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Article: Few certainties in selection of next pope.
- Article from:
- Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL)
- Article date:
- April 2, 2005
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 Chicago Tribune. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Steve Kloehn and Tom Hundley
VATICAN CITY _ Just moments after his fellow cardinals elected him pontiff in 1978, Pope John Paul II took a moment to marvel at the unexpected turn of events with a key supporter, Cardinal Franz Koenig of Vienna.
"How did it happen?" the new pope asked Koenig, in a story retold by the late biographer Jonathan Kwitney.
"Holy Father," replied a teasing Koenig, "we're bound by secrecy."
Indeed, if it is difficult for the participants to pinpoint just how a cardinal is selected as the successor to St. Peter, it is virtually impossible for outsiders to trace the web of personalities, nationalities, ...