What Happens Next?

[LordOfTheBorg 1]

 

Q&A: What happens next?

Pope John Paul II in 2004

 

The Pope has specified his own funeral arrangements

 

The death of Pope John Paul II at the age of 84 immediately sets in motion a chain of events leading up to burial and election of a successor.

 

The BBC News website looks at key points of this chain, some of them rituals dating back many centuries.

 

Q: What happens immediately after a pope dies?

 

According to tradition, when the pope's body is discovered, his baptismal name is called out three times. If there is no response he is judged to be dead.

 

There is a strict Vatican protocol for dealing with the death of a pope. Word is passed through the Church's civil service - the Curia - and foreign ambassadors and heads of state are informed officially. But it is Vatican Radio that flashes news of his death around the world.

 

There will be a small ceremony during which the Pope's Fisherman's Ring and papal seal are broken. It is a symbolic act today, but one originally designed to prevent impersonation and forgery.

 

Q: What is the procedure for the funeral?

 

Each pope is able to specify their own funeral arrangements. This time, the Vatican will be working to a blueprint drawn up by Pope John Paul II in 1996.

 

According to, Dr John Pollard, a Cambridge University historian, the Pope's body is likely to be embalmed and then exposed for the veneration of the faithful - usually in a major chapel of St Peter's Basilica.

 

Dr Pollard says various requiem services are held over a maximum period of nine days. Pope John Paul II must be buried within four to six days of his death.

 

The funeral will take place in St Peter's Square and heads of state and government and religious leaders from around the world will be invited.

 

Church services will also be held all over Poland, which will observe at least one day of national mourning.

 

Q: Where will the Pope be buried?

 

The Pope is expected to be buried alongside his immediate predecessors in the crypt under the main altar of Saint Peter's Basilica. There have been rumours that he wanted to be buried in Poland, but experts say this is unlikely.

 

Other reports say officials in Poland want the Pope's heart to be extracted and buried in Krakow, where the Pope was once a cardinal. Dr Pollard says this is unlikely, although it was the custom until the late 19th Century to bury the pope's heart separately.

 

Q: How is a successor chosen?

 

Cardinals from around the world elect the successor in a centuries-old ritual called the conclave. This is supposed to begin 15 to 20 days after the pope's death.

 

Before the conclave, coalition-builders will have been forging alliances. Senior cardinals who may themselves have little chance of becoming pope can still exert a considerable influence over the others. It is therefore a crucial stage in the election process and a time when every public remark by the cardinals is picked over by Vatican-watchers.

 

On the day the conclave begins, the cardinals will move in procession into the Sistine Chapel. They will have the option of holding an initial ballot - but only that first ballot - on their first afternoon in conclave. This would give them an opportunity to gauge the level of support for various candidates, before retiring for the night to contemplate their choice. Or they could follow the normal practice of waiting until the following morning to begin the election and the voting.

 

From this point, there will be four ballots a day until a new pope is chosen. The ballot papers are burned after every second vote, so black smoke is likely to be seen twice a day - at around midday and in the late afternoon or early evening. When a new pope has been chosen, white smoke emerges.

 

The new pope will then appear on the balcony of St Peter's Basilica.

 

Where is the next pope likely to come from?

 

The election is genuinely wide open but it is possible to identify some key players.

 

For 455 years before the election of Pope John Paul all Popes had been Italian. One of the big questions this time round is whether Italy will get the papacy back. Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi of Milan is a strong candidate.

 

But many Vatican watchers are far from convinced they will, for the simple reason that the proportion of Italians in the electoral body has declined in recent years.

 

Much more likely, they believe, is that the next pope will be from the developing world - and most likely from Latin America, whose cardinals now form a powerful voting bloc. One name that is being talked about is Cardinal Claudio Hummes, Archbishop of Sao Paulo in Brazil.

 

Nearly half of the world's baptised Catholics live in the Americas, and more live in Brazil than in any other country in the world.

 

There is a chance that an African pope could emerge from the conclave. Cardinal Francis Arinze is a Nigerian who has long been regarded as a serious contender.

[Itchygomba69 0]

they had this Illustrated on MSNBC very insightful, I like learning about stuff like this, since im 24 almost 25 i never experienced the transfer of Papal power

[VaBeachGuy 12]

they had this Illustrated on MSNBC very insightful, I like learning about stuff like this, since im 24 almost 25 i never experienced the transfer of Papal power

315094[/snapback]

The next Pope will be the 4th Pope in my lifetime. I remember back in 1978 (I was 9 years old) when Pope Paul VI died and Pope John Paul I was elected. It was a big deal to my family then because we were catholic at that time.

 

I remember it was during the summer time because I was helping my brother deliver his papers on his paper route for the Washington Post. Then a month later that Pope died and shortly later they elected Pope John Paul II.

 

I'm no longer catholic, we switched to the Baptist church in the early 80's, but it's sad to see this Pope fade the way he did. It will be interesting to see who follows him but I wouldn't expect to see someone of his like again.

