On Easter Morning, the sad news rang out to the world that our beloved pope, Pope Francis, fell asleep, leaving the Holy Catholic Church temporarily without a Father. While it was sad to lose him and his legendary service of love and compassion, it was comforting to know that his physical suffering came to a halt. And it’s worth noting here that Pope Francis was at one time a bouncer. What a badge of honor it would have been to be bounced by a pope! Just saying.
On Wednesday, the process of electing a new pope begins. Known as a conclave, eligible cardinals will cast their votes, votes that will select the most powerful religious leader in the world. The process could take a day, several days, a week or maybe even more. So, we could see a new leader in a few days, or maybe not.
As many of us know, when a vote is taken and a pope is not chosen, black smoke will escape a chimney at the Sistine Chapel in Rome. When a pope is finally elected, though, white smoke will emerge. At that point, the world will watch and wait. Thousands upon thousands of the faithful will immediately converge upon the square. They will then look up, watching and waiting for the joyous news.
Via CBS News and its special live coverage back in 2013, here’s what the world saw when Pope Francis was introduced to the world. This will happen again either on or after Wednesday, when we are introduced to the Church’s 267th pokeope.
There’s nothing to do but wait. We won’t have a pope until Wednesday at the soonest. My useless opinion is that our Church will not have a leader until Friday.
Starting on Wednesday, and until a pope is successfully chosen, there will be two votes per day, taking place at around noon and at around 7:00 p.m. Rome time, or 6:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time here in the States. So, in theory, by the time those of us here in America arise on Wednesday, a pope could already be chosen! I hope to be able to get the breaking news alert and watch CBS News’ coverage of the white smoke all the way through to the introduction of our new pope.
As for who the new pope will be, that’s anyone’s guess. There are plenty of cardinals who could take over, and apparently, there’s a small chance that the Catholic Church will have its first American pope. That’s the exciting part! It could be any eligible cardinal!
Whomever it is, may it be a pope who will return our Holy Church to its roots. May our next pope stand tall against the sins of the world, especially the sins of homosexuality and transgenderism, both grave, disgusting and mortal sins. There is no room in our Church or the world for that matter for such people and we must not coddle them or validate their lifestyle choices. May our next pope get it.
I, like almost two billion other Catholics, will be watching closely when Wednesday rolls around. Soon, we will hear those long-awaited words: habemus papam: we have a pope!