Choosing a New Pope: Change and Constants 0 (0)

Posted on April 24, 2025 by Brian H. Gill

(Vatican Media photo, via Catholic News Agency: 'Pope Francis gives his general audience via livestream....' (June 17, 2020) used w/o permission.Most headlines in my news feed don’t involve the death of Pope Francis, or what’s happening in Vatican City, now that we’re in the process of mourning one pope and selecting another.

That’s fine by me, since a number of headlines I did notice a number that were (over-) dramatic. Others, apparently linking to op-eds, struck me as reflecting a — limited — view of the Catholic Church. I’ll leave it at that.

A few, from yesterday evening and this morning (Thursday, April 24, 2025), involved how cardinals — specifically, the College of Cardinals — are selecting our new pope.

As I said the other day, we’ve been doing this for two millennia now. The basics haven’t changed: but we’re emphatically not hanging on to every procedural detail.

Pope Paul VI, for example, tweaked the rules in 1975; and Pope Saint John Paul II got the ball rolling for changes that went into effect in 1996.

Vatican News posted a pretty good overview of what’s happening, and what will be happening, yesterday:

“What happens after the Pope dies?”
“The death of a Pope marks the beginning of a series of events that lead to the eventual start of a conclave and election of a new Successor of St. Peter. We lay out in detail the events that lead to the election of a new Pope.”
Lisa Zengarini, Vatican News (April 22, 2o25)

“…Who ‘manages’ the Vacant See?

“According its provisions, during the vacancy of the Apostolic See, the governance of the Church is entrusted to the College of Cardinals. However, their authority is limited to handling only ordinary or urgent matters and preparing for the election of the new Pope.

“The College of Cardinals also assumes all the civil powers of the Supreme Pontiff regarding the Government of Vatican City.

“However, they do not have jurisdiction over matters that were exclusively the Pope’s prerogative during his lifetime….

“…Measures to ensure confidentiality and prevent external interference

“All election procedures take place exclusively in the Sistine Chapel within the Vatican Apostolic Palace, which remains completely sealed off until the election is concluded.

“The Apostolic Constitution of Pope St. John Paul II emphasizes the need to ensure complete secrecy regarding everything happening during the Conclave and anything directly or indirectly related to the election of the Pope. The document details all the precautions to guarantee confidentiality and prevent external interference (paragraphs 51-61)….”

It’s far from sensational reading. But then, selecting our next pope — although immensely important — isn’t particularly sensational.

Whoever becomes our next pope will be the 266267th successor to St. Peter. We’ve — again — been doing this for two millennia.

About Pope Francis; I liked his style, I really liked his opting for the comparatively-simple amenities of the Casa Santa Marta / Saint Martha’s House, and his focus on folks living well below the top ten percent.

I’ve got my preferences for what sort of pope we get next. Being me, I’d like to see someone who’s more of a scholar and theologian. But those are my preferences.

Whoever we get as our next pope, I figure he’ll be Catholic. And I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next.

Two other short posts:

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Pope Francis: Ceremony in Saint Martha’s House Chapel 0 (0)

Posted on April 23, 2025 by Brian H. Gill

Noted:

We’ve been handing the death of popes for something like two millennia now, so we have procedures for this sort of thing.

I mentioned his death yesterday. (Monday, it’s still Tuesday here in Minnesota.)

A few seconds of the 35-second video, showing “the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta”, was the first I’d seen of that place. The architecture is contemporary, the ceremony ancient.

That mix of what’s good in the old and the new is something I like about the Catholic Church. And being a Catholic.

I still don’t have much more to say, except that I’m glad he could die at the place he’d picked as “home”: the Domus Sanctae Marthae, “Saint Martha’s House”, on the south side of Vatican City.

I didn’t have much to say Monday, either:

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Easter Monday: Pope Francis Has Died 0 (0)

Posted on April 21, 2025 by Brian H. Gill

(Vatican Media photo, via Catholic News Agency: 'Pope Francis gives his general audience via livestream....' (June 17, 2020) used w/o permission.This isn’t unexpected:

“Pope Francis has died on Easter Monday aged 88”
Devin Watkins, Vatican News (April 21, 2025)

“At 9:45 AM, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, announced the death of Pope Francis from the Casa Santa Marta with these words:

“‘Dearest brothers and sisters, with deep sorrow I must announce the death of our Holy Father Francis. At 7:35 this morning, the Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of His Church. He taught us to live the values of the Gospel with fidelity, courage, and universal love, especially in favor of the poorest and most marginalized. With immense gratitude for his example as a true disciple of the Lord Jesus, we commend the soul of Pope Francis to the infinite merciful love of the One and Triune God.’…”

He was ordained in 1969, Pope St. John Paul II made him a cardinal in 2001, he became pope in 2013. Two more milestones, and I’ll move on:1

  • Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Buenos Aires, Argentina (December 17, 1936)
  • Died Pope Francis, Vatican City (April 21, 2025)

I’ll miss Pope Francis. Much as I like pomp and circumstance, I also liked the less-formal way he handled non-ceremonial aspects of his job as our Holy Father.

It’s about 10:20 a.m., here in central Minnesota. I learned that Pope Francis had died an hour or so ago. Like I said, it’s not unexpected. Even so, it’ll take time, getting used to the current situation.

There’s more to say about Pope Francis, popes in general, and vaguely-related topics:

1 More about Pope Francis:

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A Messy Death, an Empty Tomb, and the Best News Ever 0 (0)

Posted on April 19, 2025 by Brian H. Gill
William D. Edwards et al.'s Figure 2: 'Scourging. Left, Short whip (flagrum) with lead balls and sheep bones tied into leather thongs. Center left, Naked victim tied to flogging post. Deep stripelike lacerations were usually associated with considerable blood loss. Center right, View from above, showing position of lictors. Right, Inferomedial direction of wounds.' From 'On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ'. JAMA (March 21, 1986) used w/o permission.
From “On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ”, William D. Edwards et al. (March 21, 1986)

About two millennia back now, someone was tortured and nailed to a cross. Then he died.

