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...Pius XII was chosen in a virtual snap election of less than 36 hours, John XXIII in five days, Paul in less than 48 hours. Though anything is possible, no comparable speed is expected this time ? unless the weather plays a persuasive role. Even in the wilting heat and humidity of Rome in August, protocol demands that the Cardinals don violet cassocks topped with woolen capes. Their temporary living quarters (or "cells") in the Apostolic Palace during the conclave lack air conditioning. Says one prelate: "Perhaps the heat will combine with divine revelation to help them reach a decision...
Another old distinction is fading, too - the line between a "pastoral" Pope, like John XXIII, and the statesman-diplomat, like Pius XII. Though bred to the Curia, Paul VI so cherished his nine years as Archbishop of Milan that he determined that future Cardinals, even career Curia men, should have at least one good stretch of pastoral work. Most of the leading contenders are men with both pastoral and Curial experience...
Other appealing candidates stand only the barest chance in the voting. One is Bernardin Cardinal Gantin, 56, a black priest from Benin (formerly Dahomey), who was consecrated bishop 21 years ago by Pius XII. A tall, gentle man, quick to smile, he is now prefect of the Commission on Justice and Peace. Another is Britain's George Basil Cardinal Hume, 55, a Benedictine monk who in 1976 was plucked from obscurity as Abbot of Ampleforth Abbey to become Archbishop of Westminster. Hume's relative youth and inexperience are likely to count negatively with the pragmatic Cardinals...
...business dealings and fornication-was burned at the stake. Beatrice de Planissoles, the chatelaine, was released along with her latest swain, another priest-but Beatrice was sentenced to wear the yellow cross of repentant heretics. As for the zealous bishop, he went on to become the zealous Pope Benedict XII. Harsh and unbending still, he at last corrected some of the ecclesiastical abuses that had first disturbed the flock long ago at the forgotten little town of Montaillou. - Mayo Mohs
While the young Montini studied the works of Catholic liberals, he also listened to one of the Church's last great autocrats-his superior in the Secretariat of State, Eugenic Cardinal Pacelli. In 1939 Pacelli became Pope Pius XII. Monsignor Montini, as a Substitute Secretary of State, was soon embroiled in the delicate Vatican maneuvering between the enemy forces of World War II. It was Montini, evidence suggests, who coined the famous phrase that Pope Pius uttered on the eve of that conflict: "Nothing is lost by peace; everything may be lost...