On Easter Monday the world received the news that His Holiness Pope Francis had died in the Vatican. Masses were offered at the Oratory on the day and will continue to be celebrated throughout the Easter Octave for the repose of the immortal soul of the 265th successor of St Peter. A solemn Latin Requiem Mass for the repose of the soul of a Sovereign Pontiff will be celebrated on Thursday 1st May at 6pm.
During the next weeks we should continue praying for the soul of Pope Francis, and for the cardinals who will travel from all over the world to convene in Rome for the election of a new pontiff. We know in Faith that our prayers for the dead are of great assistance to the souls of the faithful departed, and as living members of the Mystical Body of Christ, we can be confident that our supplications and any sacrifices we offer up with the latter intention will play some part in the outcome. In the Church, we never really watch on as helpless bystanders. There is always some contribution we can make.
From the media, meanwhile, we can expect a maelstrom of speculation and lobbying, with various of the eligible being presented as “traditionalist”, “liberal”, “progressive” and, (for the preferred candidate of those in Rome who are most adept at briefing the press corps over coffee in the Borgo Pio), “moderate conservative”. If we wish to play our part spiritually and supernaturally in the process, then we would do well to avoid such useless distraction, reminding ourselves that every quarter of an hour wasted reading the blather of the Vatican-watchers would be more profitably spent with a Rosary in our hands.
Perhaps the silliest thing we shall hear from Catholic sources is that it is the Holy Ghost who chooses the pope. This is the sort of platitudinous pseudo-pious gibberish that can give our religion a bad name. The most cursory glance at the Church’s history shows us that it is the cardinals in conclave who decide the election, and in the past some of them have exercised that privilege under the influence of personal ambition, bribery, political pressure, and browbeating. God’s permissive will means that He may allow evil to happen for some greater good, and while many of St Peter’s successors have been splendid fellows, and a number of them are canonised saints, there have been others who were incorrigible scoundrels. We should not blaspheme the Holy Ghost by blaming Him for those popes whose elections would seem to have been allowed by the Divine Providence as a punishment. Our duty is to pray, with the cardinals, that the guidance of the Holy Ghost will prevail over the weaknesses of fallible men.
As we rejoice in the glorious Resurrection of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we also look forward to the resurrection of our own bodies when He returns in Glory. Let us pray that Pope Francis, who preached so often on the mercy of God, will himself receive a merciful judgment at the Throne of Grace and that his soul will be admitted to the Beatific Vision in Heaven and reunited with his mortal remains on that final day. And let us pray that the cardinals enter the Conclave with hearts and minds open to the promptings of the Holy Ghost so that they may provide the Church with a holy, worthy, and above all Catholic, successor to the humble fisherman from Galilee.
Father Julian Large