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Consider This from NPR

Prelude to a conclave: understanding the selection process of a new pope

Consider This from NPR

NPR

Society & Culture, News, Daily News, News Commentary

4.15.3K Ratings

🗓️ 4 May 2025

⏱️ 12 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Days before the beginning of the conclave to select the next pope, NPR's Scott Detrow is in Rome. He speaks with Sylvia Poggioli about the rituals and ceremonies involved in the upcoming election at the Vatican.

We also hear from Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, about this moment for the Catholic Church, and what it's like being a seasoned veteran of the conclave process.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

It's Sunday morning, and Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, is getting ready for Mass.

0:07.1

Every member of the College of Cardinals is assigned a Roman church that they're nominally in charge of.

0:12.6

And days before the beginning of the conclave to select the next pope,

0:16.1

Dolan is visiting his church to celebrate 1115 Mass.

0:19.5

Music visiting his church to celebrate 1115 Mass.

0:30.2

The ceremonies and rituals surrounding the death of one pope and the election of another all take place in ornate ancient cathedrals.

0:33.8

That is not the scene at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mount Mario, in a residential Roman neighborhood.

0:45.0

It looks like scores of other parish churches around the glow.

0:49.0

The statue of Jesus isn't sculpted by Michelangelo.

0:51.8

It's a painted plaster of Jesus with a sacred heart and red robes.

0:55.9

The prayers of the faithful are read by an Italian teenager wearing a hoodie.

1:00.2

Dolan delivers his homily in Italian.

1:06.3

He tells the congregation that Our Lady of Guadalupe is his second parish

1:10.2

after St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan.

1:15.6

And he asked them to pray for him and the other cardinals, saying they need the Holy Spirit as they enter the upcoming conclave.

1:26.8

Then he says he recalls Pope Francis's advice to keep homily short and says enough.

1:31.5

So just.

1:33.1

So much.

1:33.5

Thank you.

1:35.6

The mass ends.

1:36.8

Cardinal Dolan stands at the door of the church, greeting parishioners, posing for pictures

1:41.0

with children, kissing babies.

...

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