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Subscribe to RSSNow that Benedict XVI has officially stepped down from his reign as pope, the speculation about who will be next begins. NBC's Keir Simmons reports on some of the frontrunners, including Cardinal Scola of Milan and Cardinal Turkson of Ghana.
ROME -- Roman Catholic cardinals will next week take the first step toward setting a date for a conclave that will elect a new pope, Vatican officials confirmed Friday.
The cardinals will begin informal discussions of church issues, known as "general congregations," at 9:30 a.m. local time (3:30 a.m. ET) on Monday, a Vatican press spokesman said.
At the top of their agenda will be the announcement of a date for the cardinals to enter the conclave – a closed, secret voting session held inside the Sistine Chapel that continues until they agree on a new leader for the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics.
General congregations are the preliminary talks at which cardinals identify the key tasks facing the church, prior to the conclave at which they choose the best candidate suited to those tasks.
The first general congregation will take place in the Vatican’s Paul VI hall, according to Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Dean of the College of Cardinals.
A second will take place at 5:00 p.m. local time (11 a.m. ET), he told reporters.
The Vatican's announcement came a day after the papacy of Benedict XVI formally ended with his departure by helicopter to a temporary residence at Castel Gandolfo.
It means the church is without a leader until the conclave has chosen a successor.
Benedict XVI is now officially known as the pope emeritus.
Related:
Cheers and tears as Benedict flies to temporary home in hilltop town
Inside Castel Gandolfo, Benedict's spectacular temporary retirement home
This story was originally published on Fri Mar 1, 2013 7:26 AM EST
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Do you think they'll have brunch. Waffers and Holy water maybe.
You'll know when they picked a new pope when you see the white smoke. I think I'll try that the next time i get pulled over. Officer I was just picking a new pope.
Excellent.
Nice.
Pass the Pope.
Papal Enclave Agenda:
1) Vote for new Pope.
2) Hide more pedophiles.
3) Keep women pregnant in the kitchen.
4) Deny gay rights.
5) High fives all around and break for lunch.
William, William, William:
What am I going to do about you?
Don't you realize that after "prayerful thought" Bishops throughout the USA and, apparently elsewhere, "rationalized away" the obvious - contact secular authorities about pedophile?
Don't you realize that "somewhere" (I do not know where but MEN - all men - tell us so) in scripture it says females cannot be priests?
Don't you realize that male priests cannot be married - except for the 91 married priests already practicing in the USA? Apparently, some "twisted reasoning" was created to allow these exceptions.
Don't you realize that gay and lesbian behavior "goes against nature?" Never mind that IT IS a gay or lesbian's nature to be gay or lesbian. All you have to do is observe their behavior to realize that they are "practicing" their nature.
Finally, don't you realize that there is reason for hope. It only took MY Catholic Church 1,890 years to speak out officially against slavery. Who knows, a few more hundred years and maybe priests will be allowed to be married.
Just imagine if USA Bishops were all married. Maybe one of the wives might have asked her Bishop Husband "Are you insane?" if he protected some pedophile priest. But what do I know? I am not a "Prince of the Church - I just have some common sense and I try to do the right thing.
Thank you to those Catholics who are respectfully remaining silent instead of attempting to defend the indefensible on these comment sections. We've all seen it. We've seen it right here with Catholics saying it's not that bad, or we who are sickened by cover-ups are really just hate-mongers.
And it must be hard to remain silent when you see the Church you love falling to pieces and being attacked. Or maybe it isn't hard to remain silent if you agree that anger is a justifiable reaction to great moral evil found in the Catholic Church. Perhaps you agree with people like me, and others, who strongly affirm the obligation an empathetic civilization has to deliver swift secular justice upon those who would harm children and obstruct all attempts to dismantle the enviroment that protects great evil.
Again, thank you to those Catholics who are remaining silent! We are all Americans, and for that matter, fellow travelers on this earth, and should be able to agree to support each other in other ways rather than fuel animosity by arguing about the rights or wrongs of priestly rape. There are no rights in those instances!
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
You don't matter so your opinion does not either. My faith is strong. These men will pay for what they have done just like you and I will.
tawbear,
Well, I disagree with you. Big surprise! :)
If by "pay for what they have done" you mean eternal damnation by burning, well, there's no evidence of anything like that. Those evil people of faith WILL get away with it. Indeed, many already have died without any defrocking. That priest who sexually assaulted 200 deaf boys was never defrocked. He got away with it.
