“Thus Would We Elect Pope Ratzinger”
by Lucio Brunelli
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2. “Monday, April 18th, 4:33 PM. The slow procession of cardinals from the Hall of Benedictions begins to move towards the Sistine Chapel, through the Sala Regia. A few minutes and here we are in the presence of Michelangelo’s Last Judgment. The 115 cardinals—the fullest conclave in modern history!—arrange themselves at six great tables at the sides of the chapel.
We intone the Veni Creator Spiritus; the emotion is palpable.”
The cardinal dean, Joseph Ratzinger, pronounces the solemn oath in everyone’s name:
“Each and every voting cardinal present at this election of the Supreme Pontiff promises, obliges himself and swears to faithfully and scrupulously observe all the prescriptions contained in the Apostolic Constitution of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II, Universi Dominici Gregis, issued on February 22, 1996. Likewise, we swear that whoever of us, through divine disposition, is elected Roman Pontiff will undertake to faithfully and strenuously carry out the spiritual and temporal laws, as well as to defend the liberty of the Holy See. Above all we promise, oblige ourselves and swear to observe with maximum fidelity, among clergy or laymen, the secret of all that which concerns the election of the roman pontiff, and which occurs in the place of the election, concerning directly or indirectly the voting; not to violate in any way this secret either during or after the election of the new Pontiff, unless given explicit authorization by that same Pontiff; not to offer support or favor to any interference, opposition or any other form of intervention with which secular or other authorities wished to involve themselves in the election of the Roman Pontiff.”
After the solemn oath pronounced by Dean Ratzinger, each cardinal, according to the order of precedence (first bishop cardinals, then presbyter cardinals, finally deacon cardinals), rests his hand on the Gospels and repeats the abbreviated formula: “I promise, oblige myself and swear. Thus God helps me and these holy Gospels that I touch with my hand.”
The first and last to swear are two Italian cardinals: Angelo Sodano, vice dean of the sacred college and Attilio Nicora.
It is 5:24 when the master of the pontific liturgical celebrations, Monsignor Piero Marini, murmurs the extra omnes. The cameras of the Central Vatican Television are turned off. Besides the voting cardinals, only Monsignor Marini and the ecclesiast in charge of holding the last meditation, Tomas Spidlik (a cardinal over eighty years old), remain.
The meditation concludes and they exit from the Chapel.
Outside, for about two hours, no more information leaks. The numerous accredited journalists are not allowed to know if the cardinals are proceeding with the first vote or if they have decided to postpone it for the following morning. Both these options had been announced as possible, Saturday April 16th, in a briefing of the director of the Vatican press room, Joaquin Navarro Valls. But many think that the long ceremony will cause the vote to be postponed.
“In reality”, notes our cardinal in his diary, “ it wasn’t so late. And no cardinal wants to needlessly prolong the conclave. The majority of those present is favorable to voting right away. It is about 6.”
The ballots are distributed. They are rectangular, made to be folded in two; the upper half bears the script Eligo in Summo Pontifice, in the lower half there is a space to write the name of one’s choice.
Next is the choosing among the cardinals of three counters, three proof-checkers and three in charge of collecting the votes from the infirm, called infirmarii. “These last, however, will remain unoccupied. All the 115 electors were able to reach the Sistine Chapel, even Cardinal Baum, the one in the most precarious position of health: in the other case, the infirmarii would have gone to the Casa Santa Marta to collect the votes of their sick brothers in a special urn.”
Everything is now ready to begin the first vote. “According to the same order of precedence, the cardinals rise one by one from their seats holding the ballot in a raised hand, proceed towards the altar.” Before depositing the ballot in the urn, each cardinal pronounces again, in a loud voice, a new oath: “I call to witness Christ our Lord, who will guide me, that my vote is given to he who, according to God, I believe should be elected.” After that, each cardinal deposits their ballot in the urn. The urns are silver and bronze plated, made ex novo for this conclave.
There are three: in the first the ballots are inserted at the moment of the vote; the second is designed to collect the vote of the infirmed cardinals, should there be any; in the third the ballots are placed after being examined.
It is a few minutes past 7 when the last cardinal, the Italian, Nicora, returns to his seat after voting. The counting of the ballots may begin, to ascertain that the number of ballots matches the number of participants. The first counter shakes the urn a few times.
Then he pulls out a ballot and shows it to all present before placing it in the third urn. Everything according to the rules: 115 voters, 115 ballots.
And now the moment they have been waiting for: the counting of the votes. Even here, the Wojtyla’s “manual” for the conclave is followed to the letter. The first counter takes the ballot, opens it, checks the name printed there and passes it to the third counter who reads it aloud in a clear voice. At the moment in which each name is read, the counter perforates each ballot with a pin, at the point where the word Eligo is printed, and places it in a file with the others.
This archaic procedure guarantees the conservation of the ballots and prevents tampering.
“This procedure may appear excessive, involving voters who are, at least on paper, God-fearing and trustworthy. The Church is not by nature a parliamentary institution but when it decides to follow democratic-electoral practice, it does so with a scrupulousness, a cult of legality, which does not allow privileges or exceptions.”
