Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-08-05
HOW A POