Conclave: The Politics, Personalities, and Process of the Next Papal Election
by John L. Allen, Jr.
Overview
FROM THE PUBLISHER
"The next time a conclave unfolds in Rome, some 6,000 journalists are expected to descend on the Eternal City to cover the death of John Paul II and report on the election of his successor. Conclave is a look at the election process and at what this headline-making occasion will mean to the world. John L. Allen, Jr., takes readers behind the scenes to reveal the issues, parties, and people most likely to determine the outcome. Setting the election within a broader context, he explains why it matters who becomes pope, discusses his role in the modern world, and examines the issues that will form the agenda of the next papacy."
My thoughts
I can't help it! I'm intrigued by the whole process of the conclave. From the first book I read about it to the present time, I've been hooked on this mysterious and globally impacting event! I don't want to say I'm anxious for the next conclave to begin because it's a bit frightening when you think of it, but I suspect I'll be glued to my chair in front of the TV and newspapers when it happens!
I've read several books on Popes and conclaves to satisfy my non-Catholic curiosity but this is the best of them all! For one thing, the opening pages tell of a conclave in Kansas! Huh? What? I live in Kansas so I got quite a chuckle out of the story!
This book describes the entire process of how a new pope is elected, and it does so in an easy-to-read manner. There were a few terms I had to look up in the dictionary but for the most part I could read the book effortlessly. The author writes with respect to the church but he's not afraid to discuss volatile issues, either. I liked the way he talks about different church factions without doing so in a gossipy sense or a demeaning manner. This was a pleasant reading experience that I highly recommend to anyone interested in what will be happening at the next conclave. (As I write, Pope John Paul II's health is in a state of decline. Today's headlines state that he's got a feeding tube inserted in his throat.)
Favorite Passage
Here is an excellent piece I've come across as I'm reading the book this evening. This could get a major discussion brewing!
Finally, on Sept. 5, the Vatican issued Dominus Iesus, a much-anticipated document from Ratzinger's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It struck the religious world like an asteroid. The document denied that other world religions can offer salvation independent of Christianity and insisted that making converts to Catholicism is an "urgent duty". While allowing that followers of other religions can be saved (though only in a mysterious fashion and only through the grace of Christ), the document insists they are nevertheless in a "gravely deficient situation" in comparison to Christians, who alone "have the fullness of the means of salvation."
Many Catholic experts on interreligious dialogue were shocked. "The Vatican doesn't have any sense of how dangerous such a document can be," said Father John Prior, who has twenty-seven years' experience as a missionary in Indonesia..."exclusivist, 'absolute truth' language becomes not just offensive but dangerous."
But if Catholics come to believe that other faiths have their own divine revelation and systems that lead to salvation, what's the motive to convert to Catholicism?...Cardinals in the next conclave will be evaluating candidates at least in part on the basis of where they stand on Catholicism's relations with other religions of the world.
