After about twenty-four hours (a very short period of time) we have a new Holy Father to guide the Church. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was elected Pope this morning (or afternoon in Rome) and became Pope Benedict XVI- the first Benedict since 1922 (not that long ago... ;)). I posted earlier during the very beginning of this whole thing, before we knew who it was, but I really wanted to write more about the experience of actually watching this whole thing- albeit on television from the midwest in the United States. Still amazing, though...
I think we found out because my aunt called to say that instead of her regular programming (some intellectually stimulating game show or soap opera, I'm sure...) there was just a picture of smoke coming out of a chimney and she figured we'd want to know about it. I was working on the computor and had the TV on in the background, muted, because there's only so many hours a day you can watch cable news without going crazy. I was glancing over occasionally, but I probably wouldn't have caught it at the beginning.
Personally, I thought it was white smoke. I mean, this looked really white--- not even close to gray. But then all the news networks (except EWTN, who I think has learned to keep their mouth shut about pretty much anything since that little flatline incident) were saying it was black, so that meant that the vote was inconclusive. Even though it was kind of gray by this time, I still didn't really believe it- mainly because it was an odd time for a vote and the entire crowd in St. Peter's Square was going crazy and screaming and everything. I switched over to NBC and their caption just said "Smoke coming from the Sistine Chapel", which I found kind of funny because it looked like it was on fire or something. Within a few minutes, it became pretty clear that this was actually white smoke, and we did actually have a new Pope, but nobody knew who it was. They rang the bells for six o'clock, and then about four minutes later they started ringing them to signal the successful election of the Pope.
My first response was to start crying. I don't know exactly why- while I wasn't happy about the fact that John Paul II had died, I knew that he would never be replaced in our hearts, so it wasn't that. Maybe it was the fact that I was watching such a beautiful scene, with a ton of people in St. Peter's Square all rejoicing and waiting, and actually watching the white smoke that is such an iconic symbol of my faith. Or maybe it was that this was the first thing of this nature that I had experienced, a moment I'll be telling my children about when they watch their first election. It was just so amazing and beautiful and way more moving than I thought it was going to be. Either way, I was sitting in the den crying over some white smoke and tolling bells.
About half an hour later, Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina Estivez came out and did the annoucement. First, he had to say "Brothers and Sisters" in about twelve different languages- which freaked me out because I thought he was going to repeat everything in all those languages and by that time I really wanted to know who the Pope was!!! But he didn't, and just continued in Latin. I understood most of it- probably due to the fact that I knew what he was saying in English and not my rather tentative grasp of the Latin language. As soon as he said "Joseph", the entire crowd erupted. I was just like "Ratzinger?" I really didn't think they were going to elect him, they hardly ever elect the "frontrunner" (4 to1...hehehehe....). But I was happy- he's very conservative and staunch in his beliefs, and will continue to uphold the docterine that John Paul II worked so hard to protect. And then they said he chose Benedict XVI for his papal name, which kind of surprised me, because it seemed so old world.
It didn't hit me that we actually had another Pope until he came out and addressed the crowd (picture above). For the twenty or so minutes between Estivez's announcement and his address, all the news captions said "Joseph Ratzinger elected, chooses Benedict XVI for his papal name." But then as soon as he started talking, everything switched over to just saying "Pope Benedict XVI". He's really a Pope!!! It was kind of shocking at first, but I've kind of gotten used to it.
His address and blessing was beautiful- as was witnessing him walking out on to the balcony. He mentioned John Paul II, which I thought went quite a long way to endearing him to those who felt he may have been replacing their Pope. He seemed really humble and down-to-earth, and while not quite as charasmatic as John Paul II, warm and nice in his own way.
It was an amazing and beautiful thing to experience and watch, and selfishly I'm kind of glad that I'll have a Pope for my confirmation. And I'm kind of happy that a certain liberal priest I know is probably curled up in a fetal position rocking in the corner and sobbing right now. :) And that's he's German. We just need and Irish Pope next time and all of my nationalities will be represented!!!
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