Irish archbishop calls for prayer as Conclave meets to select new Pope
A delegation of 133 cardinal-electors are due to descend on the Vatican's Sistine Chapel, as speculation mounts over who could succeed the late Pope Francis as leader of the Catholic Church. Francis, who spent his final months suffering from pneumonia and existing lung conditions, died of a stroke on Easter Monday at the age of 88. Pope Francis' funeral was attended by many high-profile world leaders (Photo by)
In a statement from the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference, Archbishop Martin asked Irish Catholics to pray to the Holy Ghost as cardinals begin the long process of prayer and discernment to decide a successor, which can often last for extended periods of time.
"I ask you, as the conclave begins tomorrow, to join me in prayer," said Martin, who has served as Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland since 2014.
"O God, eternal shepherd, who govern your flock with unfailing care, grant in your boundless fatherly love a pastor for your Church who will please you by his holiness and to us show watchful care."
The conclave meets - who could be the next pope? Pietro Parolin could be the next pope (Image: claude.truong.ngoc@gmail.com)
Wednesday's meeting of the conclave will be the first since 2013, when then-Pope Benedict XVI unexpectedly resigned in light of advancing age. Francis, born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was elected on the fifth ballot, ascending to the papacy as the first pontiff from Latin America, as well as the first from the Jesuit Order.
His potential successors include Vatican secretary of State Pietro Parolin, who also served as Francis' chief advisor throughout his reign. His conservative views clashed with Francis' more liberal approach at times - Parolin made headlines in 2015, decrying the vote to allow same-sex marriage in Ireland as "a defeat for humanity."
Other frontrunners for the papacy include Maltese cardinal Mario Grech, who like Francis softened his stance on social issues over time. Meanwhile, Congolese cardinal Fridolin Ambongo Besungu - who has pledged to work more closely with Islamic and Protestant leaders - could become the Church's first African leader for nearly 1,500 years.
The process of selecting a new pope is notoriously secretive - each cardinal, as well as the Vatican's medical and dining staff - are sworn to absolute secrecy, and the chapel is swept for listening and recording devices.
Those entering the conclave must hand over all electronics to Vatican police - anyone who fails to comply risks excommunication from the Church. White smoke from the chapel's chimney indicates a new Pope has been chosen (Image: AFP/Getty Images)
Once a new pope is selected, all ballots cast are burnt at the end of voting, along with a chemical compound to turn the thick smoke a white colour. Bells are rung, before the new pope emerges overlooking St. Peter's Square to give his first blessing.
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Irish Times
a day ago
- Irish Times
How have the first 100 days of Pope Leo's papacy gone?
A week after he was elected 267th pontiff, Pope Leo XIV gathered the world's ambassadors to the Holy See in the Vatican 's richly marbled Clementine Hall. The aim of the Catholic Church 's international outreach, he said, was 'peace'. Peace requires 'carefully choosing our words', he told the diplomats. 'For words too, not only weapons, can wound and even kill.' Cautious communications have defined the first three months of Pope Leo's papacy and represent the clearest shift from his predecessor Pope Francis , whose casual style and off-the-cuff remarks endeared him to many but could also cause division and controversy. 'Pope Leo is more of a mediator,' says Saverio Gaeta, a Vaticanologist and author of biographies of both popes. 'Francis was less diplomatic. He didn't always moderate his words.' READ MORE By making few headlines in his first three months, Leo has defied the old received wisdom that it would be impossible to have a pope from the United States because he would be a media magnet, his words constantly interpreted as commentary on political events in Washington. 'The pope who emerged from the conclave was not the most 'papabile' [likely candidate], but is the pope who brings together the different strands of the church,' says Father Fabio Nardelli, OFM, a lecturer at two pontifical universities in Rome. 'He has emphasised unity.' It was Francis who elevated Robert Francis Prevost, as he was then known, into high church office. In advance of this year's conclave he was seen as someone from the Argentine's camp, and since his election Leo's public addresses have indeed been peppered with fond references to his predecessor. However, from the first moments of his papacy Leo has also quietly resumed traditions that Francis had shirked, reassuring conservatives. In a critical article, former president Mary McAleese this week took issue with his attitude toward women and same-sex marriage, along other things. After the white smoke signalled his election on May 8th, Leo appeared on the balcony over St Peter's Square dressed in a red mozzetta, a traditional elbow-length cape. It was a garment Francis had dispensed with, preferring to wear simply a white cassock, part of his dislike for pomp. In this time of epochal change, the Holy See cannot fail to make its voice heard in the face of the many imbalances and injustices that lead, not least, to unworthy working conditions and increasingly fragmented and conflict-ridden societies — Pope Leo Leo also resumed the tradition of escaping the Roman heat to spend a holiday at Castel Gandolfo, the lakeside town that has hosted popes for centuries and where townsfolk delightedly greeted the return of a pontiff after a 12-year hiatus. Where Francis famously chose to live in the Casa Santa Marta guesthouse in Vatican City, Leo is expected to take up residence in the traditional papal rooms of the Apostolic Palace, which is being renovated in anticipation of his arrival. There, he will have a private diningroom, chapel, library, study, and bedroom beside the famous window where popes deliver the Sunday Angelus. Leo's appointments – and to a certain extent access to him – will be managed by a personal secretary within the papal quarters, another tradition that Francis had dispensed with. It's a return to the more formal Vatican structure of the past. 