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From the Pastor: Conclaves 2013 and 2025
Nearly a lifetime ago for many of you, I wrote a bulletin article about the 2013 conclave that had recently elected Francis. I mentioned it last week in my Sunday sermon. This week, I have copied it below. You may think that I was naive, believing that most Cardinals actually took their jobs seriously, but I don’t think so. I think that at least the majority of them knew exactly who they were casting their votes for when they chose Francis. They wanted what he offered, and he delivered in spades. I think they knew Leo before voting for him, too. It still remains to be seen just what they saw in him and desired him to accomplish as Pope, but I still don’t think they went into this blindly. Anyway, here is what I wrote then, and I still believe it to be true of the latest conclave. And, as I gave Francis the benefit of the doubt until he proved otherwise, so I give the same benefit to Leo XIV. May he be a good, holy Holy Father! [2013] From the Pastor: “What do you think of our new Pope, Father?” Everybody, it seems, wants to know my opinion on Pope Francis. Parishioners, family, friends, fellow priests and online surveys all want to know my impressions, as if my opinion really matters! The truth is, though, that none of the voting Cardinals asked my opinion before making their decision. They figured they could handle it on their own -- with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, of course!. While faithful and unfaithful Catholics, almost every news organization in the world, atheists and people of perhaps every religion or walk of life were busy wringing their hands, wondering how the Cardinals could ever figure out which of them God wanted to lead His Church and making wild speculations and even demands on the yet to be selected Pope, most people failed to recognize a basic reality: from the moment a Catholic Bishop is made a Cardinal he knows that his one main job is to elect a new Pope if the need arises. Think about it. The US Bishops already had the full responsibility of running their own archdiocese before they were given the office and title, “Cardinal.” That did not change. The Masses they celebrate, already of infinite value, are not more “powerful” after than before being given a red hat. No, the main difference, it seems to me, is that they now have the added responsibility of “checking out” the other Cardinals just in case they would ever need to vote in a conclave. While most of us never pay much attention to Cardinals from other parts of the world, each Cardinal makes it a point to get to know all of the others as well as possible long before the “need” ever arises. Whether they get to know each other through personal contact, discreet inquiries, social media or even “google” searches, they have already, for quite some time before the necessity of a conclave, been scrutinizing each others’ strengths and weaknesses, holiness and demeanor, managerial and liturgical style and faithfulness to Catholic Church teachings. Yes, even Cardinals can be lacking in any or all of these regards, just as Judas, Peter and the other apostles were each less than perfect in their own ways. By the time a reigning Pope dies (or, now, retires), catching us all off guard and scrambling to even discover just how many Cardinals there are, the Cardinals themselves have already formed opinions of just which of their fellow “Princes” of the Church would lead in the manner they believe to be right for the conversion of sinners and the salvation of souls (not a matter of little importance, yet never, never mentioned!) Judging from the media coverage, though, one would think that it never occurred to any of our Cardinals that they would actually need to be prepared in advance for just such an occurrence. The nonsense about how long or how short a time period between Pope Benedict’s resignation and the conclave being an indicator of a power struggle between the “old guard” and the “young bucks” was fairly comical. The demands that the next Pope had to be anything but Catholic was more demonic than humorous. The widespread portrayal of the world’s Cardinals as numbskulls who had never previously given even a thought about electing a Pope before Benedict’s surprise announcement showed just how little the media as a whole understands even the most basic workings of the Church. Unfortunately, just as I continually warn against, it seems that the majority of even faithful, practicing Catholics got all of their false understanding of what was going on from secular (read clearly: anti-Catholic) news sources which would like nothing better than to destroy the Church. All of this brings us to my answer to the question, “What do you think of our new Pope, Father?” I trust that the Cardinals did their jobs properly and have been praying and preparing in other ways for this since the time each was named a Cardinal. Therefore I believe that Pope Francis is going to be the best Pope the Church has ever had. Unless and until he proves otherwise, I am going to stick to that opinion! With prayers for you holiness, Fr. Edwin Palka PS Yes, the Cardinals are already looking to see who might be the next Pope! Comments are closed.
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