Conclave: First day

My day!

Morning: since I was free from the events, I went to school.

12:30 pm I presided over the Mass for the election of the pope at the Casa Santa Maria. We wore red vestments and pray: 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, forever and ever. Amen.

3:00 pm I couldn’t resist the growing anxiety about the conclave and so I went up to the Urbaniana University for a second day of a conference on penal law. The panelists were longer than ever! 

6:50 pm I finally went down to St Peter’s square. There were more cameras than umbrellas for the rain! Beautifully crowed and illuminated. It was like time is not passing. I didn’t know where to look, what to say. Yet, I talked like a parrot.

7:00 pm The sky was very dark, a good background for white. But I didn’t want the election to happen this early. We deserve DRAMA! An electric expectation covered me up and down. 

 7:15 pm I wondered why the chimney wasn’t actually illuminated and yet, it was through the screens around the square. It was not my problem, but I had to think on something randomly distracting.

7:16 pm My problem was the rain.

7:20 pm My problem is solved. It seemed there is not rain anymore. Or my umbrella is covering me well. I don care about that problem anymore. The square is getting crowder. I feel like in a page of a history book. I am so thrilled!

7:30 pm Here we are looking at the roof, for a chimney, proportionate to the distance, thinner than a tooth pick. . Thanks God we have to look up. NO body can block my short stature view! Under that roof, there are 115 men worthy of the call.

7:35 pm This is a transcendental moment for the Church of global interest. Here are people from everywhere, believers and non-believers alike. Catholicism is simply fascinating! The whole world is looking at this today, a day of the 21^st century with all means of communication. Still, we are waiting for an archaic way to send a SMS.

7:40 pm The conversation goes back again to the original topic, who will be the pope? I mention my top three favorites and my less three favorites. Any body in between can be negotiated. But wait! There are large birds around the chimney. The loggia balcony looks so neat with the red curtain and the whole basilica façade is just a dream. This is so surreal, the emotions, the waiting, the ideals, the birds, the night and the rain, my friend’s face of hope and illusion, the young believers from Notre Dame, and the atheist behind me. It is a conspiracy for connection and belonging. The Lord draws us together.

7:42 pm commotion! …What did I miss? It is smoke! It looks white! Really? Not it is black, very black, and a lot. They really made it black and plenty. Why it is so black? Wow, it really is black, black smoke and a lot. I hope the frescos are protected well because it seems like they have more smoke in there to tell us, go home and come back tomorrow. I am glad it is black, so I will have something to do tomorrow, to be at St Peter’s square a little before noon.