Federico Lombardi

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Tenth General Congregation of the College of Cardinals and the Oath taking of the personnels involved in the Conclave

The tenth and most likely last of the General Congregation meetings of the College of Cardinals will take place on Monday, 11 March 2013 in the usual Hall of the Synod of Bishops in the Vatican City.

As the Cardinal-electors had all been assigned their rooms in the Domus Sancta Marthae, their residence during the Conclave, the Tenth General Congregation is likely therefore as the last opportunity for the Cardinals, both electors and non-electors to raise any remaining issues or clarify the need for certain qualities in the new Pope to be elected, as well as completing any outstanding issues before the Conclave commence on Tuesday, 12 March 2013.

Fr. Federico Lombardi, head of the Holy See Press Office, will conduct his usual press briefing at 1 pm, Rome time, on Monday, most likely to divulge the outcome of the Tenth General Congregation and likely to answer any remaining questions the journalists have on the Conclave.

In the evening, at 5.30 pm Rome time (CET/UTC+1) on Monday, 11 March 2013, live from Rome at Vatican Player (www.vatican.va/video/) can be viewed the oath-taking of all the personnels involved in the Conclave and locked together with the Cardinal-electors.

They will take the same oath as the Cardinal-electors (who will only take the oath when they enter the Conclave the next day, Tuesday), as prescribed by the Motu Proprio Normas Nonnullas released by Pope Benedict XVI to modify the rules of the Conclave as written in the Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis.

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Press briefing on the conclusion of the General Congregations of the College of Cardinals

The Ninth General Congregation of the College of Cardinals have been concluded this Saturday morning, 9 March 2013, and as the date of the beginning of the Conclave came closer (Tuesday, 12 March 2013), Fr. Federico Lombardi, head of the Holy See Press Office clarifies certain matters involving the sede vacante period and the upcoming Conclave.

The Conclave will be preceded by a Solemn Mass for the Election of the Roman Pontiff or the Missa pro Eligendo Pontifice/Papa on Tuesday morning, 12 March 2013 in St. Peter’s Basilica, and then on the same day, Tuesday, in the afternoon, the Cardinals will proceed into the Sistine Chapel to officially begin the Conclave.

The famous chimney which will release the signal whether a new Pope had been elected, had been installed on the roof of the Sistine Chapel on Friday morning, after long work by the technicians in the installing the two stoves where the ballots will be burned after the ballots, and the chimney itself, linked directly to the stoves inside the Sistine Chapel.

The Ring of Fisherman, two papal stamps bearing the image of the Ring of the Fisherman, and the master lead seal, also bearing the Ring’s image, which is used for major documents, have been decommissioned by defacement of the Ring’s image, and therefore while the Ring of the Fisherman has not been completely destroyed,

A commission has been created to ensure that the Conclave has indeed been sealed entirely from the outside world, with no external portal of entry and ensuring that no one tampers with the seal of the Conclave until a new Pope had been elected. Strong frequency and signal jammers had also been installed to prevent any wiretapping and bugging of the Sistine Chapel and the areas where the Cardinals will reside throughout the Conclave.

It is noted that if the Conclave has not been successful to elect a new Pope after three full days (a new Pope can only be elected if he receives more than two-thirds of all the votes of the Cardinal-electors, or 77 votes), the voting sessions will be adjourned for a day of prayer and reflection, so that in the event of the upcoming voting sessions, the Cardinals can gain a new inspiration of the Holy Spirit and therefore hopefully elect a new Pope as soon as possible.

The Motu Proprio released earlier by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007 has modified the rules of the election as written in the Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis, as it no longer allows the Cardinal-electors to revert to an absolute majority system once a certain number of days have passed (many days), and the Motu Proprio once again made the election of the new Pope by two-thirds majority alone.

The bells of St. Peter’s Basilica and also the other bells of the churches throughout Rome will also be rung once the new Pope had been elected, just as they were in 2005 conclave, to reinforce and affirm the white smoke signal released through the chimney of the Sistine Chapel.

About 45 minutes or more may pass between the election of the new Pope and his appearance on the Loggia or the balcony of the St. Peter’s Basilica, as there are rites that the new Pope had to go through in the time between, beginning with the acceptance of the election, the entry into the Room of Tears where the Pope will change into his new white Papal cassock, and then homage from all the Cardinals, and of course the announcement of the Habemus Papam by the Cardinal Protodeacon, Jean-Louis Tauran himself, before the new Pope will make his appearance on the balcony.

