Wednesday, May 7, 2025

This is the thirty-eighth installment of West Wind, your daily drop of thoughts, ideas, and info for this Season.

Today is the beginning of the papal conclave. It will have already started by the time this post goes out, since the Vatican is six hours ahead of EST.

This is the first conclave that I’ve experienced when I’ve actually been a Catholic. I was baptized as a wee baby, but never received any other sacraments until I was 28 years old. In conversations, people have asked if I was a convert to the faith, and since the only alternative I had considered was being a cradle Catholic, I said yes, I was. But thinking on it more I’m really not, since I never subscribed to any other religion or any other practice. So it just took about 20 more years for my first communion than most kids.

The previous conclave that elected Pope Francis only took two days, so there is a strong chance that we will have another living pope named by the end of this week. It might even be finished by the time this newsletter goes out, which will be a little awkward but better than me having to rewrite the whole thing.

I can still remember very clearly learning that Pope St. John Paul II (the Great) had passed away. I had gone over to my then-girlfriend now-wife’s house, and the TV was on with news coverage about his passing. I knew who the pope was and what he did, but I didn’t have any sort of strong feelings about him. Or so I thought. I remember feeling sad, like something important had just been lost, without quite knowing why.

Apparently during the funeral mass for Francis a few days ago, the delegations from Azerbijan and Armenia had to be seated apart from one another, along with the envoys from Israel and Palestine. The fact that they were all there, though, was important enough. Representatives from the Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, and Buddhist faiths all showed up as well. The papacy and the church bring people together across the world, everyone sets aside their differences for something bigger than all of them. The next few days will be interesting, to be sure, but whatever happens, we have to remember that all is well.