Survivor: Sistine Chapel!

After finally watching Survivor for the first time, beginning with Season 20 - Heroes vs. Villains, I became an instant fan. Since then, I have watched every episode of every season - and they're about to begin Season 26. In between seasons, I have been trying to play catch-up. I have seen Seasons 1-3 and 9-13, and I've loved every minute. Sure, it's reasonable to ask whether it is an appropriate thing for a practicing Catholic to watch. The players aren't dressed modestly, though that's to be expected since it often takes place in the tropics, and in all honesty, the game is pretty grungy rather than sultry. Yes, there is a lot of back-biting and a gratuitous lack of charity displayed on each and every episode, but there are also players who practice heroic virtue. The latter play with honesty, loyalty, and an impressive integrity that seems improbable if one hopes to win the game. Indeed, it is rare that the winner has made it to the top without being at least a bit deceptive. It begs the question... since it's a game, is it ok to play within a game that has rules which allow for deception? I tend to fall in line with those who think it's generally ok. The principle of mental reservation seems to come into play, where it's ok to speak something other than the truth if it is to be assumed that you very well are not speaking the truth (ie. the telemarketer asks if your spouse is there and you say she is not... even though she is - or - you tell your captors in war that you don't know where your fellow patrolmen are). In the end, Survivor is just a game. There are many kinds of games that involve different kinds of deception. This one seems more obvious, but again, it's still a game, and for the record, the jury does a nice job of hammering on the deceivers! More often than not, the just approach is glorified, and even better, it's not infrequent to see tribes band together in Christian prayer.

Having said all the above, and in light of today's shocking announcement of a Feb. 28 voluntary vacancy of the See of Peter by Pope Benedict XVI, it seemed to me that a fun way of getting to know the papabile, or most likely candidates to be chosen as the next Pope, would be to incorporate my love of Survivor and use these next few weeks to teach a bit about each of the 118 cardinal electors and widdle them down to a small group based on their various qualifications - perhaps coming down to the one I feel might be chosen. I'll use information that comes directly from the Vatican website and throw in my own two cents in making decisions. I want to be clear on a few points though, before I begin:

1. The Holy Spirit will choose the next Pope through the prayerful votes of the cardinal electors themselves, and the Holy Spirit can choose any baptized male who is eligible to be Pope... reasons given here be damned.

2. I am not mocking the serious nature of a papal conclave. As a devout Catholic, I will be praying for our current Holy Father, for the cardinals, and for the future Holy Father with great expectancy.

3. This is an opportunity to learn who the cardinals are, how gifted they are, and how the Church is currently shaped and influenced by various people in diverse cultures.

Without further delay, I say we milk this rare moment for what it's worth, and I hereby announce a new edition of Survivor...

The Way "Survivor: Sistine Chapel" Will Work

There are 118 cardinal electors who will process into the Sistine Chapel at a date yet to be determined. They will participate in a sacred ceremony that is centuries old. The next pope is almost certain to come from that group of men, though he need not. He can be any eligible baptized male. In the meantime, let's get familiar with the men most likely to be chosen as the next Successor to St. Peter.

The way Survivor: Sistine Chapel will work is as follows:

1. I will begin by separating the 118 cardinal electors into 8 groups (or tribes, in Survivor terminology) of 15, with the last two groups being made up of 14. I will do this alphabetically for the sake of keeping things simple, and I hope to cover one tribe per day.

2. The first round of eliminations will be based on age. Anyone outside the range of 60-71 will be eliminated, as my gut tells me that this time around, the electors will be thinking a bit more long-term than they were when they elected the 78 year-old Cardinal Ratzinger to be Pope Benedict XVI, but not so long-term as John Paul II, who was elected before the age of 60. Tribes will not necessarily lose the same number of people. Some may be decimated while others keep their members intact.

3. The second round will take geography and rite into consideration. Some countries are extremely unlikely to produce a pope at this point in history, although there may be exceptions if one is dynamic enough (see Pope John Paul II). This will further reduce the number of members in each tribe.

