Newb Pope

[Subjugation]

How do they pick the newb Pope? Does anyone know already who the guy will be? How do you get picked for pope, and who picks you?

[SeanWT]

They pick candidates who they feel will be able to fufil goals needing to be addressed in this time and age and then take it to a vote I believe.

[Superted]

How is a successor chosen?

Cardinals from around the world elect the successor in a centuries-old ritual called the conclave. This begins between 15 and 20 days after a pope's death and only cardinals under the age of 80 may cast a vote.

Before the conclave, coalition-builders will have been forging alliances. Senior cardinals who may themselves have little chance of becoming pope can still exert a considerable influence over the others. It is therefore a crucial stage in the election process and a time when every public remark by the cardinals is picked over by Vatican-watchers.

On the day the conclave begins, the cardinals will move in procession into the Sistine Chapel. They will have the option of holding an initial ballot - but only that first ballot - on their first afternoon in conclave. This would give them an opportunity to gauge the level of support for various candidates, before retiring for the night to contemplate their choice. Or they could follow the normal practice of waiting until the following morning to begin the election and the voting.

From this point, there will be four ballots a day - two in the morning and two in the afternoon - until a new pope is chosen. Cardinals write their choice on a piece of paper, taking care to disguise their handwriting as much as they can.

The ballot papers are burned after every second vote, at around midday and in the late afternoon or early evening. Chemicals are used so those watching outside can see black smoke if there is no decision and white smoke once a new pope has been chosen.

Previously a new pope had to be chosen by a two-thirds majority of cardinals. In his 1996 apostolic constitution, John Paul II put forward changes that would allow the election of a pope by a simple majority but only if no successor had been agreed after about 30 ballots.

The new pope then chooses the name by which he wishes to be called, dons his new robes and appears on the balcony of St Peter's Basilica.

Where is the next pope likely to come from?

The election is genuinely wide open but it is possible to identify some key players, known as "papabili"

For 455 years before the election of Pope John Paul II, all popes had been Italian. One of the big questions this time round is whether Italy will get the papacy back. Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi of Milan is a strong candidate.

But many Vatican watchers are far from convinced they will, for the simple reason that the proportion of Italians in the electoral body has declined in recent years.

Much more likely, they believe, is that the next pope will be from the developing world - and most likely from Latin America, whose cardinals now form a powerful voting bloc. One name that is being talked about is Cardinal Claudio Hummes, Archbishop of Sao Paulo in Brazil.

Nearly half of the world's baptised Catholics live in the Americas, and more live in Brazil than in any other country in the world.

There is a chance that an African pope could emerge from the conclave. Cardinal Francis Arinze is a Nigerian who has long been regarded as a serious contender.

[Troll King]

And if the next Pope turns out to be an unpopular choice we can always blame the Cardinal from Ohio.

[SaucyKing]

Why do that when we can blame Bush? I blame him for everything bad in my life anyway.

"I failed my fucking test because of Gee Double U Bush!"

[Sarien]

Am I the only person who clicked this thread thinking that it was probably about the pope 'doing somebody wrong' in game? Spawning or Teamkilling or some such. Perhaps punctuated by a 'This Is Why I'm So Great'™ Chat Log.

[Exotic]

i like those two previous posts, hiiiiyyyyooooooooooooo

[dchao]

Read Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. Good book that talks about Vatican affairs...but it's hypothetical.

[bloodzombie]

Schonborn will be the next pope. You heard it here first.

[Jason]

i just hope the new guy has at least one tiny ounce of liberalism in him.

[DoTheFandango]

Liberalism and devote catholisism do not go hand in hand. Just look at Kerry.

[Jason]

well, when i say "liberalism" i'm not really speaking in terms of any traditional sense of the word, but moreso in the realm of "as liberal as the head of perhaps the most conservative institution in the modern world could manage to be."

[bloodzombie]

this last pope was more liberal than the one before him, and the new one will be more liberal than the last.

The church has to be realistic with the times, eventually they'll cave on the whole contraception issue.

[Torn Wing]

this last pope was more liberal than the one before him, and the new one will be more liberal than the last.

The church has to be realistic with the times, eventually they'll cave on the whole contraception issue.

And I hope Im dead when that happens.

[bloodzombie]

Me too.. aids and teenage pregnancy rule!