Author: Eric Deabill

ROME (CNS) – The rules and rituals for the election of a new pope say that immediately after his election, he goes into the sacristy of the Sistine Chapel and puts on “the garments that are appropriate to him.”

That’s all that is written.

For more than 100 year that meant that the Gammarelli family’s clerical tailor shop near the Pantheon in Rome had already sent to the Vatican three white wool cassocks — large, medium and small — with an attached capelet.

But Lorenzo Gammarelli, who now runs the shop with three cousins, told Agence France-Presse April 24 that they will not be sending the customary three cassocks to the Vatican ahead of the conclave scheduled to begin May 7.

“We were told by the Vatican that they have taken care of it,” he told AFP, explaining that he believes the vestments for the new pope would “be those of the previous conclaves, because each time we made three robes, and they used only one.”

Not receiving an order has not stopped Raniero Mancinelli, though.

From his tailor and religious goods shop in the Borgo Pio, near the Vatican, he told Catholic News Service May 2 that he has sewn vestments for Pope Francis, Pope Benedict XVI and St. John Paul II, and he was preparing the set of three – small, medium and large – just in case.

He is sizing for the next pope’s girth, not height, he said, because when the new pope appears on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica no one will notice how long the cassock is. “Later, the right size will be made.”

Mancinelli said he would deliver the lightweight wool cassocks, with appropriately calibrated sashes and white zucchettos, or skullcaps, to the Vatican liturgy office before the conclave begins.

He’s been a tailor for some 70 years, since he was 15 years old.

The tailor said he once tried to persuade Pope Francis to let him make a pair of white or cream-colored trousers, since the pope’s black slacks were often visible beneath his cassock, especially in bright sunlight. “But he told me he was fine with the way it was.”

Mancinelli is one of the few people working near the Vatican who is not thinking about which cardinal might be elected.

When he is sewing, he said, he does not have a specific person in mind and is not “dreaming” of who might wear his garment.

“I do my work with passion, I like it, and I concentrate on the work, not the person,” he said, adding that focus is especially important when handling papal garments because they are white and easy to stain.

Because the three garments were not an order, Mancinelli said they will be a gift, one he is offering “very gladly because serving the church is a great honor for me.”

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – President Donald Trump on May 1 signed an executive order creating a religious liberty commission during an interfaith event marking the National Day of Prayer in the White House Rose Garden.

Those named to the commission included Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York and Bishop Robert E. Barron of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota.

The White House said the commission, which will advise its Faith Office and the Domestic Policy Council, is tasked with producing “a comprehensive report on the foundations of religious liberty in America, strategies to increase awareness of and celebrate America’s peaceful religious pluralism, current threats to religious liberty, and strategies to preserve and enhance protections for future generations,” and that some of its areas of focus include school choice and conscience protections.

In comments at the event, Trump sought to cast his administration as one defending “people of all faiths, their religious freedoms, at home and abroad.”

“They say, ‘Separation between church and state.’ … I said, ‘All right, let’s forget about that for one time,'” Trump said adding, “Is that a good thing or bad thing? I’m not sure.”

Some of the Trump administration’s policy positions have been criticized by faith leaders, perhaps most notably on immigration. In January, Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said executive orders signed by Trump on issues including migration, the environment and the death penalty were “deeply troubling,” while praising another on gender policy.

Trump lamented the absence of Cardinal Dolan from the event. He is in Rome preparing for the conclave to elect a new pope later in May following the April 21 death of Pope Francis.

“He has really an excuse,” Trump said of the prelate. “Cardinal Dolan is in Rome, I just left Rome, it was a beautiful service,” Trump said in reference to his attendance at the late pontiff’s funeral April 26. “But he’s in Rome having to vote for the next pope.”

“I got extremely upset,” Trump added when he learned Cardinal Dolan would not be able to attend the event. “I said, ‘You can’t do that. This is much more important.’ Actually, he was actually torn, if you want to know the truth, which is pretty good, but he’s on the council too, and he’s a great guy and I’ve known him for a long time.”

In a post on X, Bishop Barron wrote, “I am grateful to President Trump for appointing me to serve on the Commission on Religious Liberty.”

