MSW on the Conclave

At the National Catholic Reporter, Michael Sean Winters has an excellent analysis:

 What history tells us about Conclaves

The axiom "he who enters the conclave a pope, leaves a cardinal" is as wrong as it is ubiquitous. 

In the conclaves of 1939, 1963 and 2005, the person who "entered the conclave a pope" did, in fact, emerge as pope

In 1939, the cardinals turned to the church's most seasoned diplomat, the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli. It was the shortest conclave of the 20th century, with Pacelli winning the papacy on the third ballot. 

In 1963, the first session of the Second Vatican Council had been tumultuous, with a huge majority of the world's bishops refusing most of the draft texts prepared by the Vatican Curia. When Pope John XXIII died, the question facing the cardinals was whether or not to rollback the direction the council was taking or to proceed. They elected the leading papabile, the archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini, on the fifth ballot, the second day of voting.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was the clear front-runner going into the 2005 conclave. The 27-year tenure of Pope John Paul II loomed large in people's minds, and the cardinals selected a man who had worked closely with the Polish pope. He was elected on the fourth ballot.

The first conclave of 1978, in August, was also a two-day affair. In advance of the conclave, Cardinal Giovanni Benelli, who had served as Paul VI's right-hand man for ten years before becoming archbishop of Florence in 1977. But, Benelli was the kingmaker, not the king, in the August gathering. His candidate, the patriarch of Venice, Albino Luciani, was elected on the fourth ballot. He took the name John Paul I but died about a month later.

In the conclave that followed, Benelli sought the top spot but it became clear at the end of the second day that neither he, nor his rival, the archconservative Cardinal Giuseppe Siri of Genoa, could garner the necessary votes of two-thirds plus one. Suddenly, the unthinkable, electing a non-Italian, became possible and necessary and Cardinal Karol Wojtyla's candidacy gained steam. He was elected on the eighth ballot, on the third day of voting.

The 1958 conclave that elected the patriarch of Venice, Cardinal Angelo Roncalli, was the longest of the last century: Roncalli was elected on the 11th ballot.The lesson for 2025? Sometimes, if the conclave deadlocks on Day 2, a broadly acceptable, compromise candidate emerges on Day 3, one who, like Roncalli, is older and likely to serve for a relatively short time, as a kind of placeholder.

Which brings us to the 2013 conclave that elected Jorge Bergoglio, on the fifth ballot at the end of the second day of the conclave The front-runner going in had been the cardinal-archbishop of Milan, Angelo Scola. We later learned that Scola underperformed expectations even on the first ballot, and Bergoglio overperformed. Scola's numbers declined and Bergoglio went on to win.

2025 most resembles a cross between the 1963 and 2013 conclaves. Like the situation of the church in 1963, when the conclave was a referendum on John XXIII's decision to convoke Vatican II, this conclave is a referendum on Francis' reforms. But, unlike that conclave, there is no equivalent of a Montini this time, someone who is the clear and obvious favorite to take the baton. In that regard, next week's conclave is more like 2013, with several candidates with varying strengths and weaknesses.

How are the first 100 days going where you live?

 There are many articles out there summing up the first 100 days of Trump 2.0.   Different areas of the country will be impacted in different sectors. Red states are more dependent on Federal funds than blue states. I read this morning that 50% of government operations in West Virginia are supported by federal grants (WVA went  for trump by 70%), some of which have already been canceled, blowing a huge hole in the state budget. I suspect that WVA is not alone in this situation. 

POPE FRANCIS DIED THIS MORNING

NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER; POPE FRANCIS IS DEAD AT 88 

FROM WASHINGTON POST

Pope Francis died at the age of 88 at 7:35 a.m. local time Monday, the Vatican said, ending a historic chapter for the world’s largest Christian faith. The first Latin American pontiff burst open the doors of the Catholic Church to “everyone, everyone, everyone.” Francis shifted the focus of the church away from debates about topics such as divorce and contraception and engaged with modern questions about climate change, immigration and artificial intelligence. He also sought, and sometimes struggled, to impose accountability for clerical sexual abuse. He made his final public appearance on Easter Sunday, when he released a message decrying the “logic of fear.” The coming days will involve a public viewing, a funeral, a period of mourning and, eventually, a conclave to select a new pope and determine the direction of the church.

NEW YORK TIMES

Pope Francis, who rose from modest means in Argentina to become the first Jesuit and Latin American pontiff, who clashed bitterly with traditionalists in his push for a more inclusive Roman Catholic Church, and who spoke out tirelessly for migrants, the marginalized and the health of the planet, died on Monday at the Vatican’s Casa Santa Marta. He was 88.

