THE UNPRECEDENTED PAPACY
March 11, 2013
By Cornelius Sullivan
Rome
The normal Sede Vacante, the vacant
Chair of Saint Peter period, usually involves a funeral followed by a Conclave.
In this uncertain interregnum time we can be certain of only one thing. There
will be a Papal Funeral at some time celebrated by a Pope. A funeral for a Pope
by a Pope is unprecedented in Modern Times.
The mourning time for Pope
John Paul II that preceded his funeral involved lines of pilgrims for days coursing
through the city streets leading to Saint Peter’s Basilica. The Funeral
celebrated by Cardinal Ratzinger was a world event that dominated the
interregnum period before the conclave.
The spotlight of History is
now focused on the future next week. In Rome time seems to be racing ahead even
though it is a waiting time. A big story now is about the press, there will be
five thousand six hundred journalists temporarily accredited by the Vatican
Press Office. With large laminated identity badges strap slung around their
necks they are intent in anticipation, wide eyed and aware of the immense
historical importance of the coming days.
I have seen people fervently
praying in Piazza San Pietro, amid the crowds, on their knees, looking at the
basilica and looking at the light-less empty Papal Palace.
Sunday was a day without
meetings for the Cardinals. They said Masses at their respective titular
churches. I had dinner last night with two experienced media journalists, who
are busy now doing TV spots, and a writer from the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano. The reporters went
to the Mass celebrated by Boston’s Cardinal Sean O”Malley at Santa Maria delle
Vittoria, the church with Bernini’s Ecstasy
of Saint Theresa. They were impressed with Cardinal Sean’s strong voice and
by the fact that if he is chosen, as a Capuchin Franciscan, he will still wear
his sandles. My companions are all pulling for Cardinal Ouelett from Quebec.
The writer from Osservatore went to his Sunday Mass at his church on Via delle Conciliazione,
Santa Maria in Traspontina, only hundreds of yards from Saint Peter’s. She said
he was very nervous and that he shook.
I said that the words of
Cardinal Dolan resound with clarity through the canyons of New York, and that
he could clean house because he has political genius, meaning that, we like him
no matter what he says. He has the gift of doing things in a way that even those
that he sends away after cleaning house may end up thanking him. My friends said that he can not relate
to the Europeans. I reminded them that Pope Benedict in 2012 asked him to speak
to all the Cardinals on the subject of “Evangelization in a Secular World”. My
academic friends say he hit a home run with that talk. I saw him in Rome at
that time, more about that later. My European friends in the United States
scoff at the idea of an American Pope. Cardinal Weurl has said that it would be
a problem because the US is a super power. Only a Cardinal from Washington DC
would say something like that.
It is getting loud in the
Press Office. Phones ring and conversations in many languages get louder as
they increase in frequency. And now we await Farther Federico Lombardi’s press release
for the day, Monday. The Cardinals have met for a final time before the
conclave to allow the Cardinals who arrived late to speak.
At 1:15 PM Father Lombardi
speaks In Italian, then there is an English translation, and then in Spanish. This
is the last briefing before the conclave. The conclave begins tomorrow with a
Mass in the morning.
Today there were one hundred
and fifty two Cardinals present. Three Cardinals were chosen to assist the Head
of the College of Cardinals.
Twenty eight Cardinals spoke
this morning. Some who wished to talk did not get chance to speak because of a vote
to end the talks.
The Mass tomorrow will be
celebrated by Cardinal Sodano with his homily in Italian and with music by
Palestrina.
After the Mass there will be
a solemn procession through the Pauline Chapel below the Michelangelo frescoes
of the Conversion of Saint Paul and the Crucifixion of Saint Peter with the
chanting of the Litany of the Saints.
Then to the Sistine Chapel and
the Cardinals take an oath in Latin and each places his hands on the bible.
The Master of Ceremonies
takes out the observers and the doors are closed and locked.
It is expected that there
will be a vote by 4:30 and probably some smoke by 8:00 PM. It is not likely
that it will be white because this is only the first vote.
The Vatican camera will be on
the chimney. “If you see white smoke, you will know what to do.”
Once elected, the one chosen
will be asked, “Do you accept?” Then, “What name do you take?”
Then there will be a special prayer.
The new Pope is taken to “The
Room of Tears” where he is vested with a white cassock.
The new Pope will stop at the
Pauline Chapel to pray alone before the Blessed Sacrament.
Then the world will see him
on the balcony.
Last time it was 45 minutes
between smoke and balcony.
The Mass of ordination does
not have to be on a Sunday, there will be a period of time for people from all
over the world to travel.
If the Cardinals choose to
not vote tomorrow, Father Lombardi with his inside information, will know
because the Cardinals will have made their way to Saint Margaret’s Hall for
dinner.
The whole process is both
grand and familiar at the same time.
No comments:
Post a Comment