Church in Transition
National Catholic Reporter has a team, led by Rome Correspondent John L. Allen Jr., to provide coverage of the aftermath of the death of John Paul II and the election of his successor. Bookmark this page and check the NCR Web site for daily updates.

Day Eighteen, April 19, 2005
A whistle stop, cardinal style
By Stacy Meichtry, Rome
Before 115 cardinals sequestered themselves in the Sistine Chapel Monday to thrash out which of them will rule Roman Catholicism in the next pontificate, several of the church’s “princes” spent their final day of freedom getting to know the local flock. Among these was Cardinal Ivan Dias of India, who ventured out to his titular parish nestled in EUR, a far-flung and curiously-named suburb, founded by Benito Mussolini as Fascism’s answer to the proverbial “city upon a hill.”  Read the full story

Day Seventeen, April 18, 2005
The voting process has begun
By John L. Allen, Jr., Rome
Rather predictably, the first night of the 2005 conclave ended in puffs of black smoke. Though the cardinals are not obligated to hold a ballot on the first evening, historically it’s the pattern. The dean of the College of Cardinals, Joseph Ratzinger, was obligated to ask the cardinals if any of them had questions about the procedures to be followed under John Paul II’s document, Universi Dominici Gregis, but presumably by this point every question had been asked and answered a half-dozen times. Hence the cardinals opted to proceed directly to a first ballot, since they are presumably as anxious as everyone else to see which way things will go. Read the full story

Ratzinger in forceful call for conservative path
By Stacy Meichtry, Rome
In a sermon intended to set the tone for the next papal election, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger delivered a stinging critique of modern culture, calling upon the Church to wield Jesus Christ as a shield against a “dictatorship of relativism.” Standing before a semicircle of his peers and a massive audience of rank-in-file faithful, Ratzinger asked: “How many winds of doctrine have we known in the last ten years? How many ideological currents, how many fashions of thought?” Read the full story

New pope should put collegiality at top of list
By Mary Ann Hinsdale, IHM, Boston
I don’t necessarily subscribe to the folklore surrounding papal conclaves that says a thin pope is followed by a fat pope, and the like, but I actually am hoping for a “weaker” pope.  John Paul II was a strong pope.  He will be remembered for having a strong moral compass and a firm, even mystical, sense of his own, divinely ordained mission to lead the church.  However, the last twenty-seven years have seen  a growing centralization within the Roman Catholic church that has practically reversed the great gains made at the Second Vatican Council. Read the full story

Day Sixteen, April 17, 2005
John Paul II gets mixed reviews from religious congregations
By Stacy Meichtry, Rome
In the weeks since the death of Pope John Paul II, numerous metaphors have been trotted out to characterize his global influence. Heads of state have praised him as a bridge-builder; the faithful have described him as a father figure. To the million-plus men and women who form Roman Catholicism’s religious communities, however, figurative speech doesn’t capture John Paul’s influence. To them, the pope was an authority figure in both a moral and literal sense. He had the power to change one’s world view as well as one’s daily routine. In his absence, the reviews of his reign, if not the metaphors, were  mixed. Read the full story

Never mind the papabile, consider the papacy
By Joan Chittister, OSB, Rome
In Rome today, one part of the population is completely involved in a kind of “Can-you-name-that-Pope” game.  Newspaper and television programs provide daily biographies of the 15-20 most likely candidates hour after hour, day after day. The only problem is that nobody really knows who these so-called “candidates” are. Cardinals stopped on the street simply say that no clear prospects have emerged yet. Read the full story 

Getting to know you; Cardinals with little connection to Rome have missed out on informal gatherings
By John L. Allen, Jr., Rome
Tonight the 115 cardinals who will elect the next pope will move into the Domus Sanctae Marthae, marking a sort of early start to their isolation during the conclave, and all indications are they can use the time. Several cardinals have told NCR in recent days that the situation is still quite fluid, with no clear consensus on candidates, and this in part because many cardinals simply have not had the opportunity to take part in the informal discussions that generally unfold in the week between the pope’s funeral and the first ballot inside the Sistine Chapel. Read the full story 

