Fr. Barron: It's All Because of Peter

Father Robert Barron continues to report for NBC and maintain what he calls "smoke watch." According to the Catholic News Agency, the smoke signals are taking place early within the expected time frames. As of this writing, the conclave has taken three votes without electing a pope.

Fr. Barron is a little behind on posting his conclave updates. He nicely pointed out that he told the anchor on the Today Show that the reason the whole world is watching is because of Peter. Here's is yesterday's update in which he asserts that two factions exist within the conclave. He rightly concludes his update by asking us to pray for him and more importantly, the 115 cardinals who continue to meet.

The Doors are Closed.

Image captured from FoxNews

The doors to the Sistine Chapel have been closed and the Conclave has commenced!

Fortunately, I am on Spring Break from teaching so I was able to watch as the Cardinals entered the Sistine Chapel, took their oaths and then watch live as the doors were closed. I was alerted on my iPhone by the PopeApp. I began watching the live feed on my phone and then went to CatholicTV to watch their live video stream. I was not able to get EWTN's feed to work.

I recently wrote a review of good resources to follow the conclave entitled Tools for the Toolbox. If you are on the go, I recommend the Conclave App and the PopeApp. You still have time to Adopt a Cardinal and to sign up for the FOCUS Pope Alarm which will email and/or text you upon the election of the new pope.

If you were not as fortunate as me to watch the scenes live, I have included a video from Rome Reports covering the aforementioned events:

Fr. Barron: "No Clear Front Runner"

Father Robert Barron continues to report from Rome on the pending conclave which begins tomorrow. In this recent update, he indicates that the overall consensus is that no clear front runner is emerging from among the cardinals. Additionally, he shares about his conversation with his NBC Catholic commentary colleague, George Weigel who is best known as the premier biographer of Blessed John Paul II. Father Barron also alluded to the buzz surrounding Timothy Cardinal Dolan's celebration of Mass at his titular parish yesterday.

Watch the video below for the complete update:

Fr. Robert Barron in Rome for Conclave

Father Robert Barron is in Rome covering the Conclave for NBC and MSNBC. If you catch his commentary on secular media, you can rest assured you are getting a good sound opinion. We regularly include Father Barron's videos from Word On Fire here at Joe Catholic. In case you don't know who Father Barron is, he is the creator of the wonderful Catholicism mini-series that has appeared on PBS and EWTN.

Here's a copy of his first report from Rome for Word on Fire:

There's a Conclave App!

The folks who created Verbum have put together a nifty little app to follow the Conclave. The app is available in iOS (Apple) and Android platforms and it is FREE. You can download the app at the iTunes store or Google play.

The opening screen menu looks like this:

The app has five (5) pages of resources. Here is how the pages are organized:

• Live Video - The first contains live video from the Conclave. Right now the video that appears on the app is one from the last press conference. 
• News - This page includes links to a number of websites and news outlets like National Catholic Register, Jimmy Akin, Catholic Answers and Zenit. I am a little disappointed that they felt the need to include the National Catholic Reporter. I suspect they included this source, which Fr. Z calls FishWrap, because of the great writing from John Allen. I only recommend reading Allen's articles on the NC Reporter.
• Twitter - tweets following #pope and #conclave. Be warned that you will have to sift through all sorts of stuff if you choose to follow the conclave this way.
• Bios - This contains bios on all the cardinals as ranked by NewAdvent. Their ranking is based on Google search activity, not on the likelihood of their election.
• Resources - This includes a number of documents related to papal selection and the conclave.

One final cool feature about the app site is that you can register to have an email sent to you to alert you the moment a new pope has been elected.

The Date is Set!

The College of Cardinals have set March 12th as the date for the Conclave to elect a new pope.

Let's continue to pray for the Cardinals.

Pray with and for the Cardinals

We have been called to pray with and for the College of Cardinals as they prepare for the Conclave. Here is a copy of the prayer recommended by the USCCB:

O God, eternal shepherd,

who govern your flock with 

unfailing care,

grant in your boundless fatherly love

a pastor for your Church

who will please you by his holiness

and to us show watchful care.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, 

your Son,

who lives and reigns with you in the 

unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen.

Tools for the Toolbox: Conclave Resources

As the Church gears up for the upcoming Conclave to elect a new pope, you might be asking yourself, "How do I find out more about papal conclaves?" I am debating on whether or not to devote a new page on this blog dedicated to all things related to the conclave. For the time being, I have gathered a number of sound resources for you to review and prepare yourself not only for the conclave, but for all the questions you are getting from co-workers, friends and family. These are all great opportunities for evangelization!

Electing the Pope

This new website is a collaboration of several Catholic bloggers, catechists and teachers and it seeks to be a meta site for explaining the conclave and related topics. Its contributors include the likes of Sarah Reinhard who writes the Snoring Scholar blog and is a regular contributor to the Catholic Mom. The  site includes information about the papacy, Catholic symbols and best of all, a Q & A section.

In the Light of the Law

If you are interested in a Canon Law perspective, you need not go any further than Dr. Edward Peters' blog, In the Light of the Law. Dr. Peters is a canon lawyer and has written several books on Canon Law including OSV's 100 Questions About Annulments.

EWTN - The See of Peter

You can never go wrong with EWTN as one of the resources you regularly check for anything Catholic. They have put together a number of resources on a new page entitled The See of Peter. The page includes a number of links including overviews on the papacy and the college of cardinals. The page also includes links to several of the documents governing the election of a new pope.

National Catholic Register

If you are looking for a resource to follow news about the Catholic Church, you needn't go further than the National Catholic Register.  The NCR provides comprehensive and orthodox reporting on the Catholic Church. You will find well written articles, radio broadcasts and blog posts on their site.

Pope Names Book, Jimmy Akin

Jimmy Akin, who is a senior apologist for Catholic Answers, has written an ebook entitled Pope Names. In the book he explores the history of papal names, how name have chosen and he even explores the statistical probability of the name choice for the next pope.

EWTN: Interregnum Terms

EWTN, is producing a series of brief videos in which they define terms for the interregnum or sede vacante, "the period during which an episcopal see or diocese is vacant." (Catholic Dictionary)

Today I have chosen to post the video defining CONCLAVE which comes from the Latin word for key (clavis) and literally means with the key: