Pope appoints Dutch bishop as member of Church’s highest court

Yesterday Pope Francis appointed five new members of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the highest court of law of the Catholic Church. In addition to three cardinals and an archbishop, one of the new members is Bishop Jan Hendriks, auxiliary bishop of Haarlem-Amsterdam. He is also the only new member who does not reside in Rome or has been a member of the Signatura before. He will exercise his new duties in addition to his current ones.

Bishop Hendriks is a canon lawyer, having various legal functions in a number of dioceses, and he is also a consultor of the Congregation for the Clergy.

In his blog he descibes the duties of the Apostolic Signatura:

“The Apostolic Signatura is the ‘supreme court’ of the Catholic Church and judges, among other things, certain forms of appeal against judgements of the Roman Rota and appeals against certain decisions of policy (administrative disputes). […] The Signatura generally judges if the decisionmaking process has been correct.”

The other members appointed along with Bishop Hendriks are Cardinals Agostino Vallini (Vicar General emeritus of Rome and Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal from 2004 to 2008), Edoardo Menichelli (Archbishop emeritus of Acona-Osimo and former secretary of the Prefect), Raymond Burke (Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal from 2008 to 2014) and Archbishop Frans Daneels (Secretary emerotis of the Supreme Tribunal).

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Deacons to Priests, four cardinals move up the ranks

(Note: This post has been edited after publication to correct some information about the office of Cardinal Protodeacon).

Just like he did almost exactly two years ago, Pope Francis promoted four Cardinal Deacons to the rank of Cardinal Priests. This is a right that cardinal have ten years after their creation, and while it does not mean any change in their rights and duties, it is a change in their position among their brother cardinals. Whereas the cardinal deacons rank below the cardinal priests, the newly promoted cardinals now take their place among those cardinals priests created in the same consistory as they were, according to the order in which they were announced.

This time around, four of the five cardinal deacons created in Pope Benedict XVI´s first consistory are elevated. The fifth, Agostino Vallini, was already promoted in 2009, following his appointment as vicar general for Rome a few months before.

The new cardinal deacons all keep their titular deaconries, the churches in Rome which they ceremonially head to reflect their basis in the clergy of Rome, which now become cardinal titles for the duration of the cardinals’ lives. The promoted cardinals, retired all, are William Cardinal Levada, Archbishop emeritus of San Francisco and Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Franc Cardinal Rode, Archbishop emeritus of Ljubljana and Prefect emeritus of Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life; Andrea Cardinal Cordero Lanza Di Montezemolo, Archpriest emeritus of the Papal Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls; and Albert Cardinal Vanhoye, Secretary emeritus of the Pontifical Biblical Commission.

There are no practical changes that come out of these promotions. It is interesting to see that, although cardinal deacons are habitually promoted ten years after their creation (the most senior “class” now being that of November 2007), one cardinal deacon remains behind. He is Cardinal Renato Martino, created in Saint John Paul II’s last conclave of  October 2003. He is the most senior cardinal deacon and is thus the cardinal protodeacon. His most visible duty is the Habemus Papam following the election of a new Pope. In the past I had suggested that this is a duty only open to cardinal electors, but I was recently corrected about this.  Cardinal Martino would be free to pass on this duty to the next senior cardinal deacon if he is, for whatever reason, not up to it (he is 83, after all). The next cardinal deacon in line in 72-year-old Leonardi Sandri, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches.

Parolin takes the reins

Making the rounds in the rumour mill for a while now, it has been announced today: succeeding 78-year-old Cardinal Bertone as Secretary of State is 58-year-old Archbishop Pietro Parolin. Who is this new number two in the Vatican?

Pietro Parolin has been working in Rome for the better part of his priesthood, although his ‘official’ diplomatic career is relatively short. From 2002 to 2009 he was Undersecretary for the relations with States in the Secretariat of State, and since 2009 he has been the Apostolic Nuncio in Venezuela. With that function came the title of archbishop, and Parolin was consecrated as such by Pope Benedict XVI. He holds the titular see of Acquapendente.

