Colleagues are on semi-permanent standby. Obituaries have been written, rewritten and then polished up another time.
People who just happen to live in an apartment close to the Vatican complete with a decent view of the Basilica of St Peter's are ready to drop all, pack their bags and move out, handing over the homes (for a considerable sum of money) to TV crews, desperate for a long-focus zoom-in on the Holy See.
We are, of course, talking about the business of media preparations for the death of Pope John Paul II. The more tired the Pope looks, the more feeble he seems - as on his recent epoch-making visit to Greece and Syria - the more the sense of ghoulish anticipation is palpable.
While many of us might echo the sentiments of the Polish song Sto Lat (May You Live 100 Years) - sung to the Pope in the papal apartments only last Friday on the occasion of his 81st birthday - thoughts of John Paul II's successor inevitably cast a shadow over this week's Extraordinary Consistory of Cardinals. Billed as Pastoral Perspectives of the Church in the Third Millennium, this week's gathering of 155 of the 183 members of the College of Cardinals finds itself dealing with a very full agenda.
The ever-increasing North-South divide; the impact of globalisation; collegiality (relations between the Holy See and local churches); ecumenical and inter-religious issues; the role of mass media; declining vocations; the tendency of many Catholics to ignore church teaching, especially on sexual mores; all of these are just some of the issues highlighted by the Pope in a 20-point memorandum sent to the cardinals before the consistory.
Rather than being perceived as distant, academic concerns, many of the above issues are keenly felt by priests, bishops and cardinals throughout the Catholic Church.
That point was forcefully brought home on Monday's first day of the consistory by the outspoken criticism of Brazilian Cardinal Aloisio Lorscheider, a veteran champion of human rights, who called on the Holy See "to listen more to the bishops" rather be merely "a faraway bureaucracy that seems ever more deaf".
Underlying the many complex and serious issues discussed this week is the basic question of the way forward for the Catholic Church in the new millennium. Many commentators believe that in attempting to draw up a road-map for the future, the cardinals are inevitably involved in tracing out an identi-kit portrait of the next pope.
Like it or not, this week's gathering has a strong "pre-conclave" flavour. The 134 cardinal electors who will name John Paul II's successor will clearly get a chance this week to mark, learn and inwardly digest one another's suitability for the job of Bishop of Rome. To some extent, the main candidates will clearly be on trial in front of their peer group.
By the way, the cardinals will also get to try out the plush Domus Sanctae Martae Vatican residence, opened in 1996 and built for them on the urgings of John Paul II, mindful of the unpleasant experience of living in uncomfortable and makeshift accommodation through the Rome heat of the summer of 1978 during the second-last conclave.
While this week's discussions might not decide who will be the next pope, the orientation given to those discussions could certainly pin down the job description.
Will he be an innovator or rigidly orthodox? Will he be a non-European, perhaps from Latin America, or a caretaker, probably an Italian from the Curia? Will he be someone who attempts to follow in the charismatic, globetrotting footsteps of John Paul II or someone more focused on internal church problems?
One thing seems fairly certain. Given that Pope John Paul II has appointed 124 of the 134 cardinal electors, it seems more than likely that his successor will, at least to some extent, be cast in his own awesome image; namely, conservative on sexual mores but liberal on social justice issues. By the end of this week it could be that several senior cardinals know just who this man is.
pagnew@aconet.it