Voting for new Pope - The quest for a new pope to head the Catholic Church begins today, with the 115 cardinals (princes of the church) who are under the voting age of 80 going into conclave.
Pope Emeritus Benedict the XVI resigned his position on February 28th, citing failing health as reason. Pope Benedict XVI stepped down after nearly eight years in office, becoming the first pontiff to resign in 600 years. The period without a pontiff in the church is known as "sede vacante" or vacant seat, and at the moment, Tarcisio Bertone continues to act as head of the Vatican carrying the title "camerlengo," or chamberlain until a new pope is elected.
On Sunday, special prayers were said in Catholic churches for spiritual guidance ahead of the closed door session which will produce the next leader of the church.
There have been a lot of speculations as to who the next pope will be, while some people are of the view that a conservative will best fit the position, some are of the view that with the present changes in the world, a combination of conservativeness and liberalism may be what the church needs now.
However, those are ordinary views as the real task lies with the 115 cardinals who, guarded by God, Almighty will start voting today.
Under the rules of the secret ballot, or conclave, cardinals will vote until one achieves a two-thirds majority. Vatican staffs have been preparing the Sistine Chapel, where the conclave will take place, installing the two stoves that will produce white smoke from burnt ballot papers when a new pope is elected. The Vatican has said that cardinals would vote according their consciences, each influenced by silent prayers and reflections.
Normally, the Dean of the College of Cardinals is responsible for the convoking the Conclave. However, as the Dean, Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano is 85 and too old to vote, the senior cardinal-elector, Giovanni Battista Re, takes on the responsibility.
Sixty-seven of the men who will vote for the new pope were appointed by Benedict XVI, and 49 by his predecessor John Paul II. About half of them (60) are Europeans, and 21 are Italians. There will also be 19 Latin Americans, 14 North Americans, 11 Africans, 10 Asians and one cardinal from Oceania among the voters.
The activities will commence with a Mass in the morning before the cardinals walk in procession into the chapel.
Once the cardinals are inside the conclave area, they have to swear an oath of secrecy. Then, the Latin command "extra omnes" ("everyone out") instructs all those not involved in the election to leave before the doors are closed.
The cardinals have the option of holding a single ballot on the afternoon of the first day. From the second day, two ballots are held in the morning and two in the afternoon.
The ballot paper is rectangular. Printed on the upper half are the words "Eligio in Summum Pontificem" ("I elect as Supreme Pontiff"). Below is a space for the name of the person chosen. The cardinals are instructed to write the name in a way that does not identify them, and to fold the paper twice.
After all the votes have been cast, the papers are mixed, counted and opened.
As the papers are counted, one of the scrutineers calls out the names of those cardinals who have received votes. He pierces each paper with a needle - through the word "Eligio" - placing all the ballots on a single thread.
The ballot papers are then burned - giving off the smoke visible to onlookers outside which traditionally turns from black to white once a new pope has been chosen.
If a second vote is to take place immediately, the ballots from the first vote are put on one side and then burned together with those from the second vote. The process continues until one candidate has achieved the required majority.
If a pope is not elected in two or three days, it means that cardinals are probably severely divided and might have to turn to a dark horse candidate to find a consensus.
No conclave has lasted more than five days in the past century. Pope Benedict was elected within barely 24 hours in 2005 after just four rounds of voting. But this time, no clear favourites have emerged to take helm of the church. Prior to the last conclave, a lot of people recognised Ratzinger as the frontrunner on the day the conclave began. The same was true for Paul VI (in 1963) and Pius XII (in 1339), says Father Tom Reese, Jesuit historian, and author of "Inside the Vatican".
Pope John Paul II changed the rules of election in 1996. Previously, a candidate had to secure a majority of two-thirds to be elected pope (two-thirds plus one vote if the number of cardinals does not divide by three).
John Paul II ruled that the voting could shift to a simple majority (50% plus one vote) after about 12 days of inconclusive voting.
In 2007, Pope Benedict passed a decree reverting back to the two-thirds majority, thus encouraging cardinals to reach consensus, rather than one bloc backing a candidate with more than half the votes and then holding out for 12 days to ensure his election.
If after three days of balloting nobody has gained the two-thirds majority, voting is suspended for a maximum of one day to allow a pause for prayer, informal discussion and what is described as "a brief spiritual exhortation" by the senior cardinal in the Order of Deacons.
At the end of the election, a document is drawn up giving the results of the voting at each session, and handed over to the new pope. It is kept in an archive in a sealed envelope, which can be opened only on the orders of the pope.
The only clue about what is going on inside the Sistine Chapel is the smoke that emerges twice a day from burning the ballot papers. Black signals failure. The traditional white smoke means a new pope has been chosen.
About the Sistine Chapel
The Sistine Chapel (Latin: Sacellum Sixtinum)is the best-known chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the Pope in the Vatican City. It is famous for its architecture and decoration. The chapel takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who restored the old Cappella Magna between 1477 and 1480. During this period, a team of painters that included Pietro Perugino, Sandro Botticelli and Domenico Ghirlandaio created a series of frescoed panels depicting the life of Moses and the life of Christ, offset by papal portraits above and trompe l'oeil drapery below. Sixtus IV celebrated the first Mass in the Sistine Chapel for the Feast of the Assumption, at which ceremony the chapel was consecrated and dedicated to the Virgin Mary.
Since the time of Sixtus IV, the chapel has served as a place of both religious and functionary papal activity.
With Agency Report
By Stella Iyaji
Daily Trust/12/03/2013