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Fifteen Days in Rome: How the Pope Was Picked
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Race
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| Contributor | Homegrown Democrat |
| Last Edited | Homegrown Democrat Apr 14, 2013 09:39pm |
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| Category | General |
| Author | STACY MEICHTRY and ALESSANDRA GALLONI |
| Media | Newspaper - Wall Street Journal |
| News Date | Sunday, April 14, 2013 11:30:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | On Feb. 27, a mild, dewy morning, Alitalia Flight 681 landed at Leonardo da Vinci airport in Rome after 13 hours in the air. A balding man with gray-white wisps of thin hair stepped out of coach class. He wore thick-rimmed brown glasses, black orthopedic shoes and a dark overcoat. He had a slight limp, and his back was stiff from the long flight. His belly was a bit swollen, due to many decades of cortisone treatments to help him breathe after he had lost part of a lung as a young man. No one could see the silver pectoral cross he wore under his coat, though it was the symbol of his authority.
Back home in Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was a prominent figure, the highest-ranking Catholic prelate in his country and to many a beloved figure known especially for his work in the city's teeming slums. Here he was one of 115 cardinals converging on Vatican City for important business: the election of a new leader for the Catholic Church.
Two weeks earlier, Pope Benedict XVI had suddenly announced his resignation from office, becoming the first pontiff in 600 years to renounce a job traditionally held until death. In church teaching, the position had been handed down for two millennia, starting when Jesus said to St. Peter, "On this rock I will build my church." |
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