Conclave 2013 - News, Resources, Commentary

This post will be updated regularly in the days and weeks to come as we compile news and information resources related to the upcoming 2013 Papal Conclave.

Covering the Conclave: Resources

• Vatican Information Service
• EWTN Eternal Word Television Network
• Edward Pentin (National Catholic Register)
• Zenit News Service
• Blogging the Conclave with John Thavis (Catholic News Service)

Papabile of the Day John Allen Jr. (National Catholic Reporter profiles cardinals who are frequently touted as papabile, or men who could be pope. These are the names drawing the most buzz in the lead-up to the conclave.

News

• Cardinals end pre-conclave meetings, hear report on Vatican bank , by Cindy Wooden. Catholic News Service. 3/11/13.
• The famous stove where ballots are burned, by John Thavis (Catholic News Service). 3/9/13.
• Citing unauthorized press reports on their preparatory meetings for the upcoming papal election, the College of Cardinals agreed to a media blackout similar to one observed before the previous conclave in 2005. (Catholic News Service 03/06/13).
• Even though a conclave to elect a new pope has not yet started, the papal tailors have the white cassock ready for the new pontiff when he appears less than an hour after his election on the balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square. (Catholic News Service 03/04/13).
• ) -- On the first day of their pre-conclave meetings, all of the cardinals were given a gold-embossed, green book of rites and prayers to accompany them as they enter the conclave, vote, elect a new pope and introduce him to the world. (Catholic News Service 03/05/13).
• Canonist explains 'rigid, highly formal' rules for electing pope, by Cindy Wooden. Catholic News Service 2/22/13.
• The Mahony case casts a shadow over the Conclave, by Maria Teresa Pontara Pederiva. "The Vatican Insider" La Stampa 2/18/13. The case regarding the cardinal's involvement in the paedophilia scandal has caused a storm in the U.S. which has now reached Rome.

• Conclave to silence at least nine tweeting cardinals "Parrots may squawk in the Vatican Gardens during a conclave, but the cardinals are not allowed to tweet." Catholic News Service 2/15/13.
• Statement from Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State The Vatican Secretariat of State has issued a statement on the upcoming conclave and the external influence of various news stories.

Conclaves in Modern History: Fun facts, by Deacon Pedro. Salt + Light. 3/11/13. Provided by Dr. Donald Prudlo, Associate Professor of History at Jacksonville State University, Alabama.

Commentary

• The key issue for the coming conclave is transparency. Catholic Culture. 3/7/13.
• Who Will be Pope #266?, by Michael Severance. Catholic World Report After a long month to think, pray, and meet, the cardinals convene and the world waits.

• Is an American Pope Possible, or Prudent?, by Edward Pentin. National Catholic Register 3/8/13. Cardinals and Vatican analysts are considering the matter, as speculation mounts that U.S. cardinals are serious candidates for the seat of St. Peter.

• A Quick Course in Conclave 101, by John Allen Jr. National Catholic Reporter 2/15/13. Regarding the traditional Catholic conviction that a conclave unfolds under the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit, he opines:

  one shouldn't exaggerate the role of divine inspiration. As one cardinal put it to me after the election of Benedict XVI, "I was never whapped on the head by the Holy Spirit. I had to make the best choice I could based on the information available."

  Perhaps the classic expression of this idea belongs to none other than the outgoing pope, Benedict XVI, who as 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.

  Then the clincher:

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

• According to Canon Lawyer Dr. Ed Peters, "There are presently 118 cardinals (a papally self-imposed limit of 120 electors is occasionally exceeded), some of them retired (emeritus) from their last posts, eligible to vote in the next papal conclave." He provides additional resources on the next papal conclave here.

• McCarrick: We're ready for a Third World pope - The former archbishop of Washington at down for an interview with NCR on Feb. 14 at the North American College, the residence for American seminarians on Rome, to discuss Benedict's resignation and the dynamics of the looming papal election.

• A critical tone among cardinals begins to emerge, by John Allen Jr. (National Catholic Reporter 2/15/13):

  Earlier this week, I suggested that because the end of Benedict XVI's papacy is not occurring in tandem with his death, it may create greater psychological space for cardinals to take a critical look at the pontificate, without fear of speaking ill of the late pontiff.

  A small confirmation of that theory has come in the form of an interview given to a German newspaper by Cardinal Joachim Meisner of Cologne, one of Benedict's closest friends in the College of Cardinals.

• On a comical note, Nicholas Farrell (Taki's Magazine) is praying for a black pope. "Think about it: Who better to tell white liberal lefties to [expletive] off than a black pope?" -- while sex-obsessed Hans Kung and a disillusioned Garry Wills give up hope that any newly-elected Pope would reflect their views on contraception and female clergy.

An interactive online tutorial from The Vatican Insider La Stampa)

• Is the Next Pope the Last Pope? - Fr. Dwight Longenecker assesses the prophecies of St. Malachy and concludes: "you can probably sleep peacefully tonight. The end of the world is probably not nigh. On the other hand . . . why not prepare your soul, just to be on the safe side?"

• Who Will Take Up the Keys of Peter?, by Sandro Magister. Chiesa 2/14/13. The resignation of Benedict XVI. His last actions. The imminent conclave and the candidates for succession. The new and the unknown of a decision without precedent in history.

• What the church needs now: Synod gives clues to cardinals' priorities, by Cindy Wooden. Catholic News Service 2/20/13.

• Pope intervenes to bring Conclave forward, by Andrea Tornielli. "The Vatican Insider" La Stampa 2/20/13. Benedict XVI is to issue a document motu proprio allowing cardinals to start the election process before the fifteen day waiting period stipulated by Vatican law, if they wish to.

• Vatileaks: Pope to ask Commission of Cardinals to tell Conclave members the truth, by Giacomo Galeazzi. "The Vatican Insider" La Stampa 2/22/13. The three-man commission of inquiry into the Vatileaks scandal is to divulge the contents of their report - which has so far been bound by pontifical secrecy – during the general congregations on the next Pope’s election.

• Conclave 2.0: Top 10 reasons why this version is different, by John Allen Jr. National Catholic Reporter 2/22/13.
• What to Look for in a New Pope. Wall Street Journal 03/08/13. The cardinals now gathered at the Vatican are choosing not just a new pontiff but a future course for their embattled Church. Six views on what sort of leader the next pope should be.
• Catholicism, True Reform and the Next Pope, by Samuel Gregg. Crisis 03/05/13:

  Given the contempt with which some people regard Catholicism these days, it’s extraordinary just how badly the very same individuals want everyone else to hear their views of the Church’s future. Plainly there’s something about this 2000 year-old faith that truly bothers them. How else can one explain the tsunami of unsolicited advice from pop atheists, incoherent playwrights, angry ex-priests, and celebrity theologians that has erupted since Benedict XVI’s abdication?

• Picking the pope a contest among four camps, by John Allen Jr. National Catholic Reporter March 1, 2013.
• Pope Material or Not, a Charming, Cheerful Cardinal Gains Notice in Rome. Michael Paulson profiles Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan. (New York Times 03/08/13).
• An American in Rome, Bound for the Chair of Peter, by Sandro Magister (Chiesa) "The easiest bet is that the next pope will not be Italian. But not European, African, or Asian ether. For the first time in the bimillennial history of the Church, the successor of Peter could come from the Americas. Or to hazard a more targeted prediction: from the Big Apple."
• A Pope in Brown? by Tom Washburn, OFM. America - what would a Sean O'Malley papacy might look like, literally?
• Universal priest, prophet and king: Next pope faces global challenges, by Francis X. Rocca. Catholic News Service. 03/08/13.