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Ninth General Congregation of the College of Cardinals : Saturday, 9 March 2013

The ninth and probably the last of the General Congregations of the College of Cardinals will take place on Saturday morning at 9.30 am, 9 March 2013, and may be used as an opportunity to clear up outstanding matters and issues, and to help the Cardinals to affirm what they are looking as the characteristics needed in the new Pope, which they will elect in the Conclave that will begin on Tuesday, 12 March 2013.

Now that the date of the Conclave has already been decided, the remaining matter to be completed is to assign the rooms in the Domus Sancta Marthae where the Cardinals will stay during the duration of the Conclave. The room assignment is done by lots and therefore is random, and may be done in the Ninth General Congregation this morning.

The Mass for the Election of the Roman Pontiff or the Missa pro Eligendo Pontifice, has also been confirmed to take place at St. Peter’s Basilica on Tuesday morning before the commencement of the Conclave on Tuesday afternoon, when the Cardinals will march into the Sistine Chapel and henceforth be ‘closed-off’ from the outside world until the new Pope is elected.

Fr. Federico Lombardi, head of the Holy See Press Office will give his usual press briefing on Saturday afternoon at 1pm Rome time (1 pm CET // 12 pm UTC // 7 am EST // 4 am PST // 7 pm WIB or UTC+7 // 8 pm Singapore time or UTC+8).

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Seventh General Congregation of the College of Cardinals, and the Eighth (decision on the Conclave date)

During the Seventh General Congregation of the College of Cardinals this Friday morning, 8 March 2013, the College of Cardinals had accepted the letters of the two Cardinals who are unable to attend the Conclave due to health issue (Cardinal Darmaatmadja of Jakarta) and other reasons (Cardinal O’Brien of Scotland, UK), according to the provisions of the Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis and the modifications in the Motu Proprio Normas Nonnullas.

The morning meeting had also discussed the modifications made on the Article 37 of the Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis, which deals on the earliest starting date of the Conclave, which originally must be at least 15 days from the Vacancy of the Apostolic See, but then because the modifications made by the Motu Proprio Normas Nonnullas, which provided for a waiver of the 15 days waiting period, allow for an earlier start providing all the Cardinal-electors are already in Rome.

As all the Cardinal-electors are already in Rome, they can immediately decide on when to begin the Conclave, which is scheduled to be done and voted in the Eighth General Congregation on Friday afternoon. Fr. Federico Lombardi confirmed that the Conclave will not begin either tomorrow (Saturday) or Sunday. The Conclave is likely to begin either Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday (11-13 March 2013)

There will be only one General Congregation session on Saturday morning, that is the Ninth General Congregation of the College of Cardinals. The Cardinals too may go and visit (may not be all of them) their titular Churches in Rome (I will publish the list of the titular Churches for each Cardinals, and if possible, the addresses of each in Rome, in case anyone looking to meet any of the Cardinals in Rome for the Sunday Mass) for Sunday Mass to pray for the election of the new Pope and for the Conclave. Each of the Cardinals are given a titular church in Rome upon his appointment as a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church.

Cardinal Prosper Grech from Malta, who is a Cardinal non-elector, will be the one giving out the second of the two meditations as mandated by the Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis, to be given out prior to the beginning of the Conclave.

18 Cardinals spoke in the morning meeting and several inteventions had also been made, on several issues from rules of the Conclave to other matters. Issues covered are bioethics, interreligious dialogue, collegiality, role of the Church in the world, in justice, and others.

A video is shown to the reporters during the press briefing by Fr. Federico Lombardi, head of the Holy See Press Office, on Friday afternoon, on the place where the Cardinal-electors will reside during the duration of the Conclave (currently the Cardinals are staying in different locations in Rome, but will move in to the place after the Conclave begins), which is called Domus Sancta Marthae, commissioned by the late Blessed Pope John Paul II, and was also used in the 2005 Conclave. Shown was the spartan but comfortable lodgings of the Cardinal-electors. The Cardinals will be assigned the rooms randomly.

Add : 220,000 people had ‘adopted’ a Cardinal through the Adopt a Cardinal website, and pray for them during this period.

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Summary of the Fifth General Congregation of the College of Cardinals : Thursday, 7 March 2013

The Fifth General Congregation of the College of Cardinals was held this morning, Thursday, 7 March 2013. All the Cardinal-electors, all 115 of them who will be voting to elect the new Pope in the upcoming Conclave, are already in Rome and had taken part in the meeting this morning.

No date has yet been fixed for the start of the Conclave, although the afternoon session, that is the Sixth General Congregation may decide just that, or the Seventh one, which will be held tomorrow, Friday, 8 March 2013 morning at 9.30 am. Fr. Federico Lombardi, the head of the Holy See Press Office mentioned that he is not certain whether the College of Cardinals will be deciding the date of the Conclave by the afternoon meeting or not.

