PAPAL CONCLAVE 2019
CARDINAL EDUARDO RAMOS ELECTED AS POPE CLEMENT XV
Pope Clement XV greets the crowd outside of St. Peter's Basilica (photo by Pepe Serna)
Portuguese Cardinal Eduardo Ramos has been elected to the papacy three days and nine ballots of voting in the conclave to chose a successor for Pope Victor IV. He has chosen to be known as Clement XV,
Ramos, age 70, has served as the Patriarch of Lisbon since 2011. He is the first Portuguese pope since John XXI, who was pope from 1276 to 1277.
The traditional Latin formulation for announcing a new pope, "Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum: Habemus Papam!", which translated means "I announce great news! We have a pope!", was given by Cardinal Antonio Cacciatore immediately preceded the new pontiff's entrance on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica. The assembled crowd, many of whom had been in attendance since the conclave began, greeted the first new pope of the 21st century with an outpouring of cheers.
In his address to the crowd in St. Peter's Square, the new Bishop of Rome called himself a "simple and humble worker in God’s vineyard," and said that he entrusted his faith and service to God "in the prayers of all men and women of faith and goodwill." Joking in Italian about the timing of his selection on Ash Wednesday, he remarked that "my brothers [in the College of Cardinals] had misplaced the liturgical calendar, but luckily we had plenty of ashes to join the faithful across the world in marking the beginning of Lent."
Vatican spokesmen confirmed that one of Clement's first acts after his election was to place a phone call to Pope Emeritus Victor IV, now residing in a Roman monastery. It is likely that the new pope will visit his predecessor at some point within the next few weeks, according to Vatican insiders.
The selection of the name "Clement", last held by Clement XIV (who was pope from 1769 to 1774) has been taken by many to signal a more conservative direction for the Roman Catholic Church. "The last Pope Clement [XIV] was noted for his suppression of the Jesuits, a group that is considered very liberal within the church." Monsignor Roberto Maggiore told NBS. "It could be a signal to more conservative believers who did not appreciate Victor IV's deviations from previous dogma on certain issues that this new pope will not bend on dogmatic issues."
Others have pointed out another previous "Clement", Clement VII (pope from 1523 to 1534) as an inspiration for the new pope. "Clement VII's papacy was rocky—the Protestant Reformation was in full force, Rome was sacked and the pope briefly imprisoned, and his refusal to annul King Henry VIII of England's marriage led to the creation of the Anglican Church," Maggiore explains. "His papacy was the culmination of his predecessor’s actions or inaction—and that could be something that the new pope is feels his papacy will be like on several fronts."
Born in 1948 in the city of Torres Vedras near the capital of Lisbon, Ramos was ordained a priest in 1979, just a few years after his country transitioned to democracy from the
Estado Novo dictatorship that had ruled the country for forty years. He slowly rose through the ranks of the church in Portugal, although his rise was reportedly slowed by his own decision to pursue a doctorate in both theology and in religious history in the early 1990s rather than be put forward for advancement by his longtime mentor, Cardinal Antonio Ribeiro.
Ramos became auxiliary bishop of Lisbon in 1996, then bishop of Porto, Portugal's second-largest city, in 2004 before becoming Patriarch of Lisbon and a cardinal in 2011. He quickly established himself as a leader of theological conservatives within the church, frequently contrasting with Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith Ambroos Visser, the public, confrontational face of theological opposition to Victor IV's more moderate stances on doctrinal and social issues.
"Everyone in the Vatican respects Cardinal Ramos because it is clear he comes to his opposition [of some of Victor IV's changes to parts of Catholic doctrine] through his background as a historian and has restricted his criticisms of church policy to private disagreements and talks with His Holiness," one Vatican insider said in a story published in Portugal in 2015, contrasting it to Visser's public criticism of the then-pope's positions on several issues such as allowing for the use of birth control in order to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. In Portugal, Ramos is known for his strong support for Catholic doctrine on issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage and women's ordination as well as his keen interest in both encouraging governments to increase investment in education and aid for the poor, calling those "moral necessities for a society with those who can afford to live in comfort, to those who cannot."
Clement XV's inauguration and installation mass will take place on March 10, according to Vatican press reports. It is expected that many nations will send delegations or their heads of state to attend.