An amusing game, but not much more than that. Of the Popes during my lifetime, only Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Paul VI were regarded as highly rated candidates going into the conclaves which elected them. “He who enters the conclave as pope, leaves as a cardinal.”, is usually true. Once a Conclave begins the Cardinals are free agents, with most of them not too well known, a recipe for unexpected results.
Conclave Watch: What do you Think?
- Donald R. McClarey
Donald R. McClarey
Cradle Catholic. Active in the pro-life movement since 1973. Father of three, one in Heaven, and happily married for 43 years. Small town lawyer and amateur historian. Former president of the board of directors of the local crisis pregnancy center for a decade.
This morning’s irony. Please, Lord God, give us Cardinal Sarah!
Most certainly have to agree with you Lucius. Cdl.Sarah would be my man – I have three of his books.
Help Us Lord;
Prayer for the election of next Pope by Fr. Ripperger
Lord Jesus Christ, by entrusting St. Peter and his successors, the keys of the kingdom of heaven, thou didst establish the office of the papacy. Grant to thy church, we beseech thee, a Pope who in his dedication to the sacred tradition of the church will seek to govern the church according to the deposit of faith and for the salvation of souls. Immaculate Mary, mother of the church and queen of confessors, we consecrate to thee the conclave and the election of the next Holy Father.
Blessed Mother, look not upon our sinfulness or upon the infidelity of many Catholics who do not accept the teachings of thy son, but upon the church which is the spotless bride of thy son, so that we do not get the leader we deserve, but a Holy Father who will guide the church for the glory and honor of thy son. Amen”.
Yes. Cardinal Sarah.
We need priests who are men of the interior life, “God’s watchmen” and pastors passionately committed to the evangelization of the world, and not social workers or politicians.
Cardinal Robert Sarah, God or Nothing: A Conversation on Faith
Being in my 40’s, the death of John Paul and the election of Benedict was my first experience with all this. I got caught up in the whole “Papabile” talk then.
As our host says, an amusing game but not much else. I said yesterday I pray for an invisible Pope. I’m kind of tired of the “rock star” model and would prefer a quietly reflective and pious Pope at this point. However, not my will, and we shall see.
As always, the new Holy Father will be someone no one expected to be elected. The Cardinals are so spread out and now met together so little, that I don’t think anyone has a clue of what they’re thinking as a group.
Agree with Matthew, despite wishing we might actually get Sarah or someone like him. It most likely will be someone whose name sends everyone immediately to their smart phones or laptops to find out who the heck he is. That would probably be a good thing.
I think Bishop Strickland is available
Unfortunately some have allowed the yardstick of the political to measure suitability for the papacy. Despite a listing of twelve very prominent personalities, I will venture to say that the odds favor the selection of the unexpected. Just a thought.
I suppose Card. Sarah is out of the picture
Modern technology has made Cardinals better known to each other and the world at large.
[…] Analysis, Punditry, and News:Conclave Watch: What Do You Think? – Donald R. McClarey, J.D., at the American CatholicThe Most Important Papabili: – Fr. […]
Only a very few outside the College Greg. I think I follow the College more than most and only 50 or so outside of the US are much more than names to me. As for the Cardinals, unless they become part of the Vatican bureaucracy, I think the only Cardinals most of them know well are other Cardinals in their nations, although doubtless they know more than in the pre-internet era.
I’m not so sure about that, Don. Bergoglio was a much more known quantity than people think. The quickness with which he was elected (only 5 ballots) tells me had the votes going into that conclave. That leaked diary that got so much publicity after the 2013 conclave claims Cdl. Burke tried to lead an effort to block Bergoglio.
You can bet Cardinals will be vetting each other during the general congregations either through their own internet research or their contacts in the media.
Like so many here, I’d like to see a man like Cardinal Sarah emerge from the conclave as Pope. Some folks think his age (79) precludes his election, but that might not be the case…
When Pius XII died, a certain influential Archbishop Montini was the preferred papabilie of a bloc of electors. He’d have probably been made Pope then, except he hadn’t yet been made a Cardinal. While it’s not impossible for a non-Cardinal to be elected, in reality such a thing is Just Not Done. So the Cardinal Electors compromised and elected an older Cardinal to fill the spot briefly until their man could get his red hat and be ready for the next conclave. Of course, the ‘placeholder’ they elected was Cardinal Roncalli, 77 at the time, who became Pope John XXIII and reigned just four and a half years. And, like clockwork, now-Cardinal Montini was elected to follow him as Pope Paul VI.
If there’s no candidate who can secure the necessary votes early on, it’s possible that the electors will settle on a placeholder, whose rein would be relatively brief because of his age. Like John XXIII at the time of his election, Cardinal Sarah is in his late 70s. He’s well-known to his brother Cardinals, has a good reputation and is well-respected by his peers, and his race and nationality will make him attractive to those for whom bringing someone in “from the peripheries” is a priority. And— which might be an important quality for some electors— Cardinal Sarah has shown none of the petty, autocratic tendencies of Francis: he doesn’t look to be a man who would ignore Canon Law and due process to depose bishops he dislikes, strip Cardinals of their stipends and living quarters, or call synods only to treat the bishops as rubber stamps for predetermined results.
Maybe Cardinal Sarah has a chance, if the circumstances are right. A guy can hope…