Year C Fourth Sunday of Easter

Readings: Acts 13:14.43-52; Psalm 100:1-2.35; Revelation 7:9.14b-17; John 10:27-30

“The disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.”¹ Being filled with the joy of the Spirit is the essence of Christian discipleship because we know Jesus Christ is risen.

What an exciting week for the Church! After the death of Pope Francis, the Galilean fisherman, Peter, is succeeded by Pope Leo XIV. This, dear friends, is a symbol of resurrection and a cause for hope.

Like Jesus’ first disciples, over the course of a few short days, the Lord has turned our mourning into dancing.² Pope Leo is Christ’s Vicar on earth. Coming from the word “vicarious,” “vicar” refers to someone who stands in for another. The Vicar of Christ, therefore, stands in for the Good Shepherd in whose name he speaks and on whose authority he acts.

Today, in the Eucharistic prayer, we will pray for this Eucharist to unite us together under the leadership of Leo our pope and Oscar our bishop. Indeed, it is through our bishop that we are in communion with the Bishop of Rome and, through the Roman Pontiff with the Church throughout the world. This is the great Eucharistic mystery that shows us that far from being incidental to salvation, the Church is necessary. It is often the case today that many have a very thin ecclesiology, only a faint grasp of the profound mystery of the Church.

For me, one of the best things in watching events unfold in Saint Peter's Square after white smoke appeared was seeing the Catholicity of the Church on display in such an amazing way. The joy of the pilgrims came through screen. This excitement is or at least should be the Church: Evangelii gaudium- the joy of the Gospel, to borrow a Latin phrase. Or, as we’re reminded several times during Lent by the reading for Morning Prayer on Sunday: “Do not be saddened this day, for rejoicing in the Lord must be your strength!”³

I realize that in our individualistic age to speak in terms of obligation with regard to God can seem like blasphemy to many. Far from it. Just as loving your neighbor places obligations on you, so does loving God. Assisting at Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation is the first of the Church’s five precepts. While, according to the Compendium to the Catechism, these precepts are given “to guarantee for the faithful the indispensable minimum in the spirit of prayer, the sacramental life, moral commitment and growth in love of God and neighbor,” they are little known today.⁴

This may seem a bit heavy-handed but all of us need grace to grow in love of God and neighbor, that is, to grow in holiness. The Eucharist, which is the source and summit of our faith, is the inexhaustible fountain of this grace, of unmerited divine assistance. This is why evangelization amounts to a beggar telling another beggar where he can find bread.

The Good Shepherd; Catacomb of Callixtus/Callisto- 3rd century

Lest you think clergy are immune, let me share a joke Father Rene once told from this ambo. It is all the dearer to me because I knew of some of his struggles. A man was lying in bed on Sunday morning. His mother came in and said, “It’s time to get up and go to Church.” He sleepily replied, “I don’t want to go.” His mother persisted, “You need to get up and go to Church.” He said, “Nobody there likes me.” Undeterred, his mom said, “You must get up and go to Church!” He said, “Why?” To which his mother replied, “You’re the pastor.”

I had a time early on after becoming Catholic, in the early years of our marriage, when attending Sunday Mass became hard for me. In talking to a trusted elderly priest (who Holly will remember, Father Maurice Prefontaine), I told him about my struggle and said that I wasn’t experiencing a crisis of faith but a crisis of practice. He lovingly took my hands in his and gently told me, “Starting Sunday, just go.” I’ve followed this simple advice ever since. If, like me then, you’ve been absent from the Sunday assembly, bring that to the Lord in confession.

From the beginning, centuries before there were daily Masses, Christians gathered on Sunday, Dies Domini, the Lord’s Day, the eighth day of eternity, the day Christ rose from the dead. In 1998, Pope Saint John Paul II wrote an Apostolic Letter on the importance of Sunday. In his letter, entitled Dies Domini, he wrote:

It is right, therefore, to claim, in the words of a fourth century homily, that “the Lord's Day” is "the lord of days.” Those who have received the grace of faith in the Risen Lord cannot fail to grasp the significance of this day of the week with the same deep emotion which led Saint Jerome to say: “Sunday is the day of the Resurrection, it is the day of Christians, it is our day.” For Christians, Sunday is “the fundamental feastday,” established not only to mark the succession of time but to reveal time's deeper meaning⁵

