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Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Cardinals begin secret sessions to elect new Pope
VATICAN CITY -- Cardinals from six continents began their secret sessions behind the massive doors of the Sistine Chapel on Monday, convening the new millennium's first conclave to elect a Pope who will guide the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics into a new era.
The doors to the chapel decorated with frescoes by Michelangelo and wired with electronic jamming devices to thwart eavesdropping were shut, leaving the 115 voting "princes" of the church to decide whether to hold their first round of voting on Monday or to wait until Tuesday.
Clad in crimson vestments and caps, the cardinals of a church stung by priest sex-abuse scandals and an exodus of the faithful had walked slowly from the Apostolic Palace to sequester themselves inside the chapel decorated with frescoes by Michelangelo.
They were to take an oath of secrecy and hear a meditation before deciding whether to take their first vote or wait until Tuesday.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger--a powerful Vatican official from Germany who often has been mentioned as a leading candidate for Pope--recited a prayer at the palace before the cardinals chanted the Litany of the Saints as they made the short walk to the chapel.
The cardinals were led by altar servers carrying two long, lit white candles and a metal crucifix.
They walked past a pair of Swiss Guards in red plumed hats standing at attention at the entrance to the chapel and took two steps into the voting area.
Ratzinger, preceded by the Book of the Gospels on which the cardinals were to take their oath of secrecy, entered last--an honor bestowed upon the dean of the College of Cardinals.
Before the procession began, Ratzinger asked for prayers from the church that a pastor fit to lead all of Christ's flock would be elected.
"May the Lord lead our steps on the path of truth, so that through the intercession of the blessed Virgin Mary, the Apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and of all the saints, we may always do that which is pleasing to him," he said in Latin.
With Michelangelo's "Last Judgment" fresco as a backdrop behind the altar, depicting a muscular Jesus amid masses of people ascending to heaven and falling to hell, the cardinals took their assigned places behind their name placards, with a copy of the conclave ritual on their desks.
They then placed their red, three-cornered square birettas on the tables, leaving only their crimson skullcaps on their heads. (AP)
(April 19, 2005 issue)
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