Since we're coming up on the papal conclave -- the See will be vacant as of 8 pm this Friday -- I thought I'd point you to a project started by blogger, sometime commenter, and web designer Dorian Speed (of Convolare Design).
Electingthepope.net is a question-and-answer site about the papal election:
Electingthepope.net is a collaborative effort among Catholic writers, bloggers, educators, and catechists. We’ve come together to answer the basic questions that many people have asked about Pope Benedict XVI’s unexpected resignation and the upcoming papal election. Our aim is to provide well-researched, clear answers to questions about these topics and to share other reliable sources of information with our readers....
This site is designed to provide accurate answers to basic questions about Catholic beliefs and practices and isn’t focused on speculation about the results of the conclave or theological discussion. We want this to be a resource for students, teachers, and journalists. ElectingthePope.net is an independent project not affiliated with any Catholic diocese or institution.
Dorian asked me to be part of the site, along with some great other bloggers who may be familiar to you, so I've been having fun combing through the questions and looking for interesting challenges.
The main result, so far, is that I've become very familiar with Universi Dominici Gregis.
Several of my posts are awaiting SEO checks and things, but I have a few of them up. So far the longest one has been an answer to the submitted question, "Will it not appear hypocritical if Cardinal Mahony participates in the conclave? Is there nothing the other cardinals can do to prevent him from participating?"
(Short answer: (a) The only person who can stop him, under the rules, is Pope Benedict XVI, and he only has until 8 PM Friday. (b) Following rules is generally thought to be a good idea when it comes to elections.)
(Just as an aside -- you think you are facing a long to-do list this Monday morning? Wonder what the Holy Father's looks like. Got to get all of this done by Friday 8 PM.)
The Holy Father is going to have to revise his list - he only has until Thursday at 8pm! I have been super-impressed with your handling of the answer to the Cardinal Mahony question. Did you see that the Pope issued a document today and the first provision applies to the criticisms about Cardinal Mahony?
Posted by: nancyo | 25 February 2013 at 12:08 PM