Papal Conclave 2013 Version

Good Friday to all.

This March I will do my level best to update this blog, as frequently, as possible in regards to the upcoming Papal Conclave, 2013 version.

As of this morning, the College of Cardinals, as headed by His Eminence, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, has announced that they will meet on Monday, March 4th, 9:30 am, Rome time, to begin the process of setting the date for the actual conclave.

The Carmerlengo, Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, is now in charge, administratively, of the See of the Apostle St. Peter, which remains in a state of Sede Vacante.

In no particular order, the following 5 cardinals are amongst my personal favorites, which by no means indicates that I think they will be picked, other than, perhaps, Cardinal Angelo Scola, Archbishop of Milan:

1. Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York-Head of the USCCB
2. Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Quebec, Canada-Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops
3. Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez of Honduras-President of Caritas Internationalis
4. Cardinal Leandro Sandri of Argentina-Prefect of the Congregation of Oriental Churches
5. Aforementioned Cardinal Scola of Italy-Patriarch of Venice

MercoPress has a list, additionally, of some more alternative candidates with an emphasis on South America.

On a personal note, I would like to divulge and denote that Cardinal Rodriguez is the great uncle of my niece.

In terms of others that have greater insight than I into these matters, I would urge my readers to access, via the embedded links on their names, these individuals:

Adam Brickley, a master historian of Papal conclaves & prognosticator.
Raymond Arroyo, lead anchor at EWTN Catholic global network.
Dr. Robert Moynihan, Vaticanologist based in Rome.
John Allen, Jr., renowned journalist and Papal expert.

MercoPress has a list, additionally, of some more alternatived

Please remember that you can follow my updates on Twitter, as well.

Wishing everyone a happy and safe weekend...Vaya con Dios.

Papible Candidates For March Conclave

Business Insider's list of papible candidates is topped by Cardinal Peter Turkson from Ghana.

Italian Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco

Cardinal Marc Ouellet from Canada 

My preferred candidate is US Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York 

There are many others on the Business Insider list, which can be accessed here

Some Latin American candidates, not necessarily on the list, which one must seriously consider:

Cardinal Leandro Sandri from Argentina 

Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga from Honduras
(Personal note: This Cardinal is the great uncle of my niece)

Honduran Cardinal Rodriguez in Rome

Zenit:

VATICAN CITY, SEPT. 23, 2009 (Zenit.org).- As the political crisis in Honduras continues to escalate, Benedict XVI today spoke with the president of the Honduran episcopal conference.

The Pope and Cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga spoke privately after today's general audience. The Vatican has not given details of the conversation.

The cardinal, archbishop of Tegucigalpa, is also president of Caritas Internationalis.

The political situation in Honduras continues to be delicate: President Manuel Zelaya, accused by many Hondurans of breaking constitutional law with an attempt to extend his term, was ousted on June 28. He quickly tried to return to Honduras and retake power, but his attempts failed. Unable to make it back to his nation, he set up camp near the border in Nicaragua.

However, on Monday, Zelaya succeeded at secretly entering the Honduran capital and is now holed up in the Brazilian embassy. The government of interim President Roberto Micheletti has placed the city under a strict curfew.

Papal rumors

Meanwhile, a rumor circulating in the press that the Holy Father recently spoke with a Honduran prelate and opposed Zelaya's deposition is false. ZENIT asked Vatican spokesman Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi to confirm that in the last few days, the Pope met for some 15 minutes with Bishop Luis Santos Villeda of Santa Rosa de Copan.

The spokesman explained that the Holy Father's meeting with the bishop was in June of last year, during the Honduran bishops' five-yearly visit to Rome.

"Obviously there was no mention of the institutional crisis in Honduras," Father Lombardi stated, "since the problem simply didn't yet exist."

Pope Benedict XVI waves to the faithful as he leaves the Paul VI hall at the end of his weekly general audience at the Vatican September 23, 2009. (Daylife-AP, Reuters, Getty Images)

Honduran Cardinal Supports the Micheletti Government

His Eminence Cardinal Rodriguez articulates the Catholic Church's position regarding the political occurences in Honduras:

On July 4, 2009, Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez read a statement signed by the 11 Catholic bishops of Honduras stating their position on the political situation and their hopes for Honduras. (English transcript included in the video.) At the end he makes a personal plea to Mel Zelaya to not return to Honduras right now to avoid a blood bath. He reminds Zelaya, a close personal friend of the Cardinal, of three of the commandments, and that to date, not one person had died in the conflict in Honduras.