As the inspired author of Hebrew enjoined: “We should not stay away from our assembly, as is the custom of some, but encourage one another, and this all the more as you see the day drawing near.”⁶ Or, as we read about primitive Church earlier in the Acts of Apostles: “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.”⁷

Most of us understand grasp that far from having to go to Mass, we get to go and participate in Mass on Sunday. Many of us know through experience that it is our participation in Sunday Mass that gives meaning and purpose to the rest of our lives. It is in the Eucharist that the Risen Lord comes to meet His people in time and space. While God is surely in all of creation, there is no way in which Christ is more palpably present than in the Eucharist. This is why the Lord commanded his followers to do this and not something else.

It may be the case that going to Church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car. But a car that never goes to the garage will likely break down sooner than later. We gather to give thanks, to be healed, to help each other as we make our way through life and to be reminded of our eternal destiny and of God’s unfailing love given us in his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, which He lavishes on us through the Eucharist.

Since the Lord is my Shepherd, as the psalmist insists, “there in nothing I shall want.” It is with the Eucharist that the Lord, my Shepherd, sets a table before me, anoints my head with oil, and makes my cup overflow.⁸ Mass is where you hear the Shepherd’s voice and where He feeds His flock. With so many voices saying so many different and contradictory things, it takes time to become familiar with our Shepherd’s voice.

Pope Leo’s episcopal motto is In Illo uno unum, meaning “In the One, we are one.” It is through the Eucharist that by the power and working of the Holy Spirit we are made one in the One, Christ Jesus the Lord.

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1 Acts 13:52.^↩
2 Psalm 30:12.^↩
3 Nehemiah 8:10b.^↩
4 Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, sec. 431.^↩
5 Pope John Paul II. Apostolic Letter Dies Domini, sec 2.^↩
6 Hebrews 10:25.^↩
7 Acts 2:42.^↩
8 See Psalm 23.^↩

Urbi et Orbi- Prima Benedictio

URBI ET ORBI MESSAGE
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
LEO XIV

First Blessing

Peace be with you all!

Dearest brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the Risen Christ, the Good Shepherd, who gave his life for the flock of God. I too would like this greeting of peace to enter your hearts, to reach your families, all people, wherever they are, all peoples, all the earth. Peace be with you!

This is the peace of the Risen Christ, a disarmed peace and a disarming, humble and persevering peace. It comes from God, God who loves us all unconditionally.

We still keep in our ears that weak but ever courageous voice of Pope Francis blessing Rome, the Pope who blessed Rome, gave his blessing to the world, to the entire world, that Easter morning. Allow me to follow up on that same blessing: God loves us, God loves you all, and evil will not prevail! We are all in God's hands. Therefore, without fear, united hand-in-hand with God and among ourselves, let us move forward! We are disciples of Christ. Christ precedes us. The world needs his light. Humanity needs him as a bridge to be reached by God and his love. Let us also help each other to build bridges, with dialogue, with encounter, uniting us all to be one people always in peace. Thanks to Pope Francis!

I would also like to thank all my brother Cardinals who have chosen me to be the Successor of Peter and to walk together with you, as a united Church always seeking peace, justice, always trying to work as men and women faithful to Jesus Christ, without fear, to proclaim the Gospel, to be missionaries.

I am a son of Saint Augustine, an Augustinian, who said: “With you I am a Christian and for you a bishop”. In this sense we can all walk together towards that homeland that God has prepared for us.

[Translated from Spanish- the rest is translated from Italian] And if you'll allow me a word, a greeting to everyone, and in particular to my beloved diocese of Chiclayo, in Peru, where a faithful people have accompanied their bishop, shared their faith, and given so much, so much, to continue being the faithful Church of Jesus Christ.

To all of you, brothers and sisters of Rome, of Italy, of the whole world: we want to be a synodal Church, a Church that walks, a Church that always seeks peace, that always seeks charity, that always tries to be close especially to those who suffer.

Today is the day of the Feast of Our Lady of Pompeii. Our Mother Mary always wants to walk with us, to be close, to help us with her intercession and her love. So I would like to pray with you. Let us pray together for this new mission, for the whole Church, for peace in the world and let us ask this special grace to Mary, our Mother: Hail Mary…

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Pope Leo XIV- Il Papa dagli Stati Uniti

It is not accurate to say that Pope Leo XIV is the "first pope from America." Born and raised in Argentina, Pope Francis was the first pope from America. At this time, I know it is more than okay for people from the U.S. to speak in that way. Catholics, especially, should not.

