Latest news with #PhilipPullella
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pope who? Election of first US pontiff stuns St. Peter's crowd
By Angelo Amante and Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - When Cardinal Dominique Mambertì appeared on the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica and uttered the fateful Latin phrase "Habemus Papam" (We have a pope), more than a hundred thousand people cheered. When he read out the new pope's name in Latin - Robertum Franciscum Prevost (Robert Francis Prevost) - the crowd fell silent. Many had no clue that the first U.S. pope in the history of the 2,000-year Church had just been elected. In some cases, it was reporters who told people in the crowd who the new pope was. "I had absolutely no idea who he was. I was hoping for an African pope so more parts of the world would be represented," said Veronica Genovese, a Roman. "I came here from work. I was expecting an Italian. I don't know who he is," said Federica Bonomi, another Rome resident. The initial reaction was similar to when Cardinal Karol Wojtyla of Poland was elected the first non-Italian pope in 455 years in 1978. Because of the difficulty even the cardinal who announced the name had in pronouncing Polish many in the crowd 47 years ago thought an African had been elected. The crowd on Thursday quickly warmed to the new pope when he appeared on the balcony. He delivered his first address as pontiff in fluent Italian and Spanish, mentioning his former diocese of Chiclayo, Peru. He did not say anything in English or mention the country of his birth. AMERICANS IN CROWD THRILLED Still, Americans in the crowd of more than 100,000 were ecstatic. "I'm just thrilled. I hope this can bring to America a more loving community. I think there's a lot of hate in America, there's a lot of racism. I have experienced it. It's very sad,' said Lailah Brown, 28, an African American from Seattle, who was on a religious pilgrimage with her sister. Brown said she hoped the new pope could encourage more Americans to follow Jesus' example. "I hope America does not embarrass the pope. America does very embarrassing things that go against the Bible and I'm just hoping that we can start living more biblically and love others not based on who they love or their skin colour but because they are our neighbours,' she said. An American woman from Long Island in New York, who gave only her first name, Geena, said she hoped the new pope would help bring unity to the United States and the world. Among the most pleasantly shocked Americans in the square were two foreign exchange students in Italy - Mackenzie Coy, 20, and Ella Buchanan, 19. They and the pope share the same hometown. "Some very lovely young lady came up to us to shake our hands and told us he was from America. 'Il papa è Americano!' (the pope is American) she told us,' Coy said. "Some said he was from Canada, and some said he was from Peru," she said, mentioning the South American country where Prevost spent nearly two decades. "We were just trying to put the pieces together and we started hearing people say 'Chicago, Chicago' and we were so thrilled."
Yahoo
06-05-2025
- Yahoo
Michelangelo meets James Bond: high-tech in Sistine Chapel to keep conclave secret
By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Vatican technicians are securing what on Wednesday will arguably become the world's most beautiful bunker, making sure that what happens in the Sistine Chapel stays in the Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo, meet James Bond. On Wednesday afternoon, about 133 cardinals under the age of 80 will file into the chapel adorned with frescoes painted by the Renaissance master to enter a secret conclave to decide who will be the next Catholic pope. They will walk on a newly installed floor elevated to provide a seamless platform with the base of the altar, which is several steps higher than the rest of the chapel. Just what may be under that temporary floor, apart from wiring for electricity and sound systems, depends on which Vatican official one talks to. It may, or may not, be the home to jamming devices. The devices may also be near the upper windows of the chapel, which is about 68 feet (20.1 metres) high. Officials have at times contradicted each other. The details, after all, are supposed to be a secret, maybe even to them. The only thing everyone agrees on is they are there, even if, like the Holy Spirit who is supposed to inspire the cardinals, they cannot be seen. Other security measures to make sure no one is eavesdropping or trying to get information out reportedly include film on the window to block cameras on drones and special tiles to block signals from cellphones, which are banned anyway. At the last conclave in 2013, it was widely reported that a Faraday cage had been installed. Such devices can enhance communications security by shielding against electromagnetic fields. On Monday the office of the governor of Vatican City sent out a laconic note addressed to "Dear Clients" informing them that cellphone towers in the world's smallest sovereign state will be deactivated at 3 p.m. (1300 GMT) on Wednesday and remain off until after the new pope's name is announced. The 108-acre city-state, however, is surrounded by Rome, and it was not clear if the Vatican was taking any action to block connections to phone towers just outside its walls. The cardinals will be voting in the chapel up to four times a day. Vatican workers last week hoisted a chimney onto the chapel, which will be used for burning the ballots. Black smoke will tell the outside world no decision has been made, white will announce that the 