CNN tells me that 115 Cardinals will step up to vote for the next Pope. Only those under the age of 80 get that privilege. I am quite sure that no more than a handful actually know each other. It’s not like a high school reunion where you know everyone in the room. These gents are from every nation on this earth. Are resumes passed around? Are debates held? Is a hi-light film shown? How exactly do each and every one of them come to know each other well enough to cast an honest vote?
The leading candidates are well-known to the other cardinals, by reputation if nothing else.
The College of Cardinals meet regularly. They act as a Papal advisory board.
They don’t know all the other cardinals, but every cardinal knows several other cardinals well. You don’t get to be a cardinal without having mingled in the higher circles of the church for a long time, so they tend to have run into each other a lot even before they got their red hats.
Until recently, it was considered the norm for a cardinal to stay in Rome full-time, and even now, it’s normal for cardinals to spend a lot of their time there.
Something like 25% of the College is still Italian and 60% is European. So its not quite as “international” as you’d think. Given that most of them are within a fifteen year age range, they’ve probably been crossing paths with eachother throughout their careers, even before they were made Cardinals.
They wouldn’t be passing their CV’s around. It is highly frowned upon for any of them to actually express an interest, let alone actively campaign, to become Pope. (Okay, there may be a lot of that behind-the scenes, but we’re not supposed to know about that.)
The Holy Spirit tells them who to vote for.
Well, the last time they elected the one guy who got to make a big speech, and who presided over the whole affair.
Yes. But that was not normal. The time before that, they elected the Archbishop of Kraków, who presided over nothing and made no speeches. Before him, the Patriarch of Venice, also not a presider or speechmaker at conclave. And before him, I don’t remember, but pretty sure he wasn’t a presider either.