As Pontiff Turns
I'm not Catholic, I'm close enough (Lutheran), so I can't help but feel sadness for the deteriorating health of Pope John Paul II. CNN states that:
Pope John Paul II's breathing is becoming shallow and several of his major organs -- including his kidneys and heart -- are growing weaker, the Vatican said Friday.
I fundamentally agree with Matt that many of the core beliefs which the Pontiff espoused are not my own, nor a majority of Americans. I was going to compare and contrast the current state of the Pontiff with that of Terri Schiavo, but frankly for the last two or three weeks America has been so focused on death that there is really nothing more to add.
If I can step out of the emotion of the moment and talk about Papal Succession, I find it a very interesting topic. Once the Pope has passed, there will be nine days of mourning. In that time the world's Cardinals will have 14 days to gather in the Vatican in order to convene the Collage of Cardinals in order to choose a new Pope. This involves locking up the 123-or so Cardinals inside the Sistine Chapel where it takes 2/3rds of those assembled to anoint a new Pope. Oh, and there are smoke screens too: after each vote the paper ballots are burned and chemicals are added to change the color of the smoke depending on the outcome of the vote. Black smoke means that the Church still does not have a Pope, and white smoke means that a Pope has been chosen. What always fascinates me about this process, is that I always though that each Pope had to be a direct decedent of St. Peter (or was it St. Paul?). I could be wrong. For a full flavor of the process, check out this Time Magazine article.
Now, besides the machinations which will go on behind closed doors (anyone been to your Church's Council Meeting?), whomever is anointed Pope will obviously alter a good bit of the political world. The difference between Cardinal Walter Kasper or Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re or Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos is immense and will have an immediate affect on US politics due (in part) because American Catholics have become a constituency of swing voters. For more discussion, see this MetaFilter thread.
I also hope the Prophecy of the Popes doesn't occur, but that is pretty selfish.
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This is the permanent home of As Pontiff Turns. I wrote this post at 19:23 on April 1, 2005. This post is part of grubbykid.com, a weblog. If you liked this entry, why don't you read some other posts such as McDonald's Can't Take A Joke or On the Pontiff's Passing? Or you could go to the site archives or return home. All are good choices.
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Some descriptive tags for this entry are: pope death pontiff italy culture rome catholicism religion.
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Some descriptive tags for this entry are: catholicism, culture, death, italy, pontiff, pope, religion, rome.
Mommy... what's a tag?
