How is a new pope selected?

Answer 1

Not to be pessimistic about Pope John Paul II, but…well, you’re not asking to be optimistic, are you?

Fittingly, the current pope himself made the most recent changes to an electoral system that has been regularly tweaked to avoid the riots and antipopes that once plagued the choosing of the peaceful pastor of the God of love.

The history of selecting popes is long, colorful and wildly brutal, as amusingly described in Catholic almanacs and encyclopedias.

At first, choosing a guy who was basically just the archbishop of Rome was a relatively casual affair. But then the whole Christianity thing really took off, and next thing you know—riots like there should have been over the 2000 U.S. election.

The Roman emperors, being law-and-order types, said enough of that, and stepped in to start running—not to mention fixing—the elections. No more riots, but a few centuries of Machiavellian politics, assassinations and general unholiness (involving other countries and Italian families, too).

Eventually, the church got sick of all that and decided that only cardinals would choose the new pope. A further tweak was requiring a two-thirds majority vote. Next thing you know—more riots!

Cardinals have to choose among themselves who gets the plum pope-for-life job. One can only imagine the horrific jockeying and office politics involved.

Actually, one doesn’t have to imagine. Just take my personal favorite, the election following the 1268 death of Pope Clement IV. The cardinals jerked around for three years, arguing about who would get the job, and even then didn’t decide until, in the words of Our Sunday Voice’s Catholic Almanac, “the citizens of the city [Viterbo, Italy] reduced them to bread and water and tore the roof off the palace in which they were residing.”

Finally, the church came up with the still-current practice of the Conclave. I.e., the cardinals are locked into the Sistine Chapel and not allowed to come out until they’ve made up their minds. Unsurprisingly, solitary confinement has greatly speeded the election process.

Things begin when the so-called College of Cardinals convenes in the Vatican for the election, called there by the Chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church. They have 15 days to gather, and no more than five days to mess around, with an introductory Mass and processional and so on, before they enter the Conclave. (Cardinals over 80 years old don’t get to vote and hence don’t enter the Conclave.)

The Conclave means they’re sealed inside the Vatican with almost literally no outside contact whatsoever. They’re allowed to spend the night in Vatican lodgings, but the rest of the time they’re locked inside the Vatican Palace. In either case, they’re not allowed to say anything about the voting or deliberations, ever. Secrecy is a huge and significant part of the process, avoiding unsightly Florida-style election embarrassments and scandals. No one ever knows who the “candidates” even are—except for the winning one, of course.

And I mean locked inside, literally. The Vatican’s Swiss Guard puts a padlock on the door .

Once inside, the cardinals can presumably mill about and deliberate as at any political convention—though trading votes is reportedly not allowed. The actual voting takes place in the Sistine Chapel; during the election of the current pope, ballots were counted at a table set up in front of the altar of the Last Judgement. Yikes!

In theory, a pope can be chosen by “acclamation”—that is, all the cardinals agreeing on one guy. Unsurprisingly, this apparently never happens, judging by the amount of time recent Conclaves have lasted.

This leaves “compromise” or “scrutiny”—a normal casting of ballots, as we would call it. Votes are written on paper ballots, put in a ballot box, and read aloud. Four votes are taken each day of the Conclave until somebody wins.

Winning consists of pulling two-thirds of the votes plus one. After a certain number of unsuccessful ballots—30, according to one source—the rule changes to allow the man who wins a simple majority to win the election.

Keeping in mind the obsession with secrecy, all of the ballots, notes and any other election documents are tossed into a stove and burned.

This burning is what led to the famous smoke signal from a Vatican chimney—the sfumata—that is the only indication to the outside world whether a new pope has been chosen. If the smoke is white, that means they’ve made up their minds. If it’s dark, it means they’re still deciding.

The smoke distinction used to be made by adding straw to produce thick, dark smoke if necessary. However, this was never reliable, and more recently chemicals have been used to produce either white or black smoke. Even this screwed up in the 1978 election of Pope John Paul I, when a reported accident with the “white” chemical unintentionally produced thick, dark smoke.

Answer 2

A Papal Conclave works like this:

+ A pope dies and is buried

+ The cardinals come to Rome for the conclave that will elect the new pope. The word conclave (Latin, *** + clavis, literally, "locked with the key") designates:
. • The place in a locked section of the Vatican where the cardinals elect a new pope.
. • The actual gathering of the cardinals.

