Wellington Catholics say the surprise selection of Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Argentina as new pope is a sign of new ideas being brought into the troubled church establishment. The news was broken to Wellington’s Catholics during morning mass at Sacred Heart Cathedral. A messenger entered the chapel and handed a piece of paper with Cardinal Read more
Good evening! You know that the duty of the conclave was to provide Rome with a bishop. It looks as if my brothers the cardinals went to fetch him from the end of the world! I’d like to thank you for your welcome. The people of Rome: thank you! I’d like to pray for Benedict Read more
The 115 cardinals participating in the conclave will know the identity of the new pope before the rest of the world, but their advance knowledge is likely to last for well over an hour, and even more in the unlikely event that the candidate they choose is not in the Sistine Chapel with them. The Read more
As preparations for the Conclave heat up inside the Vatican, media too continue to search for the story angle and ‘the’ picture. A day before the beginning of the conclave at the Vatican March 11, Reuters photographer Dylan Martinez tested a 1200-1700mm super-telephoto zoom lens, that lets photographers take detailed ‘up close’ photos some 130 metres Read more
Now that the conclave to elect the next pope will begin Tuesday, a political drama appears to be unfolding behind closed doors at the Vatican, with Italian media reporting that U.S. cardinals are trying to sway the selection process. Several Italian newspapers have reported that the U.S. cardinals had been resisting pressure from Italian cardinals Read more
In a blog post in CorriereDellaSera, John L Allen Jr proposes three possible ways for a papal candidate to emerge, getting the necessary 77 votes. Allen’s models are: Let’s get it over with The anti-establishment vote, or The ‘third world’ hypothesis Let’s get it over with This model brings together those wanting to have Read more
Less than 24 hours after the arrival of the final voting Cardinal, Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh Man from Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, Cardinals voted to hold a Conclave on Tuesday 12 March. “The eighth General Congregation of the College of Cardinals has decided that the Conclave will begin on Tuesday, 12 March 2013,” Father Federico Lombardi said Read more
A majority of Catholics in the US want a pope who is younger and with some new ideas. Most saying they want the next pope to make the church’s teachings more liberal, according to the latest NYTimes/CBS News Poll. 70% say Pope Benedict XVI and the Vatican have done a poor job of handling sexual Read more
While no date has yet been set for the Conclave to elect the new pope, the profile of who might be pope is becoming more clear according to Vatican Spokesman, Fr Federico Lombardi. At Wednesday’s general congregations meetings, Cardinals’ focussed their attention on common themes and issues they think a new pope will need to Read more
Sex abuse and its handling by Church authorities is the top priority for the new pope, according to a recent readership survey conducted by ucanews.com. The survey – conducted from February 18-28 – attracted 2,300 responses, with the majority (72 percent) from Asia. More than three quarters identified sexual abuse and how Church authorities respond Read more