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Tag Archives: Pope Benedict XVI
Sede Vacante
4 Mar
Some of us like to act like we’re smart. So, we use Latin phrases, like saying “sede vacante” to mean that there is no Pope. Literally, it means “the seat being vacant.” There is no one who sits in the Pope’s seat. There is no one who has the authority of the Pope, who exercises the role of the Pope, who holds the office of the Pope, who does the ministry of the Pope. You got it. There is no Pope.
We are popeless, but not hopeless. Benedict XVI has gotten up from the chair and has left it empty. But soon someone else will sit in that chair. The fact that there is no Pope makes for good conversation. The election of a new Pope provides entertainment. But we do not experience serious grief or anxiety over “the seat being vacant.” The sede vacante of the Pope doesn’t really immediately and intimately affect our lives.
What grieves us more are the empty seats in our own personal lives that will never be filled. There is that empty seat at the Thanksgiving table, because that was dad’s chair, and he is no longer with us. You sit in your pew at Mass on Sunday morning with an empty space next to you, because that was where mom sat, until she left you. There is an empty stool at the breakfast counter. There is the empty seat on the passenger’s side of the car. There is an empty chair at “our” table in our favorite restaurant.
Sure, we pray for our church, for the election of a new pope. But that prayer will be answered, and we will stop praying it. We will get a new Pope.
During the “sede vacante” it seems right and good and just to also acknowledge and reverence the empty chairs, the empty seats, the empty places in our own personal lives or in the lives of those who will never recover from the loss.
Non Habemus Papam: We do not have a Pope
1 MarThe wheels lifted off the ground at the Vatican heliport. It was a moment to be recorded and remembered.
Notice “Gorgeous George,” the Pope’s secretary, wiping away tears at 1:16.
The real drama begins at 12:36 as the camera focusses on the front wheels of the helicopter. It is not until 14:00 that they inch their way off the ground, to carry the Pope into history.
Have you seen the doors slamming shut and the Swiss guard leaving their post? It was yesterday’s post. It was the scene that I was waiting to see, thinking that the moment would be striking and dramatic. I was not disappointed.
The door slams shut on the Papacy of Benedict XVI
28 FebAt 8:00 p.m. Italy time (and 2:00 p.m. Milford time) the doors of Castel Gandolfo, the summer home of the Pope, slammed shut. As the bells chimed eight, His Holiness Benedict XVI, who arrived there two hours earlier, was no longer Pope. The Swiss Guard, whose sole mission is to guard the Pope, left their post and returned to the Vatican. There is no Pope.
Sweet Sistine: our best bet is always on God!
21 FebYou knew this had to happen. I am just jealous I did not come up with it first.
To me it looks like the “odds” are favoring: (1) Turkson, (2) Quellet, and a tie for (3) Arinze and Scola. Remember, though: God is full of surprises. It is ours to try to see things God’s way, and not the other way around.
Our best bet is always on God!
There is a local flavor to this bracket, designed, obviously, by someone from the Dubuque-Dyersville area.
This visual points to the reality of the human dimension of the process of the election. It is always our approach that “grace works on nature.” God decided to take on human nature for our benefit. Why will God not use our human nature to further the divine plan for our salvation? My prayer is simply that the Cardinals do not mess up what God has in mind, or get in the way of what God is doing. (That is my most frequent and sincere prayer for myself.) May the electors truly allow themselves to be influenced by their prayer for guidance from the Holy Spirit. God will work with whatever the Cardinals decide and with whomever the Cardinal elect. That is God’s promise!
Some will find the “Sweet Sistine” funny. Others might find it disrespectful and call it sacrilegious or blasphemous. Let us be grateful, nonetheless, that the retirement of Benedict XVI and the fascination with the election process for the next Pope brings such attention to the Roman Catholic Church. And let us keep good humor about such things as this bracket, for, as is sometimes said, “Any news is good news.” It gives others the invitation to think about the Church, no matter what they think, and it gives the Church an opportunity to think anew about herself.
With Open Doors 