The summary given here gives an indication of Parolin’s role and influence behind the scenes, even before he was named to the Secretariat in 2002. Pope Francis clearly chooses for experience, but whether the position of the Secretary of State will continue in much the same lines as it did under the last two papacies remains to be seen. The Franciscan reforms are still to gain their momentum, but whatever they will constitute, Archbishop Pietro Parolin will play his part in them.

The Secretary of State runs the entire apparatus of the political and diplomatic duties of the Holy See. He is Always a cardinal, and as Archbishop Parolin is not, he will officially be the Pro-Secretary of State until he is made a cardinal in Pope Francis’ first consistory.

Archbishop Parolin is the youngest Secretary of State since Eugenio Pacelli, the later Pope Pius XII, was appointed at the age of 53 in 1930.

Archbishop Parolin will officially take on his new duties on 15 October.

With this appointment, Pope Francis has also confirmed other members of the Secretariat of State in their functions. As some will recall, the Pope retained the members of the Curia in their functions for the time being after his election. Earlier, he confirmed the vicar-general of Rome, Cardinal Agostino Vallini, and now he is joined by Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, the Secretary for the Relations with States; Archbishop Giovanni Becciu, the Substitute for General Affairs; and Msgr. Peter Wells, the Assessor for General Affairs.

Also confirmed was the Prefect of the Papal Household, Archbishop Georg Gänswein. This should lay to rest the persistent rumours that the close collaborator of Pope Benedict XVI somehow did not get along with the new pope, a sort of clash between the old and the new. Archbishop Gánswein of course said as much already during a visit to Germany, earlier in August.

From 2:15: “When I am with Pope Francis, I have to read in the Bayernischen Zeitung that the chemistry between him and me does not work, or that I have a culture shock because he is an Argentinean and I am not, because I come from a Benedictine background and he from a Jesuit background… All nonsense.”

More as it comes in.

Photo credit: Reuters

Strangers in a strange Church

Last Sunday my fiancée and I were away from home – at least five dioceses* (or three countries) to be exact – so Mass was to be attended at an unfamiliar church in an unfamiliar language (well, at least partly). We opted for the Cathedral of St. Erik in Stockholm.

The cathedral is the mother church of the Diocese of Stockholm, which covers all of Sweden, and the seat of Bishop Anders Arborelius (who himself was in Rio when we visited his cathedral). It has been the cathedral since 1953, when Stockholm was established as a diocese, although it wasn’t consecrated until 1983.

As visits to other churches than my own, both in the Netherlands and in Germany, have made me a bit concerned about how the liturgy would be celebrated, I entered St. Erik’s with similar feelings. But, as it turned out, there was no need. The cathedral community and her priests understand liturgy and celebrate Mass as the Church requires. What they don’t do well, however, is architecture.

 St. Erik’s is divided in two parts. There is the original church, which is a perfectly fine 19th century building, with lots of woodwork, paintings, stained glass, statues and two altars. Much is made of the 1989 visit of Blessed John Paul II, and the cathedral is the proud owner of a relic of the soon-to-be saint. The patron, Saint Erik himself, is also in evidence, as is St. Bridget, patron of Sweden. No complaints with this part of the building, except that it contains a gaping hole.

There is no main sanctuary.

Instead, where the sanctuary once upon a time was, there is now a nicely arched entry into the second haf of the building: a standard hall-like structure of the style which suffices for a meeting hall, multifunctional school room or other spacious area where a large number of people can meet. But a space where the sacrifice of our Lord can become present? Not so much. The contrast between the two parts of the church is quite jarring. It is a sign of the power of good liturgy that it is able to transcend this contrast, but why someone once elected to remove a perfectly good sanctuary, designed to elevate the soul and make the sacrifice of the Mass visible to its deepest level, and replace it with a  brick room is anyone’s guess.