+ The conclave begins 15 to 20 days after the pope's death.

+ The cardinals pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit during a Mass

+ The cardinals, sealed in the Sistine Chapel, vote every morning and afternoon.

+ A two-thirds majority plus one is required for election for the first 30 ballots. After that, a simple majority is required.

+ After each vote, they burn the ballots and add special chemicals to make the smoke white or black.
. • Black smoke means no new pope yet.
. • White smoke announces the election of a new pope.

+ The cardinals may elect any baptized male they wish. There have been occasions in the past where they have elected a layman. After their election, the layman has to be ordained priest and bishop.

+ They ask the one elected if he accepts. The moment he accepts, he is pope.

+ The pope chooses his “Papal” name.

+ Then the new pope is announced to the world.

With love in Christ.

Answer 3

All Cardinals under the age of 80 (which everyone else forgot to mention) is allowed to vote for the new Pope in a conclave.

The nominations also come from the conclave (no age restriction on who can present the nominations). It is debated and then voted upon and tha ballots burned.

A substance is added to produce black smoke at the burn of the ballots to announce it is an inconclusive vote. No substance is added so the smoke will be white if it is a deciding vote.

Answer 4

Popes are elected by the College of Cardinals meeting in Conclave when the Apostolic See falls vacant.

Pope Paul VI significantly changed the rules for conclaves in 1975 when he promulgated the Apostolic Constitution Romano Pontifico Eligendo. He excluded all cardinals 80 years old or over from the conclave and made provision to prevent any bugging of the Sistine Chapel.

It was according to these rules that Albano Luciano, Patriarch of Venice, was elected Pope John Paul I and that a little over a month later, Karol Wojtyla, Cardinal Archbishop of Krakow, was elected Pope John Paul II.

Pope John Paul II himself promulgated a whole new set of rules in 1996 in the Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis.

He has not departed radically from the traditional structure. But he has made some significant changes:

if no cardinal has been elected by two-thirds majority after a certain number of ballots, the cardinals may agree by absolute majority (half + 1) to elect the Pope by an absolute majority instead of a two-thirds majority
rather than stay in uncomfortable, makeshift quarters in the Papal Palace, the Cardinals will stay in the Domus Sanctae Marthae, hotel-style accommodation in Vatican City
the only remaining method of electing the Pope is by scrutiny, ie, silent ballot -- the methods of election by acclamation and by committee have been excluded (but were rarely used)
the older cardinals are still unable to enter the conclave, but they are invited to take an active role in the preparatory meetings
the rules on secrecy are tougher
The maximum number of Cardinal Electors allowed at any one time is 120. The Pope cannot raise more than 120 men under 80 to the Cardinalate at any one time. (Of course, being Pope, he can also dispense himself with compliance with that rule! On the last two occasions, the Pope named new cardinals soon after the number of electors fell below 120. There were as high as 135 electors at some stages.) As at April 2005, there are 117 Cardinals eligible to vote in Conclave. (Only 115 of them entered the 2005 Conclave, as two of them were too ill to travel to Rome for the Conclave.)


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Answer 5

A vote taken by the College of Cardinals.

Answer 6

conclave or private election by cardinals under age 80

Answer 7

of path we can. The pope is a vessel for our magisterial coaching authority, yet he isn't the source of our existence or our mind. permit's say, to illustrate, that the pope died and that for some reason the election of the hot pope replaced into at the back of schedule for a hundred years. for the duration of that element, the church might proceed on with each bishop performing of their very own authority for their diocese and with the faculty of bishops performing mutually. although, likewise for the duration of that element there could be no magisterial authority which would be shown with the aid of the pope, so the opportunity of doctrinal clarification with the aid of magisterium could be extra or much less at a stand nevertheless... ie, what we've faith presently could be nevertheless in result, yet clarification of doctrine for contemporary time (alongside with church ruling on embrionic stem cellular examine or on the imaculate thought) might wait till the subsequent seated pope to be sure it.

Answer 8

They always try to find one old enough to remember sailing in the Ark with Noah.

Answer 9

eny meny miny moe!

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