Conclave Begins!

Cardinals at the Pre-Conclave Mass March 12th 

The 115 voting cardinals have now entered the Sistene Chapel and the large wooden doors have been closed.  The Cardinals may decide to vote this evening or wait until tomorrow.  Indication of their decision will come in the form of smoke.  If present that would indicate a vote has taken place: black a decision has not been reached...white the election of a new Pontiff has been successful.  

May we all turn our hearts to prayer that they may be covered with love and spiritual protection during this important time for our Church.

Thank you all!

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Novena to the Holy Spirit for the Conclave

Conclave to Begin Tomorrow

Cardinals within Sistine Chapel at the start of the Conlcave in 2005
(Arturo Mari/ AFP/Getty Images)

Tomorrow the Cardinals will meet for Mass in the morning and then later process into the Sistine Chapel chanting the litany of the Saints.  It is an awe inspiring image to contemplate the leaders of Our Church asking for the help of those who have gone before them that are now counted among our Saints.  The magnitude of the decision which lays before them is immense.  Might we too consider joining their prayers to the Saints by also reciting the litany of the Saints.  I have included the Litany of the Saints in the prior post.

Thank you all who though your prayers help to guide and protect the future of Our Church.

God Bless you all!

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Novena to the Holy Spirit for the Conclave

A Smokey Week Ahead

Members of the Vatican Fire Brigade construct the chimney on the top of the Sistine chapel which will emit smoke.

The Conclave begins this Tuesday to elect our next pope which means all 115 Cardinals eligible to vote will be meeting in the Sistine Chapel.  No communication is allowed between those voting and those outside the Chapel...except for one signal: Smoke.

After each vote ballots are burned.  If a two thirds majority is reached and a Pope is successfully elected then white smoke is seen rising from the chimney above the Sistine Chapel.  If the votes needed to elect a pope are not reached during that round of balloting then a chemical is added to the fire and a black smoke emerges.  This tells the rest of the world watching from the outside that the Cardinals have not come to an aggrement.

Conclave to Begin Tuesday March 12th

Cardinal Dolan arrives at the Vatican for meetings March 8th
(AP photo)

After 5 days of meeting, the Cardinals announced yesterday that they will convene the Conclave to choose the next Pope on Tuesday.  The cardinals will begin Tuesday morning with a Mass at St. Peter's Basilica then in the afternoon they will enter the Sistine Chapel to begin balloting. Two thirds majority of the 115 elector cardinals is necessary to elect a pope.  The last election of this kind was in 2005 and took only 2 days to select Pope Benedict XVI.  

Today as we conclude our Novena for the conclave there is a feeling that we cannot let up on the intensity of our prayers.  Pope Benedict knew how important these days of meetings are prior to the conclave and hence said in his final address to the Cardinals before leaving the Vatican February 28th,

“I will continue to be close to you the next few days in prayer that you may be full of the Holy Spirit in the election of the new Pope.  May the Lord show you what He wants from you.  Among you is the next Pope.”

Thank you to all who joined us for this novena for the conclave.  Please continue to offer up rosaries and prayers that the cardinals may be covered with spiritual protection and Divine Guidance through this whole process.

Novena to the Holy Spirit for the Conclave of Cardinals

Pope Benedict  XVI (Photo:CNS)

Today Pope Benedict stepped down as Supreme Spiritual Head of the Catholic Church and made a surprise statement to his fellow Cardinals:

“I will continue to be close to you the next few days in prayer that you may be full of the Holy Spirit in the election of the new Pope.  May the Lord show you what He wants from you.  Among you is the next Pope.”

Hearing these words of Pope Benedict XVI there was a feeling that we should join with him in prayer for the same intention.  Could there be a better phrasing of a prayer for the Cardinals then the one Our Holy Father spoke from the depths of his heart.  May I humbly ask you to join together beginning tomorrow (March 1st 2013) a 9 day novena of prayer to the Holy Spirit for the intention given to us by our dear Pope Benedict XVI.  We have been given a precious gift and privilege to know the prayers of the Holy Father for his successor may we not lose this opportunity to be one with him in prayer for a most Divinely inspired Conclave.  Thank you all and may the Lord bless you for your love and prayers for the future of Our Holy Church.  Amen.

(photo courtesy of Catholic News Service)

Novena to the Holy Spirit

Dearest Holy Spirit, confiding in Your deep, personal love for me, I am making this novena for the following request, if it be Your Holy Will to grant it: that the Cardinals may be full of the Holy Spirit in the election of the new Pope.  May the Lord show them what He wants from them.(mention your additional requests). 

Teach me, Divine Spirit, to know and seek my last end; grant me the holy fear of God; grant me true contrition and patience. Do not let me fall into sin. Give me an increase of faith, hope and charity, and bring forth in my soul all the virtues proper to my state in life.

Make me a faithful disciple of Jesus and an obedient child of the Church. Give me efficacious grace sufficient to keep the Commandments and to receive the Sacraments worthily. 

Give me the four Cardinal Virtues, Your Seven Gifts, Your Twelve Fruits. 

Raise me to perfection in the state of life to which You have called me and lead me through a happy death to everlasting life.

I ask this through Christ our Lord, Amen. 

(novena to the Holy Spirit obtained from EWTN website)