The Pope and the Papacy: Questions and Answers

In the aftermath of Pope John Paul II's death, Beliefnet responds to readers' questions about the leader of the Catholic Church.

BY: Charlotte Allen

Continued from page 5

What is a conclave?

The word "conclave" comes from the Latin phrase "cum clave," meaning "with the key"--because the assembled cardinals are literally locked inside the Sistine Chapel until they manage to elect a new pope. The cardinals used to stay in spartan quarters around the chapel that had few amenities; the idea was to make them as uncomfortable as possible so they would come quickly to agreement on their choice. Nowadays, however, they reside at Casa Santa Marta, the newest Vatican City structure, which Pope John Paul II had built at a cost of $20 million in 1995.

Recent changes in procedure have also relaxed some of the symbolic pageantry of the conclave. Until 1978, when Pope Paul VI enlarged the College of Cardinals from its historic 80 in order to accommodate the international reach of the Catholic Church, the cardinals sat on rows of thrones facing each other. Each throne was covered by a canopy to symbolize the fact during the time when the See of Peter was vacant, all shared responsibility for governing the church (the powers of the Vatican Curia, which reports to the pope, are suspended during this period. The much larger number of cardinals these days--the maximum number of voting cardinals is now 120--does not leave room for such elaborate symbolism in the Sistine Chapel.

Utmost secrecy is still the rule, however, in order to prevent any outside interference with the election. The cardinals are permitted no outside communication: no newspapers, no television, no cell phones, no e-mails, no messages, and so forth, and only a handful of authorized people are permitted access to St. Martha's House and the Sistine Chapel. The penalty for violating the rule of secrecy is automatic excommunication.

The conclave formally begins after a nine-day mourning period following the pope's death. On the afternoon of the day the cardinals file into the chapel, they cast a ballot that reads in Latin, "Eligo in summum pontificem" ("I elect as the highest pontiff"), and thereafter, they vote twice a day, morning and evening." A two-thirds majority of votes is required to elect a pope, although if, after casting a certain number of ballots without arriving at a candidate, the cardinals may choose to elect a pope on a majority of half the cardinals plus one.



Why did different clergy wear different colored vestments during the funeral?

Red is the traditional liturgical color of the vestments worn at a papal funeral--in contrast to the white vestments worn at most funerals. I do not know why red was worn at John Paul II's funeral, but it is the color worn by the celebrant on Good Friday, the feasts of the martyrs, and Pentecost. Since nearly all the earliest popes were martyrs, the color red may symbolize the pope's connection with the earliest days of the church.



How was Cardinal Josef Ratzinger chosen to be the celebrant of the pope's funeral Mass?

Cardinal Ratzinger is dean of the College of Cardinals. The dean of the cardinals traditionally presides over a papal funeral Mass.



Did the pope choose to be buried in a simple wooden coffin, or is this traditionally the kind of coffin in which popes are buried?

The simple wooden design--cypress in this case--of the innermost of the three caskets in which the pope is buried is traditional. The coffin was adorned only with a cross and an "M" for Mary, the mother of Jesus. A small bag containing commemorative medals from his pontificate and a brief written summary of his life and pontificate were place in the coffin in a lead tube.



What accommodations were made for the people waiting for hours to see the pope's body and to attend the funeral mass? Were there public bathrooms?

With an estimated 1-2 million pilgrims flooding into Rome from all over the world to pay last respects to Pope John Paul II, authorities set up tent cities to help house them and portable toilets for the line that snaked through the city of people hoping to view the pope's body as it lay in state in St. Peter's Basilica from Monday, April 4, through the evening of Wednesday, April 6.

But the wait in line--24 hours on average--was still pretty taxing, from all reports. Many brought their own food in backpacks, and volunteers moved through the crowd distributing water, chocolate, and fruit. But the portable toilets were few and far in between, and pilgrims risked losing their place in line to use one. Still, from all reports, the pilgrims were generally patient and good-humored.



Did the pope have a love for animals, and did he have any pets?

Pope John Paul II did not have any pets. But during the early 1980s, in a series of interviews with the Polish journalist Anton Gronowicz, he talked about a dream about a homeless mother cat and her kittens that he had had in 1969, long before he became pope.

He was about to visit New York City, and that city, freezing cold and blanketed with winter snow, was the setting of his dream. He saw a brown mother cat, followed by six brown-and-white kittens trailing after her in a line, wandering around Manhattan looking for food and shelter. Everywhere the cats went, including a Catholic and an Anglican church, they were turned away, and when Karol Wojtyla himself tried to call after them so he could give them some crumbs from his pocket, he could not make himself heard. Finally, in a shabby neighborhood, an impoverished, nearly toothless old woman opened her door, embraced the cats, and welcomed them inside.

To John Paul the dream clearly had a profound meaning, although he did not share it with Gronowicz. And it surely indicated a love and concern for animals. In one of his public audiences he declared that animals, along with human beings, "possess a soul and...men must love and feel solidarity with our smaller brethren." He pointed out a passage in the Book of Genesis stating that God had breathed his spirit into all creation, animals as well as human beings.



Did Pope John Paul II know how to speak English?

Yes. English was one of eight modern languages he spoke fluently. The others were Polish, Russian, French, Italian, Portuguese, German, and Spanish, which he learned after he became pope. He also spoke Latin.



Is it true that the pope's body was placed in other caskets before it was placed in the crypt? I have heard that one is of wood and another is marked with a skull and cross bones. Why would skull and cross bones be used?