The pope’s death was announced by the Vatican in a statement on X, a day after Francis appeared in his wheelchair to bless the faithful in St. Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday.

Throughout his 12-year papacy, Francis was a change agent, having inherited a Vatican in disarray in 2013 after the stunning resignation of his predecessor, Benedict XVI, a standard-bearer of Roman Catholic conservatism.

Francis steadily steered the church in another direction, restocking its leadership with a diverse array of bishops who shared his pastoral, welcoming approach as he sought to open up the church. Many rank-and-file Catholics approved, believing that the church had become inward-looking and distant from ordinary people.

Francis reached out to migrants, the poor and the destitute, to victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy members, and to alienated gay Catholics. He traveled to often-forgotten and far-flung countries and sought to improve relations with an antagonistic Chinese government, Muslim clerics and leaders from across the fragmented Christian world.

After some early stumbles, he took strong steps to address a clerical sex abuse crisis that had become an existential threat to the church. He adopted new rules to hold top religious leaders, including bishops, accountable if they committed sexual abuse or covered it up, though he did not impose the level of transparency or civil reporting obligations that many advocates demanded.

In his final years, slowed by a bad knee, intestinal surgery and respiratory ailments that sapped his breath and voice, Francis used a cane and then a wheelchair, seemingly a diminished figure. But that was a misleading impression. He continued to travel widely, focusing on exploited and war-torn parts of Africa, where he excoriated modern-day colonizers and sought peace in South Sudan.

Rejoice!

This is my homily for today, Easter Sunday, Cycle C.  I gave the same homily (slightly modified) last night at the Easter Vigil.  I used the same Gospel account of the discovery of the empty tomb, Luke 24:1-12, for both masses.  That was the appointed reading for the Vigil this year, and while not the primary choice for Easter Sunday morning (that would be John's account), it's permitted.

I've been very busy the last few days with church-related activities.  I sang with the choir at the Holy Thursday evening liturgy.  On Friday I was the deacon  and had to chant the first half of each of the 10 solemn intercessions.  Then I accompanied the cross up the center aisle, singing "Behold, behold the wood of the cross, on which is hung our salvation" at three intervals.  Then, at Easter Vigil, I was the Deacon of the Word (our other deacon was the Deacon of the Eucharist).  I chanted the Exsultet and also preached.  And I had to lug the Easter candle up or down the aisle (and up and down sanctuary steps) a few times.  It's really heavy!  And the fact that it's lit the whole time, ups the diciness quotient a few clicks.  All this may not sound like much, but all of it took a lot of thought, preparation and practice in the spirit of trying to do it well.

Happy Easter, everyone!  Now that I'm done with church duties, my wife and I are working on pulling together an Easter dinner for the family.  Taking a break while the sweet potato casserole is in the oven to post the homily - it's below the break.

If they do these things in the green wood...

An enigmatic verse in the Gospel of Luke (read recently on Palm Sunday) which has always stuck in my mind is Luke 23:31, "If they do these things in the green wood, what will they do in the dry?" I've never been sure exactly what was meant, but from the text, and biblical commentaries, I would interpret it as Jesus himself being the green wood, or the green tree; the innocent and life-giving tree. And the dry wood being the branches which have separated themselves from the green tree, the source of their life. subjecting themselves to being thrown away or burned. And a prophecy of the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Not a comfortable meditation, 

Today is Wednesday of Holy Week, often called "Spy Wednesday". There are plenty of dry wood things to think about lately, from betrayal of allies, to unjust imprisonment, and mistreatment of the strangers within our gates.

Satire by Tom Reese

 Trump Imposes Tariffs on the Vatican

The 'pope penalty' will also include tariffs on rosaries and medals blessed at the Vatican.

“Why should we import indulgences from the Vatican when we have domestic producers like Paula White who offer products that are much better,” said a White House spokesperson.

Paula White, head of the new White House Faith Office and a proponent of the prosperity Gospel, last month promised seven supernatural blessings for the Easter season to her followers if they sent her $1,000 or more. (While the rest of this column is satire, this particular offer from White is real.)

White’s “seven blessings” was no doubt an effort to cut into the indulgence market that the Holy See has dominated for centuries.

“Our blessings are seven times better than indulgences, which only get you out of Purgatory,” explained Trump, in introducing the Vatican tariffs. “It’s a bigger bang for the buck.”

"Dire Wolves", the Endangered Species List, and Hotel California

Secretary of the Interior, Doug Burgum, posts on X that now that Colossal Biosciences brought back the dire wolf, we don't have to worry about endangered species anymore.  We can just bring them back if we drive them to extinction.  

