A faithful reader of HSH — chosen to be an astronaut for NASA in times of yore — sent me an email with no other statement, just saying that “in 2008, dom Gérard OSB RIP died on the 28th February.”
Of course! Dom Gérard Calvet, O.S.B., the founder and abbot of Sainte Madeleine du Barroux abbey in Le Barroux, France, was great friends with Pope Benedict XVI, who often visited the monastery and learned much about Benedictine spirituality from the great dom Gérard.
Pope Benedict now has his own monastery with one monk, himself. It’s therefore more like the cave known by Saint Benedict, more of a hermitage, with himself more of a hermit.
It is dom Gérard with whom I plotted to get my thesis into the hands of Pope Benedict. It’s his prayers, of course, which had that thesis arrive safely into the great Pontiff’s hands. You can read more about that here.
There is a certain French Bishop who was there at the time of the plotting, a bishop very dear to Pope Benedict, a bishop whom I have long predicted would become the Bishop of Rome, perhaps not this time round, but perhaps.
Accompany me, Father George David Byers, S.S.L., S.T.D., as I begin life as a Catholic Priest-Hermit by choice. Holy Souls Hermitage is dedicated to the sanctification of my fellow priests, bishops, deacons & seminarians going through the purgatory of this life or the next. Prayer and sacrifice go up, of course, for both Benedict XVI and the next Successor of Saint Peter. 
The blog, Rorate Caeli, has a list of those electors who have celebrated a TLM publicly. Of those 11, three appear to be French. They are: Jean-Pierre Cardinal Ricard, Franc Cardinal Rodé and André Cardinal Vingt-Trois.
Is the Bishop you are referring to on this list? If you don’t wish to respond, I can understand, but perhaps you can shoot me an email?
Great reporting on all this, Father. You are a voice of reason and have made some compelling arguments. I am following your posts closely!
[[ Deo volente: I erased the link to your site for now since, when I went over, google chrome smacked it down as being infected with malware. I sent you a couple emails. Hope you can get that straightened out. Yikes! ]]
Hey Deo Volente! You only have to be a Catholic male to be elected Pope. This bishop is not a Cardinal. No matter. But perhaps he is not well known to all Cardinals. But one who is not a Cardinal but would be known to all Cardinals, I think, without exception, is Bishop Athanasius Schneider. He is only the auxiliary bishop of Astana, Kazakhstan, but I think that if his name were mentioned early on, he would be elected. Of course, it’s most likely that the Cardinals will choose another Cardinal. Burke! Burke! Burke!
Thanks Ron Lee, JMJ
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Dear Father, I have my own theory on February 28th, FWIW: I think Pope Benedict is able to get sooner rather than later, and yet wants to give several days advanced notice; yet he also wants to provide for the election to happen perhaps by Easter. Perhaps a “passion and resurrection” for the Papacy along with the Lenten and Paschal season?
You have me guessing here! I had once so hoped that Cardinal Lustiger would have been elected but of course the Good Lord had other ideas.
Just recently found your blog, Fr. I thank God for gifting you with Holy Priesthood and for your using this medium to convey Christ’s message. I appreciate your insight re Pope Benedict’s resignation & am praying for him, for the conclave and for his successor. Confessing here that, even tho trying to keep an open mind re his successor, I inwardly shouted “YES!” to your “Burke, Burke, Burke!” Thank you, Father!
Lustiger???? NONNONON
[[[... edit ... Provide a link, please!... ]]
[[...edit... Wow... Ann... take a breather... guess you must be a sede vacantist before the 28th, right?... ]]