I am concerned that there are people like you who are too content to leave justice to the unevidenced "afterlife" and consequently don't do enought RIGHT NOW, to prevent violence in your Church in the first place.
Please try to remedy that. Is that too unreasonable a suggestion?
There no justice on earth.Defrocking means nothing to these men. My heart breaks for the children who suffered at the hands of these monsters. These are not men of God only monsters walking this earth. There in every walk of life. My faith is in God not man.
maybe you're such an idiot that nobody takes you serious enough to bother.your ignorance is glaring,your facts are made up and you don't justify a response.
Thank you for staying silent? What would you expect us Catholics to say? Most Catholics are sickened by the abuse and the subsequent cover ups.
There are people who obviously think that it is the Catholic church that is producing pedophiles, something I would disagree with. Pedophiles are within the church, just as they are in every area of society. Within the Catholic church it is something that needs to be addressed just as it needs to be addressed in our schools, in other religions, etc.
cathdad,
Can I ask why you stay and contribute money?
Do you think there is any reasonable analogy to be made by those people who support Louis Farrahan by saying, well the Nation of Islam DOES have programs for young men to get off drugs so they do good and I stay because of that? Or how about KKK memberships? How about the NAZIs whereby regular Germans went along with the flow?
What would it take for you to leave the Catholic Church? What if priests boiled babies and ate them and your leadership (for generations) hid them and shuffled them to parishes that had a lot of plump babies? Don't laugh, my point is would THAT be enough for you to say enough I'm outta here?
Just trying to understand current Catholic opinion. I am an ex-Catholic and I left for moral reasons.
God still loves you even though you hate him. The time of Tribulation is close upon us and our faith will remain strong. I'm not Catholic but just someone who believes, god bless.
Remaining silent is nothing to be proud of. It has contributed to the church's current problems. What if instead of reporting child abuse to church officials where it could be covered up, it had been reported to the police? Perhaps that could have been dealt with YEARS ago, sparing the church (and subsequent victims) anguish now.
Has anyone ever considered that the most likely reason there are so many sexual assaults by priests on the innocent is the enforced celibacy the church puts on its clerics?
A basic human function. Why is everyone so prudish about it?
I'll defend the Catholic CHURCH. I will not WASTE a moment defending the clowns who have elbowed their way to the top of the Church Hierarchy with their "smooth" wordsmithing (as is the case in all organizations). These clowns "know all the words" but are OBVIOUSLY "clueless about the message." That is correct: I am referring to Cardinals - MY Church's Cardinals - as clowns (as a group, functioning idiots is probably a better descrition).
Somehow I am able to separate the message from the "politicians" who have taken over. But many people cannot - and I cannot say that I blame them.
Note: I am willing to serve as Pope and I am qualified. However, I believe that there are many Cardinals who are not interested in "experiencing" the type of secular justuce I would hand out to any Cardinal found to have protected pedophiles.
Atheist - sorry for not responding sooner.
What would it take to leave? I would have to become convinced that the purpose of the church is not what I believe it to be. This begs the question of "what is the church" - a question you and I might answer differently.
The church is made of humans, and with that there is going to be some error, some evil, and some nefarious intentions. But those evil things are not what the church is - the church condemns the evil actions of its members. And although the response has been far from perfect and full of flaws, at the heart of the response from the church is a definite condemnation of the actions of these evil men within its walls.
To use your analogy of the KKK, Nazi's, etc - I would never be a member of those organizations, not because of what they do, but because of what their core purpose is. I find their mission, their purpose, their substance to be repugnant just as I find the actions of their members repugnant.
Bringing this analogy to the church, I find the actions of some of the priests and bishops repugnant and indefensible. But that does not mean that the church itself, which is separate from these individuals in my opinion, is repugnant.
The Evil Tessmacher -
Celibacy is not the reason for the abuse scandals. Child molesters have issues which lead them to be molesters. Child molestation rates in non-celibate men are just as high and usually higher than they are in the priesthood. Protestant ministers, rabbis, or even outside of religion: coaches, boy scout leaders, etc. all have the same or higher rates of predatory individuals.
Estimates of abuse within the priesthood put it at roughly 4%. In the general public, estimates vary from 10% - 20%. The priesthood just happens to get the attention (and rightly so in my opinion)
Here's just one article that references this: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2010/04/07/mean-men.html
Atheist trolls these post. If it is a post concerning any religion he post, so no his opinion means nothing.
Feel free to take issue with any single sentence I've written. Calling me a troll, without evidence, is probably a violation of the TOU.
I've only recently found these forums and take great joy in being able to comment on subjects that are important to me. Imagine that!
