No ‘politicking’ for papal candidates takes place, Cardinals Maida, Szoka say, just voting, prayer

DETROIT — Both of Detroit’s retired archbishops — Cardinals Adam J. Maida and Edmund C. Szoka — spoke warmly of Pope Benedict XVI in the wake of the pontiff’s Feb. 11 announcement of his intention to resign, and shared some reminiscences of their participation in the 2005 conclave that elected the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger to succeed Blessed John Paul II.

Cardinal Maida, 82, said he received the news with surprise and “a certain sadness.” He said Pope Benedict “has served God’s people with great charity and wisdom and has been a sterling example of holiness of life in the exercise of his ministry.”

Cardinal Szoka, 85, Detroit’s archbishop from 1980 until 1990, said, “Every pope has his own character, his own personality, and brings his own experience. Pope Benedict is primarily a scholar. He was a professor for many years, and you could see in all his talks his scholarly background and background as a professor.”

While cardinals pledge to never tell what is said during a conclave, they are at liberty to speak of the procedural details and how they themselves felt about being a part of one.

When a conclave convenes, Cardinal Szoka explained, only cardinals under 80 years of age will have the right to vote in it; older cardinals are not even allowed into the Sistine Chapel while the conclave is meeting.

He said the morning of a conclave’s first day is taken up with matters such as going over the rules and taking an oath that they will seek to elect the best man for the position and maintain secrecy. They also elect the five cardinals who will count the ballots and the five others who will verify that count, he said.

When the conclave reconvenes, about 4 p.m. that first day, the balloting can begin.

There is no “politicking,” Cardinal Szoka emphasized — no campaigning, no nomination speeches, not even a simple placing of names in nomination. Each cardinal simply writes a name on a ballot and presents his ballot.

“When we take the ballot up to the altar, we have to repeat our oath that we have voted for the one best suited,” Cardinal Szoka said.

At the altar, the ballot is placed “on a flat disk, like a paten, and then — without touching the ballot — it is tipped into a chalice, and is then collected from the chalice and counted.”

After the ballots are counted, and that initial tally is verified, the results are announced to the conclave, but never to anyone else; no records are kept, and the ballots are burned by a couple of masters of ceremony who are the only non-cardinals in the chapel.

Assuming there is no clear winner on that first ballot, which is made even more likely by the return to the old rule that a two-thirds majority is necessary, the smoke from the burning ballots will be black. All the eagerly expectant public will learn about that first ballot is that no new pontiff was chosen, and that the cardinals will have to vote again.

But the assembled cardinals now know which of their initial choices has any support.

The voting and counting processes are so time-consuming that there will be time for only one more ballot that evening, Cardinal Szoka said.

If a new pope is not selected on that second ballot, the cardinals will return for however many subsequent days of balloting it takes. Once someone receives the necessary majority, the nominee — assuming he is present — will be asked whether he will accept, Cardinal Maida said.

Assuming he does, there will then be a time for prayer, and the new pope will address the assembled cardinals. Only then will the masters of ceremony burn the ballots, adding a chemical to make the smoke white — thus announcing to the world that a new pope has been chosen.

“From the time (the cardinals in the conclave) know who it will be until the white smoke is sent up takes about an hour,” Cardinal Maida said.

Because of their ages, neither of Detroit’s cardinals will be able to take part in the forthcoming conclave. “When they go into conclave, I’ll be like everybody else — waiting for the news,” Cardinal Maida said.

But there is a role for retired cardinals in the process that accompanies a papal transition. “All of the cardinals are called to Rome for pre-conclave meetings,” Cardinal Maida continued. Besides setting the date of the conclave, these meetings also offer an opportunity for all cardinals to discuss the situation of the Church and the problems they believe the next pope will have to confront.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to get a sense of where the Church is,” Cardinal Maida said.

Of course, such meetings would normally be taking place because of the death of a pope, in which situation the cardinals would also be planning the late pontiff’s funeral, the nine days of memorial Masses, and the conclave.

Cardinal Szoka said he expects the meetings will “get right down to the business of setting a conclave” since they would not be dealing with the death of a pope. He said he will not be going this time, because of health issues.

Cardinal Maida said he plans to leave shortly for Rome, and will stay until after a new pope is chosen “unless it goes on for months or something.”

But both said the experience of taking part in a conclave was one of deep spiritual significance.

“To be in a conclave is very exciting and a very serious obligation — every cardinal feels that,” Cardinal Szoka said.

“It’s a very awesome thing: You know you’re swearing before God that you’re doing the right thing,” he added.

Cardinal Maida said taking part in the 2005 conclave was “really one of the greatest events of my life.”

He said it came with a great sense of responsibility, and added that the process — of approaching the altar of the Sistine Chapel with his ballot, with Michelangelo’s “The Last Judgment” behind it, added to the “great sense of awe.”