Right here’s a have a look at what occurs subsequent after Pope Francis’s loss of life Monday at 88.
What’s subsequent?
Within the coming days, the pope will probably be mourned, eulogized and laid to relaxation as the pinnacle of the Catholic church, bishop of Rome and sovereign chief of Vatican Metropolis
Then, the School of Cardinals — made up of high bishops who’re thought of “princes of the church” — will assemble from world wide for a voting course of to decide on Francis’ successor in a course of referred to as conclave. It’s rooted in ritual and custom, with loads of Latin.
That can occur after a selected Vatican official — the one in command of the papal family generally known as the camerlengo, Cardinal Kevin Ferrell — introduced the loss of life.
What’s a papal funeral like?
A viewing and funeral Mass will happen within the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, the centerpiece of Vatican Metropolis. There is no such thing as a eulogy as such, however part of the Mass referred to as the homily usually honors the deceased along with reflecting on Scripture.
In contrast to his predecessors from over the previous few hundred years, Francis stated he didn’t need to be buried within the grottoes underneath the basilica however elsewhere in Rome at his favourite church, Saint Mary Main. He additionally requested to simplify the proceedings, with a single casket as an alternative of the standard ceremonial three, that’s to stay open on the ground for viewing as an alternative of being raised on a platform.
In life, Francis has eschewed the papal palace for a small guesthouse on the Vatican, modeling after his namesake St. Francis of Assisi, who had devoted himself to the poor.
How is a brand new pope chosen?
Conclave should start no less than 15 days however not more than 20 days after the pope dies. The concept is to go away time to mourn however not too lengthy with no pope in cost, in keeping with the Rev. Robin Ryan of the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.
Throughout the time between the funeral and conclave, the entire cardinals collect to debate the state of the church and what its wants are.
There are 252 cardinals within the School of Cardinals. However solely those that are underneath the age of 80 might vote. There are 135 cardinals who meet that requirement and can function electors.
Cardinal Blase Cupich, the 76-year-old archbishop of Chicago, is amongst them. He’s one of many 10 voting cardinals from the US and considered one of three with main ties to Chicago.
It wasn’t instantly clear who will set up the conclave this time, because the Italian official who’s lengthy served because the dean of the School of Cardinals, Giovanni Battista Re, is 91. That’s too previous to vote and even attend conclave, a phrase that comes from Italian, “with a key” referring to the personal nature of the method.
How personal is the method?
Contained in the Vatican, the voting cardinals sequester themselves with out cell telephones or communication with the surface world. Following an oath of absolute secrecy, they deliberate amongst themselves and forged secret ballots within the Sistine Chapel earlier than Michelangelo’s “Final Judgment,” Ryan says.
Previously, the Vatican has put in know-how to jam any cellphones or different forbidden digital gadgets. The punishment for violating the oath of secrecy, in keeping with adjustments made by Pope Benedict XVI when he took the unorthodox step in 2013 of abdicating, is excommunication.
Are the cardinals caught within the Sistine Chapel?
For the voting, sure. And the cardinals are confined to the Vatican till they select a brand new pope. They’re lodged close by in Saint Martha’s Home, a guesthouse adjoining to the basilica, the place, in 2013, Francis stayed throughout the conclave that elected him.
Francis by no means left, selecting to reside there amongst others as an alternative of alone within the penthouse residence within the Apostolic Palace.
Saint Martha’s was accomplished in 1996 on the needs of Pope John Paul II who wished older members of the School of Cardinals to have extra snug lodgings than the prior observe of sharing widespread loos and sleeping on cots stashed all through the palace, together with in its hallways and places of work.
How does the voting work?
The cardinals vote 4 instances a day for as many days as they want for a single candidate to achieve two-third of the ballots. With 135 electors, meaning securing the votes of 90 cardinals.
There is no such thing as a restrict on what number of candidates stay in consideration — till after the thirty fourth poll. Then, it turns into a runoff involving solely the highest two.
Ryan describes the voting ceremony: Every cardinal writes the identify of his most popular candidate on a offered slip of paper. Separately, every takes his poll to a big chalice at one finish of the room and drops it in. Three cardinals function “scrutineers” to witness the voting, attain the ballots aloud, depend the votes, and document the outcomes.
After every morning and every night with no new pope, the cardinals ship up a column of black smoke that’s seen outdoors.
Smoke?
Sure, precise smoke. Earlier than conclave will get underway, the Vatican’s fireplace division units up two stoves at one finish of the chapel, connected to a copper chimney that pokes by means of the roof. One of many stoves is used to burn the ballots; the opposite burns pellets that kind a column of black or white smoke.