The second part of the plea was shown over and over again on television during that day.Additionally, another priest made an emergency call to CNN just prior to Zelaya's meeting with the OAS that day, pleading with Zelaya not to return, begging him not to be the cause of bloodshed.

As we know, Mel Zelaya ignored the pleas and tried to return to Honduras. His plane was refused landing and one person was killed in the riot outside the airport grounds.Cardinal Rodriguez was nominated as a potential successor to Pope John Paul II in April 2005.

He is widely respected among Catholic and non-Catholic people of Honduras. From Wikipedia: Widely viewed as a moderate, he is considered a rising star of the Latin American Church. His campaign for human rights and the poor have won widespread praise. Cardinal Rodríguez is further admired as a dynamic pastor who brokered peace accords with rebels and led rebuilding efforts after a natural disaster.

He is an outspoken proponent of the cancellation of Third World debt.

Zelaya had this to say about his friend and priest: "The Cardinal betrayed the people, the poor. He took off his robes to put on a military uniform. And with his words, he really contributed to the assassinations that have taken place in Honduras."

Hat Tip: La Gringa's Blog

Zelaya Crosses Into Honduras, Then Backtracks

Related Links:

Live video up link via Chavez news network, TeleSur

Facebook pics of Zelaya at and crossing the border

More border information regarding Zelaya's impetuousness

Zelaya entered a few feet into Honduran territory

For security reasons Mel has now returned to Nicaragua

Zelaya informed a colonel that went to go speak to him halfway that he was his "lawful commander and chief"

Adolfo Sevilla, Honduran Minister of Defense, says that to Legion of Doom Chief, Hugo Chavez, Zelaya is worth more dead than alive

Via air or via land, Zelaya says he will be in Honduras today/tonight

National Police has a plan and contingencies in place in order to arrest Zelaya

Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales, a "man of peace"?

National Party candidate, Pepe Lobo, wins the right to have his face on the top of the November presidential ballot

Mel travels with a guide from his master, Venezuelan FM Nicolas Maduro

State Department and Hillary Clinton criticize Zelaya for attempting to return as not prudent

Prodigious march in San Pedro Sula against the return of Zelaya and in favor of the Micheletti government

Latin American Bishops offer support to Honduran Cardinal Óscar Rodíguez Madariaga

Will Zelaya truly be flying to Washington DC this Tuesday, as well?

Micheletti holds Hugo Chavez, Daniel Ortega and Mel Zelaya responsible for any potential bloodbath

Papal Blessing Directed at Honduras

Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, conveys a special blessing for Honduras:

"I would to invite you to pray for that country so dear to the maternal intercession of Our Lady of Suyapa,” he said. “May the leaders of the nation and all its inhabitants patiently walk the path of dialogue, mutual understanding and reconciliation. This is possible if, setting aside personal interests, everyone strives to seek the truth and to tenaciously pursue the common good: this is the condition for ensuring peaceful coexistence and genuine democratic life! To the Honduran people I assure my prayers and impart a special Apostolic Blessing."

Related Links:

US State Department under Clinton opposed the re-election of OAS Chief Insulza

Socialist Insulza maligns right-wing forces in America as impeding his desired continuance in his post

San Jose talks to resume in 8 days, as per Arias

Chavez and Fidel challenge Obama to retire US troops from the Soto Cano-Palmerola military base

Curfew has been ended throughout Honduran territory

New government inherits $13.7 billion lempiras in debt racked up by Zelaya, approximately $685 million USD

CNN en Espanol Reporter Krupskaia Alis Rumazo is a Sandinista partisan & worked as a diplomat for Nicaraguan thug, Daniel Ortega

