The Conclave to appoint a new Pope

is underway. Many of us will wonder what is going on behind those locked doors. I do not envy the men concerned.

Yes, they are simply men. They are simply ordinary human beings like the rest of us, perhaps a little more able or intelligent than some but still people who need to eat and sleep like the rest of us.

It is said that Pope Francis stood in the breakfast queue the morning after his election and asked, "What have you done to me?" It is said he had already sent the two Swiss guards outside his door off to have their own breakfast.  

Those two things marked a change from the start. He could have had his own staff, including his own chef. It is said he continued to try and keep his life, and that of those around him, as simple as possible. We will probably never know how much of it is true. 

I do know the stories of him going out into Rome at night and just mixing with "ordinary" people are likely to be true. A friend of mine saw him out on the streets one night. The local Romans were not mobbing him. He was simply talking with some young people. They were all laughing. Had he told a joke? It is possible.

There is no question that the person chosen to be the next Pope will have a position of influence. That ability to influence may be less than many people believe. There are all the politics of any big organisation involved and, in the Vatican, these are undoubtedly something which prevents change as much as causes it.

I have been thinking of all things of course. There was the election of a President in another country, America, which had caused a tsunami of shock waves around the world. The election in this country was heavily influenced by that result. It means we are now likely to have not just another three years but six or more of the same inept policies. Whether the Opposition would have been much better is something we will never know. Most of us are simply trying to be grateful that we do not live in America and wondering how we are going to get ourselves out of the mess which their President is causing us. Their President will be gone at their next Presidential election.

The new Pope will, unless he chooses to resign as Pope Benedict did, be there for life. Pope Francis must have longed to resign but he apparently believed he had a duty to remain on duty. Perhaps that is the best way to have it if someone is still mentally competent. Those who do not want the power bestowed on them may be those who best required to wield it.