Cardinals Head to Vatican for Conclave

0402pope From every corner of the world, the red-robed "princes" of the Roman Catholic Church headed toward the Vatican on Saturday to be near Pope John Paul II and prepare for the secret duty of gathering in the Sistine Chapel to elect the next pontiff.

It's a process steeped in centuries-old rituals and arcane traditions such as precise rules for how to bind together the tallied papal ballots with a needle and thread. But there are also modern forces at play - including stronger voices from outside Europe among the College of Cardinals that could shape the outcome of the conclave.

"This pope has so broadened the outreach and meaning of the papacy," said Jo Renee Formicola, a professor at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., who has studied Vatican trends. "It's clear the cardinals will have to pay attention to this."

It's the nature of their role. The main task of a cardinal, a title granted by the pope, is the papal selection. Privately, they always are assessing the constantly reshuffled list of "papabile," the Italian word for likely papal candidates.

The Roman Catholic's most visible trend is its growing strength outside Europe - and this is reflected in the very makeup of the next conclave, improving the prospects of Latin American or African candidates such as Cardinal Francis Arinze, a Vatican-based Nigerian, or Brazilian Cardinal Claudio Hummes.

Asia, Africa and Latin American account for 44 of the cardinals under 80 years old - the condition for participating in the conclave and voting for the pope - compared with 58 from Europe. The United States, which could play an important swing role, has 11 cardinals among the 117 papal electors - the largest group that would ever decide on the next pontiff.

It's almost certain the next pope will be among them: although technically the cardinals can select any baptized male Roman Catholic, the last time they looked outside their elite group was 1378.

Many cardinals have been living here working in Vatican posts. Others cut short trips or canceled plans and began heading to Rome.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Vatican's commission for Christian unity, interrupted a visit to Bulgaria. Belgium's Cardinal Godfried Danneels quickly left China. Four American cardinals were in Rome. The other seven U.S. papal electors were making plans to come if John Paul's death is announced.

The papal electors begin daily pre-conclave meetings immediately after the pope's death. They swear fidelity to the codes of secrecy, at the implicit risk of excommunication. All the cardinals then come together in public for the papal funeral Mass, which will be lead by the dean of the College of Cardinals. The others will take their places around the papal coffin in order of seniority.

The electors next assemble - no later than two weeks after the funeral, but no sooner than nine days after - to pick a successor to lead the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.

Here, with the electors sequestered behind the Vatican walls, begins a scene fundamentally unchanged since cardinals were given sole papal selection authority nearly 1,000 years ago.

He amended conclave rules in 1996 with his document "Universi Dominici Gregis," or "Shepherd of the Lord's Whole Flock," which bolstered and updated the conclave rules. Each cardinal will place his hand on the Gospels for an oath pledging loyalty to the next pope and to promising never to reveal what occurred in the chamber.

According to procedures outlined by the Vatican, the cardinals will first assemble in the Pauline Chapel, decorated with Michelangelo frescoes to Saints Peter and Paul, and sing a Latin hymn, "Veni Creator," which seeks guidance from the Holy Spirit. Then they move into the Sistine Chapel, under Michelangelo's majestic "The Last Judgment."

It will be a new experience for nearly all the papal electors. Only a handful took part in the 1978 election of the first Polish-born pontiff, which took eight ballots over two days. The cardinals 80 or older cannot attend.

Aides and others accompany the cardinals into the chapel. A meditation is offered on the qualities needed for the next pope and the challenges ahead for the church.

"Extra omnes," an official then cries - Latin for "all out," except the cardinals.

And those left behind cannot leave until a pope is selected unless for a medical emergency. In that case, special arrangements are made for the cardinal to vote from his sickbed.

In the past, makeshift quarters were created in and around the Sistine Chapel. Cardinals accustomed to first-class luxury were forced to sleep in corners of salons or in stairwells. This time, the cardinals will be staying at the US$20 million Domus Santae Marthae, a hotel-style site within the Vatican with 108 suites and 23 single rooms, all with baths. The rooms are assigned by lot during a conclave.

But one thing will not change: the attempt to block all outside influences. There is no television, publications, telephone access or anything else that could be used to sway cardinals. Technicians will sweep the area for any bugs or evidence of high-powered eavesdropping devices being aimed from outside the Vatican walls. Windows are closed and curtains drawn.

In 1243, the Senate and people of Rome broke a year-and-a-half deadlock by locking the cardinals up until they finally elected a new pope. In 1271, the cardinals were not only locked up, but were put on a diet of bread and water until they could agree.

The pope chosen in 1271, Gregory X, formalized these drastic measures as conclaves. Despite his efforts, 29 subsequent conclaves lasted more than a month. But no conclave since 1831 has lasted more than four days.

Initially, a two-thirds majority is needed. But John Paul amended the rules to allow for a simple majority after a three rounds of balloting and pauses.

Even the voting is rich in ritual. Each cardinal approaches the altar in the Sistine Chapel, kneels and prays and uses a large plate to slide his ballot into a chalice. Three cardinals, given the role of "scrutineers," count the ballots: the first two remove and tally the votes; the third announces the names and then passes a needle through the first word printed on the ballots, "Eligo in summen pontificem," or I elect as Supreme Pontiff.

