The Conclave: A Sometimes Secret and Occasionally Bloody History of Papal Elections (18 page)

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The Conclave

Ludovisi as Gregory XV, therefore, was probably his doubtful health and relatively advanced age – he was sixty-seven. Ludovisi was a popular figure who was able to command a majority in a con- clave divided into several different parties – French and Spanish as usual, but also groupings of certain important papal families (d’Este, Sforza, Medici, Aldobrandini, Borghese, and Farnese), as well as a “spiritual” group gathered around Robert Bellarmine. In the event it was Scipione Borghese who proposed Ludovisi, and he was elected by acclamation, a process which he went on to ban.

Well, almost. Gregory’s pontificate lasted only two and a half years, but it contained two important pieces of legislation affecting conclaves:
Aeterni Patris
of 15 November and on 12 March the fol- lowing year,
Decet Romanum Pontificem
. The latter regulated the ceremonial surrounding the conclave, the former the rules govern- ing the election itself. The drawing up of lists of candidates that were acceptable to the great powers, as Philip II had done, was banned. Although election by acclamation or by “compromise” (leaving the choice to a small committee) was not entirely ruled out, it was made clear that the normal process should be that of scrutiny, i.e., by ballot, which was to be secret and to take place only after the conclave had begun. There had been a method known as “accessus” by which cardinals were able to change their votes verbally, so as to back one or other of the leading candidates. Gregory laid down that this should now take place on a ballot paper and in secrecy. There were to be no secret arrangements, no compacts between groups, no clandestine signals – though straightforward discussion was still permitted. There were to be two ballots a day, with the possibility of two “accessi,” and no car- dinal attending the conclave was allowed to absent himself. Three cardinals were to count the votes, three more to check the accuracy of the count; these tellers were to be selected by lot.

Despite Gregory’s best intentions, the influence of the great powers was certainly felt in the long-drawn-out election of his

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successor. It probably felt a lot longer than it really was, taking place as it did during the heat of a Roman summer, from 19 July to 6 August 1623. The heat caused a number of the fifty-four cardi- nals present to come to an agreement more quickly than they might otherwise have done; Maffeo Vincenzo Barberini was elect- ed, taking the title of Urban VIII. He was a friend of Cardinal Maurice of Savoy, who was spokesman for the pro-French party; Barberini had for a time been nuncio in Paris.

Urban VIII was pope for twenty-two years. His pontificate had begun with great rejoicing among the populace of Rome; it ended with them rioting at his harsh rule and, especially, the weight of taxation he had laid upon them. His reign coincided with the Thirty Years War, though the Treaty of Westphalia which brought it to a close fell in the reign of his successor. The election of Giovanni Battista Pampfili, Innocent X, in 1644 reflected the tradition of choosing, after a long pontificate, an old man who, the electors suspected, would not have long to live. However, although Pampfili was seventy when chosen, he was pope for more than a decade, dying on 5 January 1655.

Again the conclave took place in the summer heat, 9 August to 15 September 1644; two cardinals had to leave because of ill- ness (they reentered in time to vote in the final ballot) and one cardinal died. A small number did not attend. After Urban’s long pontificate, the vast majority of the cardinals were associates of the late pontiff, though that did not mean that they were all, like Urban, pro-French. There were two main groupings: those on the side of Spain and Austria, who had been opposed to Urban’s policy during the Thirty Years War, and those who looked to France, as Urban himself had done. This latter group was led by Cardinal Antonio Barberini, the late pope’s nephew, while another Barberini, Francesco, led a group of young cardinals who kept a somewhat independent line. A group of older ones were led by Gaspare Mattei, who was to some extent pro-Spanish. Giulio Sacchetti, who had been close to Urban, was thought by many to be

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The Conclave

the most obvious candidate, but like Urban, he was pro-French and was vetoed by the Spanish contingent. Francesco Cennini was the Spanish party’s candidate, but he was vetoed by the French. Eventually the two Barberinis got together and suggested Pampfili.

