conclave – Communio

Private notes of Jorge Bergoglio from pre-conclave meetings published

Reading the notes from the pre-conclave meetings of the cardinals meeting in the General Congregation is not usual reading material for most people. One has to admit that it is interesting to know what the cardinals think and what they verbalize with regard to the life of the Church and the proposal for future ministry. Zenit.org published today the notes of Jorge Cardinal Bergoglio (now Pope Francis). Nothing really new except that now we know with better certainty the perspective of the made elected the Supreme Pontiff. The notes follow:

The archbishop of Havana says that a speech given by Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (now Pope Francis) during the cardinals’ pre-conclave meetings was “masterful” and “clear.”

Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino spoke of Cardinal Bergoglio’s speech at a Mass on Saturday in Cuba, having returned home from his trip to Rome to bid farewell to Benedict, participate in the conclave, and welcome Francis.

Cardinal Ortega said that Cardinal Bergoglio gave him the handwritten notes of the speech, and the permission to share the contents.

“Allow me to let you know, almost as an absolute first fruit, the thought of the Holy Father Francis on the mission of the Church,” Cardinal Ortega said.

Continue reading Private notes of Jorge Bergoglio from pre-conclave meetings published

Truly Catholic?

Are you truly Catholic? No, I make the smoke.

Pope Francis, the new Bishop of Rome, the Supreme Pontiff, the First American Pope

Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum:

Habemus Papam!

Eminentissimum ac reverendissimum Dominum,

Dominum Jorge Sanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ Cardinalem Bergoglio,

Qui sibi nomen imposuit Franciscum.

In English

I announce to you a great joy:

We have a Pope!

The most eminent and most reverend Lord,

Lord Jorge Mario Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church Bergoglio,

Who takes for himself the name of Francis.

Ratzinger on the Holy Spirit electing a pope

The well-known journalist John Allen quoted Pope Benedict about the role of the Holy Spirit’s work in the conclave:

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was asked on Bavarian television in 1997 if the Holy Spirit is responsible for who gets elected. This was his response:

I would not say so, in the sense that the Holy 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 much 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.

Further:

There are too many contrary instances of popes the Holy Spirit obviously would not have picked!

Step by Step Through the Papal Interregnum

If you are looking for a quick run-through of the papal inter-regnum, almost over at this writing, you may be interested in the booklet by The Catholic Truth Society, a handy Step by Step Through the Papal Interregnum (2013) by Monsignor Charles Burns, OBE.

Step by Step does what it proposes to do: the booklet takes the reader through terms, legislation and processes of the period in the Church known as the interregnum and the subsequent papal election. Burns attempts to be exact in what is expected of the cardinals fulfilling their key work as a cardinal of the Holy Roman Church. Historians will like this brief booklet for its mentioning of key historical facts of the conclave.

Monsignor Burns, a priest of the Diocese of Paisely, has worked for the Holy See in the Vatican Secret Archives for more than 35 years; he taught for 25 years at the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy. Since 2012, Burns has been a Canon of Saint Peter’s Basilica.

Here is an audio introduction with Monsignor Burns produced by Vatican Radio.

Cardinal’s mother doesn’t think son can handle the …

“Christoph would not be up to the bitchiness in the Vatican. The intrigues in Vienna are enough for him.”

What right-minded person wouldn’t get annoyed at dishonesty?

“The whole family is afraid that Christoph will be elected pope,” Eleonore Schoenborn, 92, told the Kleine Zeitung newspaper

Black smoke on the first ballot

At 2:40 DST black smoke emerged from the smoke stack today. Tomorrow morning at 4:30 DST the voting begins again. 2 votes in the morning, 2 votes in the afternoon.

Here is Vatican Radio’s report.

Extra omnes

At certain point the Papal Master of Ceremonies, Monsignor Guido Marini, a priest of the Archdiocese of Genova, announces “Extra omnes,” a polite way of saying that all those not belonging in the conclave with the cardinals are to leave now. Monsignor Marini then walks through the center of the Sistine Chapel to the doors and closes them.

Cardinals take oath

After a brief introduction and prayer in the Pauline Chapel, the cardinals walking in order of seniority beginning from the junior cardinal deacon to the cardinal bishops, walked to the Sistine Chapel. Once in their assigned places in the Sistine Chapel, the senior Cardinal, Giovanni Battista Re, read aloud the following formula of the oath prescribed by the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis:

“In conformity with the provisions of No. 52 of the Apostolic constitution Univesi Dominici Gregis, We, the Cardinal electors present in this election of the Supreme Pontiff promise, pledge and swear, as individuals and as a group, to observe faithfully and scrupulously the prescriptions contained in the Apostolic Constitution of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II, Universi Dominici Gregis, published on 22 February 1996. We likewise promise, pledge and swear that whichever of us by divine disposition is elected Roman Pontiff will commit himself faithfully to carrying out the munus Petrinum of Pastor of the Universal Church and will not fail to affirm and defend strenuously the spiritual and temporal rights and the liberty of the Holy See. In a particular way, we promise and swear to observe with the greatest fidelity and with all persons, clerical or lay, secrecy regarding everything that in any way relates to the election of the Roman Pontiff and regarding what occurs in the place of the election, directly or indirectly related to the results of the voting; we promise and swear not to break this secret in any way, either during or after the election of the new Pontiff, unless explicit authorization is granted by the same Pontiff; and never to lend support or favor to any interference, opposition or any other form of intervention, whereby secular authorities of whatever order and degree or any group of people or individuals might wish to intervene in the election of the Roman Pontiff.”

Then, one-by-one, each of the Cardinal electors, according to seniority, then personally took the oath according to the following formula:

“And I, N. Cardinal N., do so promise, pledge and swear. So help me God and these Holy Gospels which I touch with my hand.”

After all not required to be in the Conclave are asked to depart, Prospero Cardinal Grech, OSA, (a non-electing cardinal) will give a meditation.

Now the “Second Conclave of the Twenty First Century Begins.”

Tag: conclave