Boy - as a guy who took 4 years of Latin in HS/college, it shocks me that the cardinals would all be conversant in Latin. Reading it is one thing. Repeating standard scripts another. But in this post Vatican 2 age, to expect all cardinals (priests?) to be able to understand and express themselves in conversational Latin? I would have expected some system of translators - requiring each cardinal to be proficient in 1 of a limited number of languages - say English, Italian, Spanish, maybe a couple others.
Just curious - and definitely not trying to threadshit - but are most of the folk in this thread RC? Or is there another reason for your interest?
I was raised RC but have been Atheist since about 5th grade. Grew up on the NW side of Chicago where EVERYONE was RC. Catechism classes, first communion, confirmation - all that. But the amount of media the Pope’s death and the impending conclave has been getting has sorta surprised me. Just not sure why anyone who was not RC would care all that much about what happens regarding the leader of one religion. Is it just that he is a “celebrity” and you get new Popes infrequently, such that the media sees it as something to fill column inches and airtime? Perhaps with added interest from the recent movie?
Gotta say, tho - it will be a crime if they go with anyone other than the Pizzaballer!
After talking to Catholic friends of mine who were very happy with Pope Francis, they all said their parents didn’t like or appreciate him and were hoping the next pope would be very conservative. I don’t know how much public opinion plays into all this, but there are a fair number of Catholics, at least here in the US, who want to turn the Catholic Church back 50 years. I don’t think any of the progressive cardinals have a chance, but I hope to be proved wrong.
Let’s look at that 2 ways:
-What potion of the media coverage/public interest has been focussed on - or even mentioning - The Vatican City’s diplomatic policy or other “state” actions?
-How much media coverage is given to the deaths of other states’ heads?
I’m looking at it as a sort of primary. There are several conservatives, but that doesn’t necessarily indicate that the conservatives have more votes, just that they aren’t yet sure which one of them they will end up uniting behind. So the first round (or maybe stretching into he second) of voting will be sort of like the Republican and Democratic primaries here in the US.
If appointed for life, it is a given that they will die in office. (Unless they retire like Benny the rat.). We gonna see similar coverage when the heads of Luxembourg/Bhutan/Tongo/et all kick off?
And I’d suggest it is not quite legit to compare the newsworthiness of the states of England and the Vatican.
Nitpick: here in Luxembourg, it is traditional for our monarch (a Grand Duke who holds a strictly ceremonial role in our constitutional monarchy) to abdicate when he reaches a certain age and hand the position to his heir. We haven’t had a ruler die in office since 1912.
Not strictly relevant to the papacy; I’m just taking issue with your assertion that it’s “a given.”
It’s harder to count dictators since no dictator admits that he is one, Putin being a prime example. What monarchs yield actual power, except perhaps Saudi Arabia?
