Despite some chatter in the secular press, on the eve of the conclave to elect a successor to Benedict XVI there appears to be no clear favorite entering the Sisteen Chapel. Some more schooled observers are saying that there may be a long conclave, while Timothy Cardinal Dolan of New York has said that he is eager to get the conclave underway. In a change in procedure representing a more prayerful response to election, the newly elected Pope will have a short period of Eucharistic adoration before appearing on the balcony of the Apostolic Palace for his first Urbi et Orbi blessing.
In many dioceses around the country, special periods of prayer are being planned to coincide with and pray for the start of the new conclave and the election of a new pope. In the Diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee, Bishop Richard F. Stika has asked that a period of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament following a rosary asking the intercession of the Mother of God for the Good of the Church.
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