Politics

Vatican Electoral Reform

by ricknight | June 26, 2007 at 10:23 am | 515 views | 8 comments | 5 recommendations

Pope changes rules for papal elections

Pope Benedict XVI has changed the rules for electing a new pope, returning to the traditional requirement that two-thirds of the cardinals in the conclave agree on a new pontiff, the Vatican said Tuesday.

Pope John Paul II had altered the voting process in 1996, allowing the pope to be chosen by an absolute majority if the cardinals were unable to agree after several days of balloting in which a two-thirds majority was needed.

In a document released Tuesday, the Pope said he was returning to the traditional voting norm, essentially reversing John Paul's revision of the centuries-old process.

The brief document, written in Latin, was issued June 11, 2007 and signed by the Pope.

The Pope, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, was elected pope on April 19, 2005 in one of the fastest conclaves in modern history. He reportedly was elected after four ballots, with 84 of the 115 votes.

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rahul

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 11:01 on June 26th, 2007

ricknight,This is a very enlightening explanation of how political procedures are modified to access pope position. No holiness involved but pure politics. Good stuff.

ricknight

at 11:05 on June 26th, 2007

one assumes that the divine would provide inspiration, but one can never be too sure.

moonwolf

at 12:33 on June 26th, 2007

Don't take this as an insult Rick, but I wish the Pope and Paris
Hilton would head out together! Which one has the most influence?
Hard to say! Which can do the most ongoing damage to humanity? We all
know the answer to that one!

Way to much attention is payed to
the bunch of self serving weirdos who dress funny in their own little private city,
run on the tithing of poor people who bought into the myths from all
over the globe.

ricknight

at 12:43 on June 26th, 2007

no offense taken :)

I see no problem in letting people indulge in their own "thing" as long as they don't want to drag the rest of us with them.... unfortunately that latter part seems to always fall by the wayside, regardless of which "true belief" we speak of.

Disclosure: I've often been described as "a weirdo who dresses funny" ;)