2008 Woodie Awards
Pope Benedict XVI
Welcomed by Catholic Faithful around the world
Nicole Fluet
Issue date: 4/22/05 Section: News
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Tuesday, April 19, 2005, the Cardinals came to their final decision with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, a seventy-eight year old native of Germany. His papal name will be Pope Benedict XVI. Pope Benedict is the first German pope since the 11th century and clings to strictly conservative principles. Formally, Pope Benedict was the head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Pope John Paul II since 1981.
The College of Cardinals meets in the Conclave to vote in secrecy for their next Pope. A Pope is officially elected by receiving a two-thirds vote from the Cardinals. A ballot is cast twice a day, every day, until a clear winner is elected.
Once this occurs, and the number of votes for one candidate is achieved, the College of Cardinals asks the winner is he wishes to become Pope. If he says yes, the Cardinals pledge their obedience to His Holiness in turn. Next, the Proto-Deacon of the College of Cardinals steps onto the Vatican's main balcony and shouts: "Habemus Papam!" - which translates to "We have a Pope!" in English. The current Proto-Deacon is Cardinal Medina Estevez. The newly elected Pope then emerges from behind and gives the Apostolic Blessing to the public.
In 1975, the rules for electing a Pope changed drastically with Pope Paul VI, who excluded all cardinals eighty years or older from the papal elections and made provisions to prevent the bugging of the Sistine Chapel during the election process.
Pope John Paul II also made a new set of rules for the election process in 1996. Putting the rules in the Apostolic Constitution, titled the Universi Dominici Gregis, Pope John Paul II was thought to make radical changes to the institutionalized way of electing a Pope. His biggest change was when he stated that if a two-thirds vote is not reached after thirty ballots, then a majority vote can be enacted. A majority vote is considered the votes of half plus one. Smaller changes included new accommodations for the papal electors, allowing older cardinals who cannot participate in the elections to have a say in preparatory meetings, and the maximum number of Cardinals allowed in the Conclave at one time is one hundred twenty. Currently, there are 117 Cardinals eligible to vote in the Conclave.
Historically, the Pope is selected by the College of Cardinals, a group of men elected by the Pope during his lifetime. In 1059, Pope Nicholas II regulated the process of electing the Pope by making the Cardinals the papal electors, rather than the people of the Catholic Church itself.