VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
by Joshua J. McElwee | Mar. 2, 2013
Rome —
Among several questions cardinals ask when electing one of their peers as the new leader of the global Roman Catholic church, said Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George, is simply: “Can he govern?”
Speaking to CNN Friday, George, who participated in the election of Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, said the secret meeting of cardinals to select a new pontiff is “a very quiet time.”
“You have a chance to contemplate the beginning of the world on the ceiling and the end of the world on the wall,” said George, referring to the paintings of the Genesis accounts and of the Last Judgment on the walls and ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, where the conclave is held.
George said cardinals choose who to vote for by talking to peers who know those being mentioned as papal possibilities.
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