ROME

The Vatican is moving quickly to start the process of selecting the next pope, announcing Friday that the official invitation had gone out to the 115 eligible cardinals who will take part in selecting the next pope.

The Vatican said that "congregations" leading up to the actual conclave will start Monday.

The short announcement from the Vatican press office Friday said that cardinals would join the congregations as they arrived in Rome and that once the full contingent of cardinals arrived they would decide together on the start date for the conclave.

Benedict XVI, now known as pontiff emeritus, sent shockwaves around the world when he announced Feb. 11 he would resign, effective Thursday at 8 p.m. local time. Friday will be his first full day in his new temporary home in Castel Gandolfo, south of Rome, where he will live for several months until a new residence being prepared for him is ready inside the Vatican.

Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, the pontiff emeritus' secretary, reported to the Vatican Friday that the former pope spent his first hours in Castel Gandolfo eating dinner, walking in the palace gardens and watching television news coverage of his departure. He celebrated mass Friday morning, Gaenswein said. Gaenswein also reported that Benedict has restarted playing the piano, one of the passions of his youth

This process to select the next pope is already in stark contrast to previous modern conclaves, when a specific date for the start of conclave was announced, usually within about 15 days of the death of the pope. This one is different because Benedict XVI resigned, meaning work on the conclave could start behind the scenes while Benedict was still pontiff. In fact, in his final days Benedict changed the rules to allow the conclave to start sooner than it would otherwise.

Thursday evening at a press conference in Rome, Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, a past president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and an elector in the 2005 conclave that picked Benedict, said the cardinals will spend the days before the conclave in "smaller, more intimate conversations."

According to Catholic News Service, these private talks are "where the cardinals ask each other about specific cardinals they know or want to know more about. He said they ask questions like, 'What do you know about this candidate? And could you tell me how he would react to this? And what sort of person is he, what's his personality?'"

The Italian newspaper Il Messaggero reported that around three dozen cardinals were in town to see Benedict off on Thursday, and so assumptions are that congregations will start with at least that many cardinals on Monday. But it is too early to tell how long it will take for the remaining cardinals to arrive.

Once the conclave starts it will also be the first conclave in 719 years to take place with the previous pope still alive, when Celestine V, who, like Benedict, resigned voluntarily, witnessed the installation of Boniface VII in 1294. Gregory XII was the last pope to resign, when he was forced to abdicate in 1415. But he died before the election of his successor Martin V.

There are 117 cardinals eligible to vote to select the next pope (only cardinals younger than 80 can vote), but two will not make the trip: Cardinal Julius Darmaatmadja of Indonesia, who is physically unable to travel, and Scottish Cardinal Keith O'Brien, who has said he will not make the trip in order to avoid diverting attention from the conclave. O'Brien has denied allegations that he had "inappropriate" relations with priests in the 1980s.

The allegations against O'Brien are part of a long series of potential scandals that have emerged in recent weeks and that will be among the first issues that must be confronted by the next pope. Reports of a secret investigation into an alleged network of gay clergy working in the Vatican surfaced in Benedict's last week as pope. The results of the investigation have been sealed until the next pope is elected.

Additionally, the Vatican bank has been charged with money laundering. Other potential problems for the next pope include the hidden information about Benedict's declining health over the last year, controversy related to leaked Vatican documents dubbed "Vatileaks"and charges of cover-ups related to pedophile priest scandals. The Italian media has begun to describe the collective weight of the scandals as the "116th Cardinal" who will be in the conclave when the voting actually begins.

Cardinal Turkson of Ghana is the current oddsmakers' favorite to become the next pope. Election posters for Cardinal Turkson started appearing around Rome on Friday. It is not clear who put 

 
Pope Benedict XVI waves to the crowd from a balcony at Castel Gandolfo, Italy. The pontiff became the first pope in 600 years to retire as leader of the Catholic Church.  Vincenzo Pinto, AFP/Getty Imag

POPE’S RESIGNATION SPEECH

 

 "Dear Brothers,

I have convoked you to this Consistory, not only for the three canonizations, but also to communicate to you a decision of great importance for the life of the Church. After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today's world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.

"Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer."

UNEB RELEASES A-LEVEL RESULTS.

Uganda National Examination Board (UNEB) has today released the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education results for 2011.

Uganda National Examination Board secretary (UNEB) Mathew Bukenya handed over the results to education minister Jessica Alupo who released them to the public this morning at Statistics House in Kampala. A total of 103,000 candidates sat for the examination, and it has been announced that the results show a 98 per cent pass rate!

MOST TEACHERS ARE SHORT OF SKILLS

The chairperson of the Uganda National Examinations Board has said the overwhelming majority of teachers are grossly lacking in the qualities necessary for them to carry out their roles effectively.

Fagil Mandy said this explains the high failure rate in most of Uganda’s schools.

Less than one teacher out of 100 in Uganda loves their country or looks for new knowledge to improve their quality of teaching, according to Mandy.

Less than two read, do research or even understand their learners, he said, during the release of last year’s Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) Examination results at Statistics House yesterday.

Mandy said he did research among teachers and discovered shocking revelations that could be contributing to the failure rates in Ugandan schools.

He said he used 24 parameters set by a sample of 30,000 teachers stating what a good teacher does to shape an all-round learner.

The sample, Mandy said, was drawn from primary and secondary school teachers all over the country.

He said much as the teachers had acknowledged the things that are essential for them to be able to shape a learner, those who reported doing those very things were less than 10 out of every 100 teachers.

Reading, listening to learners and planning lessons, according to the respondents, were done the most, but even then, it was a paltry 330 teachers out of the population sample of 3,840 or 8.59% who said they did them.

These were followed by teachers who said they guided and counselled their students as well as practised God’s wish. For each of the two categories, 300 out of 3,840 teachers or 7.8125% said they did them.

They were followed by 270 out of 3,840 who said they control their emotions. A total of 240 or only 6.25% said they evaluate their work or even inspire their pupils.

Only 70 teachers (1.822916%) reported that they keep physically fit and healthy, while 60 (1.5625%) said they do research, innovate, understand their learners or correct and edify their learners.

Only 40 (1.041666%) said they understand the social, political and economic environment of Uganda.

The research, according to Mandy, also showed that 100 teachers (2.6%) possess multi-skills or take on multi-tasks, while 90 (2.3%) keep time or find other ways of earning reliable income.

He stated that 120 teachers (3.1%) adapt to changes, change people or practise honesty and integrity.

It also showed that only 210 (5.4%) of the teachers communicate effectively and only 180 (4.6875%) act as an example to their pupils.

Mandy noted that the teachers cannot give to a learner what they do not have for example the quality of being enterprising.

He said the situation calls for quick action on the part of teachers and parents.