Pope's Will

What will the Pope's will say? I don't think the Pope has any material wealth to speak of. Does the will of the Pope have any ecclesiastical authority? Is he still considered the Pope until the next is selected?

Originally posted by Coletti
What will the Pope's will say? I don't think the Pope has any material wealth to speak of. Does the will of the Pope have any ecclesiastical authority? Is he still considered the Pope until the next is selected?

Dont know. Dont know. No. No.

Originally posted by lucifershammer
Dont know. Dont know. No. No.

Boy! If that's in his will, it will be a shocker! 😲

No one wonders?

What if he says - I take it all back - pass out the condoms.

I'd be terribly impressed and recant all the remarks I have made about him.

Originally posted by Coletti
What will the Pope's will say? I don't think the Pope has any material wealth to speak of. Does the will of the Pope have any ecclesiastical authority? Is he still considered the Pope until the next is selected?

As far as I know the pope does not have a Will as we'd recognise it, especially guessing that he has no worldly goods that are his own and not the property of the church. He has however written a document to be released on his death that details how he would like his work to be continued and who he thinks should be his successor. I don't know what authority this letter holds but seeing as 70+% of current Cardinals were made so by the late JP II then it's highly likely that it'll be listened to.

If the author if "Angels & Demons" (also known as "antichrist" in many Christian circles) is to be beleaved the ex Popes chamberlin (is this the right term? his young priest helper guy) is not known as Pope but has full power over Vatican city and all it's devotees (therefore the whole Catholic church??) until conclave is finished and a new Pope selected.

Originally posted by belgianfreak
As far as I know the pope does not have a Will as we'd recognise it, especially guessing that he has no worldly goods that are his own and not the property of the church. He has however written a document to be released on his death that details how he would like his work to be continued and who he thinks should be his successor. I don't know what aut ...[text shortened]... ees (therefore the whole Catholic church??) until conclave is finished and a new Pope selected.

Where on earth do you get all this?

1. Could you provide a reference that indicates that the Pope's will names a successor?

2. The Pope's camerlengo (chamberlain) is not a young man, but a full Cardinal. Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo is 78 years old.

3. The camerlengo's main responsibilities are: to certify the death of the Pope; to seal off the papal apartments; to preside at prayer services for the deceased Pope and supervise his burial; to summon the world's cardinals to Rome; and-- together with 3 other prelates elected by the congregation of cardinals at their first meeting-- to handle the day-to-day management of Vatican affairs.

4. The camerlengo does not have "full power" over Vatican city, its devotees or the whole Catholic Church. His authority is purely administrative. He has no spiritual authority.

5. Don't believe everything Dan Brown writes.

Originally posted by lucifershammer
Where on earth do you get all this?

1. Could you provide a reference that indicates that the Pope's will names a successor?

2. The Pope's camerlengo (chamberlain) is not a young man, but a full Cardinal. Cardinal Eduar ...[text shortened]... itual authority.

5. Don't believe everything Dan Brown writes.

I stand wholeheatedly corrected. My knowledge of the Catholic Church is only just ahead of my knowledge of Islam - to be honest I hoped that my half arsed attempts at an answer would provolk some who knew what they were talking about to correct my ignorance and Dan Browns half truths. Thank you for doing so.

I'm surprised that the camerlengo is a cardinal - I thought he had to be inelegable for election as the next pope, as Cardinal Somalo is under 80. This belief is probably just more Brown messing things around.

As for the Popes will naming a sucessor, I didn't mean to directly imply that he had done so. My reference came from an article in The Independant (a British paper that's usually pretty accurate, as far as these things ever are) that he had written instructions to be read on his death of how he thought the Church should continue and that this included a description of the type of man he thought should be the next Pope to do this job. But with a finite number of Cardinals to chose from any kind of description might also be seen to create a short list of those who fit it.

Originally posted by belgianfreak
I stand wholeheatedly corrected. My knowledge of the Catholic Church is only just ahead of my knowledge of Islam - to be honest I hoped that my half arsed attempts at an answer would provolk some who knew what they were talking about to correct my ignorance and Dan Browns half truths. Thank you for doing so.

I'm surprised that the camerlengo is a c ...[text shortened]... hose from any kind of description might also be seen to create a short list of those who fit it.

The camerlengo has been a cardinal since the 17th century or so. The camerlengo is eligible for election as the next Pope (all baptised Catholic men are, incidentally), regardless of age. Only cardinals under 80 can vote in the conclave, though.

There is a papal will which talks about JPII's vision of the spiritual future of the Church etc. I don't think it will actually talk about what his successor should be like.

Originally posted by lucifershammer
The camerlengo is eligible for election as the next Pope (all baptised Catholic men are, incidentally), regardless of age. Only cardinals under 80 can vote in the conclave, though.

Why not a female Pope? Can a woman NOT be Pope? I thought they were becoming Bishops or something already.

This again shows how little I know about the Catholic church by the way.

Originally posted by wib
Why not a female Pope? Can a woman NOT be Pope? I thought they were becoming Bishops or something already.

This again shows how little I know about the Catholic church by the way.

No - the Catholic Church does not have the authority to ordain women priests (and hence Bishops or the Pope). You must be thinking about the Anglicans/Episcopelians.

Originally posted by lucifershammer
No - the Catholic Church does not have the authority to ordain women priests. You must be thinking about the Anglicans/Episcopelians.

Ah, you are correct. That's exactly what I was thinking about. There have been some write ups in the paper about female priests here in the last year or so. My foggy memory dredged that up...

Thanks!

Originally posted by wib
Why not a female Pope? Can a woman NOT be Pope? I thought they were becoming Bishops or something already.

This again shows how little I know about the Catholic church by the way.

I thought you only had to be Italian to be Pope! Shoot! that blows my plan for reforming the Catholic church. 😉

Well this was the response I was hoping the thread would get. It's been very informative. Thanks all.

Originally posted by Coletti
I thought you only had to be Italian to be Pope! Shoot! that blows my plan for reforming the Catholic church. 😉

Well this was the response I was hoping the thread would get. It's been very informative. Thanks all.

JPII wasn't Italian, so you're late by about 26 years. 😀