ATLANTA — Members of the Atlanta Archdiocese joined people around the world watching the Papal Conclave unfold in Vatican City on Wednesday.
Washington D.C. Cardinal Wilton Gregory is one of the 10 US cardinals participating in the voting process.
Channel 2’s Karyn Greer spoke to a priest who was ordained by Cardinal Gregory when he was the Archbishop of Atlanta.
Father Daniel Ketter serves as a judicial vicar, a judge in the Atlanta Archdiocese who handles cases not reserved for the bishop.
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“You know, Karyn, I’ve really enjoyed seeing him in these images because he ordained me. He ordained me a priest and was very, very good to me in the years that he was here and I was a seminarian and then a priest,” Ketter said.
Like thousands of others, he watched the opening moments of this historic Papal Conclave unfold.
“It’s inspiring, moving to watch it unfold, and particularly as a Catholic to know that this is my family. This is a part of my history as well, our history as Catholics. So it’s obviously a universal phenomenon that eyes across the world are turned to Rome,” Ketter said.
Cardinals from 70 countries around the world are now in the Sistine Chapel for the selection process. This is the most geographically diverse conclave in the faith’s 2,000-year history.
“We can expect the unexpected. I think with this conclave in particular, because as we said earlier, it’s such a diverse pool of electors. And of course, as you know, but maybe many don’t know, they don’t have to elect one of those men in those rooms. Maybe they could elect somebody from outside the voting cardinals who are in the Sistine Chapel,” Ketter said.
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Any baptized Catholic male can be elected pope, regardless of whether or not they’re a member of the priesthood, according to canon law.
The only requirement is that he must be ordained as a bishop upon accepting the election.
But for centuries, the pope has only been chosen from among the Catholic cardinals.
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