Can anyone tell me why the selection is done in such secrecy? Not being Catholic, I'm curious.
Thanks.
Not so much "the secrecy" although it is secret.
But more to remove all wordly interferences and thoughts from the minds and hearts of the Cardinals, thus letting the Holy Spirit be the lone guide of their choice.
Media reporters are scrambling to treat this election like a political campaign in America. You can't blame them, because this is all they know. It's what they live for, apparently. The ways of the world.
The cardinals converging on Rome do not break up into small groups and discuss the attributes of this or that candidate. At least, they never have in the past. Even an extremely liberal prelate like Roger Cardinal Mahony has been heard today saying this on the radio (without mention of the "never have in the past" part).
The conclave is held in secret, and the cardinals are sworn to secrecy. The penalty for divulging what went on in the process of papal election is immediate and automatic excommunication. Nobody but cardinals are allowed in the Sistine Chapel for this balloting. All we ever know about past elections is how many ballots there were by the crowd outside observing how many times the black smoke emerges. When white smoke appears, a new pope has been established.
When Pope John XXIII was elected, white smoke had appeared once, then stopped, and black smoke reappeared. This has been a controversy ever since, and some people believe that John XXIII was therefore an illegitimate pope. The smoke is very important. It is not entertainment.
Another recent change in traditional elections is the fact that the cardinals will no longer be locked up in the Sistine Chapel continuously as they have been in the past. At the end of each day (assuming the balloting takes more than one day) they will emerge and proceed to their respective rooms in an adjacent, secluded builing, only to return to the Chapel the next morning. The building is for sleeping only. No telephones, cell phones or outside communication are allowed. It is (supposedly) an extreme manner of sequester.