Conclave: The Keys
“And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven...”(Matthew 16:18-19) For one who walks into the stunning basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls on the outskirts of Rome, this command of Jesus to Peter will reverberate in the mind and hearts of those who enter this grand basilica that also houses the body of St. Paul. Such stirrings of the heart will lift a visitor’s eyes to the rim of the ceiling of the basilica to see the portraits of the 266 popes that have guided the Catholic Church since the time of this scene in Scripture of Jesus entrusting St. Peter the keys to His Church.
With the recent passing of Pope Francis once again the Catholic Church will elect another successor of Peter to stand at the helm of the Catholic Church as She continues to sail into the ocean of time. This task of selecting the next pope has had many different forms throughout the 2,000year history of the Catholic Church, but was formalized as we know it today in 1274 AD. The sacred process called the conclave or “with key” takes place in the Sistine Chapel and consists of all Cardinals who are younger than 80 years old, of which there are currently 134 from all parts of the world. On May 7 the conclave will begin as the Cardinals will invoke the power of the Holy Spirit to guide them to choose the next shepherd of the world-wide flock of 1.4 billion Catholics.
Once inside the Sistine Chapel, each cardinal will take an oath to observe the procedures, maintain secrecy, and vote freely for the candidate he believes most worthy. The votes will take place once on the first afternoon session, and twice on each morning and afternoon session for each day of the conclave. When a voting session concludes without a man reaching the required majority, the ballots are burned with wet straw, causing black smoke to rise from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel. However, if a pope is elected, the ballots are burned with the addition of a chemical agent, producing the famous white smoke. Then the bells of St. Peter’s will ring and hundreds of thousands of people will rush to St. Peter’s Square along with millions, if not billions, more people will be watching on TV to see the man who has been chosen as the next successor of Peter.
In the midst of the craze of a recent Netflix movie, or the many voices of secular media outlets, the core pillar of the conclave, or for that matter, Christianity in general, could easily be skewed or lost. The core pillar of the world once again witnessing in a tangible way, the Divine working through ordinary human persons. Similarly to how God worked through the prophets of the Old Testament, the Gospel writers, or the first 12 apostles themselves, the Holy Spirit will once again guide and direct frail, sinful, and very human men to elect the next pope. This concept of God working through human beings is not foreign to us as Christians. We know the Holy Spirit also works through Christians in everyday life, whether prompting one to do a good deed, an invitation to prayer, or a warning to stray from a specific sin. Though these chosen men have a very particular and unique responsibility to elect the next pope, they will do so with an openness to the Holy Spirit working in them and through them with their own unique gifts and personalities. What happens in the conclave isn’t magic, and the core pillar itself of the Holy Spirit working through a frail human being isn’t out of the ordinary, but it is something sacred, it is something that takes faith, and it is something that will write the next chapter of the Catholic Church in the modern world.
In the very near future, the newly elected pope will step out onto the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica and he will look out upon the cheering crowds in the square below, while the words “Habemus papam” “We have a pope!” fill the air.At this awesome thought, I have great hope and confidence, because the man chosen to take on the role of St. Peter, a role of carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders as asked by Christ, and to offer his life and shepherding as a prayer in sacrifice to God on behalf of the world, I am reminded of the promise of Jesus to Peter that day that He gave Peter the keys to the kingdom... “the gates of the netherworld will never prevail against it.”