POWWOW FOR A NEW PONTIFF (ends with the words: "I accept")

NY POST ^ | April 17, 2005 | ANDY GELLER

[Liz]

It begins with a vow of secrecy and ends with the words: "I accept."

What happens in between will never fully be known except by the 115 cardinals who will enter the Sistine Chapel tomorrow, pray for divine guidance and then shut themselves off from the world until they choose a pontiff.

We should have an answer by Friday.

No conclave in the past century has lasted more than five days. The 1978 election of John Paul II took eight ballots over three days.

On the eve of the conclave, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany has emerged as the favorite.

But there are doubts as to whether Ratzinger, who turned 78 yesterday, will be able to get the necessary two-thirds majority, or 77 votes.

"There is a strong push to choose Ratzinger, though it's very unclear if he will be able to get two-thirds of the vote," said John Allen Jr., author of "Conclave: The Politics, Personalities and Process of the Next Papal Election."

Ratzinger, the dean of the College of Cardinals, leads a powerful Vatican office that enforces church doctrine.

But his conservatism is both his strength and his weakness.

"Nobody disputes his talent and that he is a pope-ready sort of guy, but he's a polarizing figure. You either love him or hate him," said Allen.

"He took strong positions against liberalism. He essentially squelched the Second Vatican Council."

Attempts by anyone to figure out who the real front-runners are before smoke rises and the next pope is revealed will be resisted by state-of-the-art electronic jamming and anti-bugging devices.

The equipment will be placed under a one-yard-high new wooden floor that has been erected inside the chapel, on which the cardinals will sit at 12 long tables.

[Liz]

"He took strong positions against liberalism. He essentially squelched the Second Vatican Council."

Good news for conservatives.

[Liz]

ping

[Dutch Boy]

This may be a bit off topic but can a person decline becoming pope if elected? Since there is no "official" campaign I would assume that at least once someone got elected that didn't want the awesome and massive responsibility. One the other hand it would be one of the greatest honors ever granted.

[Romulus]

can a person decline becoming pope if elected?

See the top of this thread. "Accepto" not a mere formality.

It's an honor in the limited sense that the electors are presumably recognising a new pope's abilities and intellect. But it's not about him, after all. He is a servant and a father, not a master, and should have the humility to remmeber that every good quality he may posess is ultimately attributable to God's, not himself. Radical self-reliance is not a Catholic concept.