The Papal Conclave Begins

Today is the first day of the Papal Conclave, the process in which a new Pope will be selected. Cardinals from around the globe have come to The Vatican to choose who will lead the Catholic Church. This is an important decision to be made. It combines a lot of different factors. Personal choice and The Holy Spirit are significant factors in this choice.  Whoever is chosen, there are a lot of serious things that must be addressed which has been documented in the news. The person selected also must be able to communicate the Gospel in a way that strengthens the Church and brings people to Christ.

I am not a Catholic but the Pope does impact the greater Christian community. As a leader of the Roman Catholic Church he leads over a billion people. The Vatican is also a independent nation too. It’s a position that has impact globally.

My prayers are with them as they meet this week. Everyone will be on chimney watch to see when the new Pope will be chosen. Challenging and exciting times are ahead.

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Hope for A New Pope

I am not Catholic. But I have special friends who are. So this has me thinking about the future of The Roman Catholic church. Soon a conclave of Cardinals will gather to decide who the next Pope will be.

It got me thinking about looking at other world leaders and their average age is in comparison to The Pope. In Europe the average age is around 55. In Africa its in the 70’s. It appears to me that a new Pope needs to be somewhere in between that age range. Leading the church into the future will require someone who can be around awhile.

The leader of the Roman Catholic church needs to be spiritually grounded, theologically sound but they have to address many needs so thinking outside the box would be helpful. They need someone who can govern and get control of the problems that have plagued the Church for a long time. Whoever the Cardinals choose needs to be open to the Holy Spirit. This will be an interesting process to watch from a small distance.