But the moment of truth has arrived. The first vote is finished. In his diary, our source will record only those votes that went to the figures with the greatest chances, ignoring numerous dispersed votes (about thirty):
| Joseph Ratzinger, dean of the Sacred College | 47 |
| Jorge Mario Bergoglio, archbishop of Buenos Aires, Argentina | 10 |
| Carlo Maria Martini, archbishop emeritus of Milan | 9 |
| Camillo Ruini, former apostolic vicar of His Holiness, for the diocese of Rome | 6 |
| Angelo Sodano, former secretary for the Vatican state | 4 |
| Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras | 3 |
| Dionigi Tettamanzi, archbishop of Milan | 2 |
The first vote seems to confirm the most credited predictions of the evening.
The conclave opens with a unique “organized” candidature, able to count on a bloc of predefined votes, that of Cardinal Ratzinger. The predictions of the Vatican’s most informed observers oscillated between thirty and fifty cotes already certain for the former prefect of the Congregation for the doctrine of the faith. In fact, he obtained 47 of them. An excellent base of departure, but Ratzinger still lacks 30 votes to reach the two thirds needed for election.
Many other hypotheses have instead backed Cardinal Martini. Various media outlets have imagined a head to head in the first vote between the two eminent personalities and some (in the following days) will maintain that Martini had actually surpassed Ratzinger in the first vote. “The difference however was clear. It is necessary to remember that while the Bavarian cardinal’s nomination was real, the name of the Italian cardinal was put forth primarily as a “banner candidate”, able to gather and unite a part of the “dissent” against Ratzinger.
But Cardinal Martini never felt himself to be truly likely to become pope and not only for his known health problems.”
The true surprise of the first vote is the Argentine Cardinal Bergoglio. He is a Jesuit, like Martini, though the two brothers have not always been in perfect harmony: during the Seventies, at the time of the Arrupe generalship and the fiery debate over liberation theology, Bergoglio had to resign from a position in the Society of Jesus because he did not agree with the line taken by the organization. The archbishop of Buenos Aries has earned himself widespread fame as a man of God, especially in the last few years. “A man of prayer who leads a sober and evangelical lifestyle.” Secure on the doctrinal level, open on the social one, impatient on the pastoral level towards the rigidity shown by certain collaborators of Wojtyla on matters of sexual ethics (“they want to put the whole world in a condom”, he commented to friends on the eve of the conclave). All characteristics that, lacking a true candidate on the “left”, as an alternative to the Ratzinger line, make Bergoglio the man of reference for the entire group of cardinals more reluctant to vote for Ratzinger. “A group whose core is constituted by Karl Lehmann, president of the German Episcopal Conference, and by Godfried Danneels, archbishop of Brussels, who lead a significant group of US and Latin American cardinals besides some within the Roman Curia.”
The handful of votes obtained by Ruini (6) and Sodano (4) must be noted; numerically modest results, but “politically” not without relevance. The supporters of the president of the Italian Episcopal Conference and the outgoing secretary of the Vatican State, both chosen by Wojtyla, did not immediately reverse votes over Ratzinger. This support will carry more weight in the successive votes, when every single vote will become more precious for reaching the necessary quorum for election (77 votes).
But let’s return to the minute by minute chronicle in the Sistine Chapel. “Although the negative result is already clear to everyone, counters and revisers must complete their work. The first making a precise count of the votes that each candidate has received. The second checking both the ballots and the count of the counters to ascertain that they have faithfully and exactly followed their duty.” After painstaking labor, all the materials must be destroyed.
Ballots and papers are placed in the stove and burned.
In Saint Peter’s Square, the media army tries in vain for over an hour to predict the result that will emerge from the chimney mounted on the roof of the chapel. Just when some begin to let down their guards, the first blast of smoke rises over the sky above Saint Peter’s. White or black? The uncertainty lasts seconds that seem an eternity to the press agencies. It is 8:24 on April 18th.
Up above, in the Sistine Chapel, numerous cardinals linger to assist in the burning of the ballots, an event not to be missed. The major part of the voters (113 out of 115) have never participated in a conclave—a collateral effect of the long reign of John Paul II.
There are only two “non-Wojtylan” cardinals participating in the conclave. One is the American ,William Baum, 79 years old, former archbishop of Washington, now on pension, almost blind and confined to a wheelchair. The other is the German Joseph Ratzinger, who is 78 years old but is presented as a man of the future. They were both made cardinals by Paul VI.
But now it has truly grown late and is time to return to the Santa Marta. Six minibuses, 15-20 places each, are ready to take the cardinals to the new official residence of the conclave.
Until 1978, the cardinals were lodged in cells in the apostolic building. The conclave of 2005 will be remembered also for this novelty. The new residence is a small palace in front of the Vatican station.
Since 1996 Santa Marta has functioned as the most exclusive hotel in the world, reserved only for a small circle of ecclesiastical residents. It was the Venezuelan cardinal, Rosario Castillo Lara, in the early Nineties, when he was titular head of the most important economic offices of the Holy See, who proposed restructuring the old Santa Marta hospice to transform it into a hotel that could host the participants of the conclave. He did not have the courage, however, to mention the word conclave: it seemed an evil one, with the Pope alive and happily regnant.
He spoke to the Polish Secretary of the Pope, Don Stanislao, and Wojtyla approved the project.
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