ROME
The Moynihan Letters
March 11, 2013 by Robert Moynihan, PhD.
Today started with a bit of sun, then turned rainier toward mid-afternoon. There was even a bit of lightning, and thunder, but nothing like the lightning which struck St. Peter’s Dome one month ago. In the evening, it was cool and drizzly.
It was on February 11 that Pope Benedict announced his renunciation of the papal office — exactly one month ago.
(Left, a photo of the lightning bolt that struck St. Peter’s dome on February 11 at about 6 p.m., about 6 hours and 20 minutes after Benedict announced he would step down from the papal throne)
The time to the opening of the Conclave to elect his successor is now less than 40 hours, just a day and a half…
Most observers now are focused on who will become the next Pope. If I were asked right now who I think the next Pope will be, I would say I simply do not know.
What does seem clear is that there is occurring a very silent, hidden battle to determine how closely the next pontificate follows the line of Ratzinger — the line of transparency — or how much it draws back from that line. That is what is being determined right now.
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