Germany's Kasper: No need for 'clone' of John Paul II
By Stacy Meichtry, Rome
After a week of nonstop reports that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s papal prospects were being pushed by prelates in search of doctrinal continuity with John Paul II, the man widely recognized as the theological czar’s leading opponent in the Roman Curia came forward and called on the faithful to not pine for a “clone” of John Paul II. In a candid sermon before hundreds at Santa Maria in Trastevere, Cardinal Walter Kasper of Germany aimed to debunk perceptions that John Paul’s legacy should be seen as a litmus test for future popes. Read the full story 

Day Fifteen, April 16, 2005
The underside of the issue
By Joan Chittister, OSB, Rome
“All of life,” the playwright Tennessee Williams wrote, “is an unanswered question, but let’s still believe in the dignity and importance of the questions.” It is the role of questions in the development of the faith that has become one of the most common topics of conversation surrounding the election of a new pope. But let the reader beware: Questions and the answers they prompt are often as important as the material that generates them. This week, for instance, the international “We Are Church” group focused first on the woman’s issue as a key topic for a new papacy to consider. The questions reporters asked and the answers they got to them only exposed the problem even more.  Read the full story 

Outline of a Ratzinger papacy
By John L. Allen, Jr., Rome
Despite the nonstop speculation surrounding the conclave that opens April 18, the press seems to have at least one thing right: in the early stages: The balloting will likely shape up as a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the candidacy of German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the so-called “Panzer-Kardinal” who for 24 years was John Paul’s top doctrinal czar. Given the strong, polarizing stands Ratzinger has taken, it’s not clear that there are really 77 votes for him among the 115 voting cardinals, the number it would take to achieve a two-thirds majority. On the other hand, Ratzinger’s strong base of support means one has to take his prospects seriously. Read the full story 

Day Fourteen, April 15, 2005
Papal negative campaigning and the role of the Holy Spirit
By John L. Allen, Jr., Rome
Among the boilerplate questions about conclaves I’ve been asked a thousand times by broadcast and print media this week, here’s one of the most common: What does it mean that the Holy Spirit guides the election of the pope? Isn’t this a political process? My equally boilerplate response goes like this: It’s a longstanding principle in Catholic theology that grace builds on nature, it doesn’t cancel it out. The belief that God is involved in some human undertaking does not make it any less human, and applied to conclaves, it means that the role of the Holy Spirit does not make this any less a political exercise. Read the full story 

There are no women
By Tom Roberts, Rome
Earlier this week I had a conversation with a senior member of a religious order who remarked that by virtue of his position and familiarity with the Vatican, he could conceivably approach a number of cardinals and present his thoughts on issues in the church. But, he noted with regret, “No woman could do that.” Read the full story 

Catholic-Muslim relations focus of sermon; Lebanese cardinal wants dialogue, collaboration
By Stacy Meichtry, Rome
Roman Catholicism’s relationship with Islam loomed large Thursday during a Memorial Mass that saw Lebanese Cardinal Nasrallah Pierre Sfeir cast John Paul II’s pontificate as a boon to interfaith and ecumenical dialogue and express a desire for continued openness between Catholics and Muslims.  In a ceremony laced with prayers in Arabic, chanted over chimes and mandolin notes, Sfeir recounted a number of visits made by the pontiff to trouble spots in the Arab world, including Israel in 2000 and Syria in 2001. Sfeir then described John Paul’s symbolic visit to Lebanon in 1997 as a model for church relations with Islam. Read the full story 

Antigone or Ismene: The new choice
By Joan Chittister, OSB, Rome
Antigone, Sophocles’s 5^th century B.C. play about one woman’s willingness to sacrifice herself in order to bury her outcast brother, lives on from era to era, a struggle between the powerful and the powerless. A classic tribute to one woman’s commitment to those she loves, to her ideals and her religion, it cuts a bit too close to the bone these days. Read the full story 

Day Thirteen, April 14, 2005
Handicapping the conclave; Push for Ratzinger is real
By John L. Allen, Jr., Rome
Italian newspapers, like nature, abhor a vacuum, and hence in reaction to the press blackout imposed this week by the College of Cardinals, all manner of speculation and rumor has been appearing in the local press. One day Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Secretary of State under Pope John Paul II, is touted as a leading contender to be the next pope; the next day, the old “Great White Hope” of the church’s liberal wing, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, is the hot tip. Read the full story 