As Pope Innocent X, Pampfili introduced an o
ffi
ce into the curia which would come to play an important part in the history of the papacy, that of (Cardinal) Secretary of State. The o
ffi
ce has sur- vived until modern times, though somewhat changed, for the cardinal secretary of state is now effectively the pope’s prime min- ister, with oversight of all Vatican departments. Innocent’s inno- vation was slightly different. The post was quite literally that of sec- retary – he was the one with whom papal diplomats corresponded, as did the princes around Europe. His role, therefore, was essen- tially diplomatic, but in that role the secretary of state became a well-known figure.

The first secretary of state to be elected pope was Fabio Chigi, elected as Alexander VII, but only after a conclave of eighty days, from 18 January 1655 to 7 April 1655. The problem at the conclave was the same as always, a clash between different political factions representing France on one side and the Empire on the other. It was, however, complicated in this instance by the renewed candi- dature of Giulio Sacchetti, promoted by the French minister Cardinal Jules Mazarin. Mazarin, who was Italian by birth, took no direct part in the conclave, but let it be known that he was bitterly opposed to the election of Chigi whom he believed, with reason, had been extremely hostile to France when representing the papacy in the negotiations leading to the Treaty of Westphalia. It was Sacchetti (or Cardinal “Thirty-three,” from the number of votes he could rely upon in a conclave) who eventually persuaded Mazarin to change his mind.

Chigi was followed by another former secretary of state, Giulio Rospigliosi, who was elected Clement IX on 20 June 1667 after a conclave of only eighteen days. By the standard of con-

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claves in the recent past, this was a remarkably swift election. It was brought about by a group of his supporters among the car- dinals known as “the fl squad,” who exploited the fact that he was not only acceptable to the Spanish (he had been papal ambassador, or nuncio, in Madrid) but was also approved of by Louis XIV.

But Clement IX survived only two and a half years. A conclave met again on 20 December 1669 and lasted until 29 April 1670, a gathering of eighty days during which a number of the cardinals came and went, and one died. There was a total of seventy cardinals, only fifty-seven of whom entered the conclave when it opened, although fifty-nine voted in the final ballot, and all but three supported Emilio Altieri. The new pope, Clement X, had only just been made a cardinal when Clement IX died. He was eighty and could certainly be expected to have only a short pontificate – he was, in other words, a typical choice when the elec- tors had reached deadlock. The problem was, as ever, the rivalry between France and Spain, cardinals from each group vetoing the favored candidates of the other. The impasse was broken by Cardinal Chigi, who proposed Altieri, though Altieri himself was very reluctant to take up the o
ffi
ce.

Despite his great age, Clement X reigned for just over six years. He was under considerable pressure from the great powers, France and Spain, to appoint French and Spanish cardinals, but instead he appointed fifteen Italians and only two Frenchmen and one Spaniard. He also appointed a German and an Englishman, the Dominican Philip Thomas Howard.

When he died there was again a long summer conclave, from 2 August to 21 September 1676. It need not have taken so long. Benedetto Odescalchi’s candidature had been vigorously opposed by France at the conclave of 1669–70, but when the 1676 conclave began his name was put forward by the nephew of the late pope, Cardinal Paluzzo Paluzzi Altieri degli Albertoni. He was still met by hostility from France, all the more so because Altieri had the

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support of Spanish cardinals, and the number of votes in his favor declined, although no one else seemed likely to command the necessary two-thirds majority with any ease. Odescalchi was an extremely popular character, much admired and very devout – he has been declared a “Blessed.” Two Cardinals of the pro-French party, Chigi and Rospigliosi, managed to persuade Louis XIV to withdraw his objections – something he was later to regret when the new pope refused to bow before the king’s attempts to control the church in France – and Odescalchi was elected, taking the name Innocent XI. But he would not accept the o
ffi
ce until all the cardinals had put their names to a fourteen-point program of Church reform.

Another long summer conclave, from 23 August to 6 October 1689, was necessary before the Venetian Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni became Alexander VIII. With Europe at war as an aggressive France tried to extend its territories at the expense of the Empire, the selection of the right candidate was seen as immensely import- ant both to the emperor and the king of France; both were repre- sented in the conclave by ambassadors. It was obviously a di
ffi
cult time, but Ottoboni’s range of experience and perhaps his age – he was nearly eighty-one – commended him to the curial cardinals right from the beginning. Partisans for the great powers took more persuading. Louis XIV of France gave way when Ottoboni under- took to attempt to build better relations with France. They had been soured by the French monarch’s encouragement of Gallicanism, a movement which promoted a French Church somewhat inde- pendent of the papacy. Alexander did indeed work to improve relations with France, partly at least because as a Venetian he feared the growing power of the emperor in the Levant, a region which had traditionally traded with Venice.