4. The third round involves the first tribal merge. The number of tribes and members of each tribe will be determined by how many cardinals are left. Eliminations will be made on the basis of linguistic skills. If one cannot speak Italian and English, they are almost certainly eliminated. Assumptions will be made if linguistic information is not easily discovered.

5. The fourth round may or may not eliminate many candidates. The idea will be to eliminate anyone perceived as extremely polarizing. I honestly don't know if I will be able to uncover any who fit the bill, but if there are cardinals who do not fit the "Benedictine" interpretation of Vatican II as a Council of reform in continuity with Tradition, they will be eliminated.

6. The fifth round involves a final tribal merge. I feel that by this time there will be a small enough number to form one group of survivors. Eliminations will be based on a combination of things at this point, revisiting geography and linguistic skills especially.

7. The last round will require a more in-depth look at each of the remaining cardinal electors, and nothing other than my gut will determine who goes vs. who stays.

I welcome insightful comments throughout the process. Let's have some fun with this and use our prayerful imaginations to consider just who our next pope might be!

Day one's list of cardinal electors is as follows (pulled directly from the Vatican website - you may click on "English" to see their brief bios):

ABRIL y CASTELLÓ [English, Italian]
AGNELO Geraldo Majella [English, Italian]
ALENCHERRY George [English, Italian]
AMATO Angelo, S.D.B. [English, Italian]
AMIGO VALLEJO Carlos, O.F.M. [English, Italian]
ANTONELLI Ennio [English, Italian]
ASSIS Raymundo DAMASCENO [English, Italian]
AVIZ João BRAZ de [English, Italian]

BAČKIS Audrys Juozas [English, Italian]
BAGNASCO Angelo [English, Italian]
BARBARIN Philippe [English, Italian]

BERGOGLIO Jorge Mario, S.I. [English, Italian]
BERTELLO Giuseppe [English, Italian]
BERTONE Tarcisio, S.D.B. [English, Italian]

Eliminated due to being outside the age of 60-71:

ABRIL y CASTELLÓ
AGNELO Geraldo Majella
AMATO Angelo, S.D.B.
AMIGO VALLEJO Carlos, O.F.M.
ANTONELLI Ennio
ASSIS Raymundo DAMASCENO
BAČKIS Audrys Juozas
BERGOGLIO Jorge Mario, S.I.
BERTONE Tarcisio, S.D.B.

Survivors from day one (4 of 15):
ALENCHERRY George
AVIZ João BRAZ de
BARBARIN Philippe
BERTELLO Giuseppe

Day two's list of cardinal electors is as follows:

BETORI Giuseppe [English, Italian]
BOZANIĆ Josip [English, Italian]BRADY Seán Baptist [English, Italian]
BURKE Raymond Leo [English, Italian]

CAFFARRA Carlo [English, Italian]
CALCAGNO Domenico [English, Italian]
CAÑIZARES LLOVERA Antonio [English, Italian]
CIPRIANI THORNE Juan Luis [English, Italian]
COCCOPALMERIO Francesco [English, Italian]
COLLINS Thomas Christopher [English, Italian]COMASTRI Angelo [English, Italian]
CORDES Paul Josef [English, Italian]

DANNEELS Godfried [English, Italian]
DARMAATMADJA Julius Riyadi, S.I. [English, Italian]
DE PAOLIS Velasio, C.S. [English, Italian]

Eliminated due to being outside the age of 60-71:

BRADY Seán Baptist
CAFFARRA Carlo
COCCOPALMERIO Francesco
CORDES Paul Josef
DANNEELS Godfried
DARMAATMADJA Julius Riyadi, S.I.
DE PAOLIS Velasio, C.S.

