Picking the pope: Holy Spirit or ‘groupthink’?
An unidentified Cardinal walking toward the Domus Santa Martha, the hotel where the Cardinals live during the Conclave. Many Cardinals cruise the streets of Rome by chauffered car; but some prefer the old fashioned method of transportation. Photo by Rene Shaw.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) While the Holy Spirit may be getting more efficient in producing shorter papal conclaves, behavioral scientists say a more pronounced “bandwagon effect” is now as powerful as any electioneering did before.