It’s a ritual as rich in tradition and symbolism as the Catholic Church can muster: secret oaths, hypnotic Gregorian chants, scarlet-decked cardinals filing through the Sistine Chapel — all while the public outside in St. Peter’s Square watches for white smoke or black to learn if they have a new pope.
Next month’s conclave to elect the 266th leader of the world’s billion Catholics will have all the grand trappings of papal elections past — with the added twist that this time around the current pope is still alive.
Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation, the first papal abdication in 600 years, has caused chaos in the Vatican: Nobody knows for sure what he’ll be called much less what he’ll wear after Feb. 28. But one thing is clear: The rules and rituals to elect his successor will follow a carefully orchestrated program thanks in large part to Archbishop Piero Marini.
The Vatican’s master of liturgical celebrations for two decades under Pope John Paul II, Marini organized the funeral rites for the late pontiff and the conclave that elected Benedict. He was by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger‘s side minutes after the election when the new pope uttered the words “I accept” — officially launching his papacy on April 19, 2005.
“I still remember, with some emotion, the silence that there was — the participation of the cardinals,” Marini recalled in an interview in his Vatican offices. “It was an event that had been prepared with great care.”
Marini subsequently published the “bible” of how to run a conclave — a dense tome of footnoted decrees, floor-plans, directions and photos. The book will serve as a guide when 117 cardinals gather in the Sistine Chapel to elect Benedict’s successor.
The Vatican said Saturday that the conclave may well start before March 15, the earliest date that current rules would allow it to get underway. The Holy See in the coming days or weeks plans to publish an update to the main apostolic constitution that guides the papal transition with some ceremonial tweaks.
The conclave begins with the cardinals in their red cassocks filing into the Sistine Chapel, chanting the monophonic Litany of Saints followed by another sacred song, Veni, Creator Spiritus, imploring the intervention of the saints and Holy Spirit as they take their places before Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment.”
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