But quite unexpectedly, Pope Leo is the first pope from the United States. This distinction, while undoubtedly a bit pedantic, is made even more important by the fact that the Holy Father spent a lot of time in South America. Specifically, he served as bishop of the Diocese of Chiclayo in Peru from 2014-2023. Prior to that, he served quite a few years in Peru as a priest, making him truly a pope from the Americas.

Leo is the second man in a row chosen to walk in the shoes of the Galilean fisherman belonging to a religious order. Pope Francis, of course, was a member of the Society of Jesus (i.e., the Jesuits). Just like the consensus was that no one from the U.S. could become the Roman Pontiff, it was previously asserted that no Jesuit could be chosen.

Pope Leo is a member of the Order of Saint Augustine (i.e., the Augustinians). Like Pope Francis, Pope Leo served his order as a Provincial. Unlike Francis, he served two terms in Rome as worldwide head of the Augustinians.

Besides growing up there, between his various tenures in Peru and Rome, Pope Leo spent time in Chicago. While Pope Francis was the first Jesuit to become Bishop of Rome, Pope Leo is the sixth Augustinian pontiff. Of Saint Peter's 267 successors, thirty-four have belonged to religious orders. Prior to Pope Francis, the last religious to be pope was Gregory XVI, a Camaldolese monk, who served from 1831-1846.

Pope Leo earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from Villanova University. Born in 1955, he is the first pope born after World War II. Ordained a priest in 1982 he is, after Francis, the second pope ordained a priest after the Second Vatican Council. In high school (like me) he participated in speech and debate. I wonder if he, too, earned the National Forensic League's (now the National Speech and Debate Association) double ruby award? I mention this because it is one of my proudest high school achievements!

Contrary to initial reports that he is a Cubs fan, according to his brother, John, His Holiness is a White Sox fan.

Pope Leo XIV, Getty Images used under Fair Use provision

Leo's being a pope from the Americas was highlighted by the fact that in speaking his first words as Roman Pontiff, the only language he spoke other than Italian was Spanish, which is a departure from the norm.

Breaking with custom, Pope Leo initially read prepared remarks but quickly went extemporaneous in Italian. In another break, he switched from Italian to Spanish, as noted above. He did so to greet those from his former diocese in Peru. Then, returning to Italian, the Holy Father noted that May 8 is the feast of Our Lady of Pompeii. He then led the pilgrims in praying the Hail Mary.

Making a bit of a nerdy liturgical point, I love that he donned the summer version of the papal mozetta for his first appearance. Dare I hope for a return of the red shoes? Red shoes, after all, are meant to symbolize the blood of the martyrs, not just a stylistic affectation.

If his first appearance is anything to go by, he seems comfortable in his own skin with simply being who he is. By all accounts, one from a priest friend who knew him in Chicago, he is reserved and quiet. He didn't try to be Pope Francis and seemed fine being himself. Authenticity matters.

One of the best things in watching events unfold in Saint Peter's Square after white smoke appeared, was seeing the Catholicity of the Church on display in such an amazing way. The joy of the pilgrims came through screen. This excitement is or at least should be the Church: Evangelii gaudium, to borrow a Latin phrase. The joy of the Lord is our strength!

What a great thing to see people young and old, women and men, people from all nations and many ethnicities who speak different languages, lay people, religious, clerics rejoicing together. Through the Eucharist, we are One Body. It is through the Eucharist that we have communion, through our own bishops, with the Bishop of Rome, who presides in charity over Christ's Church.

I admit to being utterly surprised by the selection of a Cardinal from the U.S. to be Bishop of Rome. Above all, I am grateful that we have a Pope. Because nothing is complete until the Lord returns, all papacies end with mixed results and all popes leave unfinished business.

For what it's worth, Pope Leo XIV is the third pope since the launch of Καθολικός διάκονος in the summer of 2005. I look forward to serving at Mass tomorrow morning and hearing "together with Leo our pope and Oscar our Bishop" in the Eucharistic Prayer.

For obvious reasons, this is a day early but in honor of His Holiness' hometown, our Friday traditio is from those two other guys from Chicago who were also on a mission from God. You got it, Jake and Elwood Blues, "Sweet Home Chicago."