The person finally chosen to be pope has to simply accept the election. He chooses a papal identify and places on clothes to differentiate him as pope, in keeping with the U.S. Convention of Catholic Bishops.
A senior cardinal seems on the balcony of the basilica to announce the brand new pope in Latin, saying “Habemus papam” — “We now have a pope.” Then, the brand new pontiff seems on the balcony and points a blessing, “Urbi et orbi” — “To the town [of Rome] and the world.”
The world will be taught that they’ve reached an settlement when the smoke is white.
In 2013, a 76-year-old Francis emerged because the winner on the second day of voting. The longest conclave on document took three years.
Who will the subsequent pope be?
Although the principles dictate that the cardinals can select from any baptized, Catholic man, custom has — with simply six exceptions, the final of them in 1378 — pulled the pope from the School of Cardinals itself.
Custom, till the late twentieth century, additionally meant that the Holy Father can be chosen from Italian clergy. Solely the three most up-to-date popes previously 500 years have come from outdoors Italy, with Francis born in Argentina to oldsters of Italian descent. Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned in 2013, was born in Germany. Pope John Paul II was from Poland — on his 1979 United States pilgrimage and earlier visits as a bishop, he visited Polish parishes of Chicago.
The School of Cardinals Report web site, operated by impartial Catholic journalists and researchers, lists seemingly contenders as “papabile” — that’s Italian for “popeable” or “capable of be pope”— together with one American.
That’s Cardinal Emeritus Raymond Leo Burke, 76, who led his dwelling diocese of La Crosse, Wis., in addition to the archdiocese of St. Louis earlier than being referred to as to Rome by Benedict XVI to move the workplace that serves because the church’s “supreme court docket.”
Of the remainder, 12 are European, 4 are Asian, three African and one every from Canada and South America. Their ages vary from 59 to 82, in keeping with the information gathered by the Report web site.
May an American be pope?
Technically, sure, and three of the voting Cardinals have sturdy Chicago ties — Cupich and Chicago natives Wilton Gregory, 78, retired archbishop of Washington, D.C., and Robert Prevost, 69, whom Francis referred to as to the Vatican to move the workplace that screens potential bishops. He has held management posts for the Order of St. Augustine clergymen in Chicago and in Rome.
But it surely appears unbelievable that the brand new pope would come from among the many U.S. delegation, primarily, in keeping with the Rev. Stan Chu Ilo of DePaul College, who has written books about Pope Francis and labored with a number of members of the School of Cardinals, partially as a result of that the group of U.S. bishops is seen as extra deeply divided than bishops in different nations.
In an interview Monday with NPR, Cupich, who famous that this will probably be his first conclave, stated it’s too early for him to consider who could be the subsequent pope.
What’s at stake for the Catholic church?
Francis appointed the overwhelming majority of the cardinals who will select his successor — 108 o the 135.
Which means the subsequent pontiff seemingly will observe in his footsteps as a progressive Catholic chief relatively than mark a return to a extra socially conservative and dogmatic method. His appointments even have made the School of Cardinals much less European — there are extra voting cardinals from outdoors Europe than inside.
Although Francis hewed to the principles towards ordaining girls and laypeople or marrying same-sex {couples}, he loosened bans on divorced individuals so they may obtain Holy Neighborhood and have their marriages annulled extra simply. He additionally permitted clergymen to provide a blessing at same-sex weddings. In so doing, he ruffled the feathers of utmost conservatives.
Francis additionally centered on caring for poor and marginalized individuals. However some have criticized him for not doing sufficient to cope with the church’s sexual abuse disaster and cover-ups, which continues to reverberate in the US and world wide.
Worldwide, there are greater than 1 billion Catholics — a inhabitants on the rise in Asia, Africa and Latin America however typically on the decline in Europe and the Western world.
In the US, about one in 5 American adults identifies as Catholic — greater than 50 million individuals, in keeping with the Pew Analysis Heart. Metropolitan Chicago has the third-largest Catholic inhabitants nationwide, with 4 dioceses. The Archdiocese of Chicago covers Cook dinner and Lake counties, the diocese of Joliet consists of Will and DuPage counties, Rockford consists of Kane and McHenry counties, and the diocese of Gary consists of Lake and Porter counties in northwest Indiana.
U.S. Catholics have broadly considered Francis as an agent of change, in keeping with the Pew Analysis Heart, which additionally stories {that a} majority of Catholics help permitting the usage of contraception, permitting Catholics who reside single with a accomplice to take Communion, letting clergymen marry and girls to be ordained and recognizing the marriages of Catholic lesbian and homosexual {couples}.
