Rating: 
Summary: Mechanics and Motivations
Review: I can't imagine it will be long before the next conclave is called into session, and this book is a handy guide to what we can expect. It also answers the interesting question of what the Pope does with a job description that should put any Cardinal off the job. Whatever the Pope does, from the intensely spiritual to the mundane, will satisfy no one. Although Catholics are united in the Creed, we're polarized in the particulars, divided by scandal, and so spread out - geographically as well as ideologically - that someone or anothers ox will always be gored. Nevertheless, Mr. Allen, has given us as close to an inside view of the procedures, politics, and personalities of a conclave as we're likely to get. "Conclave," also serves as a handicappers guide to the election with a rundown of factions, front-runners, and dark horses. Ah, but what about the intervention of the Holy Spirit? The cardinals are adepts of political power, but they are also deeply spiritual, and it's the spirit that is the wild card in any Conclave, and though that story is much more fascinating than the bargaining for a Pope, we'll never plumb the mystery of how that works, and the only author I can recall who explores that territory is out of print. That would be Malachi Martin and his "Final Conclave."
Rating:
Summary: A good A-Z on how the next pope will be elected.
Review: I found this book an easy enough read on a subject, which many may believe to be a bit to heavy. However it is worth bearing in mind that this event will take place at some point in the future and with 24-hour television news coverage it will be hard to ignore as a major news story. With this in mind I would suggest that this book could prove a handy reference guide to many of the events rituals, which will unfold, between the passing of the pope through to the election of his successor. The book is quite detailed in terms of outlining the age-old customs, which are still adhered to following the death of a pontiff. It also sketches out the cast of characters who will administer the church during the Interregnum and who will probably be among the most prominent on out TV screens during the process. Of course the real action will take place behind closed doors during the election process, which will take place in the Sistine Chapel away from the glare of the media. In this respect the author outlines the rules and procedures, which will govern the conduct of the conclave. The author also looks at the front-runners and discusses the reasons why he believes each candidate may or may not be an attractive choice for his fellow cardinals. He also discusses the dynamics of the conclave and assigns groups of cardinals to voting groups in order to determine what these groups may want from a candidate. I would recommend this book for its detail but as I said earlier this will be a major news event when it happens so a handy guide to what's going will not be wasted.
Rating: 
Summary: It's all you need to know
Review: I really enjoyed this one. Since I knew next to nothing about how the Vatican works I came at it from a below novice perspective so I had lots to learn. The author does a good job of taking nothing for granted in the reader's understanding but it never feels like he's talking down to you. I won't say that it was such a thrill that I couldn't put it down, but (and maybe it's just me) I found it really interesting. Probably won't do any more reading in this area but I'm glad I now know what I do from this.
Rating: 
Summary: Handy Guide with Some Critical Gaps
Review: I would recommend Conclave as a handy reference guide for its chapter describing the conclave process, for its listing of cardinals eligible for selection as pope with background information, and for its glossary. But the analysis in the book is uneven in quality due to instances of liberal bias. Most disturbing is the omission of relevant information that might detract from cardinals that the author chooses to view as "liberals" or "reformers." Another problem is the apparent inclusion of some cardinals as frontrunners because they are perceived as potentially sharing the author's liberal agenda. There is also the unexplained exclusion of prominent conservative Cardinal Ratzinger from the list of top contenders. In March 2002, the author wrote that neither Ratzinger nor liberal Cardinal Martini would be elected pope because they were too divisive. Yet, in this book the author includes Martini in the list of top contenders, but excludes Ratzinger without explanation. Consistent with my analysis above are the comments of NBC Vatican affairs consultant George Weigel who found "fully half" of Allen's top contenders to be "utterly implausible," and who also found the biographical portraits of the other cardinals to be "strangely awry at numerous points." Moreover, in a recent column, Allen admits to including a particular candidate in his list of top contenders "not so much because . . . he's a realistic front-runner" but because Allen personally admires this particular cardinal (Column, Oct. 22, 2002). So much for an objective list of realistic front-runners. The purported front-runner list appears to be more spin than fact. In addition, Allen himself has since noted that one cardinal informed him of a series of errors in the book. So, if the intent of the book is to somehow influence the deliberations of cardinals in the next conclave, the book's widely noted defects have reduced the likelihood of any such role.
