip of connection. God will never let us go, never abandon us — but nor will He control us if we choose to wander. Benedict reassures us that God will not allow the Church to be utterly ruined. But He will allow us the scope to spoil it by our own willfulness if we insist. […] The Holy Spirit will whisper His preference into the ears of the cardinals as they sleep, eat, walk, and pray. But just as the Children of Israel, having grown weary of prophets, demanded a king to imitate the nations around them, so too will God lengthen the elastic if the Church insists on imposing its own preferences over His invitation.

- Gavin Ashenden (Does the Holy Spirit Pick the Pope? Pope Benedict's Surprising Answer)

[wanderingblindly]

I’d just like that say that when the memes die down and people start earnestly talking about pope Leo’s history of burying child abuse (x), they better not jokingly chalk it up to his being American — it’s because he’s of the Catholic Church. It’s what they have always done and will continue to do.

[wardensantoineandevka]

(x)

[deadpresidents]

If you had to bet everything right now, who do you think will be the next pope?

I've studied the papacy and papal conclaves enough to know the old saying that "He who enters the conclave as pope, leaves it as a cardinal" and that the most prominent papabili usually don't get elected.

However, Joseph Ratzinger was the heavy favorite going into the 2005 Conclave following Pope John Paul II's death and he was quickly elected. In the 2013 Conclave following Pope Benedict XVI's resignation, Jorge Bergoglio was a surprising choice as Pope Francis to most people outside of the Vatican, but he had been the runner-up to Ratzinger in 2005, so he wasn't that big of a shocker.

The novemdiales have just started, the public viewing of Pope Francis hasn't begun yet, and the College of Cardinals are just now making its way to Rome for the funeral and pre-conclave congregations, so a lot can happen in the next two weeks. But for several years now, I have felt that Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle of the Philippines would be the successor to Pope Francis. I still strongly believe that he's going to be the choice, even though many outlets have him as the front-runner (which, again, is traditionally considered a bad sign for their chances in the conclave). At 67, Tagle is not too old and not too young, so he's kind of in the sweet spot when it comes to age range for Popes. He's considered the "Asian Francis", so he would seemingly continue with the direction of the church as intended by Francis over the past 12 years. He's from an area of the world that the church, under Francis, has focused significant energy on promoting Catholicism in a relatively young, growing population. And he's incredibly charismatic. I'd put my money on him.

Some observers have suggested that the College of Cardinals is going to take this as an opportunity to elect a more conservative pope who will reverse the more progressive form of Catholicism espoused by Pope Francis since 2013. But understand this: there are 135 cardinals eligible to vote in this conclave and Pope Francis chose 108 of them (only cardinals who have not yet reached the age of 80 years old are eligible to cast votes in the conclave). Many are from diverse, often remote, parts of the world that have never before been represented by a cardinal and most of them are aligned with the pastoral perspective of Francis. Through his appointments to the College of Cardinals, Francis reshaped the church's leadership to help him reform the Roman Curia and govern the church -- but also to forge the generation of ecclesiastical leadership that follows him, and not only do I think they will elect Cardinal Tagle to succeed him but I think we'll see white smoke from the Sistine Chapel pretty quickly once the conclave begins.

[vro0m]

Is there a live webcam of the conclave chimney stuff? I mean like a weather cam. No commentary. Just the grey skies and the chimney. There should be a live webcam of the conclave chimney.

[dontbeanassbutt]

NEW POPE IS FROM CHICAGO

[everypigeondeserveslove]

[chellodello]

This conclave was too fast; we didn’t have time to savor it. Where was the drama? Yesterday they were raw dogging it and now, what, it’s just over???

[cherryb0mb-s]

Ik it's still very early, but if anyone has a link to a trustworthy translation of Pope Leo's greeting speech, I'd greatly appreciate it if you dropped it to me !!!

[flowersforvax]

American pope??? . . . I didn't know they could do that