267th pope has been elected. PROTECTED 'AT ALL TIMES' Cardinals will be billeted in the Santa Marta residence, a hotel with about 130 rooms, and an adjacent older residence. The main Santa Marta residence was cleared of its guests and long-term residents last week so security personnel could electronically sweep the area. Its main door has been closed, and a sign has been put up telling cardinals to use a side entrance on the left, according to a recent guest who spoke on condition of anonymity. Wi-Fi signals inside the residence were significantly weaker than normal on Monday, the person said. Another source, a former Vatican official, said the city-state has its own systems to detect drones and receives regular assistance from Italy. Vatican gendarmes and plainclothes Swiss Guards will escort buses that will take cardinals between the residence and the chapel. If they wish, the prelates will be allowed to walk the short distance, going around the back of St. Peter's Basilica. "A protective envelope will be created around the cardinals at all times," one source familiar with some of the security procedures said. "If they do decide to walk in the gardens or take a smoke outside, no one will be able to get close to them." Aides including priests, cooks, cleaners, drivers and other attendants have already taken an oath "to observe absolute and perpetual secrecy" about whatever they may see or hear. The penalty for not keeping the secret until death: automatic excommunication from the Church. (Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Crispian Balmer, Alexandra Hudson)
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Poisonous rumours and pink smoke - busy time for conclave whisperers
By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Throughout history, there has been no shortage of outside attempts to influence the outcome of a conclave to elect a new pope, either by European monarchs, Italy's noble families or even Romans who rioted in the streets to stand by their man. Today's influencers use social media, television and newspaper interviews, news conferences, open letters, and even puffs of pink smoke. The campaigns to sway the outcome of a highly uncertain conclave started in earnest minutes after the announcement of Pope Francis' death on Easter Monday and must end by Wednesday afternoon when the cardinal electors will be cut off from the outside world until they choose a successor. Two episodes, in particular, have stood out as deliberate attempts to sabotage leading contenders for the papacy using underhand tactics. Last Thursday, reports circulated on right-wing U.S. Catholic social media and on the site of a conservative Italian newspaper that Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who is on most shortlists to become pope, had suffered a health scare and needed an hour of medical treatment. The Vatican spokesman said the reports were totally false. Italian media said it was an attempt to "poison" the 70-year-old cardinal's chances by implying that his body was not up to the job. "This was a clear attempt to penalise Parolin," Italian Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio told an Italian newspaper. A few days after Francis' death, a six-year-old video of Filipino Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle singing parts of John Lennon's "Imagine" in 2019 emerged on social media. American and Italian conservative Catholic social media accused him of heresy, with one Italian traditionalist site asking: "Is this who we want as pope?" Tagle's supporters countered that he had sung an abbreviated version that excluded the lyrics about no heaven and no religion. "From the right and from the left, fake news about possible popes is going wild," wrote Paolo Rodari, a Vatican commentator for RSI Swiss radio and television. PUSHING CONSERVATIVES Two well-known conservative journalists, Edward Pentin, a Briton, and Diane Montagna, an American, have prepared a 200-page, large format book in English and Italian called "The College of Cardinals Report". It includes profiles of 30 cardinals and their stand on key doctrinal and social issues. Montagna has been handing it to cardinals entering and leaving the pre-conclave meetings. Pentin told Reuters the book was "a service to the Church" and the inclusion of profiles of several ultra-conservative cardinals generally seen as having no chance of being elected was to give space to the possibility of "divine intervention" during the conclave. On the other side of the spectrum, young, progressive Catholics from northern Europe have penned an open letter, urging the cardinals to pick a man who will continue with Francis' reforms, saying he "opened doors, broke taboos". Tapping into long-running anger over the Church's sexual abuse scandals, a number of groups have held news conferences in Rome to point out that the crisis is not over and rating the actions - or inactions - of some cardinal electors. After each round of voting in the conclave, white smoke will emerge from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel if a pope has been elected and black smoke if he has not. Perhaps the most colourful signal to the cardinals will come from the Women's Ordination Conference, which promotes a female priesthood. The group plans to release pink smoke from a hill near the Vatican hours before the conclave starts. "The exclusion of women from the conclave, and from ordained ministry, is a sin and a scandal," executive director Kate McElwee said in a statement. "A group of ordained men meeting behind closed doors to make a consequential decision about the future of the church is textbook 'old boy's club'."