“Freedom of religion in our country has been a central concern of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops for decades, and I see my task as bringing the perspective of Catholic social teaching to bear as the Commission endeavors to shape public policy in this matter,” he said. “In assuming this responsibility, I take as my model Fr. Theodore Hesburgh, the legendary president of the University of Notre Dame from 1952 to 1987. In the course of his career, Hesburgh served on sixteen separate presidential commissions over several decades in both Republican and Democrat administrations. I ask you to pray for me as I commence this important work.”

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick was named as the commission’s chair and Dr. Ben Carson as its vice chair. Ryan Anderson, president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, the Rev. Franklin Graham, Pastor Paula White and television personality Dr. Phil McGraw are among its other members, according to Patrick’s office.

In his remarks, Trump credited White with helping him win over skeptical Christians during his first campaign.

“My old friends, they couldn’t believe that I got that kind of a number with (Christians) you understand,” Trump quipped.

(OSV News) – For Pope Francis, the liturgy both defied easy definition, and yet could also be encapsulated in just a couple of sentences: “It is an act that founds the whole Christian experience and, therefore, prayer, too, is an event, it is a happening, it is presence, it is encounter. It is an encounter with Christ,” the pontiff told listeners during a 2021 general audience.

While the liturgical legacy of Pope Francis, who died April 21 at age 88, may have flown under the radar for many, several experts told OSV News his 12-year papacy made a definite impact.

“Pope Francis had a great love for liturgical prayer,” said Father Andrew Menke, executive director of the secretariat for the International Commission on English in the Liturgy, or ICEL. “To see him at Mass was to see someone genuinely praying from the heart, and entering into the mystery being celebrated.”

Msgr. Kevin Irwin, a research professor at The Catholic University of America in Washington and a leading liturgy commentator who wrote “Pope Francis and the Liturgy” (Paulist Press), noted Pope Francis’ liturgical tastes were also quite unadorned.

“His celebration of the liturgy was as simple as a papal liturgy can be,” said Msgr. Irwin, alluding to the inclusion of additional ceremonial elements and specific prayers when the pope celebrates Mass.

On Feb. 28, writing from his Gemelli hospital room in Rome during his final illness, Pope Francis sent a message to professors and students at Rome’s Pontifical Athenaeum of St. Anselm saying dioceses should encourage “a liturgical style that expresses the following of Jesus, avoiding unnecessary pageantry or prominence.”

Still, Father Menke believes liturgy didn’t necessarily define Pope Francis’ 12-year papacy in the way other issues did.

“I don’t think liturgical questions were a major priority of his pontificate,” he said. “We won’t think of his liturgical legacy in the same way we’ll remember his love for the poor and for people on the margins of the church and society.”

Father Menke nonetheless acknowledged the ongoing controversy surrounding Francis’ “Traditionis Custodes” (“Guardians of the Tradition”) — a 2021 apostolic letter dramatically curtailing the previous permissions of St. John Paull II and Pope Benedict XVI for celebration of Mass in Latin according to the 1962 Roman Missal, commonly called the traditional Latin Mass. Those restrictions, Father Menke said, have been a challenge to many Catholics.

A key component of Pope Francis’ liturgical bequest, Father Menke proposed, revolves around the inheritance of the Second Vatican Council and the subsequent liturgical reform that led to the Mass celebrated in local languages.

“In terms of his liturgical legacy, I think he’ll be remembered as a pope who wanted to affirm and strengthen the liturgical reform initiated at the Second Vatican Council,” said Father Menke. “We’re over 50 years distant from the beginning of those changes, and most of us simply take them for granted, or forget the principles behind the reform.”

That’s an outcome Pope Francis perhaps wanted to avoid when he penned “Desiderio Desideravi,” his 2022 apostolic letter “on the liturgical formation of the people of God,” noting that Catholics need to better understand — through “serious and dynamic liturgical formation” — the liturgical reform of Vatican II and its goal of “full, conscious, active, and fruitful celebration” of the Mass.

The apostolic letter “contains many ideas about what participation means, the importance of catechesis, and ongoing formation in the liturgy,” Msgr. Irwin said. “It is up to bishops’ conferences to take up this challenge. The bishops of France, Germany and Japan, among many others, have done so. Not yet here in the U.S.A.”

