The Conclave

Turkson is out his is to liberal. O'Malley and Dolan are out since they are Americans.

Oullet is a possibility, but a long shot, since he is North American.

Persoanally I would like to see Tagle, or Onalyekan. I think the smart money is on Ravasi, or Scola.

Ravasi and Scola do seem to have the homecourt advantage. 

I quite agree, but they have not asked me to vote, nor have they asked my opinion. João Braz de Aviz is another leading contender, but I don't know if he is conservative enough or if he has been a cardinal long enough.

Typically they have gone young pope, older, younger. alternating. It seems likely they would be looking at someone in his late 50's or early 60's.

ok, i lol'd at the bracket. 

I don't think I even know who any of these people are, so I have a high probability of guessing the winner. 

Harder to pick based on color of the uniforms in this bracket. That is what the non-basketball fans who always seem to wind up winning the brackets I'm in usually use.

The cardinals will enter the Sistine Chapel in a little while to begin the conclave. I think it's at 11:00am EST.

There will be one vote today. Then starting tomorrow if necessary, two votes in the morning and two in the afternoon.  

We could have a new successor to Peter later today, or it could be days or weeks.

My final four from the brackets for what it's worth (not worth much, but it's fun to speculate):
North America - Ouellet
South America - Scherer
Europe - Scola
Asia/Africa - Turkson

I pray that the new pope will be the cardinal best able to preach the Gospel.  

The report I heard is that Benedict will no longer wear the ring and that the seal on the front will be ground down so that it can't be used to seal a document.  Usually when a pope dies, they first tap him on the head with, I think, a silver hammer and call out his name. If he doesn't answer, then they break the ring.

He remains Benedict, with the title Emeritus at the beginnings.  I've heard both Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI used. Not sure which is correct.

That's interesting about not using the hammer anymore but still holding it.

Any baptized male, past the age of reason, who is not married can be elected pope.  You don't even need to be Catholic as I understand it as long as yours is a valid baptism, although you'd need to be fully initiated afterwards and then ordained through the three levels culminating in bishop.

I told my two young boys one of them could be elected pope and asked if he would accept.  Whether or not he could bring our new puppy to Rome was going to be the deal breaker.

That's a great story!

The Cardinals have entered the Sistine Chapel now. They'll close and lock the doors soon, con clave, and then we'll wait for the smoke.

The Cardinals will get to contemplate Michelangelo's The Last Judgement as they cast their ballots. Sobering backdrop.

(michelangelo_last_judgment_750x671.jpg)

That had to be expected with no clear favorite. :D

I think it took four votes to elect Joseph Ratzinger and he was the odds on favorite going in.  

Since you included the bracket and thus the analogy, Mahony should be on the "Joe Paterno" no post season eligibility punishment.

Is this a catered affair, or are the Cardinals sitting around slicing garlic with a razor and cooking steaks on a hot plate?