Preparations for the conclave are underway in the Sistine Chapel. RNS photo by Alessandro Speciale
VATICAN CITY (RNS) As if the task of choosing the Vicar of Christ and the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics wasn’t daunting enough, the voting must also take place under the gaze of Michelangelo’s brilliant but imposing frescoes in the Sistine Chapel.
That’s what the late Pope John Paul II decreed when he rewrote the conclave rules in 1996, and so it shall be starting Tuesday (March 12) — and for however many days it takes the 115 cardinal-electors to choose a successor to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who retired last month.
In the Sistine Chapel, “everything is conducive to an awareness of the presence of God, in whose sight each person will one day be judged,” John Paul II wrote in his 1996 Apostolic Constitution “Universi Dominici Gregis,” which regulates papal elections.
The Polish pope even devoted a part of his 2003 poem “Roman Triptych” to the chapel, stressing the relationship between Michelangelo’s “marvelous polychromy” and the task of the cardinal- electors during the conclave.
Benedict, who as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger sat there for the two conclaves of 1978 as well as for the 2005 balloting that elected him pope, wrote in his introduction to John Paul’s poem that the image of Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment” “insinuated in our soul the vastness of our responsibility.”
Nevertheless, even if the tradition of voting for the new pontiff in the Sistine Chapel dates back to the Renaissance, the location of the voting didn’t become a fixed feature of the conclaves until the 19th century — and only with John Paul II’s rules did the Sistine Chapel become the official theater of papal elections.
The 115 cardinals who will assemble under Michelangelo’s frescoes Tuesday afternoon will see a very different chapel from the one usually seen by millions of tourists.
According to Antonio Paolucci, the director of the Vatican Museum, about 25,000 people visit the Sistine Chapel every day, for a total of over 5 million visitors a year.
Last year, one of Italy’s leading intellectuals complained in the Corriere della Sera newspaper that visitors thronged the sacred space “like drunken herds,” while the vapor from their breath and the noise from their voice made “any form of contemplation impossible.”
Cardinals, however, will have more than enough time to gorge their eyes on the masterpieces as voting slowly proceeds.
While lighting in the chapel is usually suffused, for the conclave, the frescoes by Michelangelo and Botticelli will be bathed in a brilliant light.
In preparation for the conclave and announcement of a new pope, workers carry chairs into the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. The conclave to pick a new pope will begin on Tuesday (March 12) the Vatican said Friday, resolving an open question that had dogged the cardinals meeting here over the past week. RNS photo by David Gibson
This image available for Web and print publication. For questions, contact Sally Morrow.
Efforts by the Vatican police to prevent electronic snooping on the vote led to the removal of climate-control sensors that help regulate the atmosphere inside the chapel and protect the frescoes from soot and humidity.
The sensors were scheduled to be replaced anyway, Paolucci told Catholic News Service.
Security measures are so strict, he added, that cardinals won’t even be able to use the Vatican museum toilets during the voting.
“I believe they may be installing portable chemical toilets inside the chapel,” he said.
Inside the chapel, the ornate inlaid marble floor has been covered by a wooden platform to smooth out the uneven patches, while two rows of desks line the walls.
Cardinals will sit there as they watch their colleagues approach the altar under the “Last Judgment,” one by one, to take the oath — “I call as my witness Christ the Lord who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who before God I think should be elected” — and place the ballot in an urn on the altar.
In a corner, two stoves — one for burning the ballots and one, introduced in 2005 specially designed to produce the famous smoke that signals whether a pope has been elected or not — have been installed, surmounted by a metal scaffolding supporting the copper pipes that lead up to the chimney.
Throngs of tourists and faithful in St. Peter’s Square will have their eyes fixed on the chimney, trying to tell whether the smoke coming out of it twice a day is white (signaling that a pope has been elected) or black (meaning that cardinals still haven’t been able to agree on a name).
Like everything surrounding the election of the new pope, even the stove carries the weight of history: Etched on its top are the dates and number of ballots of the previous conclaves it has been a witness to since Pope Pius XII’s election in 1939.
The last marking reads “2005/IV,” for the four ballots that led to the election of Benedict XVI.
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FaithInTheFuture
In search of a Pope:
What is Christianity? Compassion? Love? Self-sacrifice? Self-loathing?
The challenge of the next Pope…
7 billion people live in the world today.
1.1 billion people claim to be Catholic, though many stopped going to church.
2.4 billion use the Internet.
We live in a world where a single message can reach 1/3rd of the population in seconds. A single message can cause suicides and heartache across the entire world. A single message can expose intolerance, abuse, and even prejudice toward individuals.
God doesn’t make mistakes, humans do.
Humans are in charge of understanding God’s will. It is easy to see how those rules were biased in the past.
They lived in a small village where people died young. If a few were mistreated, they moved to another village and were never heard from again. Many of our saints and prophets interpreted their writings based on their limited experience.
Now these minorities can no longer be EXCLUDED.
Now, the Internet connects us globally with friends and family of all different cultures, skin colors, sexual orientations, and political views. When a leader condemns an individual’s entire life, we all feel their pain.
People used to turn to the church for support, but now entire families turn away from the church as the world accepts truths that the church refuses.
Many leaders know that bible interpretations are imperfect. Even the cardinals have differing opinions. The stronger they stand against recognized truths, the less a future society will accept them.
Jesus made it clear that you should treat others the way you wish to be treated.
The next Pope faces many challenges, but the greatest will be to offer a vision of hopeful and fulfilling lives to ALL individuals.
An example is needed:
Throughout all of history, 1 in 12 people have always been Gay, and it shows up randomly in ALL families in ALL cultures. Some are even born naturally with both male and female organs. I think it’s God’s simple test to see if we can treat everyone kindly.
Over the last few years, the world expressed acceptance that love between two humans isn’t limited to opposite sexes. Majorities in every culture now recognize the suffering the church has inflicted on this minority. Compassion is winning over prejudice. Almost every family is discovering they have at least one gay relative. Families now refuse to condemn those loved ones to a lifetime of secrets and misery.
7 billion people in the world today.
0.6 billion people in the world are gay.
I doubt God wanted nearly 10% of his people to leave miserable, self-loathing, lonely, celibate, abused lives, with no hope of any true love over the 90 years of their lives.
Gay couples are more capable of raising children than single parents. Like any other family, adoption lets them lead rich full lives, and they make excellent grandparents. They also represent a larger population than the total number of church-going Catholics.
Since Christmas 2012, I had a recurring dream that made little sense until the Pope resigned. I saw myself writing this letter.
A man, like the Pope, can make a mistake that causes mass suicides, cause families to tell their kids the life they lead is WRONG, and cause individuals to self-loath themselves into thinking they were God’s mistake. That man can also be given the insight that perhaps he made a mistake that destroyed the lives of others. He can realize God’s world is more complex than he could handle. He prevented treating individuals as if they were part of God’s plan.
If people make other people’s entire lives miserable on earth, why would they expect a place in heaven. If people can find a way to treat every life as if it falls into God’s master plan, full of hope and love, then they are the ones who have made heaven on earth and deserve a place in an everlasting future.
Prejudice and discrimination brings some together against others; Compassion brings them all.
In the dream, I signed this letter by my Confirmation name:
–Faithfully, Eugene
Southern Baptist
Gay ‘couples’ can NOT raise NORMAL kids!
Kids need a mother & father, not two mentally ill sexual deviants!
инструкция по применению
I used to be recommended this blog by means of my cousin. I’m now not certain whether or not this post is written through him as no one else know such designated about my problem. You’re amazing! Thank you!