'Living in Santa Marta, Francis would bump into people in the lift, on the stairs, in the courtyard, and he exchanged words with some of them. Some gave him their opinions and suggestions,' Gaeta recalls, describing the confusion that would ensue among fellow Vaticanologists as they sought to clarify remarks Francis had been purported to say. 'The fact that there wasn't a filter allowed him to say things that sometimes went too far, and caused problems,' he adds. 'Leo is returning to what was normality before.' Pope Leo XIV waves as he arrives to lead his weekly general audience in St Peter's square at the Vatican. Photograph: Maria Grazia Picciarella/Middle East Images via AFP One camp Leo has gently reached out to is the Curia, the Vatican's internal bureaucracy. Whereas Francis openly chastised the officials, accusing them of gossiping, rivalry, and seeking worldly profit, Leo used his first meeting with them to thank them for their work as custodians of the 'historical memory' of the church. 'Popes pass; the Curia remains,' Leo flattered them. [ Pope tells crowd of one million young Catholics 'a different world is possible' Opens in new window ] His first words as Pope spoke of building bridges; in a seven-minute address, he used the word 'peace' seven times. The choice of 'Leo' as his name sent a message from the offset that Prevost intended to act as a steadying hand. The last Pope Leo reigned at the turn of the 20th century and is remembered for advocating a middle way at a time of revolutionary change, opposing both unfettered capitalism and radical socialism while advocating for workers' rights. 'His was a time of schisms. His leadership guided the boat of St Peter on to calmer seas,' Nardelli says. The new Pope has said he was thinking particularly of Rerum Novarum, a work by the prior Leo that is considered the foundation of modern Catholic social doctrine. He told cardinals in May that the church needed to respond to a new technology-led industrial revolution that had occurred, referring in particular to artificial intelligence . 'In this time of epochal change, the Holy See cannot fail to make its voice heard in the face of the many imbalances and injustices that lead, not least, to unworthy working conditions and increasingly fragmented and conflict-ridden societies,' Leo said. [ Inside the conclave: how a quiet American became pope Opens in new window ] 'Every effort should be made to overcome the global inequalities – between opulence and destitution – that are carving deep divides between continents, countries and even within individual societies.' Artificial intelligence has emerged as an early theme of his papacy and it is expected to feature in his first papal encyclical, a document setting out guidance on Catholic teaching. Leo is believed to be using his time at Castel Gandolfo, where he has few public appointments, to work on the text. Traditionally, a pope's first encyclical lays out a roadmap for the papacy ahead, and Leo's is expected to address the centrality of Christ, the church's missionary role – and how the global church, in all its diversity, can remain unified. As a US cardinal, Prevost was keenly aware that Francis's papacy had in some quarters been controversial. In the US, some conservative factions had taken to openly criticising and challenging Francis's teachings. In an address to an Illinois parish in 2024, Prevost defended the pontiff as someone chosen by the Holy Spirit who was truly trying to live out the words of the gospel. 'Francis is not afraid to rock the boat a bit, to shake things up, and when he does that there are people who are uncomfortable,' he told the churchgoers. 'I do think that some things he says and does are not understood by everyone.' In the same talk, Prevost displayed a wariness of speaking freely in public himself, telling the audience that his work of appointing bishops could involve 'politics'. Pope Leo meets President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina in the Vatican after his inauguration ceremony mass in May. Photograph: Vatican/Maxwells 'If I get into this, I don't know if I'm being livestreamed but it can be dangerous ...' he trailed off. Asked for his best stories about Pope Francis, whom he knew for decades, he replied humorously: 'The best stories I can't tell here, but if you catch me in the parking lot, maybe one or two.' For all his caution in public appearances, there are indications that Leo is not the aloof figure that some popes were in the past. In June, he took on his personal secretary in a game of tennis in the grounds of his old Augustinian order, according to its current prior general Father Alejandro Moral, an old friend. Moral also disclosed that the Pope remains an avid user of WhatsApp, responding to messages at three in the morning. Father Ángel Peña, pastor of the Parish of St Martin of Tours, in Leo's old diocese of Chiclayo, told a Vatican News documentary that he used to get birthday messages each year on May 10th from the man he knew as 'Padre Roberto'. When Leo became pope on May 8th, he assumed he would no longer have time. 'Suddenly at five in the afternoon here in Peru a message arrived from Cardinal Prevost, now Pope: 'Happy birthday Ángel. God bless you,'' the priest said. 