But not wanting to be a sour-puss, I’ll share some photos I took at the cathedral:

^The coat of arms of Pope Francis graces the front of the cathedral.

^The modern section of the cathedral, which does contain some positive elements: the tabernacle is impossible to miss, the altar has a Benedictine arrangement, and priests, deacons, acolytes and servers sit facing the tabernacle when not at altar or lectern.

^A relic of Blessed John Paul II’s blood, in a chapel in the archway leading from the original church to the newer section.

^ From the old to the new: both parts of the church seen together.

Lastly, a church is also made up out of people. One of these was Blessed John Paul II. Another is the unknown lady who approached us and told us her story in Swedish (we were not able to follow it all). Her tears touched us, as did  her desire and hope for our future happiness. She gave us a tiny relic of the blessed Pope, a piece of fabric with his blood on it… **

*Seen from my home diocese of Groningen-Leeuwarden, these would be the Dioceses of Osnabrück and Münster, the Archdiocese of Hamburg, and the Dioceses of Copenhagen and Stockholm.

** And yes, it is official, containing an affidavit with Cardinal Vallini’s name and signature.

“This day for me is different” – the end of eight years of Benedict

On his first full day as Pope emeritus Benedict XVI offered Mass, read in the books he brought with him and took a walk through the Castel Gandolfo gardens while praying the Rosary. The evening before, which capped an eventful day the likes of which the Church has never seen before, and most likely will not see for a long time, Benedict spent watching the news and reading some of the messages he received. Father Federico Lombardi told the assembled press this in what was the first of daily press briefings during the sede vacante.

Reading this today was actually rather comforting, because yesterday was quite eventful, even for one who watched the main events via the Vatican video player. As unlikely as it may sometimes seem, there was definitely a personal factor; it was less the departure of a high official, and more the passing of a beloved family member. While the morning meeting with the cardinals assembled in Rome (pictured above) was a very affectionate event, with quite a lot of smiles and  laughter (standing out was the joke and the laugh that Cardinal Tagle seemingly shared with the Holy Father), the afternoon was totally different.

The tone was set with the first appearance of the Pope on the screen, bidding his farewells to the vicars general of his diocese, Cardinals Vallini and Comastri. Neither kept a dry eye, and especially touching I found Cardinal Vallini briefly squeezing Archbishop Gänswein’s hand as a sign of support. The latter subsequently had to employ a tissue to dry his eyes as well.

And then, after the fifteen-minute helicopter flight to Castel Gandolfo, there was the epilogue to almost eight years of Benedict XVI, and it was as simple and to the point as the Pope emeritus himself.

“Thank you!

Thank you all!

Dear friends, I am happy to be with you, surrounded by the beauty of Creation and your affection that does me much good. Thank you for your friendship, your love, [applause] …

You know that this day for me is different from previous ones: I am no longer the Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church: until eight in the evening I will be still, and then no longer. I am simply a pilgrim who begins the last leg of his pilgrimage on this earth.

But I wish still [applause – thank you!] … but I wish still with my heart, my love, my prayer, my reflection, with all my inner strength, to work for the common good and the good of the Church and of humanity. And I feel very much supported by your affection.

Let’s go forward with the Lord for the good of the Church and the world.

Thank you, I give you now [applause] … with all my heart, my blessing.

Thank you, good night! Thank you all!”

And so, a final two-handed wave (not unlike, as some have noted, that first gesture we saw back in April of 2005), and the Pope returned inside. And then, less than three hours later, it was over. The doors closed, the Swiss Guards returned to their barracks, and the sede vacante began.

It was a farewell: we have seen our last of Benedict. But it’s not a farewell: he is still there with us, not in plain sight, but as close as ever in prayer and in the unity of the Holy Spirit. So, while we mourn a loss, we have also gained something. But it will take some getting used too, that much is certain.

