Catholic church has new pope; white smoke rises
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Cardinals elected a new pope to lead the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics on Wednesday, overcoming deep divisions to select the 266th pope in a remarkably fast conclave.
Tens of thousands of people who braved cold rain to watch the smokestack atop the Sistine Chapel jumped in joy when white smoke poured out, many shouting "Habemus Papam!" or "We have a pope!" — as the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica and churches across Rome tolled, signaling a pontiff had been chosen.
The pope, whose identity isn’t yet known, is due to emerge from the loggia overlooking St. Peter’s Square to deliver his first words as the Bishop of Rome.
Elected on the fifth ballot, he was chosen in one of the fastest conclaves in years, remarkable given there was no clear front-runner going into the vote and that the church had been in turmoil following the upheaval unleashed by Pope Benedict XVI’s surprise resignation.
A winner must receive 77 votes, or two-thirds of the 115, to be named pope.
The conclave played out against the backdrop of the first papal resignation in 600 years and revelations of mismanagement, petty bickering, infighting and corruption in the Holy See bureaucracy.
Those revelations, exposed by the leaks of papal documents last year, had divided the College of Cardinals into camps seeking a radical reform of the Holy See’s governance and those defending the status quo.
The names mentioned most often as "papabile" — a cardinal who has the stuff of a pope — include Cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan, an intellect in the vein of Benedict but with a more outgoing personality, and Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the Canadian head of the Vatican’s important bishops’ office who is also scholarly but reserved like Benedict.
Brazilian Cardinal Odilo Scherer is liked by the Vatican bureaucracy but not by all of his countrymen. And Cardinal Peter Erdo of Hungary has the backing of European cardinals who have twice elected him as head of the European bishops’ conference.
On the more pastoral side is Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston, the favorite of the Italian press, and Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the back-slapping, outgoing archbishop of New York who has admitted himself that his Italian is pretty bad — a drawback for a job that is conducted almost exclusively in the language.
Mar 15, 2013 at 12:30 p.m.
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billnewbie, how come you're not grinning in the photo when I look up the term self-flagellation?
Mar 15, 2013 at 9:50 a.m.
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Make sure you give Cambridge a big toothy smile for that picture, Gazettefan!
Mar 14, 2013 at 12:33 p.m.
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billnewbie and RAF, what you two unschooled, inarticulate pope-grovelers don't understand is that "religious bigot" stems from the hostility that members of a religion direct toward members of other religions.
College graduate, oath to defend the Constitution. LOL
Mar 14, 2013 at 12:13 p.m.
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Be careful RAF. They don't like being called "bigots". Although, if you look up the definition of the word...
"bigot
noun [C] /ˈbɪɡ.ət/ disapproving
Definition
› a person who has strong, unreasonable beliefs and who thinks that anyone who does not have the same beliefs is wrong:
a religious bigot
He was known to be a loud-mouthed, opinionated bigot.
bigoted /ˈbɪɡ.ə.tɪd/ /-t̬ɪd/ adjective
›
She's so bigoted that she refuses to accept anyone who doesn't think like her.
bigotry /ˈbɪɡ.ə.tri/ noun [U]
›
religious/racial bigotry
(Definition of bigot noun from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)"
You know, that concise definition of the word "bigot" is only missing one thing, Gazettefan's picture.
Mar 13, 2013 at 10:54 p.m.
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Hey look another thread where religious bigots can troll around.
Mar 13, 2013 at 8:29 p.m.
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Why is this news?
Mar 13, 2013 at 8 p.m.
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As Jay Leon would say,when you see the smoke rise,another state legalized Mary Jane HaHa!!
Mar 13, 2013 at 5:11 p.m.
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Gfan, glad to see that your problem is not with Jesus, but with a man.
Mar 13, 2013 at 3:54 p.m.
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billnewbie, what have the popes done for your belief? State your answer so that maybe we can take them seriously.
Howza 'bout not allowing clergy to get married so that wives can't inherit property that the popery want to snatch up?
And howza 'bout aiding and abetting Hitler and the Holocaust?
Mar 13, 2013 at 3:54 p.m.
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Lame or not, it worked on you.
Mar 13, 2013 at 3:48 p.m.
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Seems like a relatively lame magical power Bill. Can he heal the sick?
Mar 13, 2013 at 3:44 p.m.
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Prounion asks, "What magical powers does the pope have?" That's an easy one. He has the magical power to make smart alecky atheists comment about him on the Gazette (and a bunch of other venues as well, I'd bet!). And did the magic ever work too! 5 times so far!
Mar 13, 2013 at 3:26 p.m.
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In other related news:
Vatican Buys Europe’s Biggest Gay Bathhouse.
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyath...
Mar 13, 2013 at 3:18 p.m.
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wislady, re: your first comment. Yes, all that expensive splendor, the weird outfits, and those smokey things noxiously swung about by a bunch of old guys is what Jesus taught. Though no one has been able to find it referenced in the bible.
The people most influenced by the pope and his posse are the least educated people in the world.
Mar 13, 2013 at 2:36 p.m.
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The Pope is several pay grades above Obama.
Mar 13, 2013 at 2:32 p.m.
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What magical powers does the pope have?
Mar 13, 2013 at 2:27 p.m.
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Wasn't he the guy who got Luke Abrazi in the Godfather? Or was he the guy who got beat up by Sonny Corleone?
Mar 13, 2013 at 2:15 p.m.
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Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Mar 13, 2013 at 1:53 p.m.
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Now the great majority of the 1.2 billion catholics have another goofy old man to ignore when it comes to instructions for proper behavior while naked.
Mar 13, 2013 at 1:41 p.m.
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Rather interesting to watch all the festivities of the announcement of a Pope.
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