Wrong Again

I posted earlier that the selection of the next pope is "not for me or any other human to make," implying that the Holy Spirit would do the selecting.

I stand corrected. When asked about this in 1997, Cardinal Ratzinger responded:

“I would not say so, in the sense that the Holy Spirit picks out the pope. ... I would say that the Spirit does not exactly take control of the affair, but rather like a good educator, as it were, leaves us much space, much freedom, without entirely abandoning us. Thus the Spirit’s role should be understood in a much more elastic sense, not that he dictates the candidate for whom one must vote. Probably the only assurance he offers is that the thing cannot be totally ruined.”

To say that the Holy Spirit elects would be to deny the cardinals' free will. As I have already acknowledged, I don't quite understand free will. I do, however, have faith that the Church will survive. As one of Amy Welborn's reader's noted,

"even during the reigns of the worst popes, the Faith was always preserved, and my understanding is that the preservation of the Faith is the protection to us offered by the Holy Spirit. I assume that's what Cdl Ratzinger means when he says the thing cannot be totally ruined."

Let us pray for the cardinals on the eve of this conclave.