The Coming Conclave

I hope I don’t offend anyone when I say that I’m glad that Pope John Paul II didn’t suffer and passed quickly (and, apparently, comfortably) to his well deserved reward. I’m sure that he’s been greeted with “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

For those of us that remain in the church militant, comes the selection of the next pope – a process that’s been going on for a couple thousand years, but was a pretty big mystery in the details, at least to me. I wasn’t even Catholic in 1978 (the last time a Pope was elected) and the rules have changed since then.

The best source, bar none, for accurate, orthodox Catholic News is Catholic World News – go there for all of your news needs. They don’t slant the news in favor of any left-wing political agenda (like the New York Times or the theoretically Catholic, National Catholic Reporter). In the words of Joe Friday, CWN gives you “just the facts.”

For an example, read “The Coming Conclave” and “Powers and Personalities” – two articles presciently written in December 2003, but still great and timely reading.

The Teaching Company, a website that provides lectures on CD, DVD, or download, on a huge number of topics, has posted two free lectures on their website concerning the election of the Pope. I can’t vouch for their orthodoxy as I’m not an expert, but they are very interesting. I listened to the first one, “How to Elect a Pope” this morning and it was obviously given in March 2005, after the Pope’s latest trip to the hospital, but before his passing away.