Survivors from day two (8 of 15):

BETORI Giuseppe
BOZANIĆ Josip
BURKE Raymond Leo
CALCAGNO Domenico
CAÑIZARES LLOVERA Antonio
CIPRIANI THORNE Juan Luis
COLLINS Thomas Christopher
COMASTRI Angelo

Total Survivors thus far (12 of 30)

Day three's list of cardinal electors is as follows:

DIAS Ivan [English, Italian]DiNARDO Daniel Nicholas [English, Italian]
DOLAN Timothy Michael [English, Italian]
DUKA Dominik, O.P. [English, Italian]
DZIWISZ Stanisław [English, Italian]

EIJK Willem Jacobus [English, Italian]
ERDŐ Péter [English, Italian]
ERRÁZURIZ OSSA Francisco Javier, dei P. di Schönstatt [English, Italian]

FARINA Raffaele, S.D.B. [English, Italian]
FILONI Fernando [English, Italian]

GEORGE Francis Eugene, O.M.I. [English, Italian]
GRACIAS Oswald [English, Italian]
GROCHOLEWSKI Zenon [English, Italian]

HARVEY James Michael [English, Italian]
HUMMES Cláudio, O.F.M. [English, Italian]

Eliminated due to being outside the age of 60-71:

DIAS Ivan
DZIWISZ Stanisław
EIJK Willem Jacobus
ERRÁZURIZ OSSA Francisco Javier, dei P. di Schönstatt
FARINA Raffaele, S.D.B.
GEORGE Francis Eugene, O.M.I.
GROCHOLEWSKI Zenon
HUMMES Cláudio, O.F.M.

Survivors from day three (7 of 15):

DiNARDO Daniel Nicholas
DOLAN Timothy Michael
DUKA Dominik, O.P.
ERDŐ Péter
FILONI Fernando
GRACIAS Oswald
HARVEY James Michael

Total Survivors thus far (19 of 45):

ALENCHERRY George
AVIZ João BRAZ de
BARBARIN Philippe
BERTELLO Giuseppe
BETORI Giuseppe
BOZANIĆ Josip
BURKE Raymond Leo
CALCAGNO Domenico
CAÑIZARES LLOVERA Antonio
CIPRIANI THORNE Juan Luis
COLLINS Thomas Christopher
COMASTRI Angelo
DiNARDO Daniel Nicholas
DOLAN Timothy Michael
DUKA Dominik, O.P.
ERDŐ Péter
FILONI Fernando
GRACIAS Oswald
HARVEY James Michael

Day four's list of cardinal electors is as follows:

HUSAR Lubomyr, M.S.U. [English, Italian]

KASPER Walter [English, Italian]
KOCH Kurt [English, Italian]

LAJOLO Giovanni [English, Italian]
LEHMANN Karl [English, Italian]
LEVADA William Joseph [English, Italian]
LÓPEZ RODRÍGUEZ Nicolás de Jesús [English, Italian]

MAHONY Roger Michael [English, Italian]
MARTÍNEZ SISTACH Lluís [English, Italian]
MARX Reinhard [English, Italian]MEISNER Joachim [English, Italian]
MONSENGWO PASINYA Laurent [English, Italian]
MONTEIRO de CASTRO Manuel [English, Italian]
MONTERISI Francesco [English, Italian]

NAGUIB Antonius [English, Italian]

Eliminated due to being outside the age of 60-71:

HUSAR Lubomyr, M.S.U.
KASPER Walter
LAJOLO Giovanni
LEHMANN Karl
LEVADA William Joseph
LÓPEZ RODRÍGUEZ Nicolás de Jesús
MAHONY Roger Michael
MARTÍNEZ SISTACH Lluís
MARX Reinhard
MEISNER Joachim
MONSENGWO PASINYA Laurent
MONTEIRO de CASTRO Manuel
MONTERISI Francesco
NAGUIB Antonius

Survivors from day four (1 of 15):

KOCH Kurt

Total Survivors thus far (20 of 60):

ALENCHERRY George
AVIZ João BRAZ de
BARBARIN Philippe
BERTELLO Giuseppe

BETORI Giuseppe
BOZANIĆ Josip
BURKE Raymond Leo
CALCAGNO Domenico
CAÑIZARES LLOVERA Antonio
CIPRIANI THORNE Juan Luis
COLLINS Thomas Christopher
COMASTRI Angelo

DiNARDO Daniel Nicholas
DOLAN Timothy Michael
DUKA Dominik, O.P.
ERDŐ Péter
FILONI Fernando
GRACIAS Oswald
HARVEY James Michael

KOCH Kurt

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