It’s a ritual as rich in tradition and symbolism as the Catholic
Church can muster: secret oaths, hypnotic Gregorian chants,
scarlet-decked cardinals filing through the Sistine Chapel — all while
the public outside in St Peter’s Square watches for white smoke to
learn if it has a new pope.
Much of the ritual’s current incarnation is the work of Archbishop
Piero Marini.
The Vatican’s master of liturgical celebrations for two
decades under Pope John Paul II, Marini organised the funeral rites for
the late pontiff and the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI.
The conclave begins with the cardinals in their red cassocks filing
into the Sistine Chapel, chanting the monophonic Litany of Saints
followed by another sacred song, Veni Creator Spiritus, imploring the
intervention of the saints and Holy Spirit as they take their places
before Michelangelo’s Last Judgment.
The cardinals place their hand on the Gospel and promise to observe
absolute secrecy both during and after the conclave, and to “never lend
support or favour to any interference, opposition, or any other form of
intervention... in the election of the Roman Pontiff”.
They have a Vatican hotel to stay in while not voting, but are forbidden
from having any contact with the outside world: no phones, no
newspapers, no tweeting.
Once the final oath is taken, the
master of liturgical ceremonies gives the order “Extra omnes” (everyone
out) and all those not taking part in the conclave leave.
An
elderly cardinal, over age 80 and thus ineligible to participate,
remains and reads a meditation about the qualities a pope should have
and the challenges facing the church, after which he and the master of
ceremonies leave the cardinals to begin voting.
Outside, they wait for the white smoke too.