Behind the Conclave Walls

For years apostles of reform in the Roman Catholic Church have advocated sweeping changes in the election of the Pope. In the heady atmosphere of the 1960s, when the Second Vatican Council was bringing change to so many other areas, enthusiasts envisioned elected delegations of bishops, priests, even lay men and women trooping to Rome to choose the next Pontiff. Others, more realistic, argued that the body of papal electors should be expanded to include the sort of worldwide sampling of bishops who attended the synods convened by Pope Paul VI.

In 1975, when Paul issued a revised set of rules for the election of his successor, the reformers were disappointed: the Cardinals alone would remain the electors. Nonetheless, the late Pope did ensure that the conclave to choose his successor would be different in important respects. Most notably, Paul greatly expanded and internationalized the College of Cardinals. There was also a renewed emphasis on secrecy, typified by Paul's exclusion of the assistants ("conclavists") who had attended the Cardinals during other elections; they were suspected, perhaps rightly, of being the source of past leaks and of lobbying for their own man or one of his compatriots.

Adding a post-Watergate touch, the Pope decreed that the Camerlengo and his assistants, along with two technicians using "modern equipment," must periodically sweep the entire conclave premises and all who have been admitted to them for "technical instruments of whatsoever kind for the recording, reproduction or transmission of voices and images." Anyone found possessing such a device was to be expelled from the conclave forthwith and subjected to "grave penalties" to be determined by the future Pope.

By the time each Cardinal-elector walks into St. Peter's Basilica for the pre-conclave Mass of the Holy Spirit this Friday, he will have taken two elaborate oaths of secrecy, one when he first joined the assembly of waiting Cardinals in Rome, another shortly before the conclave. Then, as the conclave begins, he will take a third oath along with his fellow Cardinals, pledging yet again to observe secrecy in any matter "pertaining to the election of the Roman Pontiff," under pain of excommunication.

The "sealing" of the conclave is a meticulous medieval rite. After all the Cardinals have assembled inside the Apostolic Palace adjoining St. Peter's, the Master of Ceremonies or an assistant will stride through the rooms of the palace shouting, "Extra omnes!" (Everybody out). All not permitted in the conclave will then leave. A chosen Cardinal, in this case Argentina's Eduardo Pironio, will supervise the lockup inside. Two other Vatican officials and the commandant of the Swiss Guard will also lock the door from the outside. Special notaries will duly document the sealing.

On Saturday balloting will begin in the traditional papal election hall: the Sistine Chapel. In his 1975 rules, Pope Paul reviewed the three methods of election. The first--not unprecedented but highly unlikely--is by acclamation, a process in which the Cardinals, "as it were through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit... spontaneously, unanimously and aloud proclaim one individual Supreme Pontiff." A second method allows Cardinals to delegate their votes to a smaller group of nine to 15 electors. The most common method of balloting is called scrutiny, requiring to name a Pope a two-thirds plus one-vote majority of all the electors.

For this method, the electors choose by lot from among their number three Scrutineers (ballot tellers) and three Revisers, who might be called instant-recount men. Each Cardinal receives a small rectangular card, headed Eligo in Summam Pontificem (I elect as Supreme Pontiff), underneath which he writes his choice, disguising his handwriting to avoid identification. He then folds his ballot, proceeds to the altar of the Sistine Chapel and declares: "I call to witness Christ the Lord who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one who before God I consider should be elected." With that, he deposits his card on a plate and tips it into a receptacle, traditionally a large chalice. After all ballots are cast, the Scrutineers mix the cards, count them and begin their tally. Each notes the name on the ballot; the third reads it aloud. After the process, whether or not the required majority is reached, the Revisers retally the votes.

Two ballots are prescribed for each morning and afternoon that the Cardinals convene. After the second balloting in each session, the votes--together with any tally sheets or other notes kept by individual Cardinals--are destroyed. The ballots are burnt in a small stove installed in the chapel. For centuries, they were mixed with dampened straw to produce black smoke, signifying an inconclusive vote, or burnt alone to produce white smoke, announcing the election of a new Pontiff. This time, though, the Cardinals are considering the use of a paper shredder before the burning so that no fragments may be deciphered. Moreover, special chemicals will be used to ensure the proper white or black smoke.

Paul anticipated the possibility of a long election and decreed up to a day of rest, prayer, reflection and discussion after three days of voting, and after every seven ballots thereafter. Cardinals may also confer about the task before them at any time apart from the actual balloting. But the conversations will be necessarily elliptical. Though candidates may be discussed, the secrecy oaths provide that no one may reveal to another how he has voted or intends to vote.

If no Pope is elected after three series of votes and pauses, the 1975 rules offer some ways out. The Cardinals could choose to vote by delegation or reduce the number of votes required for election to an absolute majority plus one, or even conduct a run-off between the two leading contenders. Eventually, with prayer and delicate politicking and not a little late-summer sweat, they will make their choice. A senior Cardinal, not yet selected, will confront the chosen colleague and ask him if he accepts. After the Pontiff-elect murmurs "Accepto," there will be a second question: "By what name do you wish to be called?"

That settled, the Cardinals will come forward one by one to pay homage to the new Pope. Messages will be dispatched to the octogenarian Cardinals outside the conclave. Then, with the crowds waiting in St. Peter's Square, the senior Cardinal Deacon will step out on the central balcony of St. Peter's and declare, "Annuntio vobis gaudium magnum. Habemus Papam!" (I announce to you a great joy. We have a Pope!) The new Pontiff, the Cardinal will continue, is "the Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lord Cardinal ----, who has taken the name ----." At that moment the world will learn the identity of the new Pope.

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