Habemus Papabile

Today, at Castel Gandolfo, Pope Benedict XVI imposed the pallium on Cardinal Angelo Scola, the new Archbishop of Milan. This is a special vestment, worn only by metropolitan archbishops and worn only within their metropolitan province. Usually, the pallia are imposed on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul at a special Mass at St. Peter's in the Vatican. In earlier times, the pallia were imposed in an archbishop's cathedral. I asked a Vatican watcher what was the significance was of this special imposition of the pallium on Cardinal Scola and he emailed back "Habemus papam." That may be a bit excessive. But, we certainly habemus papabile.