It's difficult to pin it down, but it wasn't like this eight years ago. I'm feeling rather unsettled, and not a little ruffled.
March 11 seems to be the most likely date for the Conclave to kick off. We have no way of knowing how long it will continue. It is even possible that we won't have a new Pope in time for Easter... imagine Easter Sunday without the Ubi et Orbi blessing...!
Let's hope and pray that the Cardinals get their collective act together...
Pray, people...
Glad to hear I'm not the only one feeling a bit sideways. My heart is still so very attached to precious Pope Benedict.In the wake of today's announcement of Cardinal O'Brien's resignation and admitting he was involved in personal grave misconduct, I am speechless. Perhaps the timing was terrible and should have come long ago, but I am grateful he will not be attending the Conclave. There is a Latin phrase that says this so much better but can't remember it: May the Blessed Virgin Mary come along with Her broom and sweep the place clean.
ReplyDeleteI'm feeling out of sorts too. Many Catholics are. There's something natural about death and bereavement despite the pain -- but an abdication just feels like a broken relationship. This is why the current interregnum is strange and disconcerting in a way that the 2005 Sede Vacante was not.
ReplyDeleteWe have been here before though. It must have been highly disconcerting to have lived through the 2 papal deaths in 1978 within a couple of months of each other. But look what we got in the end!