Cardinal Robert Prevost was announced a little while ago to be the next pope, Leo XIV.
He’s the first American to become pope. He is also likely the very first person from Chicago elected to office who will end his term without going to jail.
(Oh come on, nothing wrong with a little humor!)
Although I am not a Catholic, I will be praying that Pope Leo XIV will lead his church with wisdom, humbleness, and courage to do right in all things.
...
Either those cardinals are taking one heckuva break for Camels, or they have just elected the next pope!
Watching it right now. Awesome scene at Saint Peter’s Square. Now we just gotta learn who it is that’s been voted on.
Whoever it is, may God’s wisdom and grace be upon him. I’m not Catholic, but I appreciate my Catholic brethren’s enthusiasm and I absolutely have to wish them and their new leader well 🙂
“Habemus Papam!“
UPDATE 2:26 p.m. EST: Here’s a pic of that white smoke going up!
UPDATE 2:44 p.m. EST: Lots of humor about this on Twitter right now. Thankfully none or very little of it seems to be vulgar 🙂
UPDATE 3:15 p.m. EST: Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Argentina is the new pope! A Jesuit from Argentina. I think that makes him the first “New World” pope.
UPDATE 3:20 p.m. EST: So ...
The two sessions of morning ballots have been cast by the cardinals sequestered (that seems to be the popular buzzword of late) inside the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. What sayeth them?
Nope. No pope…
Two more ballots this afternoon. They should begin being cast around noon EST.
UPDATE 9:27 a.m. EST: Hey, they’ve got BEER in there!! The monks of Norcia at the Monastery of San Benedetto serve the Lord while also making Birra Nursia: their own brand of brew.
Here are Brother John and Brother Francis dropping off several cases of Birra Nursia beer at Domus Sancta Martha (where the cardinals are staying) on Monday, the day before the Conclave began.
All those cardinals, deliberating about the next pope while downing some suds. Hey, it could happen. Lord only (literally) knows what is going on inside the Sistine Chapel during Conclave. Personally, I don’t think ...
Looking at CNN right now: black smoke is pouring out of the chimney of the Sistine Chapel… and how! There’s not gonna be any confusion this time around.
So we know that the cardinals within have had their first ballot and no one has been elected pope. Which was what most people were expecting anyway.
Two more votes tomorrow.
UPDATE 2:59 p.m. EST: Scott Bradford notes that there will be four ballots tomorrow – 2 each in the morning and afternoon – and not two as previously reported.
As an aside, I’m seeing some good-humored jesting about this. One friend said that based on the black smoke “Willie Nelson has just been elected pope”, while someone on Twitter is reporting that the Black Smoke Monster (from Lost) is the new pope.
Come to think of it, that’s the blackest black smoke I’ve ever seen. We need John Locke ...
The chimney has been installed and tested. The Swiss Guard are even now still sweeping the place for bugs and spies. Saint Peter’s Square is bracing for the crowds…
Tomorrow morning (Rome time) the College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church will enter the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. Once it has been confirmed that no one else is present (apart from a very few medical personnel and other attendants who are pledged to uphold secrecy) the doors will be closed and sealed, and the cardinals within will begin deliberation and voting on who will be the next pope.
It is called Conclave (from the Latin cum clave, meaning “with a key”) And it is a ritual which has endured for more than eight hundred years. But what does happen among the cardinals once they are within the Sistine Chapel and its doors tied off with red silk ...