Pro-Chavez Venezuelan "journalists" detained, leave Honduras

Chavez quotes JFK

Cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez excoriates in caustic terms Zelaya as desiring to create a dictatorship, states that his personal safety has been threatened, that Mel has been violating the constitution for a long while, that was occurred in Honduras was NOT a coup and that Mel should stay out of Honduras

Cardinal Rodriguez gave an interview to Clarin

Round Up of San Jose Talks

Friday Links & Related Articles:

CEAL has hired Lanny Davis and his high powered lobbying firm to represent Honduras' interest in DC

State Dept. freezes $20 million in aid to Honduras, could get worse

Miami Herald, Granma on Biscayne Bay, attacks Micheletti

Zelaya protests are filled with Marxist symbols, especially that of Che Guevara

Honduran attorney Miguel Estrada explains legal justification for removal

Micheletti's Representatives leave San Jose, return home

US Congress debates Zelaya and Honduras

Telemundo links Zelaya's son, using state resources, with drug traffickers

Zelaya relative Chimirri sent directly to federal pen, due to corruption

Otto Reich defends new government, says it is legitimate

US Senators and Congressmen ask Obama to rethink pro-Chavez Honduras policy

Mel's regional tour continues back to DC, who is paying for this?

Liberal Party in Honduras asks to move up November elections

Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez believes Zelaya will not return

Micheletti's Plane Denied Access over Nicaragua

Picture above is the Honduran aircraft taking President Micheletti to San Jose, Costa Rica, while the 2nd photo corresponds to Republican Rep. Ros-Lehtinen of Florida with former Honduran Pres. Ricardo Maduro. (2002-2006)

Related Developments:

Cabinet shake-up, Ortez Colindres moves to Justice and Roberto Flores Bermúdez, former Ambassador to US becomes Foreign Minister

Nicaragua's Marxist government denies Micheletti's flight plan over its air space

Alternate flight routes to be utilized, delaying arrival

Former Nationalist Party Honduran President Maduro lobbies congress for support of new, Liberal Party unity government

Possible hypothetical scenarios of negotiations

Raul Castro orders back sports related advisers to Cuba

Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen introduces bill to cut funds to OAS

Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez denotes how Chavez wants to control Honduras and the variety of insults and threats hurled against him by the Venezuelan thug

More possible outcomes to talks in Costa Rica

Alba and Petro Caribe funds used for notorious efforts

Honduran Reality Check!

Update 1: Sen. DeMint never ceases to amaze me...God Bless you Sir!


Hat Tip: Natalie Kafie

Please contact the good Senator from South Carolina and echo your appreciation here.
Constitutional Honduran President Roberto Micheletti Bain (Daylife-Reuters)

Exposing the truth about the players in the Honduras dilemma:

President Obama has denounced the actions taken by the Honduran Congress, Supreme Court and military, all actions taken under the rule of law -- Honduran law -- in the nonviolent arrest and removal from office of strongman (caudillo) Manuel Zelaya. President Obama's denunciation was based, using Jay D. Homnick's apt phrase, on "standard collegiate peacenik rhetoric."

Joining in this shame are the UN General Assembly that approved a resolution by consensus without a formal vote on June 30 (press release; text), and the Organization of American States (OAS) that issued a resolution by acclamation on July 5 (press release and text).

Among the supporters of Zelaya are the caudillo of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, the president of the United Nations General Assembly, and the secretary general of the OAS. Who are the latter two?

The General Secretary of the OAS is José Miguel Insulza. He is a Chilean lawyer who obtained an M.A. in political science from the University of Michigan. He was a part of the Marxist Allende government and was exiled from Chile from 1973 to 1988.

The president of the United Nations General Assembly is Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann. From 1979 to 1990 he was the Foreign Minister of the Marxist, Sandinista, Nicaraguan government. His official biography on the United Nations website, presumably one approved by d'Escoto, repeatedly states that he is a Catholic priest. The biography ignores the fact that the Vatican suspended his priestly faculties, and those of two other Sandinista priests, Ernesto and Fernando Cardenal, in the 1980s, more than 20 years ago.

