Before leaving Prague, the news came out of Rome about the election of the new pope. Shortly after the white smoke went up, every church …

Before leaving Prague, the news came out of Rome about the election of the new pope. Shortly after the white smoke went up, every church within an earshot of us rang its bells for a while, maybe 15 to 20 minutes. Kathryn and I hadn’t heard the news yet, and in fact I wasn’t even aware that the conclave had begun. Since May 8 is Victory in Europe Day in much of Europe, including the Czech Republic, we at first thought the bells were somehow connected to the holiday. However, after texts from fellow parishioners started blowing up Kathryn’s phone, we put two and two together.