Enter the electors

Today, all the cardinals of the Church received the official letter summoning them to Rome. Cardinal Sodano, as dean of the College of Cardinals, signed the letter. Cardinal Simonis, emeritus archbishop of Utrecht, was one of the cardinals who received the summons, although, like many others, he is already in Rome. The image below shows the letter in the hands of the cardinal, who won’t  be able to vote in the conclave, as he is over the age of 80. But all cardinals, elector or not, are expected to take their responsibilities in managing the goods and needs of the Church and the faithful during the sede vacante, as well as preparing for the conclave.Cardinal Sodano’s letter invites the cardinals to the first two General Congregations on Monday. A date for the conclave may be decided upon then, but that is by no means certain. All indications are that the cardinals want time to talk and think.

The electors number 117, although two of them have chosen to remain at home. So here they are, the 115 cardinal electors who will soon be entering the conclave, which they will not be leaving until they have elected a new Supreme Pontiff. As Emeritus Pope Benedict (how odd it is to write that!) said yesterday morning, the new Pope is among them.

A short primer on who’s who among the electors, ordered by precedence (and from left to right and top to bottom, starting at top left and ending at bottom right, in the collage above):

• Giovanni Cardinal Re, Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Bishops
• Tarcisio Cardinal Bertone, Secretary of State and Chamberlain of the Holy Roman Church
• Antonios Cardinal Naguib, Patriarch emeritus of Alexandria of the Copts
• Béchara Cardinal Raï, Patriarch of Antioch of the Maronites
• Godfried Cardinal Danneels, Archbishop emeritus of Mechelen-Brussels
• Joachim Cardinal Meisner, Archbishop of Köln
• Nicolás Cardinal López Rodríguez, Archbishop of Santo Domingo
• Roger Cardinal Mahony, Archbishop emeritus of Los Angeles
• Jaime Cardinal Ortega y Alamino, Archbishop of Havana
• Jean-Claude Cardinal Turcotte, Archbishop emeritus of Montréal
• Vinko Cardinal Puljic, Archbishop of Vrhbosna
• Juan Cardinal Sandoval Íñiguez, Archbishop emeritus of Guadalajara
• Antonio Cardinal Rouco Varela, Archbishop of Madrid
• Dionigi Cardinal Tettamanzi, Archbishop emeritus of Milan
• Polycarp Cardinal Pengo, Archbishop of Dar-es-Salaam
• Christoph Cardinal Schönborn, Archbishop of Vienna
• Norberto Cardinal Rivera Carrera, Archbishop of Mexico
• Francis Cardinal George, Archbishop of Chicago
• Zenon Cardinal Grocholewski, President of the Congregation for Catholic Education
• Crescenzio Cardinal Sepe, Archbishop of Naples
• Walter Cardinal Kasper, President emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
• Ivan Cardinal Dias, Prefect emeritus of the Congregation fo the Evangelisation of Peoples
• Geraldo Cardinal Agnelo, Archbishop emritus of São Salvador da Bahia
• Audrys Cardinal Backis, Archbishop of Vilnius
• Francisco Cardinal Errázuriz Ossa, Archbishop emritus of Santiago
• Julio Cardinal Terrazas Sandoval, Archbishop of Santa Cruz de la Sierra
• Wilfrid Cardinal Napier, Archbishop of Durban
• Oscar Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa
• Juan Cardinal Cipriani Thorne, Archbishop of Lima
• Cláudio Cardinal Hummes, Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Clergy
• Jorge Cardinal Bergoglio, Archbishop of Buenos Aires
• José Cardinal Policarpo, Patriarch of Lisbon
• Severino Cardinal Poletto, Archbishop of Turin
• Karl Cardinal Lehmann, Bishop of Mainz
• Angelo Cardinal Scola, Archbishop of Milan
• Anthony Cardinal Okogie, Archbishop emeritus of Lagos
• Gabriel Cardinal Zubeir Wako, Archbishop of Khartoum
• Carlos Cardinal Amigo Vallejo, Archbishop emeritus of Sevilla
• Justin Cardinal Rigali, Archbishop emeritus of Philadelphia
• Ennio Cardinal Antonelli, President emeritus of the Pontifical Council for the Family
• Peter Cardinal Turkson, President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace
• Telesphore Cardinal Toppo, Archbishop of Ranchi
• George Cardinal Pell, Archbishop of Sydney
• Josip Cardinal Bozanic, Archbishop of Zagreb
• Jean-Baptiste Cardinal Pham Minh Man, Archbishop of Ho Chi Minh City
• Philippe Cardinal Barbarin, Archbishop of Lyon
• Péter Cardinal Erdö, Archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest
• Marc Cardinal Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops
• Agostino Cardinal Vallini, Archpriest of St. John Lateran
• Jorge Cardinal Urosa Savino, Archbishop of Caracas
