Electing a new Pope. The Conclave begins …

Indeed FGT. I hope for a man who can lead his flock with compassion and intelligence.

Day 2

The first conclave yesterday evening came to no decision, as was widely expected due to the tight race. The new pontiff must secure a two-thirds majority.

After waiting longer than anticipated, tens of thousands of faithful watched as black smoke billowed from the chapel’s chimney, signalling that the 133 cardinals had failed to elect Pope Francis’s successor.

When I cast my mind back to my catholic school days the nuns who taught us were prone to feed us one of the many misnomers we were expected to believe, "God, not chemicals produces the white smoke it demonstrates his miraculous presence" Also omitting to expand on the political manoeuvring and general horse trading going on behind the scenes which only the Cardinals were privy. I think they thought they were keeping us in thrall to the mystique of the church, there was far less transparency back then. Anyway, one thing we can be assured of, the outcome won't be the same as the book Lets hope at least we get a similar Pope to Pope Francis who demonstrated a fair bit of tolerance and humility.

And yet Terribull apparently the traditionalist Cardinals thought him way too liberal and want a more conservative leaning Pope.

One of our AS was in Rome at the weekend with his wife and young children, he said that you could feel the anticipation in the air.

(Despite being taken to church as a youngster, he is not remotely religious nowadays and is not raising the children to be religious it’s down to them to decide when they are old enough)

A continuity pope makes sense because Francis selected 108 of the 135 cardinals able to vote.

Unsurprisingly, many of these cardinals tend to be more liberal. The College of Cardinals Report shows that, on average, those chosen by Pope Francis have similar stances to him.

it will be interesting to see if, after about 50 years of "foreign" popes, the Italian will be voted in. To be fair, he is very useful having been in the vatican for many years...

The discussion is possibly "do we want a skilled administrator and leader" or "do we want someone to follow in Pope Francis' path".

So many are new and so I expect they will go for someone more experienced.
I'd rather a radical, personally.

Be good if they elected Presidents and PMs this way.

nanna8

Be good if they elected Presidents and PMs this way.

Where are 50% of the population in this vote?

As a means of choosing party leaders I means . Not to not have a vote. Duh !

I never thought I would be, but I have got interested in this, I was watching CNN about 20 minutes ago, and the interviewer was asking people their thoughts and views, and most said they wanted someone like Pope Francis.

Yes I know what you meant. But I couldn’t resist pointing out the misogyny.

Maybe we won`t be getting similar to Pope Francis. A lot of people want to go back to the old ways ie Latin mass and more structure and boundaries.

It is important because the Catholic church has a lot of power over peoples lives in many countries, and Pope Francis did not dodge the issue of "speaking Truth to Power" to leading world figures. It would be a tragedy if there were a retreat to the most conservative values and pulling out of world affairs.

Lets face it most religions are unremittingly patriarchal and by extension both chauvinistic and at worst misogynistic. Women are handmaidens, in this instance waiting on the Cardinals by cooking meals and generally faffing around them on the outer reaches. I was always aware of a woman's role within the church when I was growing up, for example flower arranging. Never party to decision making. On a different note, I'd love to hear a Latin mass again from a pure nostalgia pov.

I think it's quite refreshing that we know hardly anything about the process going on behind closed doors. For me, it adds to the mystique. The media camped outside must be miffed, that all they can really report on is the smoke.

Haven’t we heard and seen much more about the candidates than in 2013? Thanks to social media we have seen wee Cardinal Tagle singing karaoke! I wonder if the cardinals will be taking the people’s opinion into account this time round ( assuming they’ve looked at or been informed of what’s on social media!)?
I had to look up the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne when I saw him in his black hood
and fancy robes, it was a new one on me!

That's perhaps true, Daddima, about the individuals. I think I meant more the secret voting procedure, and what they're all up to in there.

escaped

That's perhaps true, Daddima, about the individuals. I think I meant more the secret voting procedure, and what they're all up to in there.

I was surprised to hear that they were all allowed time to make a speech, under five minutes I think, and wonder if they would do a ‘vote for me’, or would they campaign for somebody else!
I do find it fascinating.

That makes good sense, I didn't know they got to "sell themselves" or explain their mission.
Yes, fascinating!
And why do they need 3 hours for lunch before the next round of voting?

I am glad I watched Conclave. Turns out it was a very timely film showing all the historic traditions that go on behind the scenes when electing a new Pope. Very interesting and well worth a watch for those who have not seen it.

To pray for guidance I suppose. Time to reflect on their choice.

escaped

That makes good sense, I didn't know they got to "sell themselves" or explain their mission.
Yes, fascinating!
And why do they need 3 hours for lunch before the next round of voting?

Time to reflect and pray.