Fr. Gerald Murray, of St. Joseph's Church in New York City, told Newsmax Thursday that the Catholic Church's College of Cardinals is participating in a "sacred election" this week as it meets in Rome to elect the next Pope.
Voting in the papal conclave had culminated in black smoke rising from the chimney at the Sistine Chapel on Wednesday — indicating that no new Pope had been chosen — and Thursday's morning votes revealed the Chair of St. Peter was still vacant.
Murray told "Wake Up America" on location in Vatican City that "there is obviously division" within the conclave "because different candidates are getting votes."
"Now what happens is, as each vote goes on — so, two this morning, two this afternoon — the electors will gauge who is rising in the polls, who's going down, and then they may have to switch their vote to their second favorite rather than their first pick," he said.
Unlike in other types of leadership conventions, the voting in the conclave "is all done in silence," Murray said.
"Each cardinal gets up from his position at the table, walks up the aisle in the Sistine Chapel and places the ballot in the urn, and during that, it's all silent," he said. "So they write down only when the toll is given, meaning at the end, the counters will announce this vote was given to this cardinal, next vote to this cardinal. So they mark them down, they tally it up, they see who's ahead, who's falling behind."
Each of the cardinals participating in the conclave understands "they have a responsibility that God has placed on their shoulders," Murray said, in selecting a new leader for the world's 1.4 billion Catholic faithful.
"This is a sacred election, and they're using that time to ask for guidance," he said, referring to the silence in the chapel. "Not only who do they like, but who will be good for the church because sometimes that's going to be a third choice."
Asked if the cardinals can talk among themselves about who they're voting for when they break for meals, Murray said, "Absolutely."
"According to what's reported, subsequently, yes they do go around, certain cardinals will say, 'I like this man, I'm voting for him; I think you should do the same,'" he said. "It's a little bit of politicking, but in the good sense because as the voting is going on, no one's giving speeches and saying, 'Vote for me.' So if someone has got a certain number of votes, then maybe a cardinal who has a third the number of the votes, they say, 'Well, whoever's electing me, I think this is the man,' and put the word out on the street, so to speak."
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