Habemus Papam (We Have a Pope), Changes To Way Name Is Announced by Father Anthony

Cardinal Jorge Medina Estevez, in 2005, announces Habemus Papam. Click for RECORDING

Habemus Papam (We have a pope), from which this blog gets its name, is the time honored announcement (at least as of the 15th century, but probably earlier), that a new pope has been elected. These days, it is made by the senior most cardinal deacon from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica to the world, but in particular to the crowds gathered in the square below — once the news of the white smoke has spread.

The announcement, always in Latin, is as follows:
Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum:
Habemus Papam!
Eminentissimum ac reverendissimum Dominum,
Dominum [[First Name of the one elected pope]],
Sanctæ Romanæ Ecclesiæ Cardinalem [[Last Name of the one elected pope]],
Qui sibi nomen imposuit [[Latin Regnal Name by which the pope wishes to be known]].

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The English translation is:
I announce to you a great joy:
We have a Pope!
The most eminent and most reverend Lord,
Lord [[First Name of the one elected pope]],
Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church [[Last Name of the one elected pope]],
Who takes to himself the name of [[Latin Regnal Name by which the pope wishes to be known]].

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Wikipedia, from which I got the above words has a decent article, including a statement as to how the Regnal Name is articulated.

Father Anthony, from the UK, a Catholic Priest who participated in the Mass following Paul VI‘s (#263) 1975 consistory and also plans to be at the November 20, 2010 consistory, send me this e-mail clarifying how the way the name is stated has changed. In ‘The Next Pope‘ book, on page 206-207, when talking about Habemus Papam, I was not specific about the possible different Latin ‘cases.’ I just listed the Regnal Names — in what I think Father Anthony, who has a Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L) from Rome from the 1970s, refers to as the accusative case!

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So, Father Anthony, has this to say, which I found fascinating:

Just one little point ( highly pedantic !) When the Proto-Deacon announces the name of the new Pope there has been a change since 1978.

in 1963: …. qui sibi nomen imposuit Paulum Sextum ( accusative case )
This was also used, as far as I am aware for his predecessors, e.g. Joannem Vigesimum Tertium, Pium Duodecimum etc.

In August 1978:  Cardinal Felici ( a distinguished Latinist ) used: …… qui sibi nomen imposuit Joannis Pauli Primi (genetive case).

In October 1978  The same Cardinal Felici used: …. qui sibi nomen imposuit Joannis Pauli. (I think but am not sure without the numeral “Secundi”. [Note from Anura: While 'Primi' in August was indeed a 'first,' as I talk about in my first book,  John Paul II was indeed the 'second' and should have been identified as such ... in the same way the ordinals of Paul VI, John XXIII and Pius XII were stated] )

I was in the Piazza that night!

In 2005 Cardinal Medina Estivez used: …. qui sibi nomen imposuit Benedicti Decimi Sexti [click on photo at top to see a video of the announcement from YouTube]

It doesn’t much matter perhaps. It is a quite correct use of Latin, as far as I am aware, but if you listen to recordings you will be able to confirm the above. [check YouTube]

Pope Benedict XVI Is Now The 7th Oldest Pope (as of 1400); John Paul II is the 6th Oldest.

Today, July 19, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI (#266) becomes the 7th oldest pope (albeit since 1400) leapfrogging over Gregory XIII (#227).

Please read this post for all the details, including a chart of the 11th oldest popes since 1400.

Thank you.

Anura Guruge

Of Course, A Camerlengo Can Be Elected Pope

Eugenio Pacelli, was Camerlengo, when elected as Pius XII (#261) on March 2, 1939 — which happened to be his 63 birthday. (As far as I can see, going back to 1400, he is the only pope elected on his birthday).

He was the third presiding Camerlengo to be elected pope. Leo XIII (#257), in February 1878, was also the Camerlengo at the conclave that elected him. Prior to that it was Innocent VII (#205) in 1404.

Those were the only three presiding Camerlengos to be elected pope.

Honorius III (#178) and Alexander IV (#182) had been Camerlengos but not at the time they were elected.

Typically, WHY we haven’t seen more Camerlengos elected pope is because they are usually too closely aligned with the prior pope.

This quick post is in reply to a question I got this morning.

This information is on Page 42 of my ‘The Next Pope‘ book. [[ smile, smile ]].

Anura Guruge

Page 41 from 'The Next Pope' by Anura Guruge

Cardinal Creating Consistories: Trends As of 1900 And Current Issues

The 55 Cardinal Creating Consistories Since 1900

There is a new, statistics packed posting at Popes and Papacy, as of May 2, 2010, pertaining to cardinal creating consistories — looking at trends since 1900.

