Jeanie Hannaman

By Anthony Esolen, The Catholic Thing - Why did Jesus choose only men as his apostles? Three replies are typically given.  The first two are absurd, and the third is insufficient. As the Cardinals vote for the next successor to St. Peter, it’s a good time to look more deeply into this question... First, it is said he was bowing to the culture around him.  The Jews would not have looked kindly on a man traveling with women among his intimate entourage.  As if Jesus was ever afraid of rejection!  And what could they have done to him that they were not already going to do?  Crucify him twice?

By Sheryl Collmer, Crisis Magazine - It is so much easier to destroy than to build. It takes barely a second and hardly any effort to tear something down; it requires no imagination, dedication, or moral perseverance... Pope Francis destroyed. I don’t speak to his intention, only his actions... The destruction is not irrevocable, but there are a lot of gaping bomb craters and tumbled walls in the structure that took thousands of years to build. And it will require people with intelligence, virtue, and especially unshakable faith to rebuild what we have just witnessed being so cruelly and systematically destroyed. ...

By Raymond J. de Souza, First Things - Does a conclave elect the man the Holy Spirit desires to lead the Church? History teaches that sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger’s view was that too many poor popes have been elected to say that the man who emerges is always God’s choice. At the same time, the Holy Spirit, in Ratzinger’s memorable phrase, offers the “assurance . . . that the thing cannot be totally ruined.”... The Holy Spirit does not get a vote in the conclave. The cardinals elect the pope, and no one else. The more apt question then is whether this particular conclave is likely to be an instrument of the Holy Spirit, knowing of course that even Balaam’s ass can speak should God so will it (Num. 22:21–35).

The Catholic Herald - Today 133 cardinals will enter the Sistine Chapel to begin the papal conclave, the secretive voting process that requires a two-thirds majority to elect the new leader of the global Roman Catholic Church... The election follows the death of Pope Francis on 21 April at the age of 88 year old... As the conclave begins, the following ballot burning times are given as rough estimates.