cardinals, and i think surprised a lot of people with how funny, how smart, how wise he was. and he won over a lot of favors. so, i think the other thing that you have to remember is that while they re deeply in prayer, they are also human beings, going into this conclave. and they are looking, like you and me, for who they feel can inspire them and lead the church forward. father mark, when we talk about, and chris brings up the italian influence, there are more italian electors than any other country. again, pope benedict has appointed more than half of the voting cardinals. do you think that that will influence, certainly, with knowing that pope benedict is still alive, and will be pope emeritus, do you think that that will influence how the cardinals vote, thinking of how they would like to see pope emeritus benedict, at least his legacy, remembered? well, i think the block, as they say, of the italians, will
and each cardinal will be taking note of the numbers and looking for the 77 to be reached. father mark and george and chris, i want you to stand by as we listen to the oath being given. [ speaking foreign language ] part of what they re saying, they are in unison, out loud say we promise and swear to observe with the greatest fidelity. with all persons, clerical or lay, secretly anything and regarding what occurs in the place of the election. george, as i mentioned before, pope benedict, appointed more than half of the voting cardinals there today. should that give us an indication of their back grounds and that they themselves might
definitely influence and definitely come together, and that s always been the case. it s always the possibility that they ll want to influence, but one thing that s really interesting and curious and something that i hadn t seen before in the other conclave is there s actually italians speaking about going outside italy, looking for a holy father outside italy. where you would think after a polish pope and a german pope, they would want to come back to the mother country, but they re open to the possibility, see the advantages. and so that s an interesting it s an interesting insight that actually surprised me. i ve lived here in italy for 12 years and i didn t expect that. but we re seeing that. chris, the other important thing, though, to point out, is the matter of time, we ve had the trivia of conclaves to discuss, as we ve been ramping up to this. but no one is expecting this to be something quick, where we emerge with a new pope today. however, there is the chance to get this
the new pope to wear, as soon as he is elected, in sizes small, medium and large. american cardinal, timothy dolan and his daily radio message yesterday said that he was anxious to get started after days of meetings. it was remarkably enriching and uplifting, but i m kind of happy they re over, because we came here to elect a pope. joining me live from the afghanistan are msnbc s chris jansi jansing, elizabeth lev, and father mark heydo, international director for the vatican museums. chris, i want to start with you. there appears to be this divide among the cardinalsov s over th direction of the church, as we look at the way the american press is talking about this. this l.a. times says the electors have appeared to have split in two different groups and are backing angelo scola and cardinal who is work at the vatican are backing the brazilcan cardinal, odilo scherer. what are you hearing from people
lead this church. where that person comes from is a matter of political boundaries, most of which come into play long before or long after they ve been electing popes in the catholic church. senator jim riche of idaho, sir, thanks for joining our coverage. we appreciate it. glad to do it. want to take you back now to vatican city and our panel who is standing by for us at the vatican. we have msnbc s chris jansing, george weigel, msnbc vatican analyst, as well as mark heydo, the international director for vatican museums. as we watch this, we are now seeing the ramp-up to the official swearing in ceremony. explain what we will see in the next couple of minutes. the cardinals will take an oath to preserve the confidentiality of the process, to vote for him who they believe