'I kept looking at the message to see if it was real.' Leo used English to put international journalists at ease at an early gathering after his election, with a self-deprecating quip wondering whether they would still be awake at the end of his speech. [ Pope Leo calls for release of Gena Heraty and eight others kidnapped in Haiti Opens in new window ] Yet although he is arguably the first pope to be a native speaker of English – at least since the election of Adrian in 1154, who would have spoken Middle English – Leo's use of the global lingua franca has been somewhat sparse. Italian is the language he has used for most messages of substance since he became Bishop of Rome, along with some use of the Spanish of his adopted Peru. English appears to be Pope Leo's diplomatic language, used in meetings with international visitors like US vice-president JD Vance and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy , but not often in public addresses. Some Vatican watchers have wondered whether limiting his use of English in this way is a deliberate choice that has helped him keep a low profile, given the greater scrutiny such declarations could bring. 'I think Leo will contribute to peace around the world, but will also bring some pacification within the church, in areas where there have been difficulties,' says Gaeta, the Vaticanologist. 'They are already beginning to be reconciled.'
Irish Times
a day ago
- Irish Times
Never heard of St Phoebe? Here's why
The Catholic Church 's annual opportunity to ignore the history of women deacons comes again this September 3rd, the Feast of St Phoebe, Deacon of the Church at Cenchrea. Never heard of her? That's because in 1969, the church calendar moved St Gregory the Great's formal feast day from his date of death (March 12th) to the date he was elected pope, conveniently enough, September 3rd, overshadowing her. Conveniently, because Gregory is the preacher who passed along the falsehood that St Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. You cannot make this up. Now it is worse. Angry journalists, bloggers, and even bishops are spreading even more false information about the history of, and the possibility for the restoration of, the tradition of ordaining women as Catholic deacons. Relying on translated copies of a 43-year-old book on the topic, they posit that no woman was ever ordained deacon in the history of the church, despite the author's admission that, because there are many missing historical documents, no final determination is possible. So, what is the problem? Several assertions float about attempting to cut off the Synod on Synodality's magisterially mandated conversations about restoring the practice of ordaining women as deacons. They fall into two main categories: 1) women cannot 'image' Christ, and 2) holy orders cannot be divided. READ MORE The most startling objection is that women cannot image Christ, and therefore that they are not made in the image and likeness of God. Yet, the consoling fact of the incarnation is that God became human in the person of Jesus Christ. Obviously, the understanding of anyone representing Christ today does not depend on sexual differences. To say women cannot represent Christ – cannot be signs of Christ in and for the church – is to deny their full humanity. The assertion sends a terrible signal to the rest of the world, especially to parts of the world where women are second-class chattel, living dominated by a male family member, unable to vote, drive a car, attend school or even decide whom they might marry. Saying that women can image Christ does not deny gender distinctions or argue for anything other than Catholic teaching: we are all made in the image and likeness of God. To limit that ability due to what scholars call 'naive physicalism' is to deny the extraordinary fact of the resurrection, and the Catholic teaching that Christ lives in all Christians. As the discussion about women deacons reignited during the Second Vatican Council, the theory of the 'unicity of orders' arose. The false argument that because women cannot be ordained priests, they cannot be ordained as deacons has now gained new traction, even within the Vatican. Even Pope Francis presented a version of it in a television interview less than a year before he died. When an American reporter asked if a young girl would be able to think about becoming a deacon, he gave a resounding 'no' to a deacon within holy orders. Why? He did not explain, but as so many other non-specialists do, he reverted to speaking about all the wonderful things women can accomplish while not ordained. Importantly, though, he did not state women could not be ordained as deacons, just that he did not think they would. The Catholic Church's three major orders – the diaconate, the priesthood and the episcopate – have a long development trajectory, but one order does not necessarily imply the other. The diaconate is an interesting case in point. St Paul's Letter to the Romans (57 CE) presents the first, and only, mention of a deacon by title in all of scripture. Her name is Phoebe, and she was included in the church's official list of saints, the Roman Martyrology, at its inception. Paul introduces her to the nascent church in Rome as a deacon and asks the Romans to welcome and, importantly, respect her. It is understood that she carried the letter to Rome and interpreted its theology for these new Christians. Later, the Acts of the Apostles (70-90 CE) recounts the election of seven others by the community at the request of the apostles. They are not given the title 'deacon', despite their designated task to assist with the distribution of food to widows. This event comes well after the death and resurrection of Christ, making the diaconate a creation of the church. But it is Phoebe who is first named and first known, directly, as a deacon. Why is she not welcomed and respected by the church today? Phyllis Zagano is an expert on the diaconate of women. She holds a research appointment at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York, and is the author, most recently, of Just Church: Catholic Social Teaching, Synodality, and Women (Paulist Press).