It has three ‘master’ tables of trends and two smaller ones showing how Mondays, ideally in December or June, used to be the preferred days for such consistories. Fifteen successive cardinal creating consistories, as of 1900, were all held on Mondays. All of the cardinal creating consistories held by Pius X (#258) and Benedict XV (#259) were held on Mondays. Pius XI (#260) also held his first on a Monday. Then five months later, when it came to his second cardinal creating consistory he opted to have it on a Wednesday — in May. His next one, in December of that year was on a Sunday. But after that he too feel into the Monday is the day routine.

Pius XII (#261), John XXIII (#262) and Paul VI (#263) all made sure that their cardinal creating consistories were held on Mondays.

None of John Paul II’s (#265) nine cardinal creating consistories, during which he created a record 231 cardinals, were held on a Monday! But, he liked specific dates — e.g., June 28.

The current pope, who was greatly influenced by his predecessor, appears to also shun Mondays — though we are not sure why these two popes made a point of breaking the Monday’s tradition.

See more of the trends and understand the issues facing Benedict XVI when it comes to creating new cardinals by reading the  Popes and Papacy post.

Thank you.

Popes in the Episcopal Lineage of Papabili & ‘Recent’ Popes

Concept and ALL the research by Mr. Byron Hoover, Papal Expert from Louisiana.

Earlier this week Byron sent me an e-mail asking whether I realized that Honduran Cardinal Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, #7 in my 2009 papabili list, had seven popes in his episcopal lineage — and that this was more than what any of the other papabili had in their lineage. I did not know that. So I asked Byron, who had also helped me with research into popes who had ‘third order’ relationships with religious orders, whether he could research this for me — since I was heads-down researching three other papal topics.

Byron very kindly did so.

He noted that Clement XIII, Benedict XIV and Benedict XIII appear in the lineage of many of the recent popes and as well those cardinals in my list of papabili. He also pointed out that per Catholic tradition the Popes are the successors of St. Peter and the bishops are the successors of the Apostles.

I took Byron’s data and created two graphical matrices that show the popes that appear in the episcopal lineages: the first for my top ten papabili and the other for the last 15 popes. This data is all Byron’s work. Thank you, Byron.

But here are some caveats and notes pertaining to this data and the matrices.

Caveats:
1. The lineages shown here focus exclusively on consecrating bishops who would be or were popes.
2. A bold ‘P’ denotes consecration done by a pope. Most were done before they became pope.
3. In most cases there would have been other bishops in the lineage.
4. For complete lineages please refer to the excellent Catholic Hierarchy portal.
Salvador Miranda, the Cardinal expert, also pointed me to this site by Charles Bransom.
5. We do not have data going beyond the 16th century. So the lineages are not complete!

Notes:
1. I included sequence numbers, e.g., 261, to provide perspective.
2. I also underlined, in bold, gaps in the sequence of popes.
3. In the ‘Pope’ matrix the ‘X’ denotes that pope’s name within the lineage lineup (below).

This study is much too narrow to tell us whether having popes in ones episcopal lineage is a ‘leading indicator’ as to ones chances of becoming pope. Obviously Pius XI, who was an unexpected long shot, didn’t have any in his lineage.

The incidence of Clement XIII, Benedict XIV and Benedict XIII intrigued me. But, I think we now have the answer. You can read the details either at the Charles Bransom Web site or on Wikipedia under ‘Pope Benedict XIII.’ Mr. Branson even gives it a name: ‘Rebiban Succession’ — since it has to do with Sicilian Cardinal Scipione Rebiba who was consecrated a bishop in March 1541 and created a cardinal in 1555. Wikipedia states (and we know much of their data needs to be verified against other sources) that Cardinal Rebiba appears in over 91% of the episcopal lineages of the current Catholic bishops (who number around 4,000)! [I cannot vouch for the veracity of this claim.] Pope Benedict’s lineage included Cardinal Rebiba. He, a Dominican friar to begin with, was consecrated a bishop in 1675. He became pope in 1724 and reigned till February 1730. He was, thus, a bishop for 55 years. During that time he consecrated at a minimum 139 bishops in Italy, Germany, France, England and in the new Latin American countries. Cardinal Rebiba and Pope Benedict XIII between them, thus, redefined episcopal lineages in many sees across the world. So this trend.

Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga’s ‘seven popes’ is noteworthy (and I have to add that Byron is hoping that this will prove to be a good omen since he is hoping that this charismatic cardinal does better than what my rankings suggest).

So here are the two matrices.

Hope you enjoyed this. Thank you again Byron.

Grace, and may peace be with you all.

Anura Guruge