Suspense Grows Over Conclave Date

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mburn16 said:
I. And they do have discussions during the Conclave, just not within the Sistine Chapel…during lunch, before the morning sessions, late at night, etc…these are when things happen.
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Ah thanks for the clarification. 🙂
 
sw85 said:
I’d be very surprised if a one-day conclave happened. I think 4-5 days is more reasonable as a lower limit, and probably closer to 1.5 - 2 weeks. Ratzinger was elected shockingly fast because he was the uniform favorite, and an obvious choice to succeed JPII – he’d long been a sort of “acting Pope” anyway (JPII once attributed the entire “theological profile” of his Pontificate to Ratzinger!). I don’t see that there’s any obvious choice to succeed Benedict, though, so I imagine it will be at least a few days before the consensus begins to gel around a few candidates.

My instinct is that, if we get a Pope quickly, it will be because the curialists and progressives among the electors forged an early alliance and got one of “their guys” in, for fear of being quickly shut out of the possible candidates for lack of consensus. Deus avertat! Pray instead for a long, careful, deliberative, and prayerful conclave.
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I wouldn’t read into the speed of the conclave as indicative of the character of the new pope. The longest conclave of the last 100 years was only five days. Even the “surprise” election of John Paul II only took three days.
 
mburn16 said:
I’m expecting 4-5 days. Ratzinger was pretty much at the top of everyone’s list when that one started…there is no such obvious choice this time. True, the Cardinals are spending a lot of time debating and discussing right now, but there are no clear or obvious voting blocs. And they do have discussions during the Conclave, just not within the Sistine Chapel…during lunch, before the morning sessions, late at night, etc…these are when things happen.
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Do you mean there are no clear/obvious candidates? Because there are definitely at least some clear/obvious voting blocs, most prominently the Bertone- and Sodano-led curialist faction.
 
Mahony, no e. You could have just cut and pasted the headline?
 
Elizium23 said:
Mahony, no e. You could have just cut and pasted the headline?
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I’ll do that one better…cut and paste his tweet 😃

“Days of General Congregations reaching a conclusion. Setting of date for Conclave nearing. Mood of excitement prevails among Cardinals.”
 
I thought a blackout had been imposed for the cardinal electors - ie no tweeting allowed. Naught naughty.
 
LilyM said:
I thought a blackout had been imposed for the cardinal electors - ie no tweeting allowed. Naught naughty.
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Do we know that he actually did this? I don’t trust the media one iota.
 
Yup he tweeted that statement. Against the wishes of the other Cardinals for them all (especially the Americans) to be quiet.
 
sojo said:
Yup he tweeted that statement. Against the wishes of the other Cardinals for them all (especially the Americans) to be quiet.
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Well now, that sure makes me feel a bit squicky wrt following rules in the conclave.
 
LilyM said:
I thought a blackout had been imposed for the cardinal electors - ie no tweeting allowed. Naught naughty.
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To be technical, the “blackout” is more of an informal gentleman’s agreement rather than binding law. They cannot really bind each other to something that goes beyond what Universi Dominici Gregis requires.
 
I think we need to be very careful not to set up an “us” vs “them” or “liberal” vs “conservative” (however those terms are defined) set of factions. It can too easily lead to feeling negative or that “their” Cardinal was chosen if the person select is not who you were hoping for.

Better to simply pray for all the cardinals and the future pope and spend less time speculating or diving the conclave into factions.
 
Mrs_Sally said:
I think we need to be very careful not to set up an “us” vs “them” or “liberal” vs “conservative” (however those terms are defined) set of factions. It can too easily lead to feeling negative or that “their” Cardinal was chosen if the person select is not who you were hoping for.

Better to simply pray for all the cardinals and the future pope and spend less time speculating or diving the conclave into factions.
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I understand what you are saying, MrsSally.

Human beings being what we are, those factions already do exist, however. But not so much liberal vs conservatives but more along the lines of those cardinals who there at the Vatican on the permanent basis (the so-called Curial Cardinals) and those who live in their own countries. The so-called “outsiders”

So I think it’s important to pray that these men put aside their own biases, and their own egos (and we all have egos) and do what is best for the Church and try to discern how the Holy Spirit guides.
 
Marie5890 said:
So I think it’s important to pray that these men put aside their own biases, and their own egos (and we all have egos) and do what is best for the Church and try to discern how the Holy Spirit guides.
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Amen!
 
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