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W e d n e s d ay, M ay 7, 2025
WORLD AWAITS NEW POPE
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FBI fumbled investigation of Scalise shooting, report says GOP-led panel says attacker’s motivations were downplayed
BY MARK BALLARD Staff writer
ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTO By FRANCISCO SECO
Cardinal Francis Leo walks along St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Monday after attending the General Congregation of Cardinals in the New Synod Hall, where they are preparing for the upcoming conclave to elect the 267th Roman pontiff.
Conclave to make selection begins g Wednesday BY NICOLE WINFIELD
pope is chosen the voting is conducted: How a news meets a new pope. A look at how in the Sistine Chapel to select
Associated Press
The College of Cardinal
VATICAN CITY — Cardinals wrapped d up their pre-conclave meeting gs Tuesday, trying to identify a possible new pope who could follow Pop pe Francis and make the 2,000-yearold Catholic Church credible an nd relevant today, especially to youn ng people. Although they come from 70 diifferent countries, the 133 cardin nal electors seem fundamentally united in insisting that the question befo ore them isn’t so much whether th he church gets its first Asian or Afrrican pontiff, or a conservative or progressive. Rather, they say th he primary task facing them when the conclave opens Wednesday is to find nd a pope who can be both a pastor and a teacher, a bridge who can unite the church and preach peace. “We need a superman!” said Cardinal William Seng Chye Goh, the 67-year-old archbishop of Singapore. It is indeed a tall task, given the sexual abuse and financial scandals that have harmed the church’s reputation and the secularizing trends in many parts of the world that are turning people away from organized religion. Add to that the Holy
WEATHER HIGH 77 LOW 66 PAGE 8B
Entrance to ‘Room of Tears’
Scrutineers 3 1
2 Urns
4
bottom for pontiff’) with space at the Pontificem’ (‘I elect as supremethe ballot twice; three so-called the words ‘Eligo in Summum folds The rectangular ballot bears his handwriting, each cardinal notes his choice and g the elector’s choice; disguisin front of the altar. by lot, count the ballots in 4 If the cardinals are scrutineers, chosen earlier
The voting
1 One at a time, in order of seniority, each cardinal approaches the altar holding out his ballot; he kneels, offers a short prayer, rises and says aloud in Latin, ‘I call as my witness Christ the Lord, who will be my judge, that my vote is given I to the one who before God think should be elected.’
2 He places his ballot on a gold plate called a paten, slides the ballot into a large gold-plated urn and returns to his seat. Collected ballots if are removed and counted; d the total does not correspon to the number of electors, they are burned and a new vote is taken.
3 If numbers match, the first scrutineer opens a ballot and notes the name; the second repeats the process; the third reads the name aloud and writes the name; if one man vote, receives two-thirds of the a valid election has taken place; if the number is not divisible by three, two-thirds required. is one plus
Approx. 33 in. diameter
Papal selection
deadlocked after 13 days day of voting, they pause for a of prayer and reflection, then move on to runoff ballots between two leading candidates; ballots are burned in a stove after each day’s vote; black smoke indicates voting is inconclusive; white signifies there is a new pope.
Ballots inserted here
Thread
Backup stove
Chemicals used to color smoke
Voting: Only one name is permitted per ballot Source: Apostolic Constitution Graphic: Staff, TNS
Urn: Three urns replaced traditional chalices in 2005
, Universi Dominici Gregis,
‘The Papal Conclave: How
and Ballots: Joined with needle thread through the word ‘Eligo’ Do Cardinals Divine the Will
of God?’, ‘Conclave’ by John
Stoves: Used to burn ballots and produce smoke L. Allen Jr., Catholic Encyclopedi
a, AP
ä How a new pope
is chosen. PAGE 4A
See’s dire financial state and often dysfunctional bureaucracy, and the job of being pope in the 21st century seems almost impossible. Francis named 108 of the 133 electors and selected cardinals in his image. But there is an element of uncertainty about the election since many of them didn’t know one another before last week, meaning they haven’t had much time to suss
outt who among them is best suited to llead the 1.4 billion-strong church. The cardinals held their last day T of pre-conclave meetings Tuesday mo orning, during which Francis’ fish herman’s ring and his official seal we ere destroyed in one of the final forrmal rites of the transition of his pon ntificate to the next. The cardinals will begin trying to T find d the new pope Wednesday afternoo on, when those “princes of the chu urch” walk solemnly into the Sistin ne Chapel to the meditative chant of the “Litany of the Saints.” They’ll tak ke their oaths of secrecy under the e daunting vision of heaven and he ell in Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment,” hear a meditation from a seniior cardinal, and then most likely cast their first ballot. cas Assuming no candidate secures the necessary two-thirds majority, or 89 votes, the cardinals will retire for the day and return on Thursday. They will have two ballots in the morning and then two in the afternoon, until a winner is found. Asked what the priorities of the cardinal electors were, Goh told reporters this week that the No. 1 issue was that the new pope must be
ä See CARDINALS, page 4A
WASHINGTON — The FBI bungled the investigation into the 2017 shooting that wounded House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and others, downplaying the attacker’s left-wing political motivations, a GOP-led congressional committee reported Tuesday. Republicans on the committee said criminal charges should be pursued against agents and others involved with the conclusions the FBI initially reached. Democrats Scalise pushed back, saying no evidence showed that those investigating the shooting were swayed by political considerations. Newly installed FBI director Kash Patel released the agency’s documents related to the shooting investigation to the committee. He was sworn in as director Feb. 21. “The FBI used false statements, manipulation of known facts, and biased and butchered analysis to support a narrative that (shooter James T. “Tom”) Hodgkinson committed suicide by cop without any nexus to domestic terrorism,” concluded GOP members of the House Permanent
ä See SCALISE, page 8A
Edwards denies withholding report on La. coastal project
Former governor sends detailed letter to Corps of Engineers BY ALEX LUBBEN Staff writer
Former Gov. John Bel Edwards has written a detailed letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers strongly denying that his administration “deliberately withheld” information about the Mid-Barataria Sediment Diversion, the mammoth $3 billion plan to help restore Louisiana’s eroding coastline. In the three-page letter and in an interview with The Times-Picayune, the former governor argued that details from the engineering study in question were in fact shared with the Corps. He also said the Corps then communicated to his administration that the study would have no impact on
ä See EDWARDS, page 6A
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