Although there will only be 115 cardinals in the Sistine Chapel voting for a pope, the whole church joins them in prayer and expectation, said the archbishop who spearheaded the design of the conclave rites and prayers.
Archbishop Piero Marini, currently president of the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses, was master of ceremonies for Blessed John Paul II and coordinated the development of the prayers and Masses that will guide the cardinals entering the conclave March 12. "The spirit of expectation is part of this period" in the life of the church, Archbishop Marini told reporters March 9 during a media briefing organized by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops at the Pontifical North American College.
"The event of a conclave doesn't just involve a small circle of particular people who gather to make their own little decision. It's an ecclesial event at which the cardinals represent the entire College of Bishops," he said. Catholics are called to enter spiritually into the Sistine Chapel with the cardinal electors, he said. "With our hearts we are all in the Sistine Chapel to await, through the voting, the Lord's indication of who the next pope should be," he said.
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