 

In my mind there were 3 great "Cold Warriors". Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II and Margaret Thatcher. Now only Margaret Thatcher is left and the last that I saw of her as President Reagans funeral she's in poor health herself.

[HRH The KING 0]

In my mind there were 3 great "Cold Warriors". Ronald Reagan, Pope John Paul II and Margaret Thatcher.

 

Absolutely right.

 

I completely agree.

[Odie 0]

This will be my third, but I was too young to remember the other 2 popes. In many ways its a first for me.

[LoveMalePecs1 0]

I dont really recall the other Popes that came before Pope John Paul II was too young but i do recall in the 80's when he came to visit Montreal in the Pope Mobile i saw it on t.v when i had a ped day from school.

 

 

B) B) B) :P

[Theunicornhunter 2]

Who officially heads the Catholic church until the next Pope is elected?

[Itchygomba69 0]

the cardinals

[Sgt. Phaserman 0]

Officially? Noone, really. no major acts will occur in the church (Acts like changing the various stances the Catholic Church has, such as those of contraception and female priests) until a new pope is elected. however, the senior member of the College of Cardinals will probably be the acting head of the church.

[Kor37 9]

They said on the news that some Cardinal (I've forgotten his name) who is the financial officer of the Vatican will be making all of the decisions until a new Pope is selected.

[Odie 0]

Ritual, secrecy, politics play roles in picking new pontiff

 

By DANIEL J. WAKIN

 

The New York Times

 

 

The end of a papacy sets in motion a highly ritualized, centuries-old tradition and a deeply human one: politicking and coalition building.

 

Governance of the religion of more than a billion people enters a state of suspended animation. Oversight goes into the hands of the College of Cardinals, which takes charge of the transition but is barred from making any major decisions or changing the rules of succession.

 

Several Vatican officials step into carefully designated roles to carry out the choreography of funeral rites and the selection of a successor. The rules they will administer are highly codified, relics of reaction to centuries-old abuses by cardinals temporarily unfettered by a pope's death, but also intended to ensure secrecy and an orderly transition.

 

How the cardinals arrive at their selection will most certainly be a mystery for now. If the past is a measure, accounts are likely to emerge only in the years to come.

 

With the pope's death, leaders of Vatican agencies, including cardinals, lose their jobs, although their deputies stay to run daily affairs, and papal representatives abroad keep their positions.

 

Several other officials remain, including the cardinal chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church; the major penitentiary, who handles matters of the confessional; and the vicar general for the Diocese of Rome. They are the only cardinals to keep their positions.

 

Important decisions will be handled by all the cardinals. The dean, who summons the cardinals to Rome, oversees them.

 

At their first meeting, the cardinals will be given a document on succession John Paul II wrote in 1996, “Universi Dominici Gregis.” Parts are read aloud. The cardinals swear to obey and to keep “rigorous secrecy.” The cardinals will meet every day, including the day of the funeral.

 

They first decide when and how the body of the pope will be taken to St. Peter's Basilica to lie in state. Next come funeral arrangements.

 

Continuing funeral rites in churches in Rome will last nine days. Entombment must take place between the fourth day and the sixth day after death, and the body will be taken beneath St. Peter's.

 

After the pope's funeral, the next major event is the conclave, the gathering of cardinals sealed inside the Vatican for highly secret voting.

 

The days leading up to the conclave, despite the ban on politicking, are a critical time for cardinals to lobby one another discreetly over meals, through news interviews and, during the nine days of rites, through homilies. The lobbying will not stop during the conclave. In conclaves of the 20th century, according to historians and the memoirs of participants, groups of cardinals settled on a compromise candidate to break a deadlock or to block an opponent. Support was promised if an ally was given a top job or an opponent denied one.

 

The conclave must start 15 to 20 days after the pope's death. Only cardinals younger than 80 can vote for a pope. There are 119 of them now.

 

No one but the cardinals and a handful of church officials and authorized attendants are allowed into the residence where the voting occurs. They include two doctors for emergencies, priests to hear confessions, housekeepers, cooks and servers. All must swear to keep anything they hear secret. They face excommunication if they do not.

 

Balloting begins, with the first day limited to one round. In the past, the initial vote has been a testing of the waters, with cardinals voting for friends or respected colleagues. Thereafter, two rounds are held in the morning, and two in the afternoon. Contenders begin to emerge.

 

If two-thirds of the ballots go to one candidate, he is pope. The ballots will be burned, with chemicals added to create white smoke that emerges through the chapel's chimney in the famous signal. If no pope is chosen, the ballots are still burned, but the smoke is black and voting continues.

 

Immediately after the selection, the dean of the college asks the winner, “Do you accept your canonical election as supreme pontiff?” After the presumed yes, he then asks, “By what name do you wish to be called?” The chosen one will answer and will become the 265th head of the Roman Catholic Church.

 

The new pope will approach the balcony of St. Peter's. A senior cardinal will announce to the world, “Habemus papam” (“We have a pope”), and give the name of the new leader of the church, who will impart a blessing and may add some impromptu remarks.

 

I hope this helpful.