The Journal
3 days ago
- The Journal
‘Bog-standard patriarchal': McAleese says new Pope's first 100 days ‘anything but forward thinking'
MARY MCALEESE HAS strongly criticised Pope Leo XIV's first 100 days, saying his pontificate has been cautious, conservative, and 'anything but forward thinking.' In an article published in the UK's Catholic Tablet magazine last week, the former Irish president argued that Pope Leo has largely abandoned the more reform-minded elements of his predecessor Francis' papacy, reverting instead to conservative and patriarchal norms. 'Almost entirely gone already are the early signs of Francis' modesty – the plain dress, simple accommodation, and rejection of the summer residence at Castel Gandolfo,' she said. McAleese was particularly critical of Pope Leo's record on women and LGBTQ+ Catholics. She described him as a 'bog-standard patriarchal, patronising and prone to tokenism,' noting that he has inherited a theology of male-only priesthood and shows no inclination to challenge it. His stance on LGBTQ+ Catholics has faced previous criticisim – during his tenure as a bishop in Peru, Pope Leo opposed government plans to include gender teachings in schools and criticised discussions of sexual orientation with children as 'confusing.' In 2012, he expressed concern that Western culture promotes 'enormous sympathy for beliefs and practices that are at odds with the Gospel,' specifically referencing abortion, the 'homosexual lifestyle,' and same-sex families. His stance on the Vatican's 2023 document Fiducia Supplicans, a Vatican guideline which permits nonliturgical blessings for same-sex couples, remains ambiguous, leaving interpretation to national bishops. Pope Leo's recent comments on marriage and abortion, McAleese said, could have been made by Benedict, John Paul II, Paul VI or Pius XI. Advertisement Pope Leo has also attempted to court MAGA supporters in the US, McAleese claimed, seeking financial support for the Church while simultaneously contesting aspects of the political movement's thinking. McAleese warned that this balancing act risks compromising reform, particularly on equality, human rights, and Church teaching on sexuality. She highlighted the appointment of Rev Thomas Hennen as Bishop of Baker, Oregon, a figure linked to Courage International, an organisation operating within Church teaching that regards homosexuality as 'intrinsically disordered.' 'This appointment and its accompanying spin is a worrying straw in the wind,' she wrote. While acknowledging that Pope Leo has continued Francis' advocacy for migrants, the poor, and care for the environment, McAleese said that his approach is advocacy 'with the volume turned down'. 'We appear to have pivoted dramatically from a sometimes narky showman to a shy, genial man, from an impulsive pope to a measured pope, from a Latin American pope to an American pope,' she said. McAleese also questioned whether this gentleness masks a reluctance to take on the entrenched, male-dominated structures of the Church. She pointed out that the Synod on Synodality, though promising at local levels, failed to deliver meaningful reform centrally, leaving Pope Leo at a critical crossroads. The Synod on Synodality is the Church's worldwide 'listening exercise,' meant to gather input from clergy and laypeople to shape reforms and church policy. 'Will he have the courage and faith to be an agent of change, or are we already looking at another filibuster pope – a very different personality from Francis but the same failure to embrace real change?' McAleese said. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
