Thursday, April 24, 2025

It is the 24th of April 2025. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis. 

It was on this, the 24th of April, 20 years ago, in 2005, that the dean of the College of Cardinals in the Roman Catholic Church declared “Habemus Papae”- or “we have a Pope” and Joseph Ratzinger was elected and took the name Pope Benedict 16th. The “Conclave,” or the electing body of eligible cardinals, selected Benedict in the 3rd shortest conclave- it only took four votes over 2 days.

Benedict would make revisions to the process for choosing popes, undoing changes made by his predecessor, Pope John Paul II. And then, of course, Benedict shocked the world when he would resign the papacy being the first to do this since the early 1400s.

And now, of course, Pope Francis has died. Baptized as Jorge Mario Bergoglio, he was the first Pope from South America, the Southern Hemisphere, and the first Jesuit pope. So, just as we were 20 years and a few days ago, and then in 2013 when Pope Benedict resigned and the Roman Catholic Church had to start the process of selecting the now departed Francis. So, on today’s almanac, I’m going to circumvent the questions I’m pretty sure are headed my way with the quick primer on how the Catholics get a Pope. And while there is a good bit of continuity, there have been some pretty big changes over time.

There is good reason to think that the first bishops of Rome selected their own successors or had a small cadre of advisors who assisted him and in the event of an untimely death would serve as the electors.

By the time of the early Christian era in the Roman Empire (the 300s and 400s), we know that the Bishop of Rome was appointed like any bishop, mostly by public acclaim, a public meeting with other church leaders publicly assenting to the ordination. In the 800s and 900s the problem of secular interference- Empires and Kings and such- led to the Church deciding that one could only vote on the next Pope if one was a leader in their church- and those ordained elder statesmen were called the “cardo”- the pivot or hinge on which the local church turned, as it were. They also wore a certain shade of red- this cardo, “hinges,” gave the color its name, and these Cardinals would now be the electing body.

By the late 1110s it was decided that 2/3 of all the cardinals needed to agree- this was to limit schisms (which is terribly ironic, I suppose).

The 1200s give us the “conclave” wherein the cardinals would be sequestered until they could agree on 2/3.

The 1600s saw secret ballots introduced. It stayed pretty stable until the 20th century, when an age limit (80) was introduced and a fixed number of only 135 cardinals were allowed to vote.

Pope John Paul II said that if there were 33 inconclusive ballots, the threshold would go down to 50%. Pope Benedict said, “Not so fast,” and reversed that with a little alteration.  

So- what will they be doing now? When a Pope dies, the Dean of the College of Cardinals calls the Cardinals to the Vatican. The conclave will start between 15 and 20 days later- this gives people the time to travel (the time has obviously gotten shorter over time) and there will be general meetings in the Vatican between all the cardinals- they will talk about the state of the Church and get to know each other and hear who’s being considered, who’s the favorite, etc… then the selected Cardinals are sequestered in the conclave. There will be four votes a day, wherein the men will write their names on a piece of paper, deposit it in a chapel, where 3 men will count the ballots. If none of the names appear on 3/4 of the ballots, they burn them, and the black smoke out of the chimney lets the gathered throng know that the papal seat remains empty.

If someone receives the requisite number of votes, they are approached and offered the position. If they accept it, a combination of potassium chlorate, lactose, and a pine resin is burned, producing a plume of white smoke. The Dean of the College of Cardinals then announces:

“Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum;
habemus Papam”

“I announce to you a great joy, we have a pope”.

And I told you that Benedict was the 3rd shortest conclave at 2 days (1 was 1 day and one was immediate and that was devious Julius II).

The longest was the Conclave of 1268-1271, 2 years and 9 months! As of this recording the odds on favorite is Pietro Paolin you can get him at +350 on international betting markets. This show does not endorse or encourage gambling.

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and Acts 5:

12 The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. 14 Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. 15 As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16 Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed.

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 24th of April 2025 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by the Big Papa himself- he has more legitimate kids than all the popes combined-   He is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man hoping the next pope takes the name Sixtus- he’d be Sixtus the Sixth-  I’m Dan van Voorhis. 

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.