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Sunday, April 03, 2005
Mercado: The fisherman’s ring
By Juan L. Mercado
Worldwide, a wave of sorrow has swept peoples of all faiths at the final illness of Pope John Paul II. The tears, prayers, letters, flowers and all express in concrete form a surging near-universal sentiment: “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord.”
Inevitably, attention is focusing on how a 2,000-year old institution elects his successor.
It is, perhaps, a measure of how John Paul towered that the conclave that will gather to elect his successor, soon or later, will be governed by reforms he introduced. He laid those ground rules in the 1996 Apostolic Constitution titled: “Universal Domini Gregis,” the Catholic encyclopedia notes.
When a Pope passes, an ancient ceremony automatically kicks in.
The Cardinal Cameriengo must verify the death. He enters the death chamber and calls the Pope three times by his name: “Joannes Paulus.”
He calls out a second time only after there is no response to the first. And so with the third.
Thereafter, he authorizes a death certificate. The cardinal vicar for the diocese of Rome—who assists the Pope, as bishop of Rome – is formally notified. The official notice of death comes from him. But TV and news flashes will likely have gone out before that formal terse statement.
The Cameriengo, meanwhile, seals the Pope’s private apartments. The
“ring of the fishermen,” on John Paul’s hand, is gently removed and smashed.
The papal seal is thereafter broken. Papal funeral rites and the novemdieles, the nine days of mourning – already on the drawing board – are implemented.
Cardinals from all over the world will be flying in for the funeral – and the conclave where they will elect the new Pope.
Only Ricardo Cardinal Vidal is a voting member from the Philippines. Cardinals Jaime Sin and Jose Sanchez are retired. And John Paul fell ill before, as widely anticipated, he could name Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales cardinal.
After the funeral, 117 Cardinal-electors enter the Conclave to choose which of them will emerge as Holy Roman Pontiff, amidst intense press speculation of the “papabiles” or likely pontiffs.
But the old saying holds: “Those who enter the conclave as papabile emerge as cardinal.” John Paul, Vatican watchers recall, brought only a small bag, expecting to return to Poland after the conclave. That was not to be.
There will also be missing cardinals. John Paul created cardinals “in pectore” – in his heart. Speculations swirl around the bishop of Hong Kong, among others. But the names were never made public, to prevent them from harassment.
In the conclave, John Paul’s rules will prevail. Cardinals must, in fact, take an oath they‘ll heed the rules – above all maintain absolute secrecy about the voting and deliberations. The cardinals are not permitted any contact with the outside world: no mobile phones, no newspapers, TV, messages, letters or “even a wink” to observers. There will be regular sweeps of all relevant areas for listening devices.
The penalty for leakage is harsh: automatic excommunication.
During the whole process, the cardinals will be visible, at least twice daily, to the observing world. That is when they file and cross the 350 meters from the Domus Sanctae Marthae to the Sistine Chapel and back again.
The youngest cardinal closes the doors of the ancient Sistine Chapel. It was Jaime Cardinal Sin’s task to do that at the conclave that elected John Paul.
Once seated, each cardinal takes a ballot paper on which is written: Eligo in suumum pontificem” – “I elect as supreme Pontiff…” Like a Philippine board of canvassers, the votes are manually counted by the Cardinal Cameriengo and his three assistants. The ballots are then burned, as well as all notes made.
To be elected Pope, one cardinal must receive more than two-thirds of the votes. If 30 ballots have been cast, without any one being elected, then election by simple majority is permitted.
This may well be the most important change John Paul made, some Vatican observers say. In the past, candidates had majority support but fell short of the required two-thirds majority. A compromise candidate is chosen, either an old Pope or one who will be a transition hold over.
Blessed John XXII was a “transition” candidate. But he stunned the world by convening Vatican II. Its reforms are still rocking the Church today.
Once a cardinal receives the required number of votes, the Dean of the College of Cardinals asks him two questions: Do you accept election?
And by what name you wish to be called as Pope? On giving assent, the cardinal immediately becomes Pontifex Maximus: the “Holy Roman Pontiff.”
The cardinals then pledge their obedience to the new pontiff one by one. Vatican observers recall the touching moment when Poland’s cardinal Josef Wyzinski knelt to pledge obedience to his student, Karol Wjotyla, who chose to be known as John Paul II.
The new Pope vests in his white soutane and skull cap. An Italian family in Rome that makes all the Papal vestments has several different sizes prepared in readiness for His Holiness, no matter what his shape or size.
If a new Pope has been elected, the conclave papers are burned with chemicals to give white smoke. Otherwise, they give off black smoke, so that the waiting crowds, and the world, know whether a new Holy Father will soon emerge from the Sistine Chapel.
As the white smoke summons the crowds, the Dean of the College of Cardinals then steps onto the main balcony of the Vatican and declares to the World: “Habemus Papam!” (“We have a Pope!”) His Holiness then appears on the balcony and delivers his first apostolic blessing to a waiting world.
(April 3, 2005 issue)
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