• Jean-Pierre Cardinal Ricard, Archbishop of Bordeaux
• Antonio Cardinal Cañizares Llovera, Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments
• Seán Cardinal O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston
• Stanislaw Cardinal Dziwisz, Archbishop of Kraków
• Carlo Cardinal Caffarra, Archbishop of Bologna
• Seán Cardinal Brady, Archbishop of Armagh
• Lluís Cardinal Martínez Sistach, Archbishop of Barcelona
• André Cardinal Vingt-Trois, Archbishop of Paris
• Angelo Cardinal Bagnasco, Archbishop of Genoa
• Théodore-Adrien Cardinal Sarr, Archbishop of Dakar
• Oswald Cardinal Gracias, Archbishop of Bombay
• Francisco Cardinal Robles Ortega, Archbishop of Guadalajara
• Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston
• Odilo Cardinal Scherer, Archbishop of São Paulo
• John Cardinal Njue, Archbishop of Nairobi
• Raúl Cardinal Vela Chiriboga, Archbishop emeritus of Quito
• Laurent Cardinal Monsengwo Pasinya, Archbishop of Kinshasa
• Paolo Cardinal Romeo, Archbishop of Palermo
• Donald Cardinal Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington
• Raymundo Cardinal Assis, Archbishop of Aparecida
• Kazimierz Cardinal Nycz, Archbishop of Warsaw
• Albert Cardinal Patabendige Don, Archbishop of Colombo
• Reinhard Cardinal Marx, Archbishop of Munich and Freising
• George Cardinal Alencherry, Major Archbishop of Ernakulam-Angamaly of the Syro-Malabars
• Thomas Cardinal Collins, Archbishop of Toronto
• Dominik Cardinal Duka, Archbishop of Prague
• Willem Cardinal Eijk, Archbishop of Utrecht
• Giuseppe Cardinal Betori, Archbishop of Florence
• Timothy Cardinal Dolan, Archbishop of New York
• Rainer Cardinal Woelki, Archbishop of Berlin
• John Cardinal Tong Hon, Bishop of Hong Kong
• Baselios Cardinal Thottunkal, Major Archbishop of Trivandrum of the Syro-Malankars
• John Cardinal Onaiyekan, Archbishop of Abuja
• Jesús Cardinal Salazar Gómez, Archbishop of Bogotá
• Luis Cardinal Tagle, Archbishop of Manila
• Jean-Louis Cardinal Tauran, President of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue
• Attilio Cardinal Nicora, President of the Financial Information Authority
• William Cardinal Levada, Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
• Franc Cardinal Rode,  Prefect emeritus of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life
• Leonardo Cardinal Sandri, Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches
• Giovanni Cardinal Lajolo, President emeritus of the Governorate of the Vatican City State
• Paul Cardinal Cordes, President emeritus of the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum”
• Angelo Cardinal Comastri, Archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica
• Stanislaw Cardinal Rylko, President of the Pontifical Council for the Laity
• Raffaele Cardinal Farina, Librarian emeritus of the Vatican Apostolic Library
• Angelo Cardinal Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints
• Robert Cardinal Sarah, President of the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum”
• Francesco Cardinal Monterisi, Archpriest emeritus of St. Paul-Outside-the-Walls
• Raymond Cardinal Burke, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura
• Kurt Cardinal Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
• Paolo Cardinal Sardi, Partron of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta
• Mauro Cardinal Piacenza, Prefect of the Congregation for Clergy
• Velasio Cardinal De Paolis, Pontifical Delegate for the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ
• Gianfranco Cardinal Ravasi, President of the Pontifical Council for Culture
• Fernando Cardinal Filoni, Prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples
• Manuel Cardinal Monteiro de Castro, Major Penitentiary of the Apostolic Penitentiary
• Santos Cardinal Abril y Castelló, Archpriest of St. Mary Major
• Antonio Cardinal Vegliò, President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People
• Giuseppe Cardinal Bertello, President of the Governorate of the Vatican City State
• Francesco Cardinal Coccopalmerio, President of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts
• João Cardinal Bráz de Aviz, Prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life
• Edwin Cardinal O’Brien, Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem
• Domenico Cardinal Calcagno, President of the Adminstration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See
• Giuseppe Cardinal Versaldi, President of the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See
• James Cardinal Harvey, Archpriest of St. Paul-Outside-the-Walls

Who we will see in white on the balcony of St. Peter’s sometime later this month remains anyone’s guess. Only Our Lord knows and, as Cardinal Pell said, it is up to the electors to find out.

Photo credit: [1] RKK.nl, [2] collage my own.

Picture Pope

Because of a lack of words on the blog today, here are some photos of the last days, a period of farewell and gratitude:

Shaking hands with Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, after the latter had given an emotional thank you message on behalf of the Curia.

And so, the last public liturgy of Pope Benedict XVI ends, as he is helped off the steps of the sanctuary on Ash Wednesday.

Cardinal Agostino Vallini welcomes the Pope, father and teacher.

Professor Pope. Benedict in his element, speaking to the priests of Rome about the Second Vatican Council, spontaneously and without prepared notes.

The vacant Curia – duties during the sede vacante

Now that we have gotten somewhat used to yesterday’s news, and all speculation has, well, not died down, but channeled into a few set directions, here’s a look at the major players in the coming sede vacante period.

• The Apostolic Penitentiary, concerned with questions of conscience from the faithful and the pressing matters related to it, will continue to function during the sede vacante. Cardinal Manuel Monteiro de Castro, who leads the office, will remain in office likewise.
• Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone (pictured) will remain on as Camerlengo. He will head the management of the goods and finances of the Holy See. He will also chair the daily meetings of the College of Cardinals for the daily affairs of the Church. Upon the election of the new pope, he will accompany him to the papal apartments and hand him the keys. Cardinal Bertone will also declare the result of every ballot during the conclave. Upon his invitation, the cardinals will meet for discussion and reflection when needed. The vice-chamberlain, Archbishop Pier Luigi Celata, will work with him outside the conclave.
• The cleric prelates of the Apostolic Chamber will assist the Camerlengo. They are Msgr. Assunto Scotti, Msgr. Luigi Cerchiaro, Msgr. Paolo Luca Braida (Italians all), Msgr. Philip James Whitmore (British), Msgr. Winfried König (German), Msgr. Osvaldo Neves de Almeida (Argentinian) and Msgr. Krzysztof Józef Nykiel (Polish).
• During the sede vacante, the archpriests of the papal basilicas will take over the Pope’s liturgical duties. They are Cardinal Agostino Vallini (pictured) for St. John Lateran, Cardinal Angelo Comastri for St. Peter’s, Cardinal James Harvey for St. Paul-Outside-the-Walls and Cardinal Santos Abril y Castelló for St. Mary Major.
• Also involved in the papal liturgies during the sede vacante are the Master of Ceremonies, Msgr. Guido Marini, and the Almoner of His Holiness, Archbishop Guido Pozzo.
• The pastoral care of the Diocese of Rome will be the responsibility of the Vicars-General: Cardinal Agostino Vallini. for Rome and Cardinal Angelo Comastri for the Vatican City State.
• After the cardinals have entered the Sistine Chapel for the conclave, and after they have all taken the oath, Msgr. Guido Marini will call “Extra omnes!”. He will distribute the ballot papers to the cardinals and then leave the chapel..
• Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, in place of the Cardinal-Dean (Cardinal Sodano is 85 and therefore too old to take part in the conclave), will announce the start of the first ballot after any remaining questions have been answered. Cardinal Re will also ask the newly elected Pope if he accepts his election. If Cardinal Re himself is elected, that task falls to Cardinal Bertone.
• Cardinal James Harvey (pictured), as the junior Cardinal-Deacon, will lock the doors of the Sistine Chapel before the first ballot. He will be responsible for who enters and leaves during the voting: assistants to those cardinals who may be too ill to be in the Sistine Chapel can leave and return to collect those cardinals’ ballots.
• Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, as the College of Cardinals’ Protodeacon (the most senior Cardinal-Deacon) will have the honour to announce the “habemus papam” to the masses on St. Peter’s Square.

