Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Argentina has been elected new Pope!
His chosen name is Francis I.
Jorge Mario Bergoglio is the new Pontifex!
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Author Archives: layman
Mother Nature keeping an Eye on Conclave
Even mother nature is keeping a wary eye on the outcome of the Conclave 2013.
Black smoke again this morning
The morning session on the second day of the Conclave 2013 has yet again ended without an agreement on a new Pope.
The election will continue this afternoon with at least one, if not two ballots. Smoke signals are to be expected at either 5:30 or 7 p.m. local time.
Short Conclave 2013 expected
The election of a new Pope starting on Tuesday is expected to be only a short procedure. Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi told the ANSA News Agency the election process could be over “very quickly”.
Observers expect a relatively short Conclave 2013. The Roman newspaper “La Repubblica” reported on Sunday, that many Cardinals expected that a new Church leader would be found soon. With four daily ballots, the Cardinals want to elect a new pontiff in the upcoming conclave.
Smoke after two ballots
On Tuesday evening, the opening day, a first vote is already scheduled, in accordance with the electoral code. “With four rounds per day, it is easy to orient the votes on those candidates who can unite the strongest consent on themselves,” Lombardi said.
As of Wednesday, the 115 electors want to cast a vote twice each morning and afternoon. If the ballot fails, the second followes immediately; afterwards, the ballots are burned along with a dark smoke cartridge. This should be the case each day around noon and 7:00 p.m., Lombardi announced reported. Once the election was successful, the notes will be burned immediately with a white smoke cartridge.
Full day program
Date of Conclave to be announced today
The Cardinals gathered in the Vatican want to set a date for the beginning of the Conclave to elect a new Pope this very day (Friday, March 8). The date would be announced in the evening, told the Vatican.
The election of a new Pope will start probably early next week. “It could be Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday”, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said earlier today. “We can assume that the Congregation is going to vote in its afternoon meeting on the date for the beginning of the Conclave”, told Lombardi.
The Cardinals, assembled in the Papal States from all over the world, will meet again at 5:00 pm. The session will last until 7:00 p.m.. Currently, more than 150 Cardinals are meeting in the so-called General Congregations in the Vatican. At the time of resignation, 115 of them were younger than 80 years, making them eligible to elect a new Pope in the premises of the Sistine Chapel.
The Cardinals gathered to prepare for the election, on Friday officially accepted the notice of removal of the two Cardinals Julius Riyadi Darmaatmadja from Jakarta and the Scotsman Keith Michael Patrick O’Brien. The Indonesians renounced for health-, the Archbishop of Edinburgh for “personal reasons” from participating in the Conclave.
Church in Europe: Benedict’s problem child
At heart, most Catholics are Protestants, and even in Poland religion has become less important: Does the Vatican still stand a chance in Europe?
Until the 15th century, the Catholic Church practically existed only in Europe. So how to measure today’s faith in the most secularized of all continents, the problem child of the resigning Pope? (To take an extreme example: In an international survey in 2012, almost 60 percent East Germans stated, to have never believed in God, in the U.S. only four percent.)
According to the statistical yearbook of the Vatican, Europe is currently home to nearly a quarter of all Catholics in the world, and its share on the total European population has changed only slightly in recent decades. But what is a “Catholic”?
According to the Statistical Yearbook of the Vatican, Europe is currently home to nearly a quarter of all Catholics in the world, and its share on the total European population has only changed slightly in recent decades. But how to define a “Catholic”?
Baptized equals Catholic?
In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, there is the so-called Church-tax, i.e. a federally registered membership, including the option to leave the Church. Which is reflected in the declining number of members (of which by the way, Protestants are affected equally or even more, despite missing celibacy and woman priests).
Start of Conclave: Decision expected on Wednesday
Also on Tuesday, there was still no decision on the beginning of the Conclave in Rome. Five of Cardinals eligible to vote have still not arrived. The date is expected to be set on Wednesday.
Still no date is fixed for the election of a new Pope. A consultation of the Cardinals already gathered in Rome on Tuesday morning, had come to an end without a decision on the beginning of the Conclave, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi reported at a press conference at the Sala Stampa on Tuesday. The decision was expected for Wednesday.
Instead, the Cardinals formulated a telegram to the retired Pope. Therein, they thanked him for his service to the universal Church. In the telegram, that was published by the Vatican, the participants in the preparatory circle for the Conclave expressed the “Gratitude of the whole Church” for Benedict’s “tireless work in the Lord’s wineyard”. “In the end, the members of the College of Cardinals are counting on your prayers for them and the entire Holy Church”, it says in the letter signed by Dean of Cardinal Angelo Sodano.
110 Eligible voters on-site
According to Lombardi, 110 of the expected 115 Cardinals eligible to vote the new Pope have already arrived in Rome. The remaining five, among them the German Cardinal Karl Lehmann, were expected anytime soon. On Tuesday morning, Polish Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski and Cardinal Antonio Rouco Varela from Madrid had taken the oath to comply with the secrecy and the Conclave rules.
Already on Monday, the other present Cardinals had sworn the oath. Each individually stepped forward, put his hand on the Bible and vowed “rigorous secrecy with regard to all matters in any way related to the election of the Roman pontiff,” like defined in the Apostolic Constitution “Universi Dominici Gregis” by John Paul II in 1996.