Pebcac,
The ordinal requirement is directly linkable to the premise that the conclave is really electing the bishop of Rome,
who by default and association with the position, assumes leadership as the Pope.
The problem with the 'Roman premise' is that a local office is naturally filled on the basis of local votes.
If only Romans would be in conclave for the selection, then the Roman premise would hold water.
The larger and truer perception of the process is not a 'Roman succession', but a 'Petrine succession'.
It is in the latter sense that the process assumes a less rigid aspect, and is open to Divine
intervention and inspiration, wherefrom a non-Cardinal might be chosen
There is little argument that Peter was the first, nor that he tended a community in Rome.
Peter's successor Clement was deliberately NOT selected by the Apostle, but elected in roughly the same
way that our last Pope was, though with much fewer limitations and rules, relying much more
on inspiration from God, through reflection and prayer on the part of the electors.
Unfortunately, any politician can claim Divine inspiration to promote selfish ends,
and many Popes were periodically challenged from without by political superpowers,
pushing their own 'divinely-elected pontiffs' : the rival antipopes
The emergence in 767 A.D. of yet another usurper, the antipope Constantine
--precisely the 'male and Roman Catholic'* minimum, who was hastily ordained for the purpose--
is what finally led to the canon council of 769 A.D. that thenceforth REQUIRED
that a pope be selected only from among the college of cardinals.
In the end, that requirement is a human artefact of politics, rather than one born of the Divine.
Since it is today unlikely that a rival conclave can be assembled, or that the canon conclave itself
be corrupted to reconvene and elect a usurper, that cardinal restriction is quite obsolete,
although if we really go way back to the Twelve, the ordinal restriction certainly stands.
Father Preacherman (Hi, father! Hope you're feeling better.) is quite right.
I believe that if it ever, on some occasion, becomes clear to a conclave, through prayer and meditation,
that the will of God is at odds with any mortal constructs such as electoral rules and traditions,
the Cardinals will have the faith and sense to choose God,
....and elect a true man of God.
We mourn, we pray, and we wait for God's will to be shown.
horge
PS: *minimum being 'male and Christian', actually. Protestantism had yet to fracture Christianity at the time
PPS: A virtual layman actually WAS chosen as Pope back in 1294 (Clementine V), but he was
soon overwhelmed by the political machinations brought to bear on him, and abdicated/resigned
but five months later.
