Conclave

In my office at church, I have a slowly growing collection of volumes on church history. I have to confess that my knowledge of church history is pretty weak, despite having taken a number of courses. So much of our history involves the Catholic church. These past few weeks, as we’ve witnessed the events in Vatican City, I’ve been drawn to understand what’s happening there. I posted the other day (now deleted) on one of the rumored traditions that I found strange. There are many others that I find fascinating: broken rings, sealed doors, smoke from pipes. One day I need to brush up on my contemporary Catholic theology, as well as my knowledge of all those centuries before the Reformation. This should be a fascinating week to observe. An important one too, one that deserves our prayers, even for those of us that aren’t Catholic.