The Pope heads the Roman Catholic Church and resides in Vatican City, a country within the borders of the Italian capital Rome. The current Pope, Francis, was elected Pope by the conclave on March 13, 2013. A pope has a unique position, and you cannot achieve that easily. What steps do you have to go through if you want to become Pope?
Catholic Church
The Roman Catholic Church is the largest Christian church in the world. The word Catholic comes from Greek and means something like universal and general . The term Roman Catholic arose in the period surrounding the Reformation, and indicated that this group of believers recognized the authority of the Bishop of Rome. The word Roman refers to the city of Rome. Although the number of believers and priests in Europe is declining, globally it is still increasing slightly faster than the world population.
Pope Benedict
The Pope in charge
The head of the Roman Catholic Church is the Pope. Not only is he the head of the church, but he is also the head of state of the country of Vatican City, one of the smallest countries in the world, and located entirely within the city limits of the city of Rome, Italy. You don’t have to be born in Vatican City to be in charge here. By the way, the birth rate of this country is the lowest in the world, at 0. Not surprising, if you know that the population of Vatican City consists exclusively of religious people, who are not allowed to be married, have sex and therefore have no children.
Start at the bottom
Perhaps you would like to lead the largest church in the world and head of state of a country. Let’s take a look at what you need to do to get to that position. As is common in many industries, we’re going to start at the bottom. Keep in mind that achieving the end goal will take some time, you need to be persistent. Also good to know: not everyone can reach the top. As things stand now, a church career is only for men. Women cannot become priests, and certainly cannot be given a leadership role within the church.
The first step: baptism
You can only become a leader of a church if you are a member yourself. The very first step is to be baptized within the Roman Catholic Church. If your parents are also Roman Catholic, there is a good chance that you were baptized as a baby. Not sure? Just ask. You can always do all the steps that are normally taken as a child later in life. So there is still every chance for later entrants!
First Holy Communion
Children aged about 7 or 8 make First Holy Communion . They then participate for the first time in the Eucharist , the Catholic worship service, where bread and wine are shared. By the way, it’s usually just about the bread. The solemn moment is preceded by a period of preparation, often in working groups.
The Confirmation
The next sacrament to participate in is confirmation, which in Latin is: confirmatio. Literally this word means ‘I affirm’. You thereby confirm the promises your parents made at baptism and promise that you will live according to Christian rules. And Christian here of course means: Roman Catholic. As a baby you obviously could not choose for yourself, and when you are still very young it is difficult to think about this in a nuanced way. You therefore usually do your confirmation somewhere between the ages of 12 and 18. And this too often involves a preparation time in working groups.
Pope Paul VI, Pope from 1963-1978 / Source: Inmaculadamg parroquia, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Vocation
The previous steps are simply part of a Catholic education, for boys and girls, whatever career you choose. Since we started from the question of how to become Pope, this is where the paths diverge. Your next step on the church ladder is called a calling. You feel inside that working within the church is really your thing. You put your whole life at the service of God and people. If you ultimately want to become a priest, you must realize that this involves choices. According to current church laws you have to choose. Either you choose a life with God, or a life with people. A priest lives a celibate life, which means: no sex, no relationships, no marriage. Are you married and do you still want to become a priest and later pope? Then you will have to live a celibate life from now on and make good agreements with your pastor and bishop.
Priest
You have now decided on a career within the church. If you want to become a priest – necessary to eventually become pope – then you will have to be trained for this. A school where you learn to become a priest is a seminary. Here you will learn all kinds of things about faith, church science, church history, canon law, and of course things about yourself. Where do you stand before God and people, how can you best serve God’s purpose. You will be prepared for life and work within the Roman Catholic Church. Ultimately, you will be ordained as a priest by the bishop. The first time you lead a celebration of the Eucharist in church is a solemn moment.
Pastor
In the past, as a priest you could gain experience in parish work. You were then added to the pastoral team as an extra priest and could learn all the tricks of pastoral work in practice. You then became a chaplain . Today there is a priest shortage in many European countries. There are too few vocations and too few new priests are being trained. It is not possible to shadow a parish for a while and as a newly minted priest you are often employed in a parish as a pastor . The daily management of the parish rests in your hands.
Blanket
A larger administrative area is a diocese. Such a diocese is often, for the sake of clarity, divided into a number of deaneries (sometimes also written as decanates ). A deanery is an administrative layer between parishes and diocese. The chairman of such a deanery is the dean, in practice this is one of the pastors of the parishes within such a deanery.
Bishop
It is not always necessary to have been the dean for the next step. You become a bishop and are put in charge of one of the dioceses. You may also be given the task of working as an auxiliary bishop in a diocese, under the leadership of the current bishop. Although the diocese can nominate which bishop it would like to see in charge, it is ultimately the pope who decides.
Archbishop
Within a country, one diocese is the archdiocese. In terms of content, this makes no difference from the other dioceses, but the bishop who is in charge here is the chairman of the group of bishops from that country. Such a bishop is then appointed as archbishop. In some churches and cathedrals an archbishop is always appointed. This appointment is also a matter for the Pope.
Pope John XXIII, Pope from 1958-1963 / Source: Unknown, Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Cardinal
During a special meeting called a consistory , the pope creates new cardinals. The Pope is the only one who can do this, and he can therefore choose who he considers worthy of the new dignity. He looks at all other available cardinals. The number of cardinals is limited, according to established agreements. It is important to maintain the number of cardinals, because when the pope dies, it is the cardinals younger than 80 who choose a new pope from among themselves. If the number of cardinals is reasonably high, the pope does not have to establish a new consistory. Years can go by without such a meeting.
Papal election: the conclave
When the pope has died and is laid to rest after a funeral ceremony, the college of cardinals meets in the Sistine Chapel in Rome within a set number of days. This meeting is called a conclave. Only cardinals who are not yet eighty years old may participate in the conclave. They choose from among themselves in closed voting rounds who should become the new pope. The last few times the conclave always lasted a number of days.
White smoke
The conclave is over, in a certain voting round one of the cardinals present has received sufficient support. He doesn’t have to do it, he can refuse. In practice, however, the chosen person will, perhaps after moments of consideration, say accepto , literally: I accept. White smoke comes out of the chimney, so that the people waiting outside know that there is a new pope. A short time later he will also show himself to the people.
Long road
It’s a long road, from student priest to pope. Many popes who are elected are already sixty or seventy years old at that time. If you are a cardinal and are elected pope, you have probably already had an ecclesiastical career of close to fifty years. It is also a fact that you can only become pope if you as a cardinal are not yet 80 years old. If the Pope reaches an old age, it is quite possible that you yourself have become too old to succeed him. If you only choose an ecclesiastical career to become pope, there is a good chance that you will be disappointed…
read more
- The Popes of the Catholic Church
- The country of the Pope, from Papal State to Vatican City
- The Conclave: The election of a new Pope
- Pope John XXIII
- Pope Paul VI (1963-1978)