The Curia of the Church will in many ways cease to function once the Pope has abdicated. Only some pressing matters may be handled by the College of Cardinals, but she is not allowed to do anything that is normally under a Pope’s  authority.

Two more weeks of Benedict, and then what?

Come the evening of 28 February, the Church will have to make do without a Supreme Pontiff. For how long, we don’t know, and it is certainly a different situation than the last time this happened.

A pope stepping down, a conclave without mourning a deceased Holy Father, but with the all the chaos, temporary suspensions of functions and preparations to gather all the cardinals and prepare the Sistine Chapel that come with the election of a new pope.

So what can we expect in the coming weeks, which will certainly be interesting, emotional and exciting?

Things will change at the time that Pope Benedict XVI has indicated: 8pm on Thursday 28 February. At that time, he will no longer be pope, and the See of Peter will be officially vacant. Pope Benedict XVI will then no longer be called that, although it remains to be seen how we will refer to him in the future. The former Pope will remove to Castel Gandolfo and, at a later date, he will take up residence in a monastery within the Vatican walls.

A limited set of duties normally held by the Pope, will fall to the College of Cardinals. The heads of the Curial offices will resign as well, although they will be reinstated by the new pope, as is standard. The exceptions are Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone as  Camerlengo – he will continue to manage the properties of the Church; Cardinal Manuel Monteiro de Castro as Major Penitentiary; and all Holy See representatives across the world. The vicars-general of the Diocese of Rome, Cardinals Angelo Comastri and Agostino Vallini, will also continue in their pastoral duties.

The major event of the sede vacante will of course be the conclave to elect the new Pope. During today’s press briefing, Fr. Federico Lombardi said that this will take place in mid-March, and we’ll have a new Pope before Easter. Barring any deaths, 117 cardinal electors will travel to Rome to participate in the conclave.

Several cardinals and other officials will have specific duties in the conclave. The Dean of the College Cardinals, being over 80, will not be present, so his duties will be taken over by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re. Also accompanying the cardinals will be Msgr. Guido Marini, the Papal Master of Ceremonies. He will lock the door of the Sistine Chapel, after calling “Extra omnes!”, “Everybody (who is not an elector), out!”. Archbishop Lorenzo Baldisseri, the secretary of the College of Cardinals, will also be present. Neither of them will, however, attend the actual voting.

The conclave may take several days and will take place in utter secrecy. Although the electors are not obliged to elect one of their own, they most probably will. On this page I provide a  list of members of the College of Cardinals. The names in bold are those of cardinal electors at this moment. One name will be removed from that list, as Cardinal Lubomyr Husar will reach the age of 80 before the Pope’s retirement. A closer look at the electors and some guesses about the future will follow later.

Photo credit: [1] Visibly aged since his election, Pope Benedict pictured during a visit to a seminary in Rome, last week.

