Papal Conclave Decides

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Created on Wednesday, 13 March 2013 16:25

Written by Catherine Vitale

VATICAN CITY - Catholic cardinals from around the world gathered to choose the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Buenos Aires, Argentina has been chosen as the church's newest leader.

Following the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, the first pope to resign in 600 years, the cardinals must vote to see who his successor will be. Like political voting here in the United States, there is an age requirement for voting.

"Well they have to be 80," explains Fr. Luke of the Corpus Christi Parish.

Once voting requirements have been sorted out, it takes a 2/3 majority vote to elect a pope. One "favorite" are Italian Cardinal Angelo Scola, who has 49 fellow cardinals from Italy. Another "favorite" is Cardinal Odeylow Sheerer of San Paulo, Brazil. (the largest Archdiocese in the world) Sheerer has strong ties to Europe, which might appeal to the European cardinals, who make up 60 of the 115 in the Papal Conclave.

Closer to home, two American cardinals, Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston and Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York could potentially be the next leader of the Catholic Church. Cardinal Dolan is known for his charisma.

"I can't wait to go home... I ran out of socks," Dolan laughed at the end of the first day.

No matter the outcome, it will be the first time in history that there will be two living popes. Mary Hughes at the Good Shepherd Catholic School in St. Johnsbury sees this as a teaching moment.

"My students, because they're 7th and 8th graders, don't remember this happening before," Huges said, "I mean they know the story of Pope John Paul II, but they don't remember it. So I'm telling them, you're living in history. This is a historical time."

At the end of the first day, Hughes' students along with the rest of the world watched as black smoke billowed from the chapel stove, signifying that no candidate has received a 2/3rds vote. The conclave regrouped on Day 2, March 14th, 2013. Around 2:30 PM EST white smoke billowed out to cheering crowds. Around 3:15 PM Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires, Argentina was named the 266th pope. At 3:30 PM Vatican Radio announced Cardinal Bergoglio had chosen the name of Pope Francis I.