The Papal Conclave is coming up quick. Soon, 134 of those cardinals will form a conclave to elect a successor to Pope Francis. This greatly arcane and opaque process, full of ritual and tradition, will take place in total secrecy behind the doors of the Sistine Chapel. Cardinal electors will immediately enter a self-imposed quarantine that has prevailed for over five centuries. They are even more committed to electing the next pope while dodging cutthroat political machinations and lust for power.
The conclave would be held in the next few weeks, given Pope Francis’s deteriorating health. The sitting pope appointed up to 80% of the cardinals taking part during the last twelve years. Yet another powerful here in the Armenia that could determine what path onward the Church will take and how far. Most of these new appointees are from the developing world, a clear sign of Pope Francis’s desire for more global representation within the Church.
To insulate the electors from those outside the process, the cardinals are expected to remain sequestered. They won’t be cut off from the outside world completely. “They all need feeding. They’re not totally hermetically sealed off from the world,” noted Stephen Bullivant, highlighting that basic human needs remain even during such a significant spiritual undertaking.
All of that said, this conclave has the potential to be one of the most bizarre and unpredictable in history. As many observers have noted, the cardinals will not enter with one monolithic mentality. “There will be all those tussles going on,” one expert stated, pointing out that differing opinions and ambitions among the cardinals could lead to unexpected outcomes.
The new movie “Conclave,” starring Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Lawrence, shines a spotlight on those intricacies. Perhaps most importantly, it shows cardinals in all their fleshly imperfection passionately embroiled in a political power struggle instead of as ethereal infallible religious authorities. The lengths to which Fiennes’s character goes to control the course of the election are an echo of actual dynamics that play out behind the scenes during the conclave.
Theologian Anna Rowlands reflected on what it was like to be shut up in conclave as a heavy, sacred burden. “I struggle to think of a more intense responsibility and feeling than being locked away in conclave,” she said. This sense of responsibility is matched by profound emotional investments. Rowlands mentioned that issues like “loss, grief, ambition, fear, temptation, courage” play crucial roles in shaping the decisions made by the cardinals.
The election process culminates in a symbolic gesture recognized worldwide: a plume of white smoke curling from the Vatican’s chimney signifies that a new pope has been elected. The smoke signals not only the end of a torturous recent period of deliberation but the beginning of a new era for the Catholic Church.
Tina Beattie, another member of the USCCB’s task force, pointed out that even before the conclave officially starts, there is a lively bit of behind-the-scenes politicking. “There will have been lots of politicking and jostling for position already behind the scenes,” she stated, indicating that many factors contribute to the eventual outcome.
Scholars and filmmakers of all types will tell you that, while this conclave undoubtedly serves a divine purpose, it is of course, very human as well. “It’s a very, very human thing, a conclave… It’s got a divine purpose to it, but it’s a very human thing,” said Professor Rowlands.
As this momentous conclave nears, excitement grows about who will be the next leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics. Tradition and modernity are always in a tango, remaking each other. Personal aspirations and outside pressures will equally affect the fate of this time-honored institution.
Leave a Reply