The Cardinals continued with their meetings today. This is
when they look at what challenges the Church is facing in order to figure out
what kind of man the next Pope needs to be. They aren’t necessarily going to
pick the smartest, or the most influential, or even the most pious guy in red.
They are going to try to pick the guy who is best for the Church now.
It appears they’ve been talking a lot about the importance
of the “new evangelization” – the need to re-announce the gospel to people who
may have already heard of it, but for whom it never became something real.
Personally, I believe that the vast majority of problems today, not only on the
global level, but especially in the depths of people’s hearts, would be solved
if the Gospel became something living and real for them, and if they really
understood who Jesus Christ is.
I got a chance to talk to Cardinal Monteiro de Castro today,
and he seemed totally at ease. He didn’t go into what’s going on inside the
Cardinals’ meetings, but he seemed very happy and peaceful. He’s an important
Cardinal too – one of only two in the Vatican who keeps all his power when
there’s no Pope – but he went out of his way to be with us seminarians, tell us
stories, answer our questions, and he even had some coffee and cookies with us!
Also today, they closed the Sistine Chapel. The Cardinals
will meet there for the conclave – when they start voting for a new Pope.
Workers need to get things ready for the conclave, like put in benches, set up
the sound system, sweep for any listening devices, and install the famous
chimney – one Santa would definitely not fit down!
Tomorrow afternoon, all the Cardinals will have an open
prayer service in Saint Peter’s Basilica. Let’s all join in their prayer!
God bless you,
Brother Kevin
PS Feel free to pass these messages on to anyone who’d like
to receive them.
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