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The Vatican in the new millennium

Bringing Rome Back Home

Part IV: April 18, 2005

For religion reporters who aren't in Rome this month, here are some more ideas to get your creative juices flowing for stories about the Catholic Church – and beyond. ReligionLink will update them as events change.

DEVOTION AND DOLLARS

Even before Pope John Paul II drew his final breath, vendors selling rosaries and candles and pope key-chains began setting up stands outside the gates of the Vatican. And the demand for memorabilia of this beloved pope - for the faithful to have something tangible to remember him, perhaps in hopes that he will be named John Paul the Great - has been steadily growing. Religious stores and Catholic booksellers (some of which have set up condolence books for people to sign) are selling out of photographs and posters of the pope; gift shops at museums and churches have seen people rush in to buy everything from ornamental wooden Polish eggs to prayer cards. The pope's most recent book has risen on the best-seller chart at Amazon.com, and sales of souvenirs from John Paul's many trips (Pope John Paul II bobble heads, pope-on-a-rope soap) are suddenly hot items on eBay. For retailers, it's a sensitive line to walk: meeting the demand and honoring the pope's memory without seeming ghoulish or mercenary. And there's more to come as soon as a new pope is named - churches are placing advance orders for white-and-gold bunting, and who wants to bet there won't be commemorative Conclave T-shirts?

VIRTUAL RITUAL

While millions swarmed to Rome to pay respects to John Paul or to attend his funeral, there was a virtual wake on the Internet rivaled only by the digital outpouring over the death of Princess Diana. Beliefnet has a prayer e-card and a site to light a virtual candle for the pontiff. Chat rooms and web sites are full of commiserating mourners, and those who made it to Rome are often providing cell phone or email commentary for the grieving back home who couldn't make it. This April 8, 2005, International Herald Tribune story, "The Cellphone as Church Chronicle, Creating Digital Relics," shows how mourners at the wake were using technology - video phone in this case - to memorialize the event for friends and family thousands of miles away. This is a great opportunity to localize the pope story, and it is a way to revisit the broader story of spirituality and the Internet, and how it is changing notions of religion and communal practices. Two previously published ReligionLink tips offer a starting point for ideas and sources: "Screeds and creeds: blogging on faith," and "Teens, the Internet and faith: Let's talk," from Aug. 4, 2003.

MAKEOVER AT THE TOP

How will a new pope affect your local Catholic community? The most direct way is by appointing a new bishop, or by transferring the current bishop of your diocese to another, probably larger, diocese or archdiocese. This could happen more quickly than many expect, experts say. For one thing, a new pope likes to put his imprint on the church with a few high-profile appointments. That has a ripple effect, as bishops are moved around to back fill for the men moved up the ladder. Also, bishops must submit their resignation at 75 (they can stay on if the pope chooses, up to 80), and papal experts note that in the last decade of his reign John Paul was appointing older bishops. Some say he appointed men he knew for a long time; others say he did not want to tie his successor's hands. Either way the average age of U.S. bishops went from 59 in 1978, the year John Paul was elected, to nearly 67 in 1999. It is probably higher today. How old is your bishop? If he is not nearing retirement age, is he likely to catch the new pope's eye - and get promoted? Be prepared to prognosticate when the new pope comes out on the balcony.