Okay, it's settled then!  

Well, not quite. Read on, from this article: people.com/trump-administration-says-u-s-endangered-species-list-should-go-extinct-11713720

And continue at the bottom for some thoughts from me.

S & P Downturns in 21st Century

STATISTA: Tariff Crash Among Largest in 21st Century 
 

by Felix Richter,

 Apr 7, 2025

As markets across Asia and Europe went from bad to worse on Monday, Wall Street is bracing for another day of selloffs after President Trump showed no signs of backpedaling in the wake of last week's tariff-induced market turmoil. After European stocks clawed back from steeper losses through the trading day on Monday, the S&P 500 opened at 4,954 points, down 2.4 percent from Friday's close and 12.6 percent from Wednesday's close, the last before Trump's "Liberation Day" announcements. Depending on how the day unfolds, the index could clock the worst three-day loss since the financial crisis, when the S&P 500 plummeted 14 percent over three trading days in October 2008.

Considering the carnage we’ve seen over the last few weeks and since Trump's "Liberation Day" tariff announcement in particular, it’s hard to imagine that the U.S. stock market was at an all-time just six weeks ago. Since February 19, when the S&P 500 closed at 6,144 points, the index has now dropped almost 20 percent, bringing it on the verge of bear market territory, which is commonly defined as a 20-percent drop from an index's latest high.

As the following chart shows, the drop we’ve seen over the past six weeks is already among the larger market downturns of the 21st century, but it’s not yet as deep as the worst crises of the past 25 years. Considering how quickly investors turned sour and how far-reaching the consequences of Trump's latest tariff hikes are, the past three days could just be the beginning of a longer market depression though, as fears of a global recession are already mounting.

While markets are reeling from the tariff panic, President Trump showed no signs of doubt over whether his protectionist push was the right move. The tariffs already in place are "a beautiful thing to behold," he wrote in a Truth Social post late on Sunday. "The United States has a chance to do something that should have been done decades ago," he added Monday morning, saying that "greatness" would be the eventual result.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Mercy in public life

This is my homily for today, the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Cycle C. 

NB: Our parish won't be baptizing any adults during the Easter Vigil this year, so we are doing the Cycle C readings rather than the Cycle A Scrutiny readings.  Those of you who heard the Cycle A readings today heard the story of the raising of Lazarus from the dead.  If, like our parish, you heard the Cycle C readings, today's Gospel is the story of the woman caught in adultery.

Today's readings for both options can be found here.  

Stock Market Confidence in American Leadership

STATISTA: America Last? 

by Felix Richter,

Apr 4, 2025

The U.S. stock market had its worst day since 2020 on Thursday, as investors were trying to digest President Trump’s sweeping tariff announcements from the day before. The surprisingly high additional tariffs – a 10 percent baseline tariff on all imports plus significantly higher rates for countries considered “bad actors” in trade – sent shockwaves around the world, as they threaten to upend the status quo of the global economy in one fell swoop.

Global markets plummeted in the wake of the announcement, as the repercussions of the U.S. turning back time to the early 1900s will be felt everywhere from China to Europe - nowhere more so than in the United States, though. Unsurprisingly, the U.S. stock market was most heavily affected by the “Liberation Day” selloff, as the S&P 500 fell 4.7 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq plummeted 6 percent and the Dow Jones lost 4 percent, wiping out $2.5 trillion in market capitalization of U.S.-listed stocks. The so-called Magnificent 7 alone shed more than $800 billion in market cap on Thursday on what has been the worst day for U.S. stocks since the Covid-19 pandemic rattled markets in early 2020.

For now, Trump’s “America First” policies have put the country last - at least in terms of stock market performance. The S&P 500 has dropped 10 percent since Inauguration Day, as the Trump administration’s policies are widely feared to drive up inflation, erode consumer confidence and ultimately cause a recession. When asked about the stock market fallout and the warnings of economists, administration officials keep repeating that Trump’s policies will eventually make America great again and that every American will profit in the long term. People tend to be rather impatient when they see their retirement savings melt like ice cream in the sun, however, which is why it will be interesting to see if and when some of Trump’s supporters will sour on the president and his protectionist policies.

Vatican document on artificial intelligence, "Antiqua et Nova"

There is an interesting discussion on the America Media site of the Vatican document, "Antiqua et Nova", regarding artificial intelligence:

New Vatican document on A.I. warns against ‘creating a substitute for God’ | America Magazine

The article discusses both the immense potential and the ethical and anthropological challenges of AI.