Rating:
Summary: THE book to own on papal elections
Review: In my humble opinion, "Conclave" is the best guide to papal elections available. It is very readable and actually spurred my further interest in the topics of Church structure, procedure, and politics. (I also own "The Next Pope" and I've found it very dry, unlike "Conclave.") In regard to concerns of bias, I found "Conclave" to be a very dispassionate, honest look at papal elections. As a Catholic, I would be hard pressed to identify a single example of bias on Mr. Allen's part. "Conclave" begins with a job description of the papacy and then details the main issues about which electors will be concerned. (I found this background information especially helpful!) Mr. Allen then explains exactly what will happen in Vatican City from the moment the Pope passes away, walking readers through the announcement of the Pope's death, the funeral arrangements, the assembly of the cardinals in Rome, the actual voting process, and into the first few days of the new papacy. Contained in the final chapters are explanations of the various voting blocs--for lack of a better term--within the College of Cardinals and biographies of possible candidates. John Allen's "Conclave" is a concise, erudite, and, above all, fascinating account of the history, politics, and process of papal elections. Lay Catholics will benefit from this book tremendously; for me, it served as a perfect introduction to the Vatican as an institution and to the current issues that face the Church today.
Rating:
Summary: Papal Election 101
Review: John L. Allen, Jr., has written the easiest to read and to understand book on the election of a pope in the Catholic Church. Conclave should be required reading for all Catholics in high school. I recommend it as well to anyone who wants to better understand their church.
Rating:
Summary: It's all you need to know
Review: The election of a new Pope will obviously have a great impact on the lives of the One Billion or so Catholics around the world. The selection of a new Holy Father however, will also have a much more far-reaching impact on the rest of us than we may realize. Not only does the Pope have a great influence on world affairs but as the Catholic Church opens more and more dialogue with other Christian and indeed non-Christian faiths the selection of the next Pontiff is of supreme importance. It is for those reasons, and of course my deep Catholic faith that I decided to read this book.
I am very happy to say that John Allen has written a book that will not only be informative to life-long Catholics but also to new Catholics, Protestants and anyone else who finds this subject to be of interest. He very clearly enunciates the differences that exist within the College of Cardinals on all sorts of issues, both spiritual and temporal. He also leads his readers through the side issues that may also decide the conclave's choice. As examples, many within the Church apparently would like to see a third world Pope, there is little chance that John Paul's successor will be from Eastern Europe, and because of John Paul's long tenure there is little chance that the next Pope will be young. That thought had never crossed my mind but apparently many of the Cardinals are not fond of long reigns.
The best part of this book however, was the section dealing with the details of how a new Pope is elected. Allen takes his readers on a step by step journey through the process, from the Pope's death until his successor is elected and he accepts the job. It is a fascinating process and Allen does a tremendous job making it understandable and highly easy to read. There is even a glossary at the back of the book to help the reader keep up with some of the titles and terms used in the book. Thanks to John Allen I now know just what a Cardinal is, and that knowledge alone was well worth the price of the book.
Rating:
Summary: A Protestant prospective.
