Q: Who is the leader of the Catholic Church during the time after one pope has died or retired and another has been selected?
A: The College of Cardinals collectively handles all important church matters, other than issues normally decided upon by the pope. For unspecified day-to-day issues, a committee of three cardinals drawn by lot, as well as the cardinal designated the "camerlengo," in this case Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, are in charge. Vatican departments continue with routine business.
Q: Are there signs that the Catholic Church might be looking for a younger pope?
A: Yes. Pope Benedict XVI was 78 when he was elected, the oldest pope chosen since Clement XII in 1730. He stepped down at 85, attributing the decision to advanced age and infirmity. Some cardinals we interviewed in the past week said they were looking for the next pope to be someone younger and more energetic. However, age is in no way the most important factor.
Q: Are cardinals allowed to caucus and deliberate in groups during the conclave? And what happens if there is a deadlock?
A: The cardinals hold as many as four voting sessions a day (beginning every day around 9:30 a.m. and leaving for lunch and dinner). They must reach a two-thirds majority to elect a pope. Each writes his choice on a ballot and places it in an urn. The ballots are mixed up and two scrutinizers read each name voted for, and then a third reads it out loud. The cardinals do deliberate, but mostly in the evening, not while they are in the Sistine Chapel. If there is a deadlock after three days of voting, the cardinals are asked to take a break for a day of prayer, and then resume.
There is no way to predict when they will make a decision, but no conclave in the past 100 years has lasted more than five days. The average wait in the last century or so is two or three days.
Q: Is there any effort underway to make the conclave more transparent to outsiders?
A: The process is highly secretive, with cardinals taking an oath never to reveal the proceedings, although the votes are recorded and deposited in a secret archive. The secrecy stems from safeguards against the interference in past centuries of emperors and kings.
Q: Is there an official language for the conclave, and are the cardinals provided with interpreters for their native or preferred language?
A: The common language is Italian, and there are no interpreters.
Q: What would happen in the event that a new pope is not elected before Holy Week?
A: That appears pretty unlikely, but Vatican officials have not broached this topic. Presumably, the cardinals keep going.
Q: How will the growth of the Catholic Church around the world, particularly in Africa and Latin America, influence the selection of the next pope?
A: Although the cardinals vote for a candidate based on their assessment of his attributes, there is no question that they are very attuned to the church's current geography. They know that the church is most vibrant and growing in Africa and Asia, while it is shrinking in Europe. In the last conclave in 2005, a cardinal from Argentina was said to be the runner-up in the vote tally to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was elected and became Pope Benedict. This time, some cardinals — even those from the United States and Europe — have said in interviews that it would rejuvenate the entire church to elect a pope from the global south. But geography is only one factor among many in a papal conclave.
New York Times
