Yesterday’s billowing black smoke from the Sistine Chapel meant no new Pope; back to the drawing board. Cardinal Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger was elected Pontiff by the Conclave of Cardinals on April 19, 2005, three days after his 78th birthday. He went on to serve 7 years and a little over 10 months as Pope Benedict XVI, the 265th Bishop of
Most of us are familiar with
the broad strokes of the Pope and the Catholic Church, i.e., the Pope is the head of the Catholic Church, Rome
By now, virtually everyone with
access to print media, TV/cable news, and/or the WorldWideWeb, knows Pope
Benedict XVI resigned his Papacy,
effective February 28, 2013, and is
now Pope Emeritus. Yesterday, the Conclave of Cardinals met for the first time to cast ballots to
elect a new Pope. According to the procedural regimen of the Catholic Church, the Cardinals in the Papal
Conclave will continue to meet daily and vote until one of the Cardinals receives 77 votes; 2/3 of the 115 Cardinals
participating in this Conclave. Once a Cardinal
receives the necessary 2/3 majority
vote, white smoke will emanate from the Sistine Chapel, signaling the election of the 266th Pope.
To supplement the burgeoning conversation that is
currently underway regarding the Catholic
Church, as the Papal Conclave
endeavors to elect a new Pope, I
offer the following 15 elements of
trivia firsts:
1. St.
Peter is said, according to
Catholic tradition, to have been the first Pope,
as well as the one who brought Christianity
to Rome Rome
2. St.
Sixtus I (Xystus) First know Pope to have also been the son of a
Priest. During his era, there was no
requirement that priests be celibate.
3. St.
Pius I First real Bishop
of Rome
4. St.
Victor I First African
Pope.
First Pope to attempt to exert
authority outside Rome
5. St.
Pontain First Pope to
resign. Pontain was arrested and sentenced to labor in the mines of Sardinia. Because of his
sentence, Pope Pontain abdicated
on September 28, 235 AD, to prevent a
power vacuum.
6. St.
Innocent I First Pope
whose father was a Pope, Anastasius I. Had Anastasius’
marriage not been valid, Innocent would have been an illegitimate child, and
therefore ineligible for the priesthood.
7. St.
Gelasius I First Pope to
use the title “Vicar of Christ.” Last Pope
of African descent, though born in Rome
8. John
II First Pope to
adopt a new name when elected – but only because his given name was that of a
pagan god, Mercurius
11. Adrian
II Last married Pope. His wife Setphania
and his daughter lived in the Vatican palace with him.
12. Boniface
VI When Boniface
was elected Pope, he had already been
defrocked twice because of immoral
behavior.
14. John
XI First (and presumably only) Pope who was the illegitimate son of a previous Pope (Sergius III).
15. John
XII Youngest person elected Pope (18); first and only
teenager elected to the position of Pope.
The trend during the past century or so is to elect a
Pope within 3 days on average. If that
pattern holds, the world will be introduced to the next Pope this week. The Papal Conclave will resume its efforts
again this morning. Meanwhile, relax and
take a quick tour of a few Papal
particulars you probably didn’t know; “Pontiff-ication:15 Papal Trivia Firsts!”
I’m done; holla back!
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