VATICAN CITY (RNS) Argentinian Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected as Pope Francis on Wednesday after only two days of voting in the conclave tasked with choosing a successor to Pope Benedict XVI.
Religion News Service reporter David Gibson was interviewed on NPR’s Here and Now about our Sweet Sistine “Pope Madness” tournament. Audio courtesy Here and Now
The conclave to elect a new pope began on Tuesday (March 12) and Catholics gathered for Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. Religion News Service photos by Andrea Sabbadini Click any image below to view photo slideshow.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Black smoke from the chimney atop the Sistine Chapel signaled that the first day of the conclave ended without the election of a new pope.
(RNS) The Catholic Church needs a strong manager to govern Vatican bureaucratic chaos. Who are cardinals who could crack the whip?
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Everyone gathered around the papal conclave had theories, many had favorites, and most declared it all so unpredictable that the winner – or even how long it would take to find him – was anybody’s guess.
(RNS) No one knows what name the next pope will pick. But choosing a new moniker is a decision that’s tied up in history, tradition and more than a little symbolic value.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI’s former personal secretary will return to Rome to assist the opening of the papal election in the Sistine Chapel, highlighting the unprecedented situation created by the resignation of a living pope.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) One reason why conservatives are seeking a hard-liner pope is that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger turned out to be more of a papal pussycat as Pope Benedict XVI than the watchdog of orthodoxy that he had been for decades under John Paul II.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The tradition of voting for the new pontiff in the Sistine Chapel dates back to the Renaissance, but 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.