Lest we forget, in 2010, The Blues Brothers was deemed by L'Osservatore Romano as a "Catholic classic." Deal with it. Besides, I already used Palestrina's "Tu es Petrus" during the interregnum.

Lord Jesus Christ,
Good Shepherd and High Priest,
we praise you and offer you our sincere gratitude
for calling Pope Leo
to serve as the shepherd of the universal church.
May he lead us as a loving shepherd
who cares for his flock and seeks out the lost sheep.
May he be for us a gentle and listening father,
a faithful teacher and a steward of your sacred mysteries.
Grant him health, strength, and wisdom.
Strengthen the bonds of unity among us
so that we may serve you as one body.
Purify us and sustain us in charity for your love for us never fails.
Grant that we may boldly answer your call to mission.
You who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
God forever and ever.
Amen.

Conclave curiosities

When one considers the episcopal lineages of the 133 Cardinal electors (i.e., their principal consecrator, their principal consecrator’s principal consecrator, etc.) one name stands out: Scipione Cardinal de Rebiba.

Cardinal de Rebiba lived his entire 73+ years in the sixteenth century (1504-1577). Ordained a priest at 23, he was ordained a bishop at age 37. On 20 December 1555 then-Bishop Rebiba was created a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church by Pope Paul IV.

Like 1978, 1555 was a year of three popes. Julius II, who became pope in 1550 died on 23 March. He was succeeded by Marcellus II, whose pontificate lasted less than a month- from 10 April to 1 May. On 26 May, Paul IV was selected as the 223rd Successor of Saint Peter. He reigned until 18 August 1559. Quite a tumult during the century of the Protestant Reformation and in the midst of an Ecumenical Council!

To give an idea of the times in which Cardinal de Rebiba lived, it bears noting that the Council of Trent was convened by Pope Paul III in 1545 and brought to its conclusion after twenty-five sessions by Pope Pius IV in 1563. In 1552 the Council was halted when Maurice, Elector of Saxony, triumphed over the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, resulting in the occupation of the Tirol region in the spring 1552.

After the death of Julius II and brief reign of Marcellus II, the virulently anti-Protestant Paul IV became Bishop of Rome. Due to his hostility to the Protestants, he did not see the need to continue the Council. As a result, no sessions were held in the decade 1552-1562.

Portrait of Scipione Cardinal de Rebiba

Why does Scipione Cardinal de Rebiba matter when it comes to the Conclave of 2025? Well, one hundred twenty-eight of the one hundred thirty-three Cardinal electors for this Conclave are in Rebiba’s episcopal line. Three of the five Cardinals who are not part of Rebiba’s episcopal lineage are from Eastern Catholic Churches: Mykola Bychok, C.Ss.R., from the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Louis Raphaël I Sako, from the Chaldean Church, and Baselios Cleemis (Isaac) Thottunkal, from the Syro-Malabar Church.

One Cardinal, Timothy Radcliffe, O.P., is not a bishop. Therefore, he has no episcopal lineage. He is the first non-bishop Cardinal to participate in a Conclave since Pope John XXIII promulgated, motu proprio, the Apostolic Letter Cum Gravissima in 1962, the year he died. It was in 1962 that Pope Paul VI was chosen to walk in the shoes of the fisherman.

This leaves one Latin Rite Cardinal serving as a bishop who does not belong to Rebiba’s line: Sebastian Francis. Cardinal Francis is one of those members of Sacred College called by Pope Francis from the margins. He is the bishop of the Diocese of Penang, Malaysia.

It’s hard to imagine that Scipione de Rebiba could’ve imagined this.

Let's be diligent in praying for the Cardinal electors, who enter Conclave on Wednesday.

Monday of the Third Week of Easter

Readings: Acts 6:8-15; Psalm 119:23-24.26-27.29-30; John 6:22-29

Along with Philip and five others, Stephen was one of the seven men chosen to serve as what the Church, at least since the second century, considers to be her first deacons. Philip and Stephen are the only ones we hear more about after their selection by the community and their “ordination” by the Apostles, which occurs just prior to today’s reading, at the beginning of Acts 6.¹ What we hear about Stephen and Philip is that they were tireless evangelists.