If there is any immediate decision on the Conclave date in the afternoon meeting, Fr. Lombardi will announce it through message to journalists at 7 pm Rome time today (Thursday), or corresponding to 6 pm UTC / 1 pm EST / 10 am PST / Friday at 1 am for West Indonesia and UTC+7 areas / Friday at 2 am for Singapore, Malaysia, HK, China, and other UTC+8 areas.

The Fifth General Congregation saw more Cardinals using their chances to speak, with 51 Cardinals having spoken so far in the past five General Congregations. As today’s fifth meeting saw the release of economic reports of the Holy See from several organisations in the Roman Curia handling the Holy See’s economics, some of the Cardinal’s speeches address those economic reports, while others focus more on the role of the Church in charitable works in the world, and the work in ecumenism and dialogue with other religions.

16 interventions were made by the Cardinals today, with 3 interventions dealing with the economic reports as mentioned, and others discussing the matters of the conclave, most importantly the profile, the much needed profile and who the next Pope should be and the necessary qualities he should have, and what is his characteristics that the Cardinals should seek in electing the right person for the position.

A video was shown in the press briefing on the works in the Sistine Chapel and the installation of the chimney and the stoves for burning the ballots, as well as the erasure of Pope Benedict XVI’s coat-of-arms from the Vatican Garden’s large coat-of-arms made with plants and flowers, depicting the Pope’s coat-of-arms. The particular coat-of-arms of Pope Benedict XVI was removed, while the papal tiara and the golden and silver keys of the Papacy remained in place.

The fifth meeting also highlighted issue of the oath of secrecy, which are taken in the case of the Conclave, the General Congregation meeting, as well as when the College deem it necessary for media blackout to be imposed to avoid any unwanted leak of information.

It is not certain at this time whether there will be two meetings tomorrow, Friday, 8 March 2013 as it was today. The confirmed meeting is the morning session’s Seventh General Congregation, which may indeed be the one that decides the Conclave date. After all, Fr. Lombardi made it clear in the press briefing that the Conclave is strictly more a time for solemn prayers and decisions, and voting itself.

All forms of discussions, discernments, speeches, and raising up issues pertaining to the Church should indeed be done at this time, during the General Congregation, and not during the Conclave. Hence, the reason why the General Congregation meetings should not be rushed, but rather be meticulously done, so that when these meetings are over, possibly by this weekend, the Cardinal-electors will be ready to enter the Sistine Chapel for the Conclave, possibly this coming Monday, 11 March 2013.

In the meanwhile, let us continue to pray for the Church, for all our Cardinals, and the Cardinal-electors, and for the smooth proceedings of the remaining General Congregations, as well as the Conclave later.

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Fifth and Sixth General Congregation of the College of Cardinals : Thursday, 7 March 2013, likely to discuss and decide Conclave date

The fifth General Congregation of the College of Cardinals will be held on Thursday, 7 March 2013 at 9.30 am in the morning, and then followed by another General Congregation, the sixth one, in the early evening at 5 pm. All times depicted here are Rome time or CET / UTC+1.

As by Thursday all Cardinal-electors should already be in Rome, and the fact that there will be two General Congregations on this day, is possibly that the Cardinals are hoping to finish up any matters before the start of the Conclave, and that in one of the two General Congregations, the date of the start of the Conclave may be decided. Only one Cardinal yet to arrive, Cardinal Jean-Baptiste Pham Minh-Man, Metropolitan Archbishop of Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. The other 114 Cardinal-electors (out of 115) have arrived in Rome and taken part in the General Congregations.

Look forward to the press briefing by Fr. Federico Lombardi, head of the Holy See Press Office on Thursday, 7 March 2013 at 1 pm Rome time / CET / UTC+1. If the date has been decided in the Fifth General Congregation in the morning, it will likely be announced in the press briefing, otherwise, as Fr. Lombardi has mentioned in his press briefing earlier, that if the Cardinals decide the date in the evening’s Sixth General Congregation, he will pass the message to the accredited news reporters to break the news to the world.

Let us continue to pray for our Church, for the Cardinal-electors, and for the smooth preparation and proceeding of the Conclave!

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Fourth General Congregation of the College of Cardinals : Some news and summary

http://www.news.va/en/news/general-congregations-profile-of-future-pope-emerg

After the end of the Fourth General Congregation of the College of Cardinals this morning, Wednesday, 6 March 2013, the dates of the Conclave had yet to be finalised. It is most likely that the decision on the date of the Conclave awaits the remaining Cardinal-electors who has yet arrived in Rome.

