After 26 years, the Vatican changes hands.

It has been 26 years since John Paul II was elected to be Pope of the Roman Catholic Church on October 16th, 1978. In that time, he distinguished himself as the Pope that led the Church into the 21st century, only the second Pope who was not Italian, the first Pope to visit the White House, or travel to so many countries. In 1981, he was shot in an assassination attempt, and thereafter would only travel through crowds in a bullet proof "Pope-mobile". Now that the third longest papacy in history has ended, a new Pope will be chosen by a College of Cardinals to be the spiritual leader to millions of Christians worldwide.

Although the Vatican and the Church have no direct control over American politics, the influence the Pope has over public opinion, and sometimes policy, has historically been very strong. Pope John Paul II in particular had been very vocal in his stance on such issues as gay marriage, abortion, euthanasia, and women participating in the ministry. As a conclave of Cardinals gather to elect a new Pope, the choice they make may decide the direction the Church will now take.

The Cardinals all take seats around the wall of the Sistine Chapel and take a paper ballot on which is written "Eligo in summum pontificem"--"I elect as supreme Pontiff ...". They then write a name on it, fold it, and then proceed one by one to approach the altar, where they hold up their ballot high to show that they have voted, then slide it into a chalice. The votes are then counted by the Cardinal Camerlengo and his three assistants. Each assistant reads the name aloud, writes it down on a tally sheet and then passes it to the next assistant. The third assistant runs a needle and thread through the center of each ballot to join them all together. The ballots are then burned, as well as all notes made. The vow of secrecy is not to be broken under pain of automatic excommunication.

If a new Pope has been elected, the papers are burned with chemicals (it used to be wet straw) to give off white smoke. Otherwise, they give off black smoke, so that the waiting crowds, and subsequently the world, know whether their new Holy Father will soon emerge from the Sistine Chapel.

One of the most notable changes Pope John Paul II will be remembered for is changing the rules for electing the Pope. Now, if no Cardinal has been elected by two-thirds majority after 30 ballots, the Cardinals may agree by absolute majority (half+1) to elect the Pope by an absolute majority instead of a two-thirds majority. This means that there will not be much pressure for Cardinals of a mere majority to compromise with those Cardinals preventing the vote from reaching the two-third majority. They can now just wait out the 30 ballot limit, and then elect their first choice.

Because the position of Pope is a lifelong appointment, it is common for the Cardinals to pick someone who is not too young. The thinking being that if the chosen Pope turns out to be unpopular, at least an older Pope won't last that long, and there will be a new opportunity to pick another Pope.

By many accounts, Pope John Paul II was considered a conservative on social issues. President Bush sometimes found the Pope to be a powerful ally when it came to issues like gay marriage and ethical questions in science such as stem cell research and the possibility of human cloning, calling the latter "morally unacceptable." The Pope continued, "Methods that fail to respect the dignity and value of the person must always be avoided."

But the Pope also criticized Bush regarding the Iraq war and deploring the prisoner-abuse scandal. Last June, while receiving President Bush in Rome, the Pope said, "Mr. President, your visit to Rome takes place at a moment of great concern for the continuing situation of grave unrest in the Middle East, both in Iraq and in the Holy Land," said John Paul.

The Pope also condemned the "unnecessary recourse to the death penalty".

Soon after the Pope passed, President Bush had this to say about the Bishop of Rome, as the Pope is also known.

"Laura and I join people across the earth in mourning the passing of Pope John Paul II. The Catholic Church has lost its shepherd, the world has lost a champion of human freedom, and a good and faithful servant of God has been called home." Bush went on to say that the Pope was a "... hero for the ages."

The Pope is often credited with having influenced the fall of communism. He was a vocal critic of communism, and his visits to what was then communist Poland in 1979 and 1981 are largely credited with having inspired the peaceful revolution that ultimately led to the eventual fall of communism in Eastern Europe.

Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev has himself credited the Pope with the fall of communism saying, "What has happened in Eastern Europe in recent years would not have been possible without the presence of this Pope, without the great role even political that he has played on the world scene."

However, the Pope has also spoken of the evils of unfettered capitalism and greed saying the rich countries of the North will be judged by the poor countries of the South for its "imperialistic monopoly of economic and political supremacy [gained] at the expense of others."

Gorbachev remembers the Pope fondly, calling him "the number one humanist on this planet" He went on to say, "On the whole, this man was for a society where humanity was at its center. Not the state, not the elite, but humanity," he said.

Gorbachev recounted his 1989 meeting with the Pope. "He said, 'I don't serve any political parties, I serve God,'" he recalled.