Day Twelve, April 13, 2005
Vatican II is latest topic; Curia officials weigh in on late pope's commitment to council reforms
By Stacy Meichtry, Vatican City
The question of whether John Paul II’s papacy advanced the reforms laid out by the Second Vatican Council has long been a hotly debated topic in contemporary Catholicism. Critics of John Paul II often characterize his papacy as a centralizing force that turned back the clock on church reform by strengthening the control of the Roman Curia over local dioceses and national bishops conferences. With less than a week remaining before the start of the next conclave, high-ranking curial officials have begun weighing in on the subject.  Read the full story 

Win a couple, lose a couple
By Joan Chittister, OSB, Rome
"Win a couple, lose a couple," my father would sigh every time the road of life took another unexpected turn. Here, or at least now, I have decided this could be an insight that deserves fresh consideration. Read the full story 

Two conclave preachers are open, ecumenical; Both stress simplicity, humility
By John L. Allen, Jr., Rome
Everyone these days is reading tea leaves as to which way the cardinals might be tending in the election of the next pope, and as part of that inexact science, here’s one interesting bit of data: the two clerics tapped by the cardinals to present meditations to them before they vote are open, ecumenically minded men who emphasize simplicity and humility rather than worldly power or theological discipline.  Read the full story 

Day Eleven, April 12, 2005
Little specific about cardinals' talks; Some said to petition for John Paul's sainthood
By Stacy Meichtry, Rome
As the Italian media buzzed with rumors that some cardinals were petitioning to put John Paul II on the fast track to beatification, the Vatican announced Tuesday that official meetings between the prelates have begun to address issues facing the future of the church.  Read the full story 

Three cardinals emphasize collegiality; Ratzinger said to favor free speech before conclave
By John L. Allen, Jr., Rome
Under the best of circumstances it can be difficult for journalists to make contact with cardinals, and given this week’s press blackout, it is especially tricky. One danger, therefore, is that when we succeed in getting through even to a couple of the electors, we’re tempted to elevate what they tell us into a “trend,” when it may represent nothing more than what two guys happen to think. Read the full story 

When demonstrations are not demonstrations
By Joan Chittister, OSB, Rome
In case you're wondering, no, there was no SNAP  demonstration at the Vatican yesterday, at least not in the style to which a democratic society is accustomed. Or put it this way: If there was a demonstration in the piazza of St. Peter's yesterday, nobody I know saw it. I'm sure of that because I went down to St. Peter's Basilica myself to gauge the effect of such a thing on a Vatican audience. Instead, all I saw were swirling bodies of tourists on the square, gaggles of spike-haired Italian school children pushing through metal detectors on their way to the basilica, tired tourists lined up along the railings that define the area of liturgical celebration and straining sightseers trying to capture an array of Cardinals on photos taken too far away, too small, to be recognized. Read the full story 

Conclaves were once raucous and long
By Tom Roberts, Rome
When the cardinals go into the conclave next week, they will have spent more than a week poring over some 400 pages of instructions covering what is to occur during the voting process, including details on what to do if a non-ordained person is selected (no chance). They will also carry with them a 343-page text dealing only with the rituals for the conclave. Read the full story 

Day Ten, April 11, 2005
Law’s activities, positions illustrate “clash of cultures” between U.S. and Rome
By John L. Allen, Jr., Rome
If ever one needed a classic illustration of the “clash of cultures” between the United States and the Vatican, the fact that Cardinal Bernard Law celebrated a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on April 11 in honor of the deceased pope, one of the nine Masses prescribed for the novemdiales, or nine days of mourning, makes the case. Read the full story 

The purpose of the interregnum
By Joan Chittister, OSB
Rome, the city that just yesterday was one long pile of empty water bottles, old newspapers and plastic bags from the banks of the Tiber to the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica is quiet today. The papal crypt is still closed to visitors so the 300,000 tourists that packed into St. Peter’s Square and the other almost two million packed along the tiny side streets for the funeral have gone home. The regular masses of mourning, with much smaller crowds in attendance, have begun. Read the full story 

Vatican: ‘It’s forgiveness.’ Victims: ‘It’s more pain.’
By Stacy Meichtry, Vatican City
If the continuing calls for Pope John Paul II’s sainthood have provided a testament of his enduring charisma, a memorial Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica Monday served as a harbinger of the challenges facing his successor. Read the full story 

Law appearance draws protesters from U.S.
By Stacy Meichtry, Vatican City
Former Archbishop of Boston Cardinal Bernard Law was expected to celebrate a memorial Mass for Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Basilica Monday as members of an American advocacy group representing victims of clergy abuse arrived in Rome. Read the full story 

