While the World Wonders Who Will Be the Next Pope ...

One of Few Attorneys Worldwide Practicing Both Canon and Civil Law Launches Website Explaining Succession Process,
Offering Poll To Give Catholics Opportunity to Cast A Vote

PHILADELPHIA, PA – April 7 –When the eligible members of the College of Cardinals disappear behind closed doors on April 18 to elect a new Pope, the world will be watching – from Rabbis to Imams, the U.S. to Bangladesh, Church leaders to political leaders – all eyes will be focused on Rome. Anything but a democracy, this elite group of men from 60 countries will speak for the world's more than one billion Roman Catholics. With so few having a voice that affects so many, Patricia M. Dugan, Esq., a Philadelphia attorney, one of a select few in the U.S. practicing both Catholic Canon Law and Civil Law – and one of the only laywomen in history to do so – has now created a way for people around the globe to explore and understand the process of the Conclave, to share thoughts, and to cast their own vote for the next spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church – www.electapope.com .

Launching today, the www.electapope.com website offers comprehensive, clearly understandable information about Pope John Paul II, the rituals of the Papal Funeral, Sede Vacante, the College of Cardinals, the Conclave itself, and the Coronation of the new Pope. Most radically, however, it offers Internet surfers worldwide the chance to share their opinions, preferences and feelings – and then cast their own vote.

A sought-after expert and commentator on Canon Law, Ms. Dugan knows her stuff. The founding partner in the Philadelphia-based firm Dugan, Carver and Kosinski, with a concentration in family law, Ms. Dugan earned her Juris Canonici Licentia (JCL), summa cum laude, at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome – the same university from which Pope John Paul II gained his degree – after she had already been practicing law for 10 years. Canon Law is the Code of manmade laws of the Roman Catholic Church -- the study of the Canons or specific statutes of the Code and how they are applied, within the oldest continuing functional legal system in the Western world. Like the Church, Canon Law is universal -- a code of law that knows no national or local boundaries. All appeals end in Rome.

Says Dugan, “It is the work of the civil lawyer to counsel and advocate in the affairs of man, to deal with their lives. It is the work of the canon lawyer to deal with a system meant ultimately to affect their souls.”

Dugan deals with both. Unique in that she does not work for the church, Dugan was the first lay person to chair the canonists' annual convention in 2002. She has handled such matters as getting a nun released from her vows, marriage Tribunals and annulments, clients on both sides of the abuse issue and more. A native of Philadelphia, she is totally Catholic educated, including an MA in Religious Studies/Moral Theology from St. Charles Seminary. A practicing Catholic and dedicated attorney, she is passionate about doing what she can to try to open up the ancient and secretive ritual of the Conclave, and to discover what Catholics – and the rest of the world – are thinking. As a result, she has been both applauded and criticized, but she feels strongly that opening conversations, and sometimes unorthodox ideas, are the only way to begin to effect change.

A keen admirer of Pope John Paul II, what also sets Dugan apart, and a highlight of her website, is the story of the Pope Hat.

2-2-2-2 Philadelphia Canon and Civil Law Attorney Launches Electapope.com

Traditionally, upon election, each Pope chooses a clerical tailor, one of a small number of shops passed from father to son down through the ages in the Eternal City – and signs a contract of exclusivity. While studying for her Canon Law degree, Dugan discovered the shop handling Pope John Paul II – Gamarelli of Rome, becoming friendly with the clerks, often buying cardinal socks as gifts and souvenirs. After several months, in search of a special gift to thank one of her professors, she convinced the clerks to sell her a Pope Hat (the small white skullcap called a zucchetto that the Pope wears). In her second year of study, after buying others as special gifts, the tailors at Gamarelli called a halt, and allowed her to buy one final hat that she kept, hoping to one day give the hat to John Paul II.

In her last semester in Rome, she was unexpectedly invited to a private audience with the Pope. Boxed hat in hand, she was ushered into the Pope's private chapel for Mass, and then into the private library. When introduced as a civil lawyer from Philadelphia studying at the Angelicum, the Pope asked about Philadelphia's then-Cardinal Krol, and seemed surprised to learn that Dugan was a laywoman studying canon law at his alma mater, rather than theology. She presented the hat to him, which he accepted after being told it was from Gamarelli, opened the box and removed it, blessing it. He then took his off, placed it in the box and gave it to her. It is now a priceless keepsake.

A sought-after lecturer and Canon Law commentator in the media, Ms. Dugan can offer new insights throughout the Papal Succession process – as well as updates on the tallies at www.electapope.com.

For more information about Patricia M. Dugan or www.electapope.com , or to schedule an interview or appearance, please contact Nina Zucker Associates at 610.667.0706 or nzapr@aol.com.

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