It bears on the validity of the Mass that it is a deacon who proclaims the Gospel. When a priest reads the Gospel at a Mass in which there is no deacon of the Mass, he does so as a deacon. It is the practice of the Latin Church, according to the cursus honorum, for priests to first be ordained deacons.

Note that it is written of Stephen that, “filled with grace and power,” he worked “great signs and wonders among the people.”² So steeped was the Greek-speaking Jewish Christian Stephen in both the Law and the Gospel that no one was able to “withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.”³ So, they simply accused him of blasphemy and, like Christ, brought him before the Sanhedrin. Even then, Stephen’s countenance was that of an angel.⁴

Stephen before the Sanhedrin

Stephen’s stoning was likely the kick-off of the persecution of the primitive Church in Jerusalem.⁵ It was a result of that persecution that Philip relocated to Samaria, where he continued to the preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His efforts yielded an abundant harvest.⁶

In our Gospel, the masses followed Jesus not because of what He taught or even because of the signs and wonders He performed. They followed Him in hope of being fed again, of eating their fill for free. Lest we’re too hard on them, bear in mind that most of these folks were probably hungry most of the time. Nonetheless, instead of working for food that will leave them hungry yet again, the Lord exhorts them to work for the food that truly satisfies- the food He longs to give them, which is Himself.

What is this work of God, this opus Dei, they ask. "This is the work of God,” the Lord teaches them and us, “that you believe in the one he sent.”⁷ To believe in Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, is to have His Spirit, which is also the Spirit of the Father. As Saint Stephen, the Church’s first martyr, shows us, to have the Holy Spirit is to proclaim this Good News. It is the opus Dei to invite others to the banquet where they, too, can receive “the food that endures for eternal life,” the food of which we are here to partake.⁸

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1 See Acts 6:1-6.^↩
2 Acts 6:8.^↩
3 Acts 6:10.^↩
4 Acts 6:15.
5 See Acts 7:54-60.^↩
6 For Philip’s evangelistic exploits see Acts 8.^↩
7 John 6:29.^↩
8 John 6:27.NOTE

From phileo to agape

Gospel: John 21:1-19

Ecclesiologically, Henri de Lubac schematized the first two Christian millenia in the following way: the first millennium by the assertion that "the Eucharist makes the Church" and the second millenium by its reverse: "the Church makes the Eucharist." Perhaps in the third millenium we can work towards a genuine Catholic et/et- "the Eucharist makes the Church and the Church makes the Eucharist." I believe this was something of the vision expressed by Pope John Paul II in his Apostolic Letter Tertio Millennio Adveniente.

It stands to reason: no Eucharist, no Church and no Church, no Eucharist. Also, no Eucharist, no Christ and no Church no Christ. This has bearing on our Gospel for this Third Sunday of Easter because, along the with last Sunday's Gospel (also taken from John), it shows that the Eucharist is the primary place to encounter the Risen Lord.

The Petrine dimension of today's Gospel highlights the necessity of the Church. It's difficult today to effectively communicate that the Church is necessary for salvation, not incidental to it.

One way of understanding today's Gospel is that by declaring his love for the Lord three times, Peter undoes, repents for, his denial of Jesus during His Passion, which, in John's Gospel unfolds in chapter 18. In John 18, Peter denies he knows Jesus twice. So, here, Peter affirms once more than he denied. While worthy of consideration, on its own this would be a shallow understanding.

It is important to point out that in this encounter Jesus uses two different words for love. The first two times, the word for love placed on the Lord's lips by the inspired author is agape. Agape is unconditional, self-sacrificing love. It is the kind of love that empowered Jesus to endure His Passion and Crucifixion. In response to Jesus' first two questions, Peter uses the word phileo. Phileo refers more to a brotherly or friendship type of love, a love less complete, less robust than agape.

Meeting Peter where he is, when asking him a third time, the Lord who uses phileo. This remains the word with which Peter replies. I believe the point here is that Jesus was seeking to stretch Peter, to move him from phileo to agape, to love like God loves, which is what it means to be holy. But Peter, as bad as he no doubt felt about his betrayal, isn't there yet. Nonetheless, the Risen Lord commands Peter to feed and tend His flock.

With what does Peter feed the Lord's flock, His lambs, His sheep, His Church, but the Eucharist?

The Lord then tells Peter:

Amen, amen, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to dress yourself and go where you wanted; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go

And so, with His final words in this pericope- "Follow me"- the Lord summons Peter to the cross.

