Pope Benedict XVI would not have been one of my favourite prelates. He must have known this as he caught me out twice, badly. When white smoke billowed from the Sistine Chapel at almost 4pm on April 19th, 2005, I was in an internet cafe near St Peter’s filing my first reports of the afternoon to Dublin.
It was the second day of the conclave called to elect a successor to Pope John Paul II.
The wifi at the press room in the Vatican broke down intermittently, said to be due to interference from powerful security technology-protecting goings-on in the Sistine Chapel. So I found a small internet cafe not far from St Peter’s.
As I was writing there that day my phone rang. It was George Hook from Newstalk radio. “Have we a pope, Patsy?” he asked. I assured him and his listeners it was far too soon for that. Then I noticed a text from my sister Sinéad in Ballaghaderreen asking “Is that white smoke?” She was watching TV about 2,700km away.
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By now seriously rattled, I noticed the crowds running past the cafe towards St Peter’s. I exhaled purest blue, gathered my things, and ran to the Vatican, arriving in time to hear Chilean cardinal Jorge Medina announce “habemus papam” (we have a pope) and that his name was Benedict XVI.
Years later, on February 11th, 2013, when Benedict announced he would resign as pope, I was in Dublin’s Whitefriar Street Church where the marriage advisory agency Accord was presenting its annual report before the statue of St Valentine.
[ When Pope Benedict resigned 10 years ago, it caused pandemoniumOpens in new window ]
The late Bishop of Elphin Christopher Jones, a genial man, was also there. My phone began to hop with queries from colleagues and radio stations asking was it true Benedict had announced he was resigning. I assured them that of all the popes in all of history, Benedict was the last pope who would take such a radical initiative. Bishop Jones didn’t think so either.
Then, it was confirmed as true. Did I notice St Valentine wink?
I asked Bishop Jones whether he might consider running for the job and be the first Roscommon-born pope. He responded: “No, I’m too old.” He was 76. On election the following month, Pope Francis was 76.
Roscommon’s loss was Argentina’s gain.
Benedict, from Latin benedictus, meaning “blessed”.