Father John Baldovin, a Jesuit like Pope Francis and a professor of historical and liturgical theology at Boston College, agreed with Father Menke’s emphasis of Vatican II in Pope Francis’ liturgical outlook.

“It’s important to realize that in some ways, Pope Francis is the first post-Vatican II pope; he’s the first pope to have been ordained a priest after Vatican II,” Father Baldovin said. “So that’s a big part of his legacy.”

Pope Francis additionally expanded the universal liturgical calendar of the Roman rite with both obligatory and optional memorials and other remembrances of a wide diversity of saints, as well as the Blessed Mother.

The feast day of St. Teresa of Kolkata (Sept. 5) was added, as were the feasts of Our Lady of Loreto (Dec. 10), St. Faustina Kowalska (Oct. 5) and St. Paul VI (May 29).

St. Martha already appeared on the calendar, but her sister and brother, St. Mary and St. Lazarus of Bethany, were added to a new July 29 celebration for all three. St. Mary Magdalene — also already on the calendar — had her commemoration (July 22) elevated to the rank of feast due to her role as “Apostolorum Apostola” (“Apostle of the Apostles”).

A new memorial celebration – Mary, Mother of the Church, commemorated on the Monday following Pentecost Sunday – was created in 2018.

And 21 Christian martyrs who were not Catholic — Coptic Orthodox migrant workers in Libya murdered by ISIS terrorists in 2015 — were inducted into the Roman Martyrology.

“In some respects,” Father Menke said, “this is simply a continuation of something that popes have done for centuries. That is, in adding celebrations to the liturgical calendar, popes emphasize to the church new models of sanctity who have a particular relevance in current times.”

“But,” he noted, referring to the Coptic martyrs, “the novelty of recognizing the sainthood of non-Catholics is certainly interesting, and something that could have important ecumenical implications. Time will tell whether this will become a wider trend with future popes.”

Pope Francis also oversaw granting greater translation authority to various national bishops’ conferences; liturgical adaptations for Catholics of Indigenous cultures; and a special Mass and prayers for use “In Time of Pandemic.” He advised shorter homilies for priests, and authorized and encouraged the formal institution of lay men and women to the ministry of acolyte, lector and catechist — while the roles are a common sight worldwide, institution to these lay ministries recognizes a specific way of living out their baptism in their communities.

He also bridged liturgical traditions, as with the Catholic Church’s personal ordinariates for the Anglican tradition – commonly called the “Anglican ordinariate” for short – authorizing the only use of the Roman Missal in traditional English.

Established by Pope Benedict XVI’s 2009 apostolic constitution “Anglicanorum Coetibus,” the personal ordinariates are effectively Catholic dioceses with Anglican traditions. Thanks to Pope Francis’ approval of their liturgical books over the course of his pontificate, they celebrate the Mass, Liturgy of the Hours, sacraments and other liturgies in traditional English, shaped by Anglican traditions that are now fully at home in the Catholic Church.

“Pope Francis always valued and promoted the personal ordinariates since 2013,” said Hans-Jürgen Feulner, a professor of liturgical studies and sacramental theology at the University of Vienna specializing in Anglican and Eastern liturgies. He said a major sign of his support was also his “appointing two bishops, Bishop Steven Lopes for the U.S.A. and Canada (2016) and Bishop David Waller (2024) for England, Wales and Scotland.”

The ordinariates’ “Divine Worship” liturgical books authorized by Pope Francis “represent a momentous development in the history of Catholic worship,” Feulner added, “as for the first time, the Catholic Church has officially recognized and approved a collection of liturgical texts developed outside the bounds of her visible communion.”

Nor were the pontiff’s efforts limited to the Western Church.

“Pope Francis had a tremendous impact upon the everyday life of Eastern Catholic churches,” Father Mark Morozowich, a Ukrainian Catholic mitred archpriest and director of the Bishop Basil Lostern Center for Ukrainian Church Studies at Catholic University, told OSV News.

“He strengthened the episcopal synods that govern Eastern Catholics, as well as striving to encourage the bishops to live their liturgical lives to its fullness,” Father Morozowich added.