Pope John Paul II's body was interred in three caskets. The triple caskets reflect longstanding tradition for the burial of popes. The innermost casket--the one in which his body lay during his funeral--was made of cypress wood. That casket was placed inside a second casket made of zinc (traditionally, lead was used), presumably to seal the body from the ravages of insects. The third, outermost casket was made of walnut wood (the traditional wood was elm).

The second casket bears a skull and crossbones, along with John Paul's regnal dates. In Christian iconography the skull and crossbones symbolize death, but they are also a symbol of Adam, the first man, who, according to Christian legend was buried at Golgotha, directly underneath the place where Jesus Christ was crucified. That is because Christians believe that Christ is the new Adam, whose death atoned for Adam's sin and who represents a new template for humanity. Just as Christ conquered death in his resurrection, so will all Christians on the last day. Many crucifixes and paintings of the Crucifixion depict Adam's skull underneath the cross of Christ.

Aside from symbolizing victory over death, this skull more specifically represents the skull of Adam, said in Jewish and Christian legend to have been buried at Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified. The Blood of Christ, the New Adam, redeems man, as symbolized by the skull of the First Adam. I Corinthians 15:22, 45: "And as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive...The first man Adam was made into a living soul; the last Adam into a quickening spirit."

Aside from symbolizing victory over death, this skull more specifically represents the skull of Adam, said in Jewish and Christian legend to have been buried at Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified. The Blood of Christ, the New Adam, redeems man, as symbolized by the skull of the First Adam. I Corinthians 15:22, 45: "And as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive...The first man Adam was made into a living soul; the last Adam into a quickening spirit."



Why was the pope's face covered in his coffin before he was buried?

Pope John Paul II's face was covered with a white silk veil and a rosary put into his hand during a private ceremony inside St. Peter's Basilica just before his casket was closed and taken to the outdoor funeral Mass in St. Peter's Square. The silk veil over the face is a throwback to a tradition of the medieval Church in which a bishop's head was bound in a white cloth during his anointing.

Before the funeral, a private ceremony was held inside the Basilica. The pope's face was covered by a white veil by his best friend and private secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, and the master of the liturgical ceremonies, Archbishop Piero Marini. They also put in the coffin a small bag of medals that were issued to Pope John Paul II and a scroll about his life and then the coffin was closed.



Why was the pope's coffin placed on the floor during the mass? Did it relate to the fact that he kissed the ground when he visited so many countries and the fact that he used to pray laying on the floor?

The placing of Pope John Paul's coffin on a rug on St. Peter's Square for the open-air funeral Mass seems to have been a gesture of humility, a reminder that all Christians, even the pope are equal before God. John Paul's kissing the ground of the countries he visited reflected different symbolism: his desire to honor those countries. And when he prayed laying on the floor he was displaying his own humility, prostrating himself before God.



What happened to the shepherd's staff that Pope John Paul always had with him? It was by his side on the bier during the viewing of his body.

It does not appear that Pope John Paul II's crosier, his bishop's staff topped with a distinctive silver crucifix, was buried with him, although it was indeed tucked under his arm when he lay in state from April 4-6.



Is Pope John Paul II's apartment permanently locked, or locked until a new pope unlocks it?

After the death of a pope, his apartment in the Vatican is sealed with red ribbons. The seal is not permanent, however. The ribbons will be taken down and the apartment will be unsealed when the next pope is elected.



Why couldn't we view and witness Pope John Paul II's actual interment in his crypt? Who was present when his coffin was placed in the crypt?

The interment was a private affair attended only by senior clerics and close friends of Pope John Paul II.



At some point, can people visit the pope's tomb?

Yes. Although the crypt underneath St. Peter's Basilica where Pope John Paul II's body was buried on Friday, April 8, is currently closed to the public, the Holy See is expected to announce Monday, April 11, when it will be reopened. Keeping the crypt temporarily closed is seen as a way to empty Rome of the crowds of pilgrims who flocked to the city for John Paul II's funeral.

What are the three secrets given by the Virgin Mary to the three children of Fatima? Did Pope John Paul II believe them, and why was the third secret revealed only to him?

The three "Secrets of Fatima" are revelations given by the Virgin Mary to three children--Lucia dos Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto--in a series of apparitions in the town of Fatima, Portugal, in 1917. The secrets were:
1. A vision of hell that has been interpreted as referring to the two world wars.

2. A prediction that Russia would one day return to Christianity.

3. A vision of martyrdom and suffering that included a man "clothed in white" who would fall to the ground apparently dead after a burst of gunfire.

Both Marto children died before reaching adulthood, but Lucia grew up to become a Carmelite nun. She died on Feb. 13, 2005, at age 97. In 1944, fearing that she was about to die, Lucia sent all three secrets to Rome, where they were locked in the Vatican archives to be revealed only to the popes and a few top officials of the Holy See.

The Vatican revealed the first two secrets but kept the last and most mysterious one private, leading some to speculate that it had to do with the end of the world. Finally, Pope John Paul II partially released that third secret in May 2000. The Vatican interpreted the secret as referring to the failed assassination attempt on John Paul on May 13, 1981.

John Paul definitely believed in the secrets of Fatima, and he had a special devotion to Our Lady of Fatima because the date of the assassination attempt marked the anniversary of Mary's first apparition there. He believed that Mary herself had protected him from being mortally wounded. The partial revelation of the third secret occurred in conjunction with the beatification of the two Marto children.



Who were the popes before John Paul II from 1939 on?

The popes before John Paul II were as follows:
Pius XII (1939-1958)

John XXIII (1958-1963)

Paul VI (1963-1978)

John Paul I (1978)