ROME
National Catholic Reporter
by John L. Allen Jr. | Mar. 13, 2013
Rome —
Yesterday, I said on CNN more than once that the first ballot of a conclave is the New Hampshire primary of the race for the papacy. After endless speculation and taking stock of candidates, it’s the first real test of strength, the first indication of who might actually be in a position to be elected.
If yesterday was New Hampshire, then today is Super Tuesday.
Granted, analogies to secular politics are always inexact when applied to the Catholic church. Yet as Cardinal Velasio De Paolis of Italy said on his way into the Casa Santa Marta yesterday morning, the election of a pope is both “a spiritual and a political act.” Anyway, imagery drawn from political life is sometimes the only tool we have to explain what’s happening to the outside world.
Here’s why Super Tuesday works as a metaphor for where things stand today, even if it is actually Wednesday on the calendar.
Rather than one ballot, today could bring as many as four, depending on whether or not someone gains a two-thirds majority and is elected pope before things go that far.
Those four rounds of voting loom as the make-or-break test for whoever emerged yesterday as the early front-runner or front-runners. If one candidate continues to gain momentum and appears to be headed to 77 votes, it could be the knockout blow Super Tuesday is designed to deliver in American primaries, allowing one candidate to take control of the race and avoiding gridlock down the stretch.
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