I went into Conclave time anxious, but trying to trust the Holy Spirit. Providentially, my seminar reading the week before the Conclave started was a chapter on the Holy Spirit by Walter Cardinal Casper. He noted in it that the modern inability to trust institutions is a indication and result of our forgetfulness of the Holy Spirit, who even in evil situations wrought by evil men brings about good. My brother and his wife were visiting on the days leading up to the Conclave, and in my discussions with them I found it was this specifically that retarded their faith. I say this, remembering my own lack of trust in the spirit. They could not bring themselves to believe that the Church is guided by God, by God's spirit, and yet has evil men in it. This mystery of God's providence and its interplay of human freedom is of course a difficult question to answer. And those who raise this question always say—if the Church isn't perfect who are they to ask me to be perfect. This makes me think, if John Paul II had a church full of clones of himself, i.e. if every parish priest was as loving, compassionate, concerned for the truth, etc. Europe would be converted over night, with the US close to follow. Instead we have priest committing every nature of sin, publicly contradicting the Church, and being in general slothful about the salvation of souls.
In this context the conclave began with a beautiful Mass in St. Peter's at which Cardinal Ratzinger gave a wonderful homily in which he laid out all the main (mostly ideological) problems facing the Church clearly and succinctly, naming and challenging the dictatorship of relativism as our key adversary. As an aside: many people said before the conclave that it might be time to have a pope from Latin America or Africa who could refocus the Church on the main issues facing the vast majorities of Catholic living in these areas. What the media and others meant by this was, it might be time to have a pope who focuses on the material realities of Africa rife with AIDS and South America with Poverty, ignoring the wellbeing of souls and changing Vatican “policies” on birth control and abortion, which of course are the cause of these problems. Their attempt was to be divisive and to those who think of the Papacy as a office of power it very well might have been. I myself had both an African and South American in mind, but on my part I thought of these two Cardinals purely based on their merits as teachers of the faith, not because of some sort of “soft-racism” or desire to change the Church's mission from saving souls to saving bodies. As I was saying Ratzinger gave a number of great homilies the days before the conclave, and having gotten a feel for the man I was sure that his personalism and charm made him a real candidate. However, his age, health, and the possibility that he might be seen as divisive made this a cautious optimism. So on Tuesday when I went down to St. Peter's square, after having just given a presentation on an article by Cardinal Ratzinger, I didn't expect to see white smoke just one full day into the conclave.
In the piazza I prayed a rosary, asking Mary to intercede for us with her spouse the Holy Spirit and her Son Jesus, that a holy pope might be chosen. I will not say that I did not have a short list of names that I wanted to hear announced as pope, in fact I even narrowed down the assumed name of the new pope to Benedict or Innocent, but I can honestly say that I was trying hard to be open to the papacy of whomever was announced. After my rosary I walked around, there were many, many, people in the square already. In one place the community of the Lamb was sitting on the ground praying the rosary. In another a group of seminarians were singing praise and worship songs from the States. Flags from around the world were blowing in the wind and the rain was holding off for the most part. I eventually joined the group of seminarians singing. Anyone who knows me might find this a little odd since I scream and bemoan the use of this sort of music, regularly, at Mass. However, outside of the Divine Liturgy I am much more open to new things, and I have secretly liked this type of music since my days of involvement in youth ministry. Anyway, this group of men in black were providing a powerful witness of love for Christ and his Church and so I decided to join them. At one point we were singing a song to Christ the King and at that exact moment the sky opened up and a ray of light hit the statue of Christ the King atop St. Peter's Basilica. Later, when discussing the days events, someone theorized that it was likely that at that moment they were announcing the results of the fourth ballot to the conclave and offering Ratzinger the Chair of Peter. Soon thereafter, smoke started to spew forth from the small exhaust pipe of the Sistine Chapel, at first grey, the more one looked at it the more you'd think it was white, but the bells weren't ringing. Among choruses of “Alleluia” and cheers from the crowd that we had a pope, about ten minutes after the smoke went up, the 20,000 lbs bell of St. Peter's started to move as did the other bells in the Carillon. Of course by this point the roar of the crowd and of the thousands rushing into the square blocked out most of the noise from the bell.
What was next seemed like a blur, the Cardinal Proto-Deacon came out and said “dear brothers and sisters,” in six languages, “annuciamus maximum gaude habemus papem.” At this point I was almost afraid to believe it, but logically it seemed certain that only Josef Cardinal Raztinger could have obtained the two-thirds vote so quickly. The Proto-Deacon continued, “emenetia Cardinale Josphus Sanctum Romanum Eccleasium Ratzinger,” who has chosen the name, “Benedetto XVI.” I was overjoyed at the name and the choice. Our group quickly started the chants: “Viva il papa! Viva!” and “Ben e det to!,” as well as singing songs of thanksgiving to God and the Holy Spirit. Not too long after Pope Benedict XVI came to the Balcony above the main gate to St. Peter's Basilica. I was convinced from that moment on that although he would be no John Paul II, the man was a Saint in his own right. That evening, I may have been the last person to do a presentation on the works of Josef Raztinger and also to get the first blessing of Benedict XVI! At our house chants and cheers of praise and thanksgiving to God could be heard all over the house. We rang our bells, and toasted the new pope all night long.
In reflection the convergence that has happened in my life over the last month can only be called God's Providence, the work of the Creator Spirit. As I prepare myself for the coronation on Sunday, I look back thanking God for the good works he has done for me. An I ask him to use me, despite my failings to build on the momentum in the Church that have resulted from the life and death of John Paul II and the election of Pope Benedict. I must say that if I ever questioned why I am a Catholic and why I am studying for the priesthood here in Rome, this would be my answer. Laudateur Iesu Chisto!
No comments:
Post a Comment