By Miguel Murado

WHILE THEY examine the skies over Rome to find the white smoke, the journalists discuss the candidates’ chances of becoming Pope. And yet, in theory, the result has already been decided, at least for those who believe the dogma. For them, this is a vote with a single voter, the Holy Spirit, who knows perfectly well what he is going to vote. Like in some countries, Heaven is ruled by a three-party coalition (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit), but only the Holy Spirit is registered to vote at the Pope’s election. His is a decided vote, because he always votes the same and never changes his mind no matter what. At least in theory.

In theory, it’s not a hard job for the Holy Spirit: not only is he the sole voter, he is also the sole judge of his appointee’s performance, and he has the ability to prolong his term in office at will, or cut it short by means of that definitive vote of no confidence which is death. Moreover, the Holy Spirit endows his appointee with the gift of infallibility, a much better thing than an absolute majority in Parliament. An omniscient voter who elects an infallible leader; in principle, at least, nothing should go wrong.

And yet, the truth is that even most believers wait for the result with a reserve of wariness. Any History student can recite the list of scandals and wrongs that, now and then, have shaken the throne of Peter, the list of anti-Popes (there were two or three at a time) which can be interpreted as moments of the Holy Spirit’s indecision and gave way to something that seems more like Spanish politics than the Vatican’s: rival political leaders who consider themselves infallible.

In fact, although the Holy Spirit inspires all the cardinalsto vote for the same name, there are always those who write another, nobody knows why, on the ballot that is laterburned in the stove of the Sistine Chapel. Maybe the cardinals suspect that sometimes the Holy Spirit can make mistakes too. More probably, and as the director of an electoral campaign would say, the Holy Spirit is not a good communicator. But there are also those who wonder: given the state the world is in, it may just be that sometimes the Holy Spirit abstains.

(Miguel Murado is a former Middle East correspondent and current political analyst for the Spanish newspaper La Voz de Galicia)

Miguel Murado
La Voz de Galicia, 19 April 2005