113 of the 115 Cardinal-electors slated to vote in the Conclave have arrived and taken part in the Fourth General Congregation this morning, and therefore, there are only two remaining Cardinal-electors still on their way to Rome.

Some Cardinals expresses the wish to have more time for discernment and the need to have more time to wait until the Conclave begins for careful considerations, but many others also express the wish to have the Conclave completed with the election of a new Pope before the Holy Week commences on Sunday, 24 March 2013. The College of Cardinals had signalled that they will give a few days notice prior to the beginning of the Conclave on the date.

51 Cardinals have so far used their right to give speech in front of the College of Cardinals, and through the meetings so far, qualities necessary for the next Pope has been emerging. The need for an intellectual and deeply rooted Pope like Pope Benedict XVI, but with a broader reach and willingness to approach others for discussions such as in the matter of interreligious dialogue.

Also the need for a more pastoral pope with experience as pastor and not just as theologian or curialist, that is to have significant work experience as bishop/archbishop of diocese/archdiocese (My personal opinion here shows that, just as many others have pointed out that these qualities can be found in the person of Cardinal Scola of Milan, but let God decide on that).

Fr. Federico Lombardi, head of the Holy See Press Office, in the following press conference has also confirmed that Cardinal Angelo Comastri as the Archpriest of the Basilica of St. Peter, will be the presider of the prayer for the Universal Church service at 5 pm Rome time (CET) today (Wednesday, 5 March 2013), live from Vatican Player at http://www.vatican.va/video/ at St. Peter’s Basilica.

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Third General Congregation of the College of Cardinals and the Holy See Press Office Announcement

The third General Congregation of the College of Cardinals is now ongoing in Rome, starting since an hour ago (Tuesday, 5 March 2013 at 9.30 am Rome time / CET / UTC+1), and will continue on until another two hours. The date of the conclave had not been announced, but with still a few Cardinal-electors due to arrive in Rome by today, it might be that the date for the Conclave may not be known until the Holy See Press Office announcement by Fr. Federico Lombardi either today or tomorrow (both at 1 pm Rome time / CET / UTC+1).

Watch at the Vatican Player at http://www.vatican.va/video/ for the press release by Fr. Lombardi in another 2.5 hours or so, and as always, pray for all the Cardinals, especially the electors!

There will be only one General Congregation today and on the following days as opposed to two the previous day, as decided in the Second General Congregation yesterday evening (Rome time), thus the fourth General Congregation of the College of Cardinals, if there is one, will only commence tomorrow morning at 9.30 am (Wednesday, 6 March 2013).

103 Cardinal-electors attended the first General Congregation yesterday morning, out of a total of 115, and another 4 joined in the second General Congregation in the afternoon (107 out of 115), thus only another 8 Cardinal-electors, who are all hoped to arrive in Rome by today.

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Regarding Vatican Player video at www.vatican.va/video/ : How to view past videos

If you have missed the live broadcast of any past Papal events and events involving the Holy See, such as the press conferences in recent days by Fr. Federico Lombardi of the Holy See Press Office, you can access the recording at the Vatican Player site itself at http://www.vatican.va/video/

Instead of picking to watch live at the TV tab above (There are three tabs : Radio, TV, and agenda), pick the agenda tab, and then at the calendar at the right side, pick the date of the event that you like (For example, pick 13 February 2013 for the Ash Wednesday Mass and Pope Benedict XVI’s last public Mass). Then pick the event from the left side out of the list of events that occured that particular day.

Only those that has the TV icon has the recording though. If the TV icon is there, click on it, then click on the other TV icon on the upper-right hand side of the window, and then happy watching!

In addition, the website http://www.benedictxvi.tv/ also has a vast collection of papal videos (Pope Benedict XVI and documentaries of other Popes) available. Do visit and support the site!

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First General Congregation of the College of Cardinals in ongoing : We pray for the Cardinals and wait for news

The First General Congregation of the College of Cardinals in now ongoing in Rome (since half an hour ago, 9.30 am Rome time today), with most Cardinals having arrived in Rome, to discuss the Conclave, and the qualities needed for the next Pope. Which is also a chance for the Cardinals to discuss among themselves who they think the best candidate is.

The date of the Conclave will also be decided shortly, if not in this meeting, then in the Second General Congregation which will begin at 5 pm Rome time today. We pray for the Cardinal-electors, that the Holy Spirit will guide all of them in this period, and later into the Conclave, that we will soon have a new Pope, a wonderful new Shepherd to lead God’s Church in this world.

We await the press briefing by Fr. Federico Lombardi, head of the Holy See Press Office, which will be at 1 pm Rome time today (CET/UTC+1).