VATICAN CITY — After days of deliberations, hours of coffee breaks, and more than 100 speeches, the College of Cardinals is set to vote late Friday on when to begin the formal selection process from which the next pope will emerge.
“There will be a date,” said Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi, adding that he expected the date to be “in the first days of next week.” Lombardi said he would send an e-mail to reporters with the date after the cardinals finish their meeting at 7 p.m. Rome time (1 p.m. in Washington). “Please don’t all call me at seven,” he joked, “because I won’t be able send the message.”
The Feb. 28 abdication of Benedict XVI, who is now officially known as an emeritus pope, has injected an unusual dose of uncertainty into a process traditionally governed by funeral rituals, homilies and masses.
Benedict was the first pope in 600 years not to die in office. Usually, the conclave to select a new pope begins after a 15-day period of mourning the previous pope’s death. In this case, the cardinals decided Friday that since all the 115 voting cardinals were now gathered in Vatican City, they could vote to move up the date the conclave would start.
The cardinals also voted to accept the absence of the two voting-age cardinals who have said that they will not attend the conclave to select a new leader for the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.
The first, a cardinal from Jakarta, asked to be excused because of health problems. The second is Cardinal Keith O’Brien of Scotland, who in recent weeks was accused of and admitted to inappropriate sexual behavior towards priests. When he announced his resignation as head of the Catholic Church in Scotland last month, he said he would not attend the conclave.
The “personal motives” of O’Brien, Lombardi said, had been explained “in a public statement” by O’Brien, and the college of cardinals “voted to accept these motivations.”
The start date of the conclave had itself become a source of debate between cardinals, with some factions believing they would benefit from an earlier election and others pushing for a longer preliminary period that would allow more time for less familiar candidates to emerge.
In the absence of funeral rites, public attention in recent days has focused on matters of logistics and media access. The Vatican spent much of the last week answering questions about the vagaries of Benedict’s 11th hour amendment to the Apostolic Constitution and whether all voting-age cardinals needed to be in attendance before the college could decide on a conclave start date. (The 115th and final voting age cardinal to participate in the election, a Vietnamese prelate, arrived yesterday.)
A media blackout imposed by the College of Cardinals put a sudden and unexpected end to daily news conferences that were being held by American cardinals, focusing press attention on the Vatican’s censorship rather than the major themes the cardinals have been discussing.
On Friday morning, 18 more cardinals spoke at the closed meeting, bringing the total who have addressed the college to more than 100. Lombardi said they discussed interreligious dialogue, bioethics, justice in the world and the importance of positive announcement of the gospel.
During the meeting they also learned of an “adopt a cardinal” Web site in which 220,000 people have logged on to pray for one of the 115 voting cardinals.
Angelo Sodano, the dean of the college of cardinals, who is over 80 and therefore cannot enter or vote in the conclave, said that he hoped the Web site was for all of the cardinals, and not just the electors.
During Friday’s news conference, Lombardi showed a film of the hotel on Vatican grounds where the cardinals will stay during the election. “We are getting close to the conclave,” he said.
“There will be a date,” said Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi, adding that he expected the date to be “in the first days of next week.” Lombardi said he would send an e-mail to reporters with the date after the cardinals finish their meeting at 7 p.m. Rome time (1 p.m. in Washington). “Please don’t all call me at seven,” he joked, “because I won’t be able send the message.”
The Feb. 28 abdication of Benedict XVI, who is now officially known as an emeritus pope, has injected an unusual dose of uncertainty into a process traditionally governed by funeral rituals, homilies and masses.
Benedict was the first pope in 600 years not to die in office. Usually, the conclave to select a new pope begins after a 15-day period of mourning the previous pope’s death. In this case, the cardinals decided Friday that since all the 115 voting cardinals were now gathered in Vatican City, they could vote to move up the date the conclave would start.
The cardinals also voted to accept the absence of the two voting-age cardinals who have said that they will not attend the conclave to select a new leader for the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.
The first, a cardinal from Jakarta, asked to be excused because of health problems. The second is Cardinal Keith O’Brien of Scotland, who in recent weeks was accused of and admitted to inappropriate sexual behavior towards priests. When he announced his resignation as head of the Catholic Church in Scotland last month, he said he would not attend the conclave.
The “personal motives” of O’Brien, Lombardi said, had been explained “in a public statement” by O’Brien, and the college of cardinals “voted to accept these motivations.”
The start date of the conclave had itself become a source of debate between cardinals, with some factions believing they would benefit from an earlier election and others pushing for a longer preliminary period that would allow more time for less familiar candidates to emerge.
In the absence of funeral rites, public attention in recent days has focused on matters of logistics and media access. The Vatican spent much of the last week answering questions about the vagaries of Benedict’s 11th hour amendment to the Apostolic Constitution and whether all voting-age cardinals needed to be in attendance before the college could decide on a conclave start date. (The 115th and final voting age cardinal to participate in the election, a Vietnamese prelate, arrived yesterday.)
A media blackout imposed by the College of Cardinals put a sudden and unexpected end to daily news conferences that were being held by American cardinals, focusing press attention on the Vatican’s censorship rather than the major themes the cardinals have been discussing.
On Friday morning, 18 more cardinals spoke at the closed meeting, bringing the total who have addressed the college to more than 100. Lombardi said they discussed interreligious dialogue, bioethics, justice in the world and the importance of positive announcement of the gospel.
During the meeting they also learned of an “adopt a cardinal” Web site in which 220,000 people have logged on to pray for one of the 115 voting cardinals.
Angelo Sodano, the dean of the college of cardinals, who is over 80 and therefore cannot enter or vote in the conclave, said that he hoped the Web site was for all of the cardinals, and not just the electors.
During Friday’s news conference, Lombardi showed a film of the hotel on Vatican grounds where the cardinals will stay during the election. “We are getting close to the conclave,” he said.