“Habemus Papam!”
It won’t be long before we hear those words. When we do, and our new pope is presented to us, we can know that he has taken time to be with the Lord before walking out on that balcony.
One change from previous elections is that our new pope will be given time for prayer and adoration before the Blessed Sacrament before he is presented to the public.
I think this is a wonderful change in procedure. Time spent with the Blessed Sacrament fills a person with the peace that passes all understanding.
The man who will become what some members of the press have called the “CEO for Christ” is going to need this peace, and those of us who are looking to him for leadership, guidance and inspiration need for him to have it. Prayer is the wellspring of the Christian life. Even though I sometimes get too busy to do it well, I always find what I need when I pray. At times, this is an understanding that I have been wrong and need to change. At other times, it’s peace and comfort. But it is always the Holy Spirit, guiding and sustaining me.
The Blessed Sacrament is the body, blood, soul and divinity of Our Lord. He reaches through it and into us. I can think of no other place where our new pope needs to go after his election than before Christ in the eucharist.
A CNA/EWTN News article about this change in procedure for the new pope says in part:
.- In a change to past papal elections, the new Pope will have the chance to adore Jesus in the Eucharist before he makes his appearance on the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica.
Vatican press office director Father Federico Lombardi told journalists March 11 that, “when the Pope goes to the loggia, he passes the Pauline Chapel and will stop there for a brief moment of personal prayer and silence in front of the Blessed Sacrament.” (Read the rest here.)
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