No surprises there.

The whole point of crucifixion was to kill someone: slowly and painfully.1

Sometimes the subject died during the physical abuse that came first.

Anyway, this person died, was taken off the cross, and was buried.

Time passed.

The Roman Empire went through good years, bad years, really bad years, and eventually crumbled. More than a millennium after that, Europe’s warlords gave up trying to re-start the Roman Empire: partly because they were building their own. It’s been about a century since the European empires fractured.

There’ve been some very interesting developments since then: some of then, I think, very hopeful, and that’s another topic or two.

Jesus: Dead and Buried

'Crucifixion,' detail, Jacopo Tintoretto. (1565)This particular person’s messy death isn’t what made his execution stand out.

It’s what happened later.

The burial — interment, technically, I suppose — was hasty. Maybe prompt is a better word, since they didn’t have much time, and did what they could with what they had.

“After this, Joseph of Arimathea, secretly a disciple of Jesus for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. And Pilate permitted it. So he came and took his body.
“Nicodemus, the one who had first come to him at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about one hundred pounds.
“They took the body of Jesus and bound it with burial cloths along with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom.
“Now in the place where he had been crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had yet been buried.
“So they laid Jesus there because of the Jewish preparation day; for the tomb was close by.”
(John 19:38–42)

An Empty Tomb, Meetings, and —

James Tissot's 'Mary Magdalene Questions the Angels in the Tomb.' (between 1886 and 1894)What’s happened so far might be interesting for a few history buffs. If that.

It’s what happened the next Sunday morning that’s had folks like me repeating the story and celebrating ever since.

Exact details vary, depending on which of the Gospel’s writers were describing what happened: which doesn’t bother me, since none of them were Americans, weren’t writing a ‘just the facts ma’am’ report, and that’s a great many more topics.

What matters is that the body was missing. Jesus wasn’t in the tomb.

It took 40 days of meetings, including at least one working lunch, to convince our Lord’s surviving disciples that they weren’t hallucinating, weren’t talking to a ghost: and that Jesus had stopped being dead.

— The Best News Ever

'The Resurrection of Jesus Christ,' Piero della Francesca. (1463) See see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Resurrection_(Piero_della_Francesca), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museo_Civico_di_Sansepolcro, https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museo_civico_di_Sansepolcro.
“The Resurrection of Jesus Christ”, Piero della Francesca’s fresco in the Museo Civico di Sansepolcro.

The surviving disciples told anyone who’d listen about Jesus: who he is, what he’s done, and the best news humanity’s ever had.

Brian H. Gill's 'Watching.' (2014)Those who listened have been passing along what we’ve learned ever since: God loves us, and wants to adopt us. All of us. (Romans 8:15; Ephesians 1:3–5; Peter 2:3–4; Catechism, 1-3, 27-30, 52, 1825, 1996)

I’ve talked about this before:

1 Maybe this is why I haven’t run across the ‘Jesus just fainted’ assertion lately:

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Holy Thursday, Dealing With an Infection 0 (0)

Posted on April 17, 2025 by Brian H. Gill

It’s Holy Thursday of Holy Week, the day we celebrate and remember the Last Supper: when Jesus established the Eucharist and washed the feet of his disciples.

It’s a big deal, and I didn’t get to Mass today.

I’m not happy about that.

What happened was a scheduling problem and — more basically — an exercise of balancing immediacy and priority.

A week ago yesterday I noticed a drop of blood on my lower left leg. A few days later it had grown into an open sore. Yesterday my wife and I decided that since it wasn’t healing, I’d better go to the local clinic.

Two Trips to the Clinic

Good news, I could get in that afternoon.

An RN evaluated the sore, took a photo — while putting two paper rulers near it — to start a visual record, and had me pick up an antibiotic at a pharmacy. What I’m dealing with is, apparently, in medical-speak, a venous ulcer.

The antibiotic was a new one to me, but — more good news — I’ve exhibited no allergic reactions to it.

I was back at the clinic’s ‘Wound Care’ section this morning.

Most of this morning. Getting more data about my sore wasn’t what took time.

Something else was going on, so I had an opportunity to relax in one of those tilt-back chairs for maybe an hour.

Don’t know what the ‘something else’ was. Or why a Life Link helicopter was revving up its engine as entered the clinic.

Might have had something to do with a massive gathering of law enforcement, medical, and other vehicles a block north of where we live. Then again, maybe not. That sort of thing is unusual around here, and I’m drifting off-topic.

Helping my Body Heal

Anyway, I finally got home, with instructions on how to make it easier for my body to deal with that sore. I’ll be back at the clinic in two weeks.

The working assumption now is that the MRSA infection — it resurfaced my lower left shin several years back — flared up.

I’m not happy about that, either. But the odds are very good that this infection will get cleared up. Or driven back into hiding, at any rate.

More good news: what my wife and I had started doing a couple weeks back, putting an antibiotic on the sore and a bandage over it, was a good idea.

It’s what we’ll keep doing, but now with a more effective antibiotic. Two antibiotics, actually. One working on the infection from the outside, one from the inside.

So, on balance, good news.

Getting back to Holy Thursday and what I did today: Mass is important. The Eucharist is very important.

But taking care of my health, within reason, is also important. And an open sore that wasn’t healing is a rather immediate concern.

I’ve talked about life, health, faith, and using my brain, before. Along with why and how I’ve learned to ask questions and think about medical treatments:

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