Pope Francis supported the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church’s synodal decision — in the face of resistance by some priests and laity — to have a uniform mode of celebrating their form of the Mass, known as the Holy Qurbana, which involved the priest facing the people during the Liturgy of the Word, and then having the priest and people face the East together, part of the church’s ancient tradition, during the Liturgy of the Eucharist.

“He ardently strove to bring unity to Eastern Christianity, and help to encourage Eastern Catholics to serve in their role as people who are building bridges and helping to serve Christian unity,” Father Morozowich said.

Pope Francis was also fond of founding new “days” for the church to celebrate — among them, Sunday of the Word of God (Third Sunday in Ordinary Time on the Roman Calendar); World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation (Sept. 1); World Day for Grandparents and Elderly (fourth Sunday of July, near the July 26 liturgical memorial of Jesus’ grandparents Sts. Joachim and Anne); and the World Children’s Day (May).

Father Menke said that while the Vatican has in recent decades promoted a number of special observances like these, he feels they don’t often receive the attention they deserve.

“In choosing these particular themes for our attention and prayer, I think Pope Francis wanted to make the church more conscious of people and issues that are too often forgotten,” he said.

“I’d say that that’s consistent with the overall theme of his pontificate.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – As successors to the apostles, members of the College of Cardinals are called to follow the example of Christ who came to serve and not be served, the subdean of the college said.

Celebrating a memorial Mass for Pope Francis April 30, Argentine Cardinal Leonardo Sandri said that the cardinals, from those who serve in faraway dioceses to those in the Roman Curia, must be mindful that “to reign is to serve, like the Master and Lord, who is in our midst as one who serves.”

“One of the titles that tradition attributes to the bishop of Rome is indeed ‘Servus Servorum Dei’ (‘Servant of the Servants of God’),” Cardinal Sandri said. “Pope Francis lived this, choosing various places of suffering and loneliness to carry out the washing of the feet” on Holy Thursday, “but also kneeling and kissing the feet of the leaders of South Sudan, imploring the gift of peace.”

St. Paul VI, he added, also fulfilled this duty “with that same style considered scandalous by many, yet strongly evangelical,” when he kissed the feet of Eastern Orthodox Metropolitan Meliton of Chalcedon in 1975.

Cardinal Sandri celebrated the Mass on the fifth day of the “novendiali,” the nine days of mourning for Pope Francis marked with Masses in St. Peter’s Basilica.

In his homily, he noted that on Easter the church proclaimed, “Nuntio vobis gaudium magnum quod est Alleluia” or, in English, “I announce to you a great joy, which is Alleluia.”

The words are similar to what the crowds in St. Peter’s Square will hear after the cardinals elect a new pope: “Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum, habemus papamm,” which can be translated as “I announce to you a great joy: We have a pope!”

The similarities, the cardinal said, arise because “it is from the Paschal experience of Christ,” from his self-giving passion, death and resurrection, “that the ministry of the successor of Peter finds its meaning.”

The celebration of memorial Masses for the late pope, he added, are an opportunity to “strengthen us, precisely so that we renew our profession of faith in the resurrection of the body, in the forgiveness of sins – even those of a man who became pope – and in renewing the awareness that the unity of the story of every person is in God’s hands.”

Recalling the first reading from the Acts of Apostles, which recounted St. Peter announcing Christ’s resurrection on Pentecost, Cardinal Sandri said that much like the apostles proclaimed the Good News to all, Christians are called to “encounter and dialogue between generations,” as Pope Francis had often encouraged.

Cardinal Sandri, who at 81 is too old to enter the conclave May 7, told his fellow cardinals that the late pope “also leaves this word to the College of Cardinals, made up of young and more elderly,” so that they “may let themselves be taught by God, to perceive the dream he has for his church, and to try to realize it with youthful and renewed enthusiasm.”

“Our dear Holy Father loved to repeat” the words of Joel 3:1, he said, quoting, “Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.”

Pope Francis, he said, emphasized “the need for the elderly to share their dreams with the young, and likewise for the young, with their energy and vision, to be able with God’s help to make them reality.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The conclave to elect a new pope, scheduled to begin May 7, is governed by two texts: a rule book and a prayer book.

