As Pope Francis he still fights with double pneumonia In the hospital, his poor health sheds light on the secret process of how the Catholic Church chooses its leader.
The papal “conclave” is deliberately enveloped in mystery – the term itself is Latin for the “closed room” – but here are some of his principles and wrinkles:
Who qualifies?
Candidates must be men and a baptized Catholic. And although this is not a clear requirement, each pope was a cardinal before he was elected.
Who is voting?
The Pope is elected by 120 cardinals who must be less than 80 years old during the death of the previous pope or resignation.
From January 22, the world has 252 cardinals, of which 138 matches age requirements. It is not clear how 120 people have been chosen. People over 80 years of age can participate in preliminary meetings.
Mary Hunt, co -founder of Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual, claims that the process of choosing a new pope is not transparent or democratic
What is the process?
The first day of the conclave begins with a special mass, after which the cardinals make up in the sykrin chapel of chanting prayers and hymns, begging the saints and the Holy Spirit to help them choose the Pope. Each cardinal puts his hand on the book of the Gospel and the obligations “with the greatest loyalty” to never reveal the details of the conclave.
Master of papal liturgical celebrations, an official who organizes religious ceremonies by the Pope during his term, and then cries “Extra Omnes” – Latin “All Out”. Everyone but cardinals leave and they can start voting.
The process is an extreme secret. According to the Archdiocese of TorontoCardinals can be excommunicated if the information leaks and the chapel is swept to auditory devices before and after the conclave.
How do they vote?
Each cardinal writes its choice on Latin words for “I choose as the Supreme Pope.” They approach the altar one by one and say: “I call as my witness, Christ, the Lord, who will be my judge, that my voice was passed on to the one who, I think, should be chosen.”
The complex voting is placed on a round plate and slides into an oval silver, golden urn. After casting the voting card, they are open one after the other by three inspections who note the names and read them aloud.
Cardinals can keep their own results on a supplied paper card, but they must return their notes to be burned at the end of voting.
Then the controllers add votes and write the results on a separate sheet of paper, which is preserved in papal archives.
When the control reads each name, it pierces each vote with a needle through the word “eligo” (Latin for “I choose”), binds with thread and binds the node.
The cards are then put aside and burned in the chapel oven along with chemicals to produce white or black smoke; White, when the voting round leads to a new pope and black when not.
How long does the conclave take?
Only one vote takes place on the first day, with a maximum of four voting rounds each day later. Two -thirds of the majority are needed to win.
If no one is chosen after three days, the vote is interrupted for one day. Voting resumes, and if the Pope is not chosen after another seven voting cards, there is another break and so on to about 12 days of voting.
If no one is chosen after 33 rounds, the cardinals go to the drain of the two best pretenders, in accordance with the relatively new principle introduced by Pope Benedict XVI. Unlike previous rounds, these two candidates cannot vote.
The converts lasted for months and save the longest Selection of Gregory X In the 13th century, which lasted from 1268 to September 1271 due to the fight and external interference.
To prevent the same chaos who chose him, Gregory X adopted new rules that sequated voters and closed them – hence the term “conclave”.
Despite some protruding values, such as the conclave from 1740, which lasted from February to August, this process is already going on only days or sometimes weeks. The average conclave in the 20th century was only three days, and two so far the 21st century, for Francis and Benedict, took only five and four votes, respectively.
What will happen after choosing a pope?
After choosing the Pope, the champion of papal liturgical celebrations returns to the chapel, and the dean of College of Cardinals – who leads the conclave, if he is less than 80 years old – asks the winner: “Do you accept your canonical choices as the highest bishop?”
Assuming that the cardinal says “I accept”, the dean asks: “What name do you want to name?”
The papal names originally had the winner's birth name. Pope John II, elected in 533, was the first to do so because Mercurius was born in Rome. They are often considered a tribute to previous popes and indicates a new approach to work.
White smoke rises in the Vatican when Cardinal Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli is elected Pope.
The master of liturgical ceremonies then enters information about the formal document, white smoke is poured from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel and the bells of the Basilica of St. Peters Basilica.
The new pope turns into its white sum, and one by one approached the Red Cardinals to swear their obedience.
The new pope will stop and pray in the Pauline chapel for a few minutes before he appears on the balcony loggia with a view of St. Piotr. Before the balcony, there is a cardinal who announces “Habemus Papam!” (“We have a pope!”), Then he presents him to the world in Latin.
The new pope then appears and presents his first public words as a pope.