These issues surfaced at the five-month conclave which followed Alexander’s death at the beginning of February 1691. Once again there was an obvious candidate, obvious at least to those curial cardinals who were partisans neither of France nor of the Empire.

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They wanted Gregorio Barberigo (who was declared a saint in 1960), but he came from Venice and was therefore unacceptable to the emperor in Vienna. Instead they chose the cardinal of Naples as a compromise, a decision forced on them by the heat of the summer – the conclave ended on 12 July – and by disturbances in Rome at the delay in choosing a pope. It was an excellent choice. Barberigo had been mentioned because of his pastoral commit- ment; Antonio Pignatelli had displayed a similar commitment in the sprawling and di
ffi
cult diocese of Naples, but he combined it with a knowledge of law and proven ability as a diplomat in the service of the Church. He took the title of Innocent XII. In
Ecclesiae Catholicae
of 23 September 1695 Innocent forbade the use of “capitulations,” by which cardinals, before an election, tried to bind whichever of their number was chosen to a particular course of action. They had in any case rarely worked, despite the oaths that the cardinals had all sworn.

Innocent died in September 1700. There was another lengthy conclave of forty-six days before Giovanni Francesco Albani was elected on 23 November – though he had been ordained priest only as recently as the previous September. The French and Imperial factions were so sharply divided that it was evident they would not be able to carry any of their candidates, so Albani was elected in spite of his perceived pro-French leanings. The favored candidate had been Carlo Marescotti, but he had been vetoed by France. Albani’s backing came from the nonpolitical curial cardi- nals who believed that he would have only the interests of the Church at heart and would oppose the nepotism which had been the mark of recent pontificates. Albani took the name of Clement XI because Clement was the saint of the day of his election.

There was a new dynamic to the conclave of 31 March to 8 May 1721 because the battle lines of the cardinals had changed: Spain was now allied to France rather than to the Empire because both France and Spain had Bourbon monarchs. The previous pontificate had been lengthy, over two decades long, and during it

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Clement had created seventy cardinals, though not all of them survived. There were sixty-eight cardinals in total, but only fifty-six took part in the conclave, and not all of them were present when it began. Fabrizio Paolucci de Calboli, Bishop of Albano, had been the late pope’s secretary of state and was the favored candidate of those who were present. But that did not take into account the emperor, who believed that the papacy had sided with France in the War of Spanish Succession and was therefore hostile. Cardinal Mihály Frigyes Althan, Bishop of Vác in Hungary, stepped in and exercised a veto on behalf of the Empire. After much discussion the choice fell upon Michelangelo dei Conti, who had enjoyed a distinguished diplomatic career in the papal service, as well as a pastoral one, though he had resigned his diocese of Viterbo because of ill health. That he might not have long to live was one of the factors in the election. He took the name Innocent XIII because Innocent III had been a member of his family.

The cardinals who had calculated that Innocent XIII would not enjoy a long pontificate were proved correct; he died after less than three years. He had in that time appointed only three cardinals, so the balance of power in the conclave of 20 March to 29 May 1724 had not changed. Fabrizio Paolucci was once again a candidate, promoted by the Bourbons alongside others; the Imperial – or Habsburg – party had their own candidate and a compromise had to be found. Pietro Francesco Orsini was a much admired Dominican friar who had renounced his claim to his father’s dukedom to enter the Order. His family had pressed Clement X to create him a cardinal, which he did a few days after Pietro Francesco’s ordination to the priesthood at the age of twenty-two. Two years later he was in charge of one of the Vatican’s congrega- tions, but wanted a pastoral role and was bishop of a succession of dioceses, serving for forty years as Bishop of Benevento, in which role he showed himself particularly devoted to the poor. He was an unexpected candidate, again possibly chosen as much because of his age (he was seventy-five) as for his qualities as a pastoral bishop