The rule book is the apostolic constitution, “Universi Dominici Gregis” (“Shepherd of the Lord’s Whole Flock”), which was issued by St. John Paul II in 1996 and amended by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007 and again in 2013.

The prayer book is the “Ordo Rituum Conclavis” (“Rites of the Conclave”), which was approved by St. John Paul II in 1998, but not released until after his death in 2005. If Pope Francis made any adjustments to the rites, they had not been announced as of April 30.

The “Ordo Rituum Conclavis,” which has prayers in Latin with an Italian translation, begins by noting that the election of a pope “is prepared for and takes place with liturgical actions and constant prayer.”

The rites of the conclave begin with the public Mass “for the election of the Roman pontiff,” which was to be celebrated at 10 a.m. May 7 in St. Peter’s Basilica. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, will be the main celebrant.

According to the “Ordo,” Cardinal Re will begin by praying: “O God, eternal pastor, you who govern your people with a father’s care, give your church a pontiff acceptable to you for his holiness of life and wholly consecrated to the service of your people.”

The Mass for the election of the pope is the only rite in the book to be celebrated publicly before the new pope is presented to the world.

After celebrating the morning Mass, the rule book calls for the cardinals to gather in the late afternoon in the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace and then process into the Sistine Chapel.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the highest-ranking member of the College of Cardinals who is under the age of 80 and eligible to enter the conclave, addresses the cardinals: “After having celebrated the divine mysteries, we now enter into conclave to elect the Roman pontiff. The whole church, united with us in prayer, invokes the grace of the Holy Spirit so that we elect a worthy pastor of the entire flock of Christ.”

In a procession behind the cross, the cardinals walk into the Sistine Chapel singing a litany of saints of the East and West and a series of invocations to Christ with the refrain, “Save us, Lord.”

When everyone is in his place in the chapel, the cardinals chant the ancient invocation of the Holy Spirit, “Veni, Creator Spiritus.”

The cardinals then take an oath to “faithfully and scrupulously observe” the rules for electing a pope. Each swears that if he is elected, he will “faithfully fulfill the Petrine ministry as pastor of the universal church and will strenuously affirm and defend the spiritual and temporal rights as well as the freedom of the Holy See.”

They also promise to keep everything having to do with the election secret.

When the last cardinal has placed his hand on the Book of the Gospels and sworn the oath, Archbishop Diego Ravelli, Vatican master of liturgical ceremonies, says: “Extra omnes,” ordering all those not directly involved in the conclave out of the Sistine Chapel.

During their general congregation meetings, the cardinals selected Italian Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, retired preacher of the papal household who at 90 is not eligible to vote in the conclave, to remain inside the chapel to offer a reflection on their responsibilities in electing a new pope.

After the meditation, he and Archbishop Ravelli will leave the chapel.

The cardinals decide together whether they will cast one ballot the first evening; traditionally they have done so, burning the ballots with a chemical additive that produces black smoke pouring from the Sistine Chapel chimney.

After that, two ballots can be cast each morning and two each afternoon until a candidate garners two-thirds of the votes. On the fourth day, if no one has been elected, the cardinals pause for extended prayer.

Each day of the conclave, the cardinals recite morning and evening prayer together and concelebrate Mass. They have time for prayer before each ballot is cast and before the ballots are counted.

As each cardinal places his vote in an urn on a table in front of Michelangelo’s fresco of the Last Judgment, he promises that his vote was cast for the candidate he believes deserves to be elected.

If the first ballot of the morning or of the afternoon session does not result in an election, a second vote begins immediately, and the two ballots are burned together.

When someone reaches the two-thirds threshold – 89 votes if, as reported, 133 cardinals enter the conclave – he will be asked by Cardinal Parolin, “Do you accept your canonical election as supreme pontiff?”

Neither the “Ordo” nor the rule book provides a formula for the assent and neither recognizes the possibility that the person elected will refuse. The second question asked is: “With what name do you wish to be called?”

If the elected man already is a bishop, once he accepts the office, he “immediately is the bishop of the church of Rome, the true pope and head of the college of bishops; he acquires full and supreme power over the universal church.”

