The (admirable) Magazine of the 'Brompton' Oratory has an obituary of the Reverend Sir Charles Dilke, Bart., sometime Provost, which includes an account of his reactions during one of the Papal Conclaves.
" ... a junior father was dispatched to [Dilke's] room to inform him that the white smoke had just appeared from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel and the bells of St Peter's had begun to ring. Would he like to come downstairs and join the other fathers in front of the television to see who the new pontiff was? He responded: 'Popes are elected, then they die, then they elect another one', and resumed playing Greensleeves on his recorder. The next morning as he was vesting for Mass, he had to ask the sacristan the name of the newly elected pope so that he could pray for him during the Canon" (as every priest does in his every Mass to reassert his very necessary and blessed communio with the Soliditas Sedis Petri).
I can think of few things more indicative of a most truly Catholic mens than this.
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I hope that I can practise such insouciance, come the next conclave. When my Whatsapp TLM group chimes with the news of the newest pontiff, I will mute my phone and resume playing "The Pretty Girls of Ballymena" on my fiddle.
(But probably the suspense will be too much. "Tell me the worst," I'll say. "Let's get it over with.")
The jar of ointment is open, and I'm going to dive right in.
But Father, that was true only until the destroyer of all Catholic things arrived.
I'm not sure one should see any theological in this. Wykehamists tend to be contrary. Fr Richard Price was just the same!
Given that any baptised Catholic man can (theoretically) be elected Pope, and on the beginning of a new conclave, the superb Father Peter Geldard used to sms his male students in CathSoc (University of Kent) with this message: "The Conclave has begun. Stand by your phones!"
Cherub - you make it sound as if conclaves are a regular occurrence. There have only been two in the time of SMS messages.
Re: all baptized males, there is a small-t Mexican tradition of adorable baptismal gowns that look a bit like papal robes and zucchetti, or priestly robes, or nun habits. I once made a meme out of a public pic of one adorable baby "pope," and apparently the seller sold a lot more outfits outside of Mexico....
I think Canon Law bans a married from the episcopate. So no white hat for Fr Hunwicke!
Should the Sacred College elect a married man pope (all the other concerns aside, for the moment), the spectacle would be very grand of the Franciscan creatures climbing over each other to be the first quoted in the media welcoming his accession.
Common reason/logic strongly indicates---given the methodical stacking of the College of Cardinals by the ever-plotting Francis---we will get a clone of Francis I. I pray to the Holy Ghost to be wrong about this; being wrong, totally wrong, would gladden my heart and mind. But I am not an optimist (as any certified Christian who believes in Original Sin and its lingering consequences must surely believe, as these are Articles of Faith). So, I foresee the further discrediting of the quasi-heresy of papolatry and the consequent and continued growth of the Society of St. Pius X (happily in communion with the Catholic Church and all her unbroken magisterial teachings, unlike the new church of Modernist heretics). God, and not Francis and his claque of gangsters, remains in command. Not such a bleak prospect after all!
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