Black smoke rises from the chimney in the Sistine Chapel in the first round of voting in the conclave. Did anyone expect anything different? The first round almost never produces a clear vote. Especially when the College of Cardinals has such a deep bench of papabile. The seclusion of the conclave eventually produces the best results in the end.
The mainstream media has made a kind of joke about the centuries-old tradition of the conclave, but it does work for the Church. The talking and speeches are over, and now it's time for worship, prayer, meditation, and voting - and more prayer, worship, meditation, and voting. The nature of the conclave makes for choices that are clear-headed without the usual rhetoric, passion, and compromise found in secular political elections.
So be patient and let the process work - and keep your eye on the chimney.
NBC was practically drooling over the idea of a liberal (by their standard). I happened to catch it as I was coming in from shoveling snow.
ReplyDeleteThe token liberal woman dissident interviewed said something about a pope that would understand the priest abuse scandal, and appeal to the flock that had left.
If there actually was a pope who recognized the problem and dealt with it accordingly, those people would scream bloody murder.
I've seen that trend in the Mainstream media too. They keep asking why they won't elect an American Pope, and then they bring up the politically-correct trifecta of Cardinal Weurl, Cardinal O'Malley, and ... Cardinal Weurl? Oops, they forgot the only one who would actually have a shot - Cardinal Burke.
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