The Pope: Difference between revisions

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The history of the position is tumultuous, to put it mildly, because of the fact that the Pope was historically the secular ruler of a chunk of central Italy (the "Papal States") in addition to his spiritual duties. As such, he was fully involved in the cutthroat world of Italian geopolitics, which tended to involve a certain amount of ruthless wheeler-dealing. Some Popes acted more like powerful kings than religious leaders. (The Papal States were lost in the Italian unification wars in the mid-nineteenth century, then replaced by the ''much smaller'' territory of Vatican City by agreement with the Italian government in 1929; in the process, the Papal armies were reduced to the ceremonial Swiss Guard.)

Elected for life (barring the odd voluntary retirement) via a unique process called a ''conclave'' that involves the previously-appointed electors - ''cardinals'' - being locked in the Sistine Chapel (the conclave enclosure has been expanded, in modern usage, to include an attached dormitory), which is intended to expedite the process. The cardinals use colored smoke signals after each round of voting, to inform the outside world if they have come to a decision or not; the smoke is produced by destroying the ballots in a wood-burning stove (with the addition of chemical additives for color). The conclave continues until a new Pope is elected and accepts his election. (Technically, ''any'' Catholic is eligible, but in practice, the Pope is generally chosen from among the cardinal-electors present in conclave.) A modern conclave often lasts for a handful of days, with approximately four rounds of voting per day. As of the Constitution of 1982, Vatican City became the first country to enact a ''maximum'' voting age: cardinals over the age of eighty are not admissible to a conclave. A conclave is convened twelve to twenty days after the office of Pope becomes vacant, whether by death or resignation (the particular date is chosen by a caretaker official called the ''camerlengo'', who exercises the secular authority of the Pope over Vatican City during the vacancy period, but not religious authority over the worldwide Church). Once a new Pope is elected, an announcement is traditionally made to the public assembled at Piazza San Pietro (St. Peter's Square) in Vatican City: "Habaemus Papam!" (in English, "We have a Pope!")

Elected for life (barring the odd voluntary retirement) via a unique process called a ''conclave'' that involves the previously-appointed electors - ''cardinals'' - being locked in the Sistine Chapel (the conclave enclosure has been expanded, in modern usage, to include an attached dormitory), which is intended to expedite the process. The cardinals use colored smoke signals after each round of voting, to inform the outside world if they have come to a decision or not; the smoke is produced by destroying the ballots in a wood-burning stove (with the addition of chemical additives for color). The conclave continues until a new Pope is elected and accepts his election. (Technically, ''any'' adult male Catholic is eligible, but in practice, the Pope is generally chosen from among the cardinal-electors present in conclave.) A modern conclave often lasts for a handful of days, with approximately four rounds of voting per day. As of the Constitution of 1982, Vatican City became the first country to enact a ''maximum'' voting age: cardinals over the age of eighty are not admissible to a conclave. A conclave is convened twelve to twenty days after the office of Pope becomes vacant, whether by death or resignation (the particular date is chosen by a caretaker official called the ''camerlengo'', who exercises the secular authority of the Pope over Vatican City during the vacancy period, but not religious authority over the worldwide Church). Once a new Pope is elected, an announcement is traditionally made to the public assembled at Piazza San Pietro (St. Peter's Square) in Vatican City: "Habaemus Papam!" (in English, "We have a Pope!")

Catholic tradition holds that Saint Peter was the first Pope; of course, there are many theories among historians and the different Christian denominations about how the succession started. The other wiki's [[wikipedia:History of the Papacy|article on the subject]] is a better place to search for details.