The Crucifixion of Saint Peter, by Caravaggio, 1601.Cerasi Chapel, Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome.

I know from reading Peter Hebblethwaite's outstanding biography Paul VI: The First Modern Pope that, especially in his later years as he implemented the Conciliar reforms, Pope Paul very much saw in the Lord's words to Peter in today's passage something of where he found himself in old age. This made me think, too, of Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

In the case of Pope Benedict, he was elected Successor of Peter in 2005 at 78 years of age. Toward the latter part of his many years of service as Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine for the Faith (he served from 1981 until becoming Pope) he tried to resign on more than once. Once after being hospitalized for exhaustion. He longed to move back to Germany, to a house in the Bavarian woods that he owned with his brother, Georg, also a priest. There he wanted to pray, study, and write. But Pope John Paul II would not accept his resignation. And then, he became the Bishop of Rome. After resigning, he lived out his remaining years within the walls of Vatican City.

Pope Francis became Pope at age 76. When he arrived in Rome in the Spring of 2013, he had been serving as the archbishop of Buenos Aires more than a year past the retirement age for bishops, which is 75. He described coming to Rome for the Conclave feeling tired, worn out, and ready to retire. He, too, was led in old age where he did not want to go. I think it is impossible to imagine how lonely being pope must be at times. As I mentioned in my first post after Francis' death, he never returned to Argentina and so he never went back to the city he loved so much.

Just as the Risen Lord's question about loving Him unconditionally and totally is directed to all who would follow Him, His summons "Follow me" isn't just for Peter and his successors. It is for all of us. Like Peter, I suspect when it comes to loving Jesus Christ most of us aren't there yet- I'm certainly not. Actively participating in the Church is hard and sometimes very hard.

I admit to once in awhile, when either coming back from or heading to something ecclesial, feeling like I could never go back and be the better for it. But as Peter replies in John 6 to the Lord's question will he, too, abandon Him, to whom else would I go?

For those of us who are heavily involved in Church ministry, we've experienced things at the hands of fellow Christians that are deeply hurtful and cruelly harsh. But it is precisely experiencing and, with the Lord's help, working through these things that we learn what the Lord seeks to teach us, not only by word but through His example. He stretches us, too, from phileo to agape.

I have little doubt that by continuing to follow Jesus, Peter, if not before, then as he was being crucified in the Roman circus, having moved from phileo to agape, was able to say, "Lord, I love you." This is the inverse property of redemption: crucifixion/resurrection and resurrection/crucifixion. There is no Easter without Good Friday and without Easter Good Friday is just the terror of a Godless universe.

The Eucharist makes the Church and the Church makes the Eucharist. The Eucharist is what makes the Church Christ's Body, the universal sacrament of salvation.

On the verge of the Conclave

Today is day eight of the novendiales, the nine days of mourning observed on the death of a pope. Pope Francis' funeral Mass marked day one. On each of these days, a Cardinal celebrates a Mass for the deceased pope. Only other Cardinals may concelebrate with him. Today's Mass was celebrated in Saint Peter's Basilica with Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, Pro-Prefect Emeritus of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, as main celebrant.

The final Mass of the novendiales, which will also be in Saint Peter's Basilica, will have as the main celebrant the Protodeacon of the College of Cardinals, Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, with the Papal Chapel group in attendance. Mamberti, who is French, will announce the new pope after his selection. He will be he second French Cardinal in a row to do this. In 2013, it was Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran who announced Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum. Habemus Papam! ("I announce to you news of great joy. We have a Pope!"). Cardinal Tauran died in 2018.

Based on previous reports, I posted that two Cardinals would not be in he upcoming Conclave, which is scheduled to begin Wednesday, 7 May. It is still true that two Cardinals eligible to vote will not participate. As previously noted, Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Archbishop Emeritus of Valencia, Spain will not be Rome due to poor health. But it appears that Cardinal Vinko Puljic of Sarajevo will join the Conclave. I had previously written that he would not.