Presenting the Synod Fathers

In addition to delegates from the world’s bishops’ conferences, three president-delegates (Cardinals Tong Hon, Robles Ortega and Monsengwo Pasinya), the relator-general (Cardinal Wuerl) and the secretary (Archbishop Carré), the Holy Father specifically appointed 36 Synod fathers for this autumn’s Thirteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, which will focus on the new evangelisation. Later, there will be additional lay men and women who will be invited to contribute as well.

The list of the 36 Synod Fathers is as follows:

• Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals.
• Cardinal Joachim Meisner, archbishop of Cologne, Germany.
• Cardinal Vinko Puljic, archbishop of Vrhbosna, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• Cardinal Polycarp Pengo, archbishop of Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania and president of SECAM/SCEAM (Symposium of the Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar).
• Cardinal Christoph Schönborn O.P., archbishop of Vienna, Austria.
• Cardinal George Pell, archbishop of Sydney, Australia.
• Cardinal Josip Bozanic, archbishop of Zagreb, Croatia.
• Cardinal Péter Erdö, archbishop of Esztergom-Budapest, Hungary and president of CCEE (Council of European Episcopal Conferences).
• Cardinal Agostino Vallini, His Holiness’ vicar general for the diocese of Rome.
• Cardinal Lluis Martínez Sistach, archbishop of Barcelona, Spain.
• Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, archbishop of Paris, France.
• Cardinal Oswald Gracias, archbishop of Bombay, India and secretary general of FABC (Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences).
• Patriarch Francesco Moraglia of Venice, Italy.
• Archbishop John Olorunfemi Onaiyekan of Abuja, Nigeria.
• Archbishop Hector Ruben Aguer of La Plata, Argentina.
• Archbishop Antonio Arregui Yarza of Guayaquil, Ecuador, president of the Ecuadorian Episcopal Conference.
• Archbishop John Atcherley Dew of Wellington, New Zealand, president of FCBCO (Federation of Catholic Bishops’ Conferences of Oceania).
• Archbishop Jose Octavio Ruiz Arenas, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelisation.
• Archbishop José Horacio Gomez of Los Angeles, U.S.A.
• Archbishop Carlos Aguiar Retes of Tlalnepantla, president of CELAM (Latin American Episcopal Council).
• Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham, England.
• Archbishop Ricardo Antonio Tobon Restrepo of Medellin, Colombia.
• Archbishop Luis Antonio G. Tagle of Manila, Philippines.
• Archbishop Filippo Santoro of Taranto, Italy.
• Bishop Javier Echevarria Rodriguez, prelate of the Personal Prelature of Opus Dei.
• Bishop Dominique Rey of Frejus-Toulon, France.
• Bishop Menghisteab Tesfamariam M.C.C.J., eparch of Asmara, Eritrea.
• Bishop Benedito Beni dos Santos of Lorena, Brazil.
• Bishop Santiago Jaime Silva Retamales, auxiliary of Valparaiso, Chile and secretary general of CELAM.
• Bishop Luigi Negri of San Marino-Montefeltro, Italy.
• Bishop Alberto Francisco Sanguinetti Montero of Canelones, Uruguay.
• Bishop Enrico Dal Covolo S.D.B., rector of the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.
• Fr. Julian Carron, president of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation.
• Fr. Renato Salvatore M.I., superior general of the Clerks Regular Ministers to the Sick (Camillians).
• Fr. Heinrich Walter, superior general of the Schönstatt Fathers.
• Fr. Jose Panthaplamthottiyil C.M.I., prior general of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate

Four of the Synod Fathers: Cardinal Bozanic, Archbishops Onaiyekan and Longley, and Fr. Walter.

The list is an interesting mix of the old guard (Sodano, Meisner) and the up and coming (Gomez, Tagle), and also includes a number of prelates who have recently worked closely with the pope on papal visits (Pengo, Longley, Onaiyekan, Negri). Although hand-picked for the Synod, these prelates are not more or less important then the delegates from all over the world. They will be full and active participants on the Synod, though, and at least some of them may be expected to contribute significantly.