CONCLAVE
194
CONCLAVE
wore the special garment of the conclave, called the
crocea. They receive Communion from the hands of
the cardinal dean, and listen to a Latin allocution on
their obligations to select the most worthy person for
the Chair of Peter. After Mass they retire for a few
moments, and then assemble in the Sistine Chapel,
where the actual voting takes place. There six can-
dles are lighted on the altar on which rest the paten
and chalice to be used in voting. Over the chair of
each cardinal is a baldachinum. The papal throne is
removed. Before each chair is also a small writing
desk. When ready to vote they enter the Sistine
Chapel accompanied by their conclavists bearing their
portfolios and writing materials. Prayers are said
by the bishop sacristan; the ballots are distributed
and then all are excluded except the cardinals, one of
whom bolts the door.
Though since Urban VI (1378-89) none but a cardinal has been elected pope, no law reserves to the cardinals alone this right. Strictly speaking, any male Christian who has reached the use of reason can be chosen, not, however, a heretic, a schismatic, or a notorious simonist. Since 14 January, 1505 (Julius II, "Cum tam divino") a simoniacal election iscanoni- cally invalid, as being a true and indisputable act of heresy (VVernz, "Jus Uecret.", II, 658, 662; see "Hist. Pol. Blatter", 1898, 1900, and Sagmuller,"Lehrbuch d. Kirchenrechts ", 1900, I, 215). There are four possible forms of election: scrutimum, compromissum, accessus, quusi-inspiralio. The usual form is that of scTutinium , or secret ballot, and in it the successfid candidate requires a two-thirds vote exclusive of his own. When there is a close vote, and only then, the ballot of the pope-elect, which, like all the others, is distinguishable by a text of Scripture written on one of its outside folds, is opened to make sure that he did not vote for himself. Each cardinal deposits his vote in the chalice on the altar and at the same time takes the prescribed oath : " Testor Christum Dominum qui me judicaturus est me eligere quem secundum Deum judico eligi debere et quod idem in accessu prsestabo" — "I call to witness the Lord Christ, Who will be my judge, that I am electing the one whom according to God I think ought to be electeil ' ', etc. (For the form of the oath see Lucius Lector, "Le Conclave", 615, 618.) The ballot reads: "Ego, Cardinalis N., eligo in summum Pontificem R.D. meiun D. Card. N."
For this election by secret ballot three cardinals (scrutatores) are chosen by lot each time to preside over the operation of voting, three others (revisores) to control the count of their colleagues, and still three others (infirmarii) to collect the ballots of the sick and absent cardinals. If the sick cardinals cannot attend the balloting, then the three lyifirmarii go to their cells and bring back their votes in a box to the three cardinals presiding, who count them and put them in the chalice with the others. Then, all the ballots having been shaken up and counted, if the number agrees with the number of electors, the chalice is brought to the table and the ballots, on the outside of which appear the names of the candidates, are passed from hand to hand to the third cardinal who reads the names aloud. All present are provided with lists on which the names of all the cardinals appear, and it is customary for the cardinals to check off the votes as they are read. Then the three cardinal revisors verify the result which is proclaimed as definite.
If, upon the first ballot, no candidate receives the necessary two-thirds vote, recourse is often had to the form of voting known as acccssus. At the elec- tion of Pius X (Rev. des Deux Mondes, 15 March, 1904, p. 275) the cardinal dean did not allow the aecessus, though it is a recognized usage of con- claves, regulated by Gregory XI, designed primarily to hasten elections, and usually considered to favour the chances of the candidate who has the most votes. It consists practically of a second ballot. All
use the ordinary blanks again, with this difference,
that if the elector wishes his vote to count for his first
choice he wiites Accedo neniini; if he changes his vote
he introduces the name of his latest choice. Then the
two series of ballots have to be compared and identi-
fied by the text on the reverse face of the ballot, so as
to prevent a double vote for the same candidate by
any elector. When the required two-thirds are not
obtained, the ballots are consumed in a stove whose
chimney extends through a window of the Sistine
Chapel. When there is no election, straw is mixed
with the ballots to show by its thick smoke (sjumata)
to those waiting outside that theie has been no elec-
tion. There are always two votes taken every day,
in the morning and in the evening; they occupy from
two to three hours each. When the voting is over
one of the cardinals opens the door outside of which
are gathered the conclavists, and all retire to their
cells. Other forms of election, made almost impossi-
ble by the legislation of Gregory XV, are known as
quasi-inspiration and compromise. The former sup-
poses that before a given session there had been no
agreement among the cardinals and that then one of
the cardinals, addressing the assembly, proposes the
name of a candidate with the words Eyo eligo (I elect,
etc.), whereupon all the cardinals, as though moved
by the Holy Spirit, proclaim aloud the same candi-
date, saying Ego eligo, etc. An election by compro-
mise supposes that after a long and hopeless contest
the cardinals unanimously delegate a certain number
of their body to make a choice. It has not been
employed since the fourteenth century.
When a candidate has obtained the required two- thirds vote in a scrutiny or ballot (the choice, since Adrian VI, 1522, falling on one present and invariably on an Italian cardinal), the cardinal dean proceeds to ask him whether he will accept the election and by what name he wishes to be known. Since the time of John XII (955-64; Sagmiiller says Sergius IV, 1009- 1012) each pope takes a new name in imitation of St. Peter's change of name (see Knopfler, " Die Namens- anderung der Papste" in "Compte rendu du eongres internat. cath. a Fribourg", 1897, sect, v, 158 sqq.). The doors have previously been opened by the secre- tary of the conclave; the masters of ceremonies are present, and formal cognizance is taken of the pope's answers. Immediately the masters of ceremonies lower the canoj^ies of all the cardinals' chairs save that of the pope-elect, and he is conducted to a neighbour- ing room where he is clothed in the papal garments (immantatio). The cardinals then advance and pay him the first "obedience", or homage (adoratio). The pope then either confirms or appoints the cardinal camerlengo, who puts upon his finger the Fisherman's Ring. Then follows the proclamation to the people made by the senior cardinal-deacon, formerly from the central balcony of St. Peter's overlooking the great Piazza, but since 1870 in St. Peter's itself. The con- clave then usually terminates, the masons remove the temporary walls, and the cardinals retire to their various lodgings in the city, awaiting a reassembling for the second and third adoratio and for the solemn enthroning. If the pope happens not to be a bishop, he must be consecrated at once and. according to immemorial tradition, by the Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia. If already a bishop, there takes place only the solemn hencdiclio or blessing. However, he enjoys full jurisdiction from the moment of his election. On the following .'>un(lay or Holy Day takes place, at the hands of the senior cardinal-deacon, the papal "coro- nation" from which day the new pope dates the years of his pontificate. The last act is the formal taking possession (possessio) of the Lateran Church, omitted since 1870. For the so-called Veto, occasionally ex- ercised in the past by the Catholic Powers (Spain, Aus- tria, France), see Exclusion, Right of.
The actually valid legislation concerning the conclave is
