As a Catholic mom of 4, I'm looking for ways to include my kids in the upcoming papal conclave, which can be a wonderful opportunity to engage their curiosity about our faith.
My hope is that following the events together will be a memorable teaching moment that deepens their connection to the worldwide Body of Christ.
If you’d also like to connect your children or students to this historic event, here are five ways to include them in the upcoming papal conclave.
1What is a conclave, anyway?
The first step is just to explain the whole situation and help them understand what’s going on.
My family loves this book, We Have a Pope by Katherine Bogner, which explains exactly how a papal election works in an engaging and kid-friendly way. You can listen to the author read it aloud and find related coloring and activity pages here.
Or watch this quick video (under 2 minutes!) about how popes are elected:
2Pray for the decision
The cardinals face a huge responsibility in electing a new pope to lead the Church. Go to this site and each family member or student can “adopt a cardinal” to pray for, before and during the conclave. Adopting a cardinal helps each person feel personally connected to the process.
After everyone has “adopted” a cardinal, light a candle and take a few moments to pray together for each of them. The site lists specific prayer intentions for the cardinals, such as for their physical health and spiritual strength.
3Learn about the cardinals
Take turns looking up each of your adopted cardinals, including photos and a few facts. You can find a short biography of each one over at Fantasy Conclave (and you might like to fill out the site’s ballot).
Here are a few especially notable cardinals about whom you might like to learn:
- The youngest cardinal: Cardinal Mykola Bychok of Australia is only 45 years old.
- Cardinals who traveled the furthest: While it’s hard to pinpoint exactly who lives the farthest away from Rome, Japan’s two cardinals, Cardinal Isao Kikuchi of Tokyo and Cardinal Manyo Maeda of Osaka-Takamatsu, are certainly contenders.
- The oldest cardinal: Cardinal Angelo Acerbi, born in 1925, is the oldest cardinal at 99.
- Most fun name: My kids are kind of obsessed with the name of Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and have requested that we make pizza balls in his honor, in case you need a fun recipe for the conclave.
- Cardinal with a kid-friendly connection: If your kids are fans of the Madagascar movie (my kids love the lemur song), share that there is a cardinal from Madagascar, Cardinal Désiré Tsarahazana.
4Choose an activity
If you’d like to add another fun activity, here are a few ideas:
Write down each person’s predictions about the conclave: Which cardinal do you think might be elected? What name will the new pope choose? How many days will the election take? Save these to see whose guesses were closest.
Make a craft: Here’s how to make a small paper model of the Sistine Chapel chimney, where the smoke emerges that signals whether or not a new pope has been chosen. And here’s a pope puppet craft, which you can save until after the election and then announce his name.
Play a game: Older kids might enjoy this printable electing a pope game, papal conclave trivia, or papal conclave word search.
5Party when the pope is announced
I’ll never forget the party at my friend’s house after the papal election when we were in high school. Her parents invited what seemed like everyone they knew to their house and ordered the biggest cake they could find with “Habemus papam!” spelled out in bright red frosting. The house was filled with joy and energy as we celebrated our new Holy Father.
Moments like that stay with our children for a lifetime and help them to appreciate the tradition and beauty of our faith. I am looking forward to celebrating with my children when white smoke appears from the Sistine Chapel, a memory I hope they never forget.
