Category: The Pope

A Layman Pope?

I’m writing this note before the conclave, and it’s likely to be moot by the time it goes up on Thursday, but here goes.

A reader writes:

i am practicing catholic from india. your statement that a layman could become a pope is very confusing i am a married person with 2 children do you think that i could become a pope if 2/3rd of the cardinals vote me as the pope. more over which cannon law allows a person who has not taken celebecy to become a pope. we also request that you dont make such irresponsible statements about the catholic faith which is followed by millions of catholics in the world

I appreciate your concern for accuracy and for not misleading the faithful, but I think that there has been a bit of a miscommunication here.

Any discussion of the possibility of a layman being elected pope in this day and age is purely hypothetical. There is basically no chance whatsoever that this would happen in today’s environment. For the sake of accuracy, though, I note that it is a hypothetical possibility.

Canon law expressly provides for the situation in which a non-bishop is elected pope. It says that if a non-bishop is elected pope then he is to be consecrated as a bishop immediately. This provision of canon law does not restrict the election of a pontiff to priests. It simply refers to him not being a bishop. Therefore, he could be a priest, a deacon, or a layman.

There is also nothing in canon law or other lay preventing the cardinals from electing a man who is married or has children. They would never do so in real life at this point in Church history, but there is nothing in canon law stopping them from doing so. If they really felt that a married layman with kids was the best person to lead the Church, they are empowered to elect such a person.

Indeed, in Universi Dominici Gregis, John Paul II exhorted them, saying:

Rather, having before their eyes solely the glory of God and the good of the Church, and having prayed for divine assistance, they shall give their vote to the person, even outside the College of Cardinals, who in their judgment is most suited to govern the universal Church in a fruitful and beneficial way [SOURCE].

There are no restrictions on that. The only restrictions that would exist would be one that of their nature prevent one from being consecrated a bishop. That means that women could not be elected (or that such an election would be invalid), but it is possible in principle–even though it is rare in the Latin church–to be married still receive holy orders.

Indeed, Scripture seems to indicate that the first pope was that way.

So if the cardinals did give you a two-thirds vote, you would be validly elected pope.

I think you have nothing to fear in regard to this possibility, though. It would be very foolish for the cardinals to elect any layman today, for it would be very, very bad for the Church. Consequently, they will not do so.

Reflections On the Papal Process

Although I’ve been a Catholic for nearly a decade now, in many ways this past month I have felt like a baby Catholic.  And, despite the sorrow for John Paul II and the joy for Benedict XVI, mostly I’ve felt like a baby greedily sucking in the drama, the pageantry, the history, and — most of all — the world reaction.

I may or may not have more to say later about certain reactions from non-Catholics, but what has impressed me the most is how important the past month has been to the world.  The world has known that something monumental has been happening in its midst and it has been watching.  While we might quibble with or heckle down some of the watchers’ commentaries, I think it says something significant about the Catholic Church that this transition has meant so much worldwide to Catholics and non-Catholics alike.

Can you imagine anything like this surrounding a shift in leadership in any other religion — Christian or non-Christian — anywhere else in the world?  The only possible comparable might occur when the Dalai Lama passes on, but I think much of that will be because of his personal appeal to the world; it won’t be because of the office he holds.  In other words, while many around the world will genuinely and sincerely mourn the Dalai Lama, I doubt there will be much worldwide speculation on who will succeed him.  There certainly won’t be an equivalent to this past week’s coverage of the Vatican and the election of the new Pope.  And it is astounding that the only marginal comparable of which I could fathom is a man who is not only a non-Christian but also a non-monotheist.  No other Christian or non-Christian, monotheistic or non-monotheistic, religion offers a worldwide office and leader of such importance to the secular or religious world.

It says something of the importance of the Church and the papacy to the world that the world knows that these are events of such monumental importance that they must be covered in-depth.  There may be fundamental disagreements between the world and the Church, between the world and the Pope; but the Church and the Pope will never be irrelevant to the world.  And, for me, that is confirmation that Christ is still active in the world today and that the world subconsciously recognizes him in the Catholic Church.

For a baby Catholic like me, that’s a huge comfort.

Ratz!

Ratzinger_1That’s what I’d be saying if I was disappointed.

But I’m not!

I’m delighted!

YEE-HAW!!!

God bless Benedict XVI!

Man, he wasn’t even done with the Urbi et orbi and I was wanting his first encyclical already.

Good money it’ll be on relativism and hook directly into apologetics.

Habemus confusion

So sometimes the smoke, it’s not so clear whether it’s grey like black or grey like white.

Yesterday’s first appearance of smoke led to cheers in St. Peter’s Square until it became clear that the smoke was black.

Back in 1978, the opposite happened, when the white smoke was initially mistaken for black after the election of John Paul II.

So John Paul II, he said, we should do bells now, not just smoke. You don’t hear bells — no habemus papam.

Okay. But there’s this little problem.

The bells in St. Peter’s Basilica, they ring at noon.

Every day.

This morning they rang at noon as the cardinals were breaking for lunch — after another unsuccessful vote.

While smoke was billowing from the chimney.

Nobody at the Vatican thinks, maybe during the conclave we shouldn’t ring the bells at noon, when people are listening for bells to see if habemus papam?

GET THE (NON) STORY.