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ON THE CONSTITUTION
sedes gestatoria to receive the second and third adorations. Seated on a cushion placed upon the high altar, the Pope has his foot and hand kissed in succession by each Cardinal, whom he in return embraces on both cheeks, the Cardinal Dean opening the ceremony and chanting the Te Deum, while his colleagues are performing their parts. This over, the Pope bestows upon the assembled multitude his public benediction; after which he returns to his residence every inch a Pope.[1] There are, indeed, two other remarkable ceremonies of ancient origin connected with the installation of a Pope
- ↑ The question as to when the creation of a Pope is consummated has been accurately discussed by Catholic writers, and it has been distinctly laid down by the highest authorities that election of itself invests a Pope with plenary powers. 'Qui eligitur Rom. Pontifex,' says Bellarmine, De Rom. Pont. lib. ii. cap. 2, 'eo ipso sit Pont. summus Ecclesiæ totius, etsi forte id non exprimant electores.' Clement V. excommunicated those who 'asserere non verentur quod summus Pontifex ante sure coronation is insignia se non debet intromittere de provisionibus, reservationibus, dispensationibus et aliis gratiis faciendis;' and Moroni, who enters at length upon the question, and must be considered the organ of the Court of Rome, declares that a Pope must necessarily he in possession of all his power from the instant of election, although he admits that this opinion has prevailed in the Church only since the days of Adrian V., the Pope who died a layman.
