…the new Pope choice? Education? Looks? Age? Behavior history? Connections? Home country? Politics? Connections? Wealth (horrors)? Race? Personal behavior? Activity on internet platform? Published work? Voice quality? Introvert or extravert? Range of facial expressions? Closeness or favoritism of Pope Francis? We’ll wait until he’s elected before trying to figure it out..

In the meantime, Trump has to dream…

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Following a vacancy in the papacy, the cardinals hold a series of meetings at the Vatican called general congregations. It was hypothesized that the cardinals’ choice will amount to a referendum on whether to extend Francis’ legacy of inclusivity and openness to change, the needs and the challenges facing the Catholic Church globally and qualities needed for the next pope. They will also prepare for the upcoming papal election on May 7, called a conclave. Decisions that only the pope can make, such as appointing a bishop or convening the Synod of Bishops, must wait till after the election. The cardinals are given no access to phones, television, email or other public contact during the conclave.

. Only cardinals under the age of 80 are eligible to vote in a conclave. They are known as the cardinal electors. Those eighty and over are known as cardinal deacons.

For the conclave itself, the cardinals process to the Sistine Chapel and take an oath of absolute secrecy before sealing the doors.

The cardinal electors vote by secret ballot, processing one by one up to Michelangelo’s fresco of the Last Judgment, saying a prayer and dropping the twice-folded ballot in a large chalice. Four rounds of balloting are taken every day until a candidate receives two-thirds of the vote. The result of each ballot are counted aloud and recorded by three cardinals designated as recorders. If no one receives the necessary two-thirds of the vote, the ballots are burned in a stove near the chapel with a mixture of chemicals to produce black smoke.

When one candidate receives as much as two-thirds of the votes , he is asked if he accepts his “canonical election as Supreme Pontiff” and to select his papal name.

The new pope is led to the “Room of Tears” in the Sistine Chapel, named for the overwhelming emotion past pontiffs have experienced. There, he dresses in white robes and receives a new pectoral cross and white zucchetto, or head cap. The cardinals greet the new pope and pledge their obedience to him.

The smoke that rises again is white, informing the thousands outside and the senior cardinal deacon, currently French Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, announces from the balcony of St. Peter’s “Habemus Papam” (“We have a pope”) before the new pope processes out and imparts his blessing on the city of Rome and the entire world.*)

*Now we know what Lindsey Graham meant when he referred to “white smoke” relative to Trump’s papal self portrait.”

So, who’s the new pope and what are his credentials? (Sorry if I seem flip, but that doctored photo of Trump as Pope is too disconcerting. We should NEVER elect anyone from a television show to anything….)

I’ll have to try and make sense of this in another post.

[Who’s connected to Heaven in the meantime?]

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QUOTABLE: Some of us are having a birthday party and some of us are the cake. The Nation, Olufemi O. Taiwo May 2025

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DUH: One way to decrease the effect of climate change is to have smaller families…OOPS

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