The ballots, along with the cardinals’ notes or running tallies of the votes, are burned with a chemical additive to produce white smoke and announce to the world that there has been a successful election.

The cardinals approach the new pope and pay homage to him, then sing the “Te Deum” hymn of thanks to God.

Then the senior cardinal deacon, French Cardinal Dominique Mamberti, prefect of the Apostolic Signature, the Holy See’s highest court, goes to the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica and declares to the public, “Habemus papam” (“We have a pope”).

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The College of Cardinals confirmed that 135 members are eligible to participate in the conclave, the Vatican announced, and they asked the faithful to accompany them in prayer as they prepare to elect the next pope.

After their seventh general congregation meeting April 30, the College of Cardinals released a statement confirming that the conclave that begins May 7 will exceed the limit of 120 cardinal electors established by St. Paul VI and upheld by later popes.

Pope Francis, “in the exercise of his supreme power, dispensed of this legislative provision,” the statement said. Therefore, all 135 cardinals who are under the age of 80 and have not renounced the right to enter the conclave will have full voting rights.

Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office, told reporters that two of the 135 cardinal electors will not be participating in the conclave due to health reasons. While he declined to name the two, the major Spanish newspaper, ABC, reported that one of them is 79-year-old Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, retired archbishop of Valencia, who said he is too ill to participate.

After their general congregation meeting, the College of Cardinals issued a separate statement asking the faithful to pray for them as they prepare for the conclave.

The College of Cardinals “wishes to invite the People of God to live this ecclesial moment as an event of grace and spiritual discernment, listening to the will of God,” it said. “For this reason, the cardinals, conscious of the responsibility to which they are called, feel the need to be supported by the prayers of all the faithful.”

“Faced with the enormity of the task ahead and the urgency of the present time, it is first of all necessary to make ourselves humble instruments of the infinite wisdom and providence of our heavenly Father, in docility to the action of the Holy Spirit,” it continued. “Indeed, he is the protagonist of the life of the People of God, the One to whom we must listen, accepting what he is saying to the church.”

Bruni said that more than 180 cardinals, of whom 124 are electors, participated in the general congregation meeting April 30.

Among other matters, the cardinals examined the financial situation of the Holy See. Speaking on that subject were Cardinals Reinhard Marx, coordinator of the Vatican Council for the Economy; Kevin J. Farrell, president of the Vatican Investment Committee; Christoph Schonborn, president of the supervisory commission of cardinals for the Vatican bank; Fernando Vérgez Alzaga, former president of the office governing Vatican City State; and Konrad Krajewski, papal almoner.

Bruni said 14 cardinals also took an opportunity to speak about the needs of the church and the world.

The topics included the “wound” of polarization in the church and division in society, the ecclesiology of the people of God, synodality, vocations to religious life and evangelization as the “correspondence between what is lived and what is proclaimed,” Bruni said.

The cardinals also issued a statement thanking Cardinal Angelo Becciu for stating that he would not participate in the conclave. He had forfeited the rights associated with being a cardinal after Pope Francis asked him to resign in 2020, but initially said he would try to join the cardinals in electing Pope Francis’ successor.

The cardinal, “having the good of the church at heart, and to contribute to the communion and serenity of the conclave, has communicated his decision not to participate in it,” the statement said. “In this regard, the congregation of cardinals expresses appreciation for the gesture he made and hopes that the competent organs of justice will be able to definitively ascertain the facts.”

Cardinal Becciu, 76, was convicted in late 2023 by a Vatican court on charges of embezzlement related to when he was substitute for the Vatican Secretariat of State. He is appealing his conviction.

(OSV News) – Ahead of the May 7 start of the papal conclave, the Pontifical Missions Societies USA is inviting faithful to pray – not only for the assembly as a whole, but for a specific cardinal elector who will help to choose the next successor of St. Peter, following Pope Francis’ death April 21 at the age of 88.

“As Catholics, we believe in the transformative power of prayer, and now is the moment to put that faith into action,” said Msgr. Roger Landry, the societies’ national director, in an April 28 statement announcing the launch of the campaign, which will continue until the election of the new pope.

Participants can enroll by visiting the societies’ website at pontificalmissions.org and entering their email address to learn which cardinal they’ve been assigned to pray for.

