by Anura Guruge
on August 31, 2022
Click to ENLARGE & read here. From my ‘The Conclave‘ book.
There is tremendous merit & HISTORICAL significance to this proposal.
It will take papal elections back to its roots; to its origins.
The pope, as the ‘Bishop of Rome’, used to be elected by JUST the Romans — clergy & laity.
For the first 395 years of their existence ALL cardinals lived in or around Rome. You had to be in or around Rome to be a cardinal until 1163.
It is the NEED for this tie-in with Rome that ensures that all cardinals, even today, are assigned a ceremonial (& mainly symbolic) Church in Rome.
So, saying that conclaves be restricted just to Rome-based cardinals is NOT crazy. It has deep historic import.
Cardinal Brandmuller (93) is RIGHT.
I have said the same things, more than once. There is no longer any cohesion or collegiality within the College of Cardinals. They don’t know each other & they certainly no longer have a common tongue in which to talk with each other!
It is probably the most disjoint & dysfunctional All Boys Club of all times.
Brandmuller is being provocative to raise his issue, i.e., the College of Cardinals is OUT-OF-CONTROL. Post Paul VI popes have lost all restraint & common sense when it comes to creating cardinals. They are creating them willy nilly with no regard for the consequences.
But, Francis, for one would just laugh at this proposal. This move would nullify all of his brash & blatant moves to make sure the next pope is one of his acolytes. So, great idea, but it will not go beyond this speech.
Mr G,
Thanks for pointing out this article. I was reading it and it made me think of the election process for the Jesuit Superior General (“The Black Pope”). Are you familiar with it?
In a nutshell, all the Jesuit provinces from around the world determine and send their own electors to Rome for a 2 week voting process. The electors live in the Jesuit complex in Rome which consists of a hotel, attached mother church, and very nice conference center. The electors spend the first week attending meetings where they take turns presenting what is going on in their provinces, group meetings with Jesuit curial officials, etc.
The second week is known as “The Whispering”. Starting on Monday morning of the second week through Wed night, the electors follow a rigid schedule:
Wake, take morning mass silently, and then spend the rest of the day in 1:1 converstations with other electors. No campaigning is allowed, only 1:1 conversations as the electors circulate amongst each other. This continues for 72 hours.
After that, on Thursday, they begin the voting process which is almost identical to the conclave voting process. Winner, with his minimum 2/3 majority, of course has to be approved by the Pope before the election can be considered complete.
This is of interest because this “peripheries” voting system has resulted in the last 3 Superior Generals being from the Roman Jesuit Curia. In other words, the “unfamiliarity” with each other seems to tend to push the electors towards the “big names” in the order that are known to all.
Richard Truely
Thank YOU very much. I was NOT familiar at all, at all, with the Jesuit election process. Fascinating. I need to read this a few more times. But, I wanted to thank you. Yes, if the pope was elected just by Rome-based cardinals the chances are VERY high that curialist would get preference. But, even without that haven’t we had more than a fair share of curial popes since 1910? Interesting.
Did you see the other post about the video of the ex-pope meeting with the new cardinals. You must check it out.
Cheers, Anura