Have You Hugged Your Cardinal Today?

Well, perhaps a cheery letter of gratitude for the gift of Pope Benedict XVI will do.

Seriously, though, in making the rounds of St. Blog’s Parish, one gets the impression that there may be the idea floating about orthodox Catholic circles that the Holy Spirit is wholly and entirely responsible for the surprise election of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, perhaps anointing Cardinal Ratzinger pope ex nihilo.

It ain’t so.

The Holy Spirit surely provided the cardinals with the graces they needed to assist their prudential judgment, but he did not override any cardinal’s free will.  It was each and every cardinal who voted for Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger who freely inked Ratzinger’s name onto the ballot.  According to stories of the conclave that are beginning to emerge, the number of those cardinals may have been over one hundred on the final ballot — well above the number necessary for the two-thirds super-majority:

"Italian newspapers, considered to have the best inside track on events inside the secret meeting, agreed that Ratzinger garnered well over the two thirds, or 77, votes he needed from the 115 voting cardinals.

"Some suggested he won more than 100.

"The votes reflected the desire by the princes of the Church for an uncompromising and capable leader to face the myriad challenges of the 21st century."

GET THE STORY.

I freely admit that I was apprehensive following the death of John Paul II, somewhat worried about who would emerge as our new Holy Father. Not wanting to be disappointed, I had completely eliminated Cardinal Ratzinger from the running and was rooting for Francis Cardinal Arinze, a conservative who appeared to be a "safer" choice for the cardinals. There were also a few other cardinals I had heard good things about and would have welcomed.

But the cardinals proved themselves men of courage and conviction, far exceeding my shallow expectations. For that, they deserve our gratitude and respect. It should also give us great hope for future conclaves years — prayerfully, many, many years — from now.

10 thoughts on “Have You Hugged Your Cardinal Today?”

  1. Agreed, the role of the Holy Spirit is subtle but many Catholics seem to believe the Church is simply a human institution. (For example, a majority of U.S. Catholics don’t believe the Eucharist as the Body of Christ.) Catholics who see the Church as purely a human institution are by definition going to be mad if “their” Pope isn’t elected because they reject even the possibility that this is who the Spirit wanted. They see it as a pure power play by human beings.
    If someone is disappointed by the selection, they seem to almost by definition be saying the Spirit didn’t do it, and they are saying that because the Spirit didn’t see things as they did.
    I know Catholics who have written off this Pope because they say it was rigged by Pope John Paul II, who appointed so many conservative cardinals. I know that grace builds on nature and that politics is part of “nature”, but doesn’t this give progressives an out indefinitely? Because if this pope appoints conservative bishops then progressives will point to him, etc….

  2. According to stories of the conclave that are beginning to emerge, the number of those cardinals may have been over one hundred on the final ballot — well above the number necessary for the two-thirds super-majority:
    How could we possibly know that without some Cardinal having been automatically excommunicated?
    Speaking of future conclaves, I hope Pope Benedict XVI is, shall we say, a little more careful about the people he appoints to become cardinal than John Paul II was. I don’t mean to say anything bad about JPII, but some of the cardinals he appointed are, um, well, how to put this diplomatically…flaming heretics.
    I believe in the Holy Spirit protecting the office and all that so it can’t teach error, but we shouldn’t test the Lord, and a heretic pope could do very great damage through his “private teachings”. No doubt if such a pope were to do so, all the heretics of the world would declare every word out of his mouth to be infallible, sowing great confusion among the faithful.
    Long live Panzerpope!
    I also was rooting for Arinze, but would not have it any other way now. Ratzinger proved himself überworthy in how he handled the funeral and post-funeral period.

  3. OK, I was so happy about B16 that I wanted to hug the nearest geographical Cardinal to me — Roger Cardinal Mahoney!
    Now that’s joyful delerium!
    I’d still give him a hug if I could, though.

  4. Here’s a question for anyone… how does anyone know what the final total count could be at all? I thought the cardinals were silenced about the votes under pain of excommunication. When I hear a news article suggesting a hard number (110), can that imply that an unfaithful cardinal spilled the beans? I am just curious.

  5. …but some of the cardinals he appointed are, um, well, how to put this diplomatically…flaming heretics.
    This sounds pretty gratuitous, BillyHW, without naming names. Care to enlighten the uninformed (like myself)?

  6. “Not wanting to be disappointed, I had completely eliminated Cardinal Ratzinger from the running…”
    It’s funny that you say this…I felt the same way!

  7. That reminds me of a question–where do they get these statistics about how “most Catholics don’t believe the Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ”? We’ve all heard them. I saw on the news stats like “53% of Catholics are pro-choice” or “95% of Catholics use artificial birth control”. How can they possibly know?? There are over a billion Catholics in the world! Even in America, I don’t know how they could do an accurate poll on Catholics.

  8. This sounds pretty gratuitous, BillyHW, without naming names. Care to enlighten the uninformed (like myself)?
    Well, I don’t want to start a cardinal bashing session. But just to throw one example out there: Jean-Claude Turcotte, the cardinal bishop of Montreal is in favour of granting legal benefits to gay “unions”.

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