On the submission confirmation page, an image of a given cardinal appears, with his name, birthday and birthplace displayed, along with the short prayer: “Heavenly Father, guide the cardinals in wisdom and love as they may lead your Church. May your will be their compass. Amen.”

On April 28, the Vatican announced the start date of the conclave, which will see 135 cardinal electors – those eligible to vote for the next pontiff – begin their deliberations May 7 with a “Mass for the Election of the Roman Pontiff” in St. Peter’s Basilica. That evening, the group will process into the Sistine Chapel, where they will begin voting under strict seclusion.

The progress of the conclave will be publicly indicated by the burning of the ballots, with white smoke indicating a new pope has been selected, and black smoke signaling the need for another vote.

In his statement, Msgr. Landry described the pope as the Catholic Church’s “chief missionary, the one who leads us to the peripheries of the world to share the Gospel.”

“We now pray together for someone to lead the Church’s worldwide fishing expedition that began when Jesus told St. Peter he was making him a fisher of men,” said Msgr. Landry.

The Pontifical Missions Societies’ worldwide network, which operates at the service of the pope, consists of four mission societies designated as pontifical by Pope Pius XI in 1922.

The Society of the Propagation of the Faith supports the evangelization efforts of the local church; the Missionary Childhood Association educates children about their role in the church’s missionary outreach; the Society of St. Peter the Apostle trains the next generation of missionary clergy and consecrated religious; and the Missionary Union focuses on forming clergy, religious and pastoral leaders more deeply in their role as evangelizers.

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VATICAN CITY (CNS) – True discipleship is not measured by the creeds Christians recite or the theology they know, but by how deeply they love, a cardinal said at a memorial Mass for Pope Francis.

“It is not the profession of faith, the theological knowledge or the sacramental practice that guarantees participation in the joy of God,” said Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica, “but the qualitative and quantitative involvement in the human experience of the least of our brothers and sisters.”

Celebrating Mass in the basilica April 29 for the fourth day of the “novendiali” – nine days of mourning for Pope Francis marked with Masses – the cardinal said that Christ’s final judgment will not be based on knowledge or status, but on acts of mercy toward the hungry, the stranger, the sick and the imprisoned.

His message came as cardinals gathered in Rome said they are beginning to reflect on what qualities the next pope must embody. The cardinals are meeting daily in general congregation meetings ahead of the conclave, which is scheduled to begin May 7.

Concelebrating the Mass with Cardinal Gambetti were the cardinals who lead the three other papal basilicas in Rome: Cardinal Baldassare Reina, papal vicar of Rome and archpriest of the Basilica of St. John Lateran; Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, coadjutor archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major; and U.S. Cardinal James M. Harvey, archpriest of St. Paul Outside the Walls.

Patrick Kelly, supreme knight of the Knights of Columbus, was seated in a front row.

Reflecting on the Gospel’s imagery of sheep and goats, Cardinal Gambetti explained that those who are welcomed into God’s kingdom are not those who sought independence and self-interest, but those who lived with gentleness, solidarity and compassion.

“At the personal and institutional level, we must ask ourselves: which of these two styles do we embody?” he said.

Pope Francis’ humanity, tenderness and commitment to peace touched believers and nonbelievers alike, the cardinal said. Quoting Edith Bruck, a Holocaust survivor, poet and friend of Pope Francis, Cardinal Gambetti said the late pope was “a man who loved, who wept, who invoked peace, who embraced and spread warmth wherever he went.”

True evangelization, the cardinal said, does not come through grand proclamations but through humble acts of solidarity that reveal God’s love in tangible ways.

“Who touches humanity touches God; who honors humanity honors God; who scorns humanity scorns God,” he said.

Recalling Pope Francis’ conviction that “all, all, all, are called to live in the church,” Cardinal Gambetti reflected the on the episode from the Acts of the Apostles in which St. Peter meets Cornelius.

In that account, St. Peter enters the gentile’s home despite Jewish custom forbidding him to do so, and, after preaching about Jesus, the Holy Spirit descends upon them both, and the apostle baptizes Cornelius.

