I should preface this by saying that in no way am I intending to offend any Catholics.
I’m wondering how much the conclave resembles junior high student council elections. I mean, becoming pope is sort of like becoming president. You know, rising to the top of whatever group you’re involved in. The pope is to Catholics what the president is to US citizens or the class president to the school, that kind of thing.
Do you think the cardinals were jockeying for position in the conclave? Do the “popular” cardinals form cliques? Are there “nerd” cardinals that suddenly do something unexpected and thus get some votes? Do they vote for the guy who’s their buddy? And I wonder if the guy who gets elected, while outwardly looking all magnanimous and holy and peaceful and serene while being introduced on the balcony, is inwardly doing a little jig and going “I’M THE POPE! OH YEAH!!”
‘Cause that’s totally what I would be thinking.
I AM SO OFFENDED! Just kidding. I committed my own blasphemy by comparing Conclave to the Democratic/Repulican National Conventions. I mean, you have a couple of front runners, but really anyone from the group can get elected, and you vote until someone is chosen. Of course there are differences, but in general, that’s how it’s done. I think the other people in the discussion were slighlty appalled that I *dared* compare the two, but I bet that when they thought about it more, they realized that I was right!
no i totally agree, and i’m catholic. i wonder what goes on back there, whether there’s mayhem and arguing or if there are bully cardinals. did you know that you don’t even have to be a cardinal or even a priest to become pope? technically all you have to be is an unmarried, baptized, roman catholic male. but it’s been cardinals for the past like 700 years. tough streak to break.
I would be all worried if I were elected Pope.
The funniest thing to me, is they must all go into the conclave with “pope names” like “If they pick me I’m gonna choose the name… Pope Thadius!!!” I want to know what the losers had picked for their pope names.