It is Cardinal John Njue, Archbishop Emeritus of Nairobi, Kenya who, along with Cardinal Cañizares, will not come to Rome for the Conclave. Both Njue and Cañizares were created Cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI. Cañizares (who served as Prefect for the then-Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, was known in some Roman circles as "little Ratzinger") in the 2006 Consistory, Pope Benedict's first, and Njue in the Consitory of 2007. Despite the absence of two electors, this conclave will still be both the largest in terms of electors and the most international, the most catholic, in the Church's history. 133 electors from 71 countries. In the Sacred College, which includes Cardinals older than 80 who cannot participate in the Conclave, 94 countries are represented.

The Last Judgment, by Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel, Vatican City

In the Conclave there will be fifty-three European Cardinals: 19 from Italy, 6 from France, and 5 from Spain. Thirty-seven Cardinals from the Americas: 16 from North America (including 10 from the U.S.), 4 from Central America, and 17 from South America. There will be 3 Cardinals from Asia, 18 from Africa, and 4 from Oceania.

Thirty-three of the 133 electors are from 18 religious orders, including 5 Salesians, 4 Franciscans all from the Order of Friars Minor (there is a variety of Francican orders, of which the OFMs are the largest and, I believe, the oldest), Franciscans include Cardinal Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, who is considered papabile, 4 Jesuits, the order to which Pope Francis belonged, will also participate.

The morning of the day on which the Conclave begins, the Cardinals celebrate the votive Mass Pro Eligendo Romano Pontifice (Mass for the Election of the Roman Pontiff). The celebrant is the Dean of the Sacred College. In 2005, it was likely his homily at the Pro Eligendo Mass that sealed then-Cardinal Ratzinger's election as the 265th Successor of Saint Peter. At 91, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the current Deacon, will not be in the Conclave.

In the afternoon, the Cardinal electors proceed in a solemn procession to the Sistine Chapel, where the Conclave is held. Once inside the chapel, each Cardinal elector takes the oath as prescribed in paragraph 53 of Universi Dominici Gregis: Through this oath, they commit, if elected, to faithfully fulfill the Munus Petrinum as Pastor of the Universal Church. Each Cardinal also pledges to maintain absolute secrecy regarding everything related to the election of the Roman Pontiff and to refrain from supporting any attempts of external interference in the election.

After this procession, the Master of Pontifical Liturgical Celebrations proclaims "Extra omnes", meaning that all individuals who are not part of the Conclave must leave the Sistine Chapel. The Master of Ceremonies and the cleric who is going to deliver the second spiritual meditation are the only people who remain that are not part of the Conclave.

The Conclave is held in the Sistine Chapel. All voting is done facing Michelangelo's mural of the Last Judgment. Talk about sub specie aeternitatis !

On his blog, Cardinal Sean O'Malley, Archbishop Emeritus of Boston, who participated in the 2013 Conclave that elected Pope Francis, addressed the issue about whether the real Conclave was anything like the movie. He wrote: "My experience of being in at least one conclave was not that it was some sort of scene of political backroom plotting of how to get your candidate elected."

Rather, he insisted, being in Conclave "was an experience of a very intense retreat where there was much prayer and silence and listening to conferences on spiritual themes." Finally, "For all its artistic and entertainment value, I don’t think the movie is a good portrayal of the spiritual reality of what a conclave is." Let's pray for the Cardinals as they prepare for the Conclave and pray even more fervently once their discernment commences.

When it comes to selecting a new Roman Pontiff, I don't do preferences or predictions. Do I have a preference? Yes. There are three Cardinals who I think would be a good selection to serve as Christ's vicar. I don't mind saying that in addition to being very "pastoral" (an equivocal term if ever there was one), each would, in my view, have the much-needed doctrinal clarity and coherence, which I think is vital for the Church's unity in our present moment.

As far as predictions go however, especially given the size and catholicity of the upcoming Conclave and the concomitant fact that many of the Cardinals don't know each other very well, I think predictions are nothing more than either guesses or expressions of a preference. Whoever emerges as the next Bishop of Rome, I will take it as an expression of divine providence.

When asked directly in a 1997 Bavarian t.v. interview in 1997 if the Holy Spirit selected the pope, then-Cardinal Josef Ratzinger replied:

I would not say so, in the sense that the Holy Spirit picks out the Pope. ... I would say that the Spirit does not exactly take control of the affair, but rather like a good educator, as it were, leaves us much space, much freedom, without entirely abandoning us. Thus the Spirit's role should be understood in a much more elastic sense, not that he dictates the candidate for whom one must vote. Probably the only assurance he offers is that the thing cannot be totally ruined