The Gospel account is “an episode that, in an age that is globalized, secularized and thirsting for truth and love such as ours” reveals the first pope’s attitude toward evangelization, the cardinal said: “Openness to the human person without reservation, gratuitous concern for others, sharing and deepening experiences to help every man and woman give credit to life, to the grace of creation.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – One by one, placing a right hand on the Book of Gospels, staff driving, cooking, cleaning and caring for the cardinals who will elect a new pope will swear an oath of perpetual secrecy about the election of the 266th successor of St. Peter.

While members of the College of Cardinals famously take an oath, so do Vatican staff members, including the elevator operator, doctors and attendants, who will be assisting with the everyday tasks and needs of the cardinals during the conclave which begins May 7.

In an April 29 statement, the Vatican said “the oath of the officials and attendants of the conclave will take place” May 5 in the Pauline Chapel, not far from the Sistine Chapel where the cardinals will vote for the next pope.

The Vatican also announced that the Mass for the Election of the Roman Pontiff will begin at 10 a.m. in St. Peter’s Basilica May 7 and that the cardinals will solemnly process into the Sistine Chapel from the Pauline Chapel at 4:30 p.m. the same day.

Among those directly assisting the College of Cardinals and are required to swear the oath are: Archbishop Ilson Montanari, secretary of the College of Cardinals; Archbishop Diego Ravelli, master of the liturgical ceremonies; and a priest chosen by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, who is presiding over the conclave, “to assist him in his office.”

Also taking the oath are sacristans, priests who will be available to hear the cardinals’ confessions, doctors, nurses, elevator operators, technical services staff, the colonel and major of the Pontifical Swiss Guard, as well as the director of security services for Vatican City State and some of his assistants.

The rules regarding the oath were outlined in the apostolic constitution, “Universi Dominici Gregis” (“Shepherd of the Lord’s Whole Flock”), which was issued by St. John Paul II in 1996 and amended by Pope Benedict XVI in 2007 and again in 2013.

According to the apostolic constitution, the cardinal chamberlain, currently Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, along with three cardinal assistants, will approve the staff members chosen to have contact with the cardinals during the conclave and, therefore, required to take the oath.

At the fifth general congregation meeting April 28, it was announced that Cardinals Luis Antonio Tagle, Dominique Mamberti, and Reinhard Marx were chosen to assist Cardinal Farrell in preparing for the conclave.

Once approved, the staff members “who in any way or at any time should come to learn anything from any source, directly or indirectly, regarding the election process, and in particular regarding the voting which took place in the election itself, are obliged to maintain strict secrecy with all persons extraneous to the College of Cardinal electors,” the document states.

Placing their hands on the Gospels, staff members swear to “observe absolute and perpetual secrecy with all who are not part of the College of Cardinal electors concerning all matters directly or indirectly related to the ballots cast and their scrutiny for the election of the Supreme Pontiff.”

Staff will also swear not to use audio or video equipment to record anything taking place during the period of the election or that is related to the process of the election itself.

“I declare that I take this oath fully aware that an infraction thereof will incur the penalty of automatic (‘latae sententiae’) excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See,” the document states.

(OSV News) – The conclave is set to begin May 7, but the public only knows its end by iconic white smoke billowing out of the Sistine Chapel’s chimney.

Black smoke means the cardinals have not yet reached the two-thirds majority vote necessary to elect a new pope. The cardinals burn the ballots in a stove, adding chemicals to the fire to color the smoke.

The best place to watch for the smoke is in St. Peter’s Square itself, but the Vatican will also livestream the smoke on its YouTube channel, Vatican Media Live.

For smoke watchers, the best time to view the smoke on May 7, the conclave’s first day, is just after 7 p.m. (1 p.m. EDT). On the following days, look for it around 10:30 a.m. (4:30 a.m. EDT) and noon, and again at 5:30 p.m. and just after 7 p.m., according to Catholic News Service.

However, the times may vary depending on the cardinals’ prayers and discussions.

“On the second day of the conclave and moving forward, there can be four rounds of voting each day, but only two smoke signals,” according to Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Services’ editor-in-chief. “That is because if the first ballot of the morning or of the afternoon session does not result in an election, a second vote begins immediately, and the two ballots are burned together.”