The ballots are tied together by string and burned along with a special chemical. Black smoke signifies the voting will continue. White smoke means a new pope has been elected.

The new pope must utter the word "Accepto," or I accept, to formally seal the selection.

Within hours, a senior cardinal will appear at the central window in St. Peter's Basilica. A brief announcement will end with "Habemus papam" - "We have a pope."

AP had this Wire News Story prior to his death:

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April 02, 2005 at 12:21:59 PST

World Prays, Reflects on Pope John Paul II

By JOHN LEICESTER
ASSOCIATED PRESS

PARIS (AP) -

0402pope Around the world, the faithful lit candles, prayed and reflected on Pope John Paul II's legacy Saturday as he neared death. Some worshippers hoped for a dignified end to his suffering.

Italy suspended all weekend sport events - including Serie A soccer, a playoff for the Italian ice hockey title, basketball and volleyball league matches, and amateur sports - as a sign of respect for the critically ill pontiff.

After the long agony of John Paul's very public battle with failing health, some prayed death would come peacefully. At Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, worshippers and tourists lit candles beneath a 1997 photo of the pope that recalled his earlier vigor.

"It's a time of sadness and a real time of reflection on what the pope has done in his 26 years as pope," said Mike Miller, an American visitor. "A really great man, and it's a very somber time."

Candlelit photos of John Paul also were displayed in London's Westminster Cathedral; a basilica in Algiers, Algeria; and at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, Austria.

In London, Bishop Alan Hopes told about 400 people attending Mass that John Paul "has been on a journey throughout his life and this is his final journey."

"He has said he has been searching for God all his life and now He has come to him. I think he is at rest in that," Hopes said.

In Vienna, Regina Fischer said the pope's suffering moved her to come and pray, even though she was not a regular churchgoer.

"I want him not to get better, but to have a death with dignity," she said.

The pope's condition was front-page news across much of Asia but not in China, where the state-run media ignored it. The communist government broke ties with the Vatican in 1951. Worship is allowed only in state-approved churches but millions of Chinese Catholics, risking arrest, belong to unofficial congregations loyal to Rome.

Even as John Paul lay gravely ill, the Vatican said Saturday that Chinese authorities recently arrested three officials from China's non-government controlled Catholic Church.

Beijing worshipper Li Guojun said he wished China would resolve its dispute with the Vatican.

"You do not have to believe in God, but why do you fear the pope?" Li said. "Politicians talk about human rights a lot. Why don't they consider the thought of so many Catholics?"

In Pakistan, a mainly Muslim country that the pope visited in 1981, children lit candles as their tearful teachers and many others gathered at a Roman Catholic church in the central city of Multan to pray.

In the small northern Iraq town of Tel Kief, a crumbling village of mud-brick homes bearing crosses above front entrances, Chaldean Catholics also offered prayers. Tel Kief is about 12 miles north of Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city.

"We feel very bad about the pope, but this is the choice of God," said Adel Changu, a 55-year-old Chaldean, whose community makes up a sliver of Iraq's estimated 26 million people. "The pope represents love for everyone. He only wants peace for the people and he doesn't pay attention to their differences.

"Of course, the pope didn't want this war in Iraq because he's always against blood and violence," said the shopkeeper, wearing a shabby green dishdasha robe as U.S. Army soldiers patrolled the narrow, rubbish-strewn streets outside. "He only wanted peace for Iraq, and that's the lesson everyone in our country should take from him. We'll pray for him."

In Croatia, where nearly 90 percent of the country's 4.5 million people consider themselves Roman Catholics, President Stipe Mesic canceled a trip so he could monitor news about the pope, and people flocked to churches.

Some 1,500 people gathered at the famous 13th-century Gothic cathedral in Cologne, Germany.

At a noon Mass in St. Mary's basilica in Wadowice, the southern Polish town of 20,000 where the pope was born 84 years ago, the Rev. Krzysztof Glowka told a packed church that "we are here to be with John Paul in his agony, to experience, together with him, this great mystery of life that is death."

"Now as a sick and dying person he is teaching us the most important lesson, the lesson of dying and the lesson of perseverance," he said.

A dozen elderly women prayed for John Paul through the night in St. Mary's. As the sun rose, townspeople and foreigners joined them, including Croats who detoured from a trip to Prague, Czech Republic, to pray for the pontiff in the church where he was baptized.

"This has been the longest morning for me in my entire life," retiree Jadwiga Byrska said. "Everything is in God's hands now."

The first non-Italian pope in centuries, John Paul had a manner that made people around the world consider him one of their own.

Even non-Catholics embraced John Paul, crediting him for ending wars, spreading democracy and combating religious animosity. He transformed the papacy from an arbiter of religious doctrine to a global advocate for peace, understanding and responsibility.

Alfred Donath, head of the Swiss Confederation of Hebrew Congregations, said John Paul was an "excellent" pope.

"He worked to bring Jews and the Catholic Church closer together," Donath said. "He was the first Pope to visit a synagogue. He also traveled to Israel and visited the Wailing Wall. We'll never forget that he presented his excuses to the victims of the Holocaust for the attitude of Catholics during the Second World War."

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Summary Box: How Conclave Selects New Pope

World Prays, Reflects on Pope John Paul II