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E 244: A Historic Pope is Named and a Precious Mother is Remembered
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Sunday is Mother’s Day, and as we prepare this show, the Cardinals were preparing to select the next Pope. We had no idea they would select a Pope this quickly.
Neither Mark or I are Catholic, but we thought it might be appropriate to look at both of these events in light of this weekend.
The Catholic Church celebrates the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as Mary's birthday, on September 8th. This date was chosen by the Church and is not based on any definitive biblical record of her birth.
Tradition holds that she was born to Joachim and Anne, a devout and infertile older couple who prayed for a child. An angel appeared to them, promising them a daughter who would be a pivotal figure in God's plan. I thought this was interesting. An angel appeared to her parents, announcing her birth…and an angel appeared to Mary, announcing the birth of her son Jesus.
Would you follow a dream or honor a visitation from an angel that told you…a 13-16 year old that you were going to give birth to the Savior of the world!?! Who could you share that with that wouldn’t lock you up?
The earliest New Testament account of Mary is in the epistle to the Galatians, which was written before the gospels. She is referred to as "a woman" and is not named: "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law" (Galatians 4:4)
According to the writer of Luke, Mary was a relative of Elizabeth, wife of the priest Zechariah of the priestly division of Abijah, who was herself part of the lineage of Aaron and so of the Tribe of Levi.
Jewish girls were considered marriageable at the age of twelve years and six months. The marriage was preceded by the betrothal, after which the bride legally belonged to the bridegroom, though she did not live with him till about a year later, when the marriage was celebrated.
What we do know today is that Mary, like all women, have the unique capacity and gift to bring forth life, and because of this we honor Mothers on Mother’s Day. Not because they are homemakers but because they are family makers.
A LITTLE CONCLAVE HISTORY
Voting process and the signal of smoke
The cardinals vote by secret ballot until a candidate has been selected. One ballot is held on the first day of the papal conclave and four on each subsequent day, two in the morning and two in the afternoon.
During each ballot, the cardinal electors write the name of the person they have selected on their individual ballot papers.
The ballot papers are then threaded with a needle, and, in this manner, all them are kept together for security.
Immediately after the count, the ballot papers and all related notes are burned in a stove in the chapel. The color of the smoke passing from a pipe through the roof enables the crowd assembled in St. Peter’s Square to know how the voting has gone: when no candidate has received the required majority, the smoke is black; if a new pope has been elected, the smoke is white.
Wet and dry straw were originally mixed with the ballots to produce the black or white smoke, but today chemicals are used to ensure the right color.
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