The Church, like Christ himself who inhabits it, is shrouded in mystery. It is a human institution, but with a divine life coursing through it. It is deeply engaged in time and place, but in its essence it transcends all times and places. It is governed by fallen humans, but Christ ultimately rules its fortunes and leads it to its fulfillment. Peter’s place in the Church participates in all of its mysteries, in its human character and in its divine life.
The more we understand the nature of this choice gift of God, the better we will be able to respond to the Spirit’s action in the world, and to receive the graces it brings according to God’s often hidden purposes.
The pope is called to strengthen, proclaim, purify, and unify: a task beyond the human capacities of any one man.
The office of Peter, the rock upon which the Church is built, may change its methods or its language, but its inner form remains. In the midst of many changes, it is essentially the same, ever ancient and ever new.
The Papal Conclave is a sacred process of spiritual discernment tasked with selecting the next pope, caught up in the tradition and Apostolic Succession of the Church.
The election of a new Pope is among the most gripping spectacles the world has to offer. What are the thoughts and dispositions proper to Christian disciples in the midst of a conclave?