Review: The election of a new Pope will obviously have a great impact on the lives of the One Billion or so Catholics around the world. The selection of a new Holy Father however, will also have a much more far-reaching impact on the rest of us than we may realize. Not only does the Pope have a great influence on world affairs but as the Catholic Church opens more and more dialogue with other Christian and indeed non-Christian faiths the selection of the next Pontiff is of supreme importance. It is for those reasons, and my deep respect for the Catholic faith that I decided to read this book. I am very happy to say that John Allen has written a book that will not only be informative to life-long Catholics but also to Methodists like myself. He very clearly enunciates the differences that exist within the College of Cardinals on all sorts of issues, both spiritual and temporal. He also leads his readers through the side issues that may also decide the conclave's choice. As examples, many within the Church apparently would like to see a third world Pope, there is little chance that John Paul's successor will be from Eastern Europe, and because of John Paul's long tenure there is little chance that the next Pope will be young. That thought had never crossed my mind but apparently many of the Cardinals are not fond of long reigns. The best part of this book however, was the section dealing with the details of how a new Pope is elected. Allen takes his readers on a step by step journey through the process, from the Pope's death until his successor is elected and he accepts the job. It is a fascinating process and Allen does a tremendous job making it understandable and highly easy to read. There is even a glossary at the back of the book to help the reader keep up with some of the titles and terms used in the book. Thanks to John Allen I now know just what a Cardinal is, and that knowledge alone was well worth the price of the book.
Rating:
Summary: A helpful (if partisan) guide to the next pope's election
Review: There is a vertiable sub-genre of books anticipating, analyzing, and seeking to influence the next conclave. John Allen's highly readable "Conclave" is the latest installment; specifically, it follows in the footsteps of Margaret Hebblethwaite's extensive 2000 revision of her late husband's "The Next Pope." Other books in the genre come in the form of political science (Father Thomas J. Reese's "Inside the Vatican"), quasi-history (Gary Wills' "Hitler's Pope," Francis Burkle-Young's "Passing the Keys"), and fiction (Edward Sheehan's elegant "Cardinal Galsworthy," Father Andrew Greeley's paper-thin "White Smoke," Malachi Martin's "Windswept House"). Both Allen and Hebblethwaite are votaries of the "Catholic left," and share an agenda that seeks to conform (or "reform") 2000 years of Church doctrine, discipline and tradition to the political agenda of the contemporary cultural left. This involves the "devolution" or "decentralization" of authority in the Church, and greater "innovation" and "experimentation" with Catholic doctrine. The Church is an instrument to achieve political ambitions: moral decentralization coupled with political centralization, the Netherlands writ worldwide. Above all else, success in this program lies in electing a "reformist" Pope, someone who "gets it," as the saying goes. Allen's chapter on "Voting Issues" is understandable in this context. But to his credit he gives some space to fairly describing the reasoning of those who defend traditional Church teachings. Allen's chapter on "How the Conclave Works" is also quite good. It describes the unfurling of events in the aftermath of a pope's death: from destroying the "ring of the fisherman" through the novemdiales (nine days of mourning), to the conclave itself, the announcement "habemus papam" (we have a pope"), and the installation mass of the new pope. Allen even suggest the restaurants in Rome that journalists will watch to see which cardinals are dining together, and what that means. The book's categorization of the cardinals into four "political parties" is imperfect but acute, and not entirely unlike that of traditionalist Russell Shaw. It is a valuable resource for those new to this area and seeking to make sense of over 120 electors. Border Patrol cardinals want to take the world up on its boast that "diversity" is the highest value by preserving space for the Universal Church's Deposit of Faith against the hostile forces of cotemporary culture. Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Munich, the great theologian, is a leader among these cardinals. Salt of the Earth Integralists (or "restorationists" in another description) want Church teaching to be realized in civil law. Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican secretary of state, and Cardinal Norberto Rivera Carrera of Mexico City are among this group. Salt of the Earth-Social Justice cardinals focus on using Church credibility to force government action on "social justice" issues. The classic examples of this type are the Brazilian Cardinals Paulo Evaristo Arns and Aloisio Lorscheider; Cardinals Dionigi Tettamanzi of Genoa and Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa (Honduras) are among their number, too. Finally, Reformist cardinals seek a fundamental restructuring of the Church, devolving power from the pope and permitting greater experimentation with church doctrine and discipline. Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini of Milan is the leader of these cardinals. There is necessarily overlap between the Border Patrol and Integralist cardinals, and between the Reformist and Social Justice cardinals. Also, many cardinals do not fit comfortably into one category - e.g., Cardinal Jaimie Sin of Manila -- would be considered both a Social Justice Cardinal and, to a certain degree, a Border Patrol cardinal. One of the shortcomings of this book is its failure to discuss the role of Grand Electors in the conclave, those cardinals who by virtue of their knowledge of languages or personal authority can strongly influence the vote of other cardinals. Even among a flock of shepherds, some are sheep; indeed, there are likely to be far more sheep than shepherds. Yet there is no consideration of the impact of the recent deaths of three cardinals thought to be likely Grand Electors -- Cardinals O'Connor of New York, Bernardin of Chicago, and Hume of Westminster (London). The book also does not take account of recent scandals in Belgium that might effect one of Allen's favorite Reformist Cardinals (Godfried Danneels) or the hostile comments of another favorite (Social Justice Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa ) on the American media, which (together with he worldwide media) Allen believes will have the greatest impact on who is elected. (Imagine the editorial boards of the Guardian, Le Monde and the New York Times sitting in conclave.) Probably of greatest interest to readers will be Allen's discussion of his "top 20" prospects for election. Allen and Hebblethwaite make two contrary assumptions - he says Italian option is not the most likely, she says it is; he says the cardinals do not know each other well, she says they know each other better than ever before - and yet they they choose many of the same cardinals as their leading candidates, showing the powerful combination of politics and sentiment whatever the factual assumptions. Martini of Milan is very much the sentimental favorite of Allen, with Tettamanzi of Genoa being an evidently acceptable fall-back option. Allen also places in his top twenty - one of whom, he says, is very likely to be elected the next pope - several cardinals that would find it very difficult to be elected because of their pronounced hostility to Church tradition - e.g., Cardinals Walter Kasper of Rotterdam-Stuttgart and Karl Lehmann of Mainz (Germany) - and excludes other that appear far more "papabile" (or electable) - e.g., Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela of Madrid. Other names - e.g., Cardinal Walter Napier of Durban (South Africa) - that have nod widely appeared on other lists seem to make an appearance here only to offset cardinals that Allen would find less congenial. (Napier seems to be there to provide an African alternative to Border Patrol Cardinal Francis Arinze of Nigeria, who is widely considered papabile.) A rough count of the entire college on the basis of Allen's descriptions suggests there are approximately 74 Border Patrol and Integralist cardinals and 47 Reformist and Social Justice cardinals. Some will drift where momentum pulls them, thus highlighting the role of Grand Electors. The count also suggests the greater likelihood (or at least pronounced plausibility) of the election of Cardinal Ratzinger (a possibility Hebblethwaite takes seriously and is, surprisingly, open to, but one that Allen totally excludes), Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn of Vienna (who Allen in similar language to Hebblethwaite dismisses, despite his appearance in the "top 20") and Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger of Paris (here too, both authors use the same explanations to diminish his electability).
Overall, Allen's selection of his top 20 reflects his view that he Church suffers from a crisis of institutions, not a crisis of faith; and this explains the identities of his favorites. But what he never explains is why the Church should have as its supreme leader those among his top 20 (Martini, Kasper, Lehmann, Danneels, among others) who want to give up the good fight and surrender to the worst instincts of contemporary culture. As such, though the book, filtered for partisanship, is a good guide to the next pope's election, it struggles to get past its ideological moorings.
Rating:
Summary: A good overview
Review: This book delivers exactly what the title tells you it will, but I think it reads a little more interestingly than that nuts & bolts description might lead you to believe. John Allen also gives fascinating bits from the history of the papal elections, but then gets down to a straight-forward assessment of the current political climate at the Vatican. He also gives a helpful overview of all the members of the College of Cardinals, from whom the next pope will be chosen. It's a quick and enjoyable read if you're interested in the subject. At times I wonder if Allen doesn't have more conservative leanings, but I'm not taking off points for that because in the end I think he's striving to be as objective as possible.
|
