Survivor: Sistine Chapel! Day 6

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

PIACENZA Mauro [English, Italian]
POLETTO Severino [English, Italian]
POLICARPO José da CRUZ [English, Italian]
PULJIĆ Vinko [English, Italian]

RAÏ Béchara Boutros, O.M.M. [English, Italian]
RAVASI Gianfranco [English, Italian]
RE Giovanni Battista [English, Italian]
RICARD Jean-Pierre [English, Italian]
RIGALI Justin Francis [English, Italian]
RIVERA CARRERA Norberto [English, Italian]
ROBLES ORTEGA Francisco [English, Italian]
RODÉ Franc, C.M. [English, Italian]
RODRÍGUEZ MARADIAGA Oscar Andrés, S.D.B. [English, Italian]
ROMEO Paolo [English, Italian]
ROUCO VARELA Antonio María [English, Italian]

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

POLETTO Severino
POLICARPO José da CRUZ
RAÏ Béchara Boutros, O.M.M.
RE Giovanni Battista
RIGALI Justin Francis
RODÉ Franc, C.M.
ROMEO Paolo
ROUCO VARELA Antonio María

Survivors from day six (7 of 15):

PIACENZA Mauro
PULJIĆ Vinko
RAVASI Gianfranco
RICARD Jean-Pierre
RIVERA CARRERA Norberto
ROBLES ORTEGA Francisco
RODRÍGUEZ MARADIAGA Oscar Andrés, S.D.B.

Total Survivors thus far (36 of 90):

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

NAPIER Wilfrid Fox, O.F.M.
NJUE John
NYCZ Kazimierz
O'MALLEY Seán Patrick, O.F.M. Cap.
ONAIYEKAN John Olorunfemi
OUELLET Marc, P.S.S.
PATABANDIGE DON Albert Malcolm Ranjith
PELL George
PENGO Polycarp

PIACENZA Mauro
PULJIĆ Vinko
RAVASI Gianfranco
RICARD Jean-Pierre
RIVERA CARRERA Norberto
ROBLES ORTEGA Francisco
RODRÍGUEZ MARADIAGA Oscar Andrés, S.D.B.

The Rules

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!

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