Rules of transition rooted in Vatican tradition
VATICAN CITY -- Behind the walls of this Renaissance compound, the death of Pope John Paul II has triggered one of the most curious and arcane political transitions in the modern world.
The sovereign nation officially known as the State of Vatican City, with global influence among Christians and an annual budget running into the hundreds of millions of dollars, is essentially being run by a rotating group of cardinals whose names are drawn at random every three days.
The pope's power here is usually absolute. So in the absence of a leader -- and with the head of almost every major department automatically removed from office -- the rotating committee is just one facet of a system that has evolved over the years to ensure a smooth transition from one leader to the next.
''It's trying to keep the ship of state together, so it doesn't go down," said Stephen Pope, a professor of moral theology at Boston College.
From the moment the pope died on Saturday, a clock began ticking: Within four to six days, the pope must be buried. For nine days, the church observes a mourning period. And then, no less than 15 and no more than 20 days after death, the cardinals hold a meeting called a conclave to elect the next pope -- one of their own, under a centuries-long tradition.
No date has yet been set for the conclave. In the meantime, the Vatican will be run by daily gatherings of the College of Cardinals.
Yesterday marked the first such meeting: 65 cardinals arrived, took the oath of secrecy, and set the date for John Paul's funeral. The other cardinals were en route to Rome.
Only the 117 cardinals who are younger than 80 years old will take part in the election.
Although major decisions on Vatican policy are supposed to await the arrival of the next pope, administrative details are being handled by a small and changing group of cardinals called the Particular Congregation, whose names are essentially drawn from a hat.
With the power suddenly resting in the hands of the College of Cardinals -- some still arriving from other continents, and many of them unfamiliar figures in Rome -- the Vatican grapevine is suddenly buzzing with news of their movements, watching for the telltale red skullcaps as they pass in and out of the great archways around St. Peter's Basilica.
''Every time someone moves an elbow, people are speculating on that," said Pope.
The cardinals began their discussions this week by planning the pope's funeral. The meetings will end later this month when the cardinals enter the Sistine Chapel for the conclave.
The procedures to keep the Vatican running were laid out, in part, by John Paul in a 1996 document called the Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis.
By tradition, each pope modifies the rules somewhat. John Paul made some significant changes to the way popes are elected -- decreeing, for instance, that a new pope can be chosen only by ballot. (One method previously allowed was ''acclamation," in which all cardinals were simultaneously inspired to choose the same man.)
Another of John Paul's changes was the decree that all the cardinals should stay for the conclave in a new hotel he had built within Vatican City.
So, in the next few weeks, as cardinals arrive from around the world, they will be checking into the Domus Sanctae Marthae, a five-story hotel clad in travertine and brick, with a sweeping double-staircase entrance, marble floors, and a bust of John Paul inside the lobby. It includes a restaurant and even a bar, with signs in multiple languages.
Eventually the cardinals will be totally sequestered from the outside world, virtually sealed into the hotel and the Sistine Chapel until they agree on a pope and the telltale white smoke emerges. But for now, both openly and in back rooms, they are setting the stage for the next papacy.
''It's a very political process, but you hope that the cardinals are thinking about the good of the church as a whole," said Pope. ''They have to come to some kind of consensus on the needs of the church in this hour."
