Catholic Cardinals
The
work to choose a successor to retired Benedict XVI begins in earnest
Tuesday, as the cardinals charged with the task prepare to be locked
away in a secret election, or conclave, in Vatican City.
One of their number will almost
certainly emerge from the process as the new spiritual leader of the
world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.
Applause echoed round St. Peter’s as
Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, offered thanks
for the “brilliant pontificate” of Benedict XVI, whose shock
resignation precipitated the selection of a new pope.
Sodano’s homily focused on a message of
love and unity, calling on all to cooperate with the new pontiff in the
service of the church.
“My brothers, let us pray that the Lord
will grant us a pontiff who will embrace this noble mission with a
generous heart,” he concluded.
In the afternoon, the 115
cardinal-electors — those younger than 80 who are eligible to vote —
will go to the Pauline Chapel for further prayers.
They will then walk to the Sistine Chapel, chanting prayers as they go, to begin the secret election called the conclave.
The doors will be locked behind them
and, after that, the only clue the world will have of what is happening
inside will be periodic puffs of smoke from a copper chimney installed
over the weekend in the Sistine Chapel.
Just a few hours after moving into Santa
Marta, their residence at the Vatican for the duration of the process,
the 115 cardinals who will choose the new pope took part in a morning
Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica.
They processed into St. Peter’s, clad in
scarlet robes, for a service in which they prayed for guidance in
making a choice that could be crucial to the future direction of a
church rocked by scandal in recent years
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