The next bold initiative: to listen
By Tom Roberts, Rome
An irony of John Paul II’s papacy so evident that it is rarely mentioned is that in order to act in a way that changed the world, he had to act in a way that dramatically changed the papacy. John Paul, the traditionalist, turned tradition on its head. Read the full story 

Day Nine, April 10, 2005
Focus is on John Paul, not succession, during mourning period
By Stacy Meichtry, Rome
Before a wall-to-wall audience at St. Peter’s Basilica Sunday, pope John Paul II’s vicar to Rome celebrated the third Mass of official mourning, calling on the faithful to focus on John Paul’s legacy as the bishop of Rome rather than “uselessly” anticipate the selection of his successor. Read the full story

Day Eight, April 9, 2005
Cardinals agree to go mum in week leading to conclave
By John L. Allen, Jr., Rome
Over the next week leading into the April 18 conclave to elect the new pope, the 117 cardinals who will cast ballots are likely to be much less available to the press than they have been in recent days. While the College of Cardinals has not applied a formal gag order, there is a gentleman’s agreement that they will be much more cautious in their dealings with the media, and generally less available. Read the full story

Cardinals don't want Africans in high positions, archbishop says
By Stacey Meichtry
A day after Pope John Paul II was entombed beneath the marble nave of St. Peter’s Basilica, talk is already underway over who should succeed him. Read the full story

Quick links Analysis of John Paul II's reign (Obituary) Steps to electing a pope How a pope is elected Who will be the next pope? Cardinal J. Ratzinger: From the window of the father's house (homily at funeral) Arthur Jones: Theologians see downside to JPII's papacy Arthur Jones: 'No time for glorifying and exalting': Two perspectives Background & Analysis Analysis of John Paul II's reign   At times both daring and defensive, inspiring and insular, John Paul II, 263rd successor of St. Peter, leaves behind the great irony of a world more united because of his life and legacy, and a church more divided.    This is perhaps the best first draft of history one can offer about a man who towered over the times in a way few other leaders of his era did. Read the full analysis. Steps to electing a pope     Following the pope's death, the procedures for electing a successor are set by the 1996 document Universi Dominici Gregis. There must be no fewer than 15 days, and no more than 20, from the death of the pope until the beginning of the conclave, which is the gathering of cardinals behind closed doors to elect his successor. This period is called the interregnum, or the period between reigns.     Read: A timeline for the transition Updated April 4, 1:01 p.m. How a pope is elected     When it comes to electing a pope, there are no Iowa caucuses, no candidate debates, no conventions or platforms. The "campaign" is more analogous to the 2003 California gubernatorial recall than a presidential primary -- a quick sprint that flares up unexpectedly and is over before it even seems to begin.     Read: The art of subtle 'electioneering' Who will be the next pope?     Will the next pope be one of these 20 men? Perhaps. But all are certainly under consideration, and that by itself makes them worth a look.     Read: The top candidates.

Other Voices Expert opinions on what the world wants and needs from the next pope New pope should put collegiality at top of list By Mary Ann Hinsdale, IHM, Boston      I don’t necessarily subscribe to the folklore surrounding papal conclaves that says a thin pope is followed by a fat pope, and the like, but I actually am hoping for a “weaker” pope.  John Paul II was a strong pope.  He will be remembered for having a strong moral compass and a firm, even mystical, sense of his own, divinely ordained mission to lead the church.  However, the last twenty-seven years have seen  a growing centralization within the Roman Catholic church that has practically reversed the great gains made at the Second Vatican Council. Read the full story 'No time for glorifying and exalting': Two perspectives By Arthur Jones     "This church will survive as a whole only if it has the vision and the strength to become a discipleship of equals," says theologian Maria Pilar Aquino in an interview with NCR's Arthur Jones. Meanwhile, ethicist Christine Gudorf tells Jones that today's issues are "tough, and the church doesn't recognize it."     Read: Two perspectives Added April 14, 1:58 p.m. Theologians see, experience downside to John Paul II’s papacy By Arthur Jones     A pontificate has ended. The tributes and adulation flow in. And yet, for some observers, U.S. Catholic theologians among them, the pontificate of Pope John Paul II is assessed in heartfelt, if saddened, criticism.     Read: Theologians and the pope Watch this space for postings from experts on ecclesiology, theology, culture and ecumenism about the challenges ahead for the next pope.