Jimmy Akin

LONG WRITE-UPS OF POSSIBLE PAPABILE. (Netscape News took down the story.)

LATIN-AMERICAN SPECULATION.

LIST OF PAPAL ELECTORS.

The passing of our beloved John Paul II was not unexpected, yet most of us will remember, I think, where we were when we heard that he had died. I would, perhaps, have chosen to be in my studio, or at Adoration, or any other place where I might have given his passing the attention it deserved and had time for prayerful reflection. As it was, our house was a flurry of activity as we prepared for my daughter’s birthday party later that day. Decorations needed hanging. Last minute tidying had to be done. One more trip to the store for this and that forgotten item. I caught the announcement on FOX News as I was getting in the shower. Life went on at a dizzying pace.

The party (a sleepover) was a big success. The last guest has gone. We have almost finished cleaning up. Before we attend Mass tonight we will gather in prayer as a family and reflect on the passing of our Papa. I will go to Adoration tonight at midnight and offer prayers for the repose of his soul, for his successor and for the cardinals who will gather to elect him.

Tomorrow the trees will continue to throw out their buds, our dogs will go on pestering the squirrels and I will get back to painting. Over the coming months the magnitude of this loss will soak into our awareness like a slow spring rain.

John Paul II, we miss you. Pray for us.

What I’m about to write will very quickly be overridden by events, but based on the apostolic constitution Universi Dominici Gregis, which lays out what is to happen after the death of the pope, it’s possible to determine when certain things are likely to happen. There is some play in what dates they should occur on, though, and the fact that the pope died not long before midnight makes it a little harder to guess what they’re going to count as the benchmark day, but the Cardinals will be announcing the official plans soon.

In any event,

• The pope’s funeral is to occur four to six days after his death. Since he died on Saturday the 2nd, that should place his funeral between Wednesday the sixth and Friday the nintheighth.
• The conclave is tentatively set to start on the fifteenth day after his death, which would be Sunday the 17th, but since that is a Sunday they might start it Monday the 18th to avoid conflicting with liturgical celebrations of one of the Sundays of Easter. They have the flexibility to delay it up until the 20th day after his death, which would be Friday the 22nd.

Once the conclave begins, there is no way of knowing precisely how long it will last, though I suspect that it will last only 2-4 days, based on recent conclaves.

A reader writes:

Don’t take this the wrong way, I am very sad at the passing of John Paul II. He was a great, great man and leader.

I was just wondering how we are to refer to the prayers for the Pope in the liturgy and for indulgences. Will the church still include, "for our pope John Paul, our bishop N", or will it be generic? Also, when obtaining a plenary indulgence, you must pray for the Holy Father’s intentions. Since JPII is most likely in heaven, do we pray for his intentions? Since he probably is one of the church’s biggest advocates (along with all the former Popes) in heaven.

Just wondering. I have never gone through this before (at least at the age of reason), and was wondering since we will be without a Pope for a couple weeks. Let’s all pray for his successor. He will have HUGE shoes to fill, but I imagine the Holy Spirit will help him out there…

Indeed.

Regarding the two questions you ask, the Sacramentary does not provide a specific option for what to do in an interregnum (period between the reign of two popes). There may be an obscure directive on the books somewhere, but I suspect most priests don’t know it. As a result, I imagine that most priests will either omit the prayer for the pope in Masses in the interregnum or decide on their own backward- or forward-pointing modification.

As far as indulgences, it is not clear to me that plenary indulgences (except the indulgence for the dying) are available in the interregnum since the gaining of one requires prayer for the pope’s intentions. With "the pope" being a null set at the moment, it seems that the matter is ambiguous. It might be that this requirement is in abeyance until there is a new pope, that praying of the the intentions of the former or the coming pope might suffice, or that it is simply not possible to fulfill this condition until the new pontificate. I don’t know of any settled answer on this matter.

Wish I could be of more help.

Vatican officials have confirmed that John Paul II died. He passed at 9:37 p.m. Vatican time, less than three hours shy of Divine Mercy Sunday, making it the Eve of Divine Mercy Sunday.