In his Inaugural Address, President Kennedy issued a warning to former colonies who sought to model themselves after the Soviet Union. He warned them to defend their own freedoms and not seek power by riding the back of the Soviet tiger lest they end up inside. Today, his words serve as a warning to President Obama. Instead of supporting the Hondurans who are defending their freedom, he is riding the tigers of international socialists like Zelaya, Chavez, d'Escoto and Insulza. He will end up inside.

Related Links:

Senator John McCain demonstrates his foreign policy savvy

Chavez directly orchestrated Zelaya's failed attempt to land, grievously violating Honduran national air space

Enrique Florez Lanza, Zelaya's fugitive chief of staff, caught inflgrante, via video stealing over $2 million USD from official state bank

Foggy Bottom intrigue, Honduran Ambassador and staff ousted, as per Zelaya's request....what a charade

US suspends economic aid to Honduras, but not humanitarian

Massive Tegucigalpa crowds continue to back Micheletti

Honduran trade groups urge citizens to buy national products

Toncontin back to normal

Cardenal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez rejects Venezuelan and international pressures against Honduras

His Eminence Cardinal Rodriguez states that Zelaya mocked and broke the law on a plethora of occasions

Honduran Cardinal Tells Mel: Stay Away

Cardinal admonishes ousted petty tyrant, Mel Zelaya, to desist:

TEGUCIGALPA -- A top church leader called on ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to reconsider his return, and to recall three of the Ten Commandments.

Local channels interrupted their regular programming to air a statement by Tegucigalpa's Archbishop Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Saturday morning, who addressed viewers in front of a Honduran flag and a painting of Jesus Christ.*

''On the day of your inauguration you cited three commandments of the rules of God -- not to lie, not to steal, not to kill,'' Rodríguez said. ``If you respect life, if you love life. . .please meditate because if not it could be too late.''

Rodríguez called on the Organization of American States (OAS) and other world leaders to reconsider their support of Zelaya.

Friday night, Honduras' new government withdrew from the InterAmerican diplomatic union following a visit from the organization's president José Miguel Insulza, who had attempted to broker a deal for Zelaya's return.

''To the Organization of American States, please pay attention to everything illegal that was happening before the 28th of June,'' Rodríguez said. ``This is a community that will define our own destiny without any unilateral pressures. We renounce any blockades, which will only hurt the poor.''

Dressed in the traditional black shirt, coat, and priestly white collar, Rodríguez said he spoke on behalf of 11 other Catholic bishops who signed a statement ``in support of peace. (Picture courtesy of El Heraldo)

Salvador Allende devotee and Chavez errand boy Insulza got no satisfaction in Tegucigapla:

Insulza, who was in Tegulcigalpa on Friday, met with the country's Supreme Court, attorney general and other political figures.

"We wanted to ask that this situation be reversed," Insulza told reporters after the meeting. "Unfortunately, one must say that there appears to be no willingness to do this."

Honduras' Supreme Court, which had authorized the coup, said it would not agree to reinstate the toppled leftist leader.

Micheletti's interim government — which has blamed Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for stoking the crisis — appeared ready to settle in for the long haul.

"If Honduras is out of the OAS, well, we will be isolated ... little by little we will regain the confidence of other nations, because we are a valiant people who have said 'enough' to Chavez," said Micheletti's assistant foreign minister, Martha Lorena Alvarado.

"We will not retreat," she said, "and Zelaya's return is not negotiable."

Micheletti led a raucous chant of "Democracy!" before a giant crowd Friday waving blue-and-white Honduran flags in front of the palace he has occupied since Zelaya was seized by soldiers on June 28 and flown into exile.

"I am the president of all Hondurans," he proclaimed, as police helicopters circled over the heavily guarded palace. (Read entire article)

Related Links:

Deputy Foreign Minister Marta Lorena Alvarado officially informs OAS that Honduras is leaving the organization

Zelaya threatens to return on Sunday via Tegucigalpa

Canada asks Mel to postpone his return

Video of Cardinal's speech

Insulza refused to meet with Pres. Micheletti who categorizes the OAS leader as "intransigent"

Honduras anuncia retiro de OEA
by noticias24

Hat Tip: Fausta's Blog

Hat Tip: Christopher Yochum

*For the record, Oscar Andres Rodriguez is a Cardinal and related to my niece