TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — In downtown Tucson at Saint Augustin’s Cathedral there’s the same sort of anticipation you see across the world as the Cardinals gather in Rome to select the new Pope.
“It is very exciting, because we're all watching the Conclave, and, you know, we trust in the Holy Spirit that whoever the next Holy Father is, the Holy Spirit is involved in the process.”
As Moderator of the Curia, Father Ed Lucero runs much of the day-to-day operations of the Diocese of Tucson, 400 thousand Catholics across Southern Arizona.
Like many of them, he’s looking towards Rome, watching the combination of ancient ritual and modern technology that goes into choosing a pope in the 21st Century. If any of the Cardinals have cell phones under their robes, the Sistine Chapel has jamming electronics that will keep those phones from reaching the outside world and breaking the secrecy of the conclave.
Smoke will tell the outside world the results of the vote. Black smoke from the chapel chimney says no one has the two-thirds majority to become the new pontiff. White smoke means there is a new Pope.
Father Lucero says the ballots stay secret. The Cardinals will not know for sure who the leaders were in the votes that fell short.
Once there is a decision, the public will wait to learn who he is, until he trades the red robes of a Cardinal for the pure white of the Pope.
“He gets dressed. They go to that famous room. They call it the room of tears, where, you know, because his life is completely different now, and it's the weight of the office is probably coming unto the person, and so they have some time to reflect and be alone and pray.“
And then the man whose life has been changed will step onto a balcony to begin to change the life of the Catholic Church.
