[The Wide Shot] The Holy Spirit in the conclave and its politics

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“Just leave it to the Holy Spirit!”

Since Rappler started reporting on the upcoming conclave, we have received dozens of comments from irate readers, asking us to stop publishing stories about the papal election and “ask for prayers instead.” The conclave is not a political process, they said, and we should leave the 133 cardinal electors to pray, reflect, and cast their ballots in silence. 

I am a Catholic, and like them, I believe that the conclave is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is not a contradiction, however, to say that the papal election also involves politics.

We need to disabuse ourselves of our misconceptions of the Holy Spirit — many of us tend to think only in terms of magic or mysticism — and politics, which is often viewed as evil.

First, when we say the conclave is the work of the Holy Spirit, we do not mean the Holy Spirit “possesses” the cardinal electors, puts them in a trance, or fills them with sentimental feelings that prompt them to write on the ballot the name of God’s chosen one.

The Holy Spirit does not come only as tongues of fire while the Litany of the Saints is chanted.

The Holy Spirit is not confined to the Sistine Chapel. 

The Spirit of God is actively at work in the world, inside and outside the Sistine Chapel, before or after the conclave that begins on May 7. The work of the Spirit includes everything, even things that seem worldly. “The wind blows where it wills,” as written in the Gospel of John (3:8). Who are we to limit the Spirit?

Hmmm, but politics?

When we think of politics, we often think only of politicians such as Rodrigo Duterte or Donald Trump. But politics is everywhere; it governs our daily lives. Politics involves relations of power, and we see politics in offices, neighborhoods, and even families. (Have you ever wondered why this uncle or aunt of yours is the “boss” of the family? That is politics.)

What about the secret gathering of 133 men to elect the spiritual leader of 1.4 billion people?

The conclave, the election of the Vicar of Christ on earth, is the meeting of the power of God and the power of men.

When Catholics say the conclave involves the power of God, we call to mind the words of Jesus to Peter, the first pope, in Matthew 16:18: “And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” Jesus has promised, and he has always delivered for the past 2,000 years. 

But we need to understand that the 133 men who will elect the next pope are not angels or disembodied souls. 

They are men with different characters, intelligence levels, needs (physical, intellectual, emotional, or spiritual), and interests (personal or communal).

They come from 71 countries around the world, 15 of which will be represented by native cardinal electors for the first time. For many of them, it is their first time meeting each other. They will, inevitably, have lunch or dinner together, discuss common interests, and agree on certain things as needed. 

They, too, will have their favorites — and do the best to make them win. What is this but politics?

Much of these discussions — and consensus building — take place during and in between the pre-conclave meetings called the general congregations. 

In his book Conclave: The Politics, Personalities, and Process of the Next Papal Election, veteran Vatican analyst John Allen Jr. quoted a July 2001 interview with Cardinal Franz König of Vienna, who said “that virtually all of the real work of the conclave is done in behind-the-scenes meetings of three and four cardinals, perhaps over glasses of wine and cigars, as opposed to any of the formal events.”

The exchange of views between cardinals sometimes “takes the form of one cardinal sounding out a potential candidate on a particularly sensitive issue, then reporting to others,” Allen said.

Even the press, according to him, “is more than a passive medium through which players in the conclave process speak to one another; it also exerts an influence of its own through the kinds of coverage it chooses to offer, the content of the analysis it provides, even the choice of which cardinals it profiles as papabili.”

“Papal elections, like any other kind, are shaped by the interplay of parties — groups of voters organized around a particular set of ideas or interests. However much the cardinals themselves may want to deny it, there are political parties within the College of Cardinals,” Allen said.

“Of course, they do not issue platform statements, or print buttons or bumper stickers, nor do they have televised conventions. There is no membership roster, and no party apparatus. We are better advised to think of these parties as currents of thought, or bodies of opinion, than to look upon them as ecclesiastical equivalents of Democrats or Republicans, or Tories or Labour,” he added.

How then should we view the work of the Holy Spirit in such a political context?

On April 15, 1997, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — who would become Pope Benedict XVI eight years later — was asked on Bavarian television about the Holy Spirit’s role in a papal election. Allen cited this anecdote in his book Conclave.

“Your Eminence, you are very familiar with church history and know well what has happened in papal elections,” the interviewer said. “Do you really believe that the Holy Spirit plays a role in the election of the pope?” 

Ratzinger responded, “I would not say so in the sense that the Holy Spirit picks out the pope, because there are too many contrary instances of popes the Holy Spirit would obviously not have picked.”

He was, of course, referring to the many bad popes especially in the Middle Ages — they who stole money, had many wives, and bribed their way into the papacy. 

“I would say that the Spirit does not exactly take control of the affair, but rather like a good educator, as it were, leaves us much space, much freedom, without entirely abandoning us. Thus the Spirit’s role should be understood in a much more elastic sense, not that he dictates the candidate for whom one must vote,” Ratzinger said.

The future Benedict XVI added, “Probably the only assurance he offers is that the thing cannot be totally ruined.” 

Good or bad, we trust that God is there. – Rappler.com