RNZ News
28-04-2025
- Politics
- RNZ News
Conclave to elect new pope to start on 7 May, cardinals meet
By Philip Pullella, Joshua McElwee and Crispian Balmer , Reuters Saint Peter's statue and cardinals during the funeral ceremony of Pope Francis at Saint Peter's Square in Vatican on 26 April, 2025. Photo: Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto via AFP Roman Catholic cardinals will begin their secret conclave to elect the new leader of the global Church on 7 May, the Vatican said on Monday, confirming what a source had previously told Reuters. The date was decided during a closed-door meeting of cardinals at the Vatican, the first since the funeral of Pope Francis on Saturday. Some 135 cardinals, all under the age of 80 and from all corners of the world, are eligible to take part in the vote for the next head of the 1.4-billion-member Church, which is beset by concerns over its finances and divisions over doctrine. The 16th-century Sistine Chapel, where conclaves are held beneath the gaze of Michelangelo's masterpiece frescoes, was closed to tourists on Monday to ready the space for an election that mixes ancient ritual with modern, anti-spying technologies. The previous two conclaves, held in 2005 and 2013, lasted just two days. But Swedish cardinal Anders Arborelius said on Monday that the coming ballot may take longer, as many of the cardinals appointed by Pope Francis have never met each other. Francis made a priority of appointing the red-hatted "Princes of the Church" from countries that had never had them, such as Myanmar, Haiti, Rwanda and Arborelius' own Sweden. "We don't know each other," said Arborelius. The earliest the conclave could have begun was 6 May, the Vatican said. Starting it a day later means cardinals will have slightly more time for their daily general discussions ahead of the momentous ballot. Around 190 cardinals took part in Monday's meeting, including roughly 100 electors, the Vatican said. Among the questions raised were the issue of sexual abuse, that has rocked the Church for years, as well as the need to spread the Christian faith, relations with other religions and the qualities the new pope needed to respond to such challenges. Francis, pope since 2013, died aged 88 on 21 April. His funeral on Saturday and a procession through Rome to his burial place at the Basilica of St Mary Major attracted crowds estimated at more than 400,000. German cardinal Walter Kasper told La Repubblica newspaper that the outpouring of mourning for Francis indicated that Catholics wanted the next pope to continue with his reforming style of papacy. Francis, the first pope from Latin America, tried to open up the often staid Church to some new conversations. He allowed debate on issues such as ordaining women as clergy and outreach to LGBTQ Catholics. "The People of God voted with their feet," said Kasper, who is 92 and will not take part in the conclave. "I am convinced that we must go ahead in the footsteps of Francis." Cardinal Gregorio Rosa Chavez from El Salvador, echoed that sentiment: "I am sure the new pope will be as Franciscus, the same vision, the same dreams," he said, referring to Francis by his Latin name. However, a bloc of conservative cardinals are certain to push back against this and seek a pope who reasserts traditions and reins in Francis' push for a more inclusive Church. German Cardinal Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, who is known for his traditionalist views and often clashed with Francis, has spoken daily about the need to reverse course. "The strength of the Church lies in the truth, not in compromises," he told La Stampa newspaper on Monday. - Reuters
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Catholic cardinals meet to discuss date of conclave for new pope
By Philip Pullella and Joshua McElwee VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The world's Catholic cardinals met on Monday for the first time after the funeral of Pope Francis to discuss a possible date to enter a secret conclave and elect the next leader of the global Church. Any decision could be announced around mid-day (1000 GMT). The conclave is not expected to begin before May 6. The 16th-century Sistine Chapel, where conclaves are held, was closed to tourists on Monday to allow for preparations for the vote. The past two conclaves, in 2005 and 2013, lasted just two days. But Swedish Cardinal Anders Arborelius said on Monday he expects this conclave may take longer, as many of the cardinals appointed by Pope Francis have never met each other before. Francis made a priority of appointing cardinals from places that had never had them, such as Myanmar, Haiti, and Rwanda. "We don't know each other," Arborelius, one of about 135 cardinals under the age of 80 who will enter the conclave, said. Francis, pope since 2013, died aged 88 on April 21. His funeral on Saturday and a procession through Rome to his burial place at the Basilica of St. Mary Major attracted crowds estimated at more than 400,000. German Cardinal Walter Kasper told La Repubblica newspaper that the outpouring of mourners for Francis indicated that Catholics wanted the next pope to continue with his reforming style of papacy. Francis, the first pope from Latin America, largely tried to open up the often staid Church to new conversations. He allowed debate on issues such as ordaining women as clergy and outreach to LGBTQ Catholics. "The People of God voted with their feet," said Kasper, who is 92 and will not take part in the conclave. "I am convinced that we must go ahead in the footsteps of Francis." However, a bloc of conservative cardinals are certain to push back against this and seek a pope who reasserts traditions and restricts Francis' vision of a more inclusive Church.