Atheist, I am not an atheist, but I do respect your right to post anything you wish.
IAMMYOWNWOMAN,
Thank you for the kind sentiment. It's amazing that in the 21st century such a statement even needs to be said!
Sad but true. I don't agree with 90% of what is being posted on these articles, but I certainly respect their right to do so. Have a nice weekend!
Atheist I have no problem with your comments and I would never name call. We are all free to make our opinions known, so go for it.
tawbear,
I appreciate that. Just so you know, I do my best to remember that attacking people is a sign of barbarism but attacking ideas is a sign of civilization.
Too bad Albert Pujols left the Cardinals for the Angels, he might have had a chance to be pope. Though he'd probably have to adjust his swing while wearing the mitre.
Totally confused. Why take the time to vote on a time to vote? they are all there to say "bye-bye", why not just go in and vote on a new pope? It's not like the Cardinals didn't have a person in mind already.
Nah, guess they need a few weeks to ramble around Rome and the Vatican. Please tell me that they aren't flying home only to fly back again. Can only imagine the cost. Wow...this sounds familiar.... Congress anyone?
Reporting the actions of the Vatican makes about as much sense as reporting on Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
What do the St. Louis Cardinals have to do with choosing the pope ? Shouldn't they be in spring training?
The catholic church is popeless...
I hope they pick Jeremy Irons next. He's great. Or Ian McKellen. He'd make an awesome Pope Gandalf the First.
Peter Turkson.... or whoever is elected will take the name Peter.....
Simply don't care--have at it, believe The Christ would be appalled by what Peter's Church has turned into over the centuries. Modern day of aiding and abetting pedophilia and molestation is incromprehensible but still apparently still the MO, no credibility what-so-ever. Pomp, rituals, scrabbling for money, lavish life styles---pfft, a long way from the Upper Room, huh folks.
The Good Sisters have my utmost respect and support, they after all walk the walk regardless getting a smack down from the Vatican--remember that.
Collapsed Catholic here, left years ago along with my $$, couldn't tolerate the hypocrisy and cover-ups, the rigid dogma, adherence and lock-step mentality made my stay an impossibility, just flat out wrong institutional mentality.
The notion of God is manmade belief. Its an egotistical value assigned by men who were asked answers who really didn't know the answer to the question but thinks everyone around them is dumber than they are.
Here is a prime example:
While working at a company one of the employees made the comment that Oil Well Security cane pull you over and give you ticket the same as a local law enforcement can. Even on public streets.
Well the idiot didn't realize that I had worked as an armed security guard for two years and a supervisor for the same company for a year and a half.
Only legal law enforcement officers have such a status of doing so.
After stating his facts he arrogantly walked away smelling his own idiocy.
The same notion applies to God.
No one knows how the Universe was created because science has not been able to determine how space works.
Space is where no particle reactions occur between particles to cause an energetic reaction.
Space is nothing the absolute of everything.
How can man even say that he is god and all knowing when man like the idiot molder that he is cannot even explain space?
There must be a God. How else could YOU - and I mean YOU - exist.
Did they find the anti-matter bomb yet?
I think it would be better if they don't elect any more Popes at all. The failings of Benedict XVI reflect the failings of the Vatican as a whole, not one man. See rationalexaminer.com for an overview of the Pope's hypocrisy.
Don't worry, Rodzz; only one more, no. 112:
In persecutione extrema S.R.E. sedebit Petrus Romanus, qui pascet oves in multis tribulantionibus, quibus transactis civitas septicolis diruetur, & judex tremedus judicabit populum suum. Finis.
I was gone too long--this site is once again overrun with children bashing the previous generations institutions as if they know so very much that they are qualified to tell everyone what is right and wrong. The enlightening information/statements you are passing along came from someone else-- probably a disgruntled pessimistic old ass and you have no idea how much of it is real and how much false. I don't care how old you are, you are uninformed and immature. And no--I am not a catholic and I'm not a liberal/progressive/marxist.
I want the Cardinals to know that I am a Baptized Roman Catholic. Tthat means I can be considered for Pope.
Well, I am willing to serve.
If chosen I promise to investigate each and every one of them for any role each may have played in protecting pedophile clergy. Most importantly, I will turn over any incriminating evidence to secular authorities and defrock such clergy - so help me God!
These Princes of the Church have become so "wrapped up" in their wordsmithing, they have lost sight of the message. Jesus entered the Temple and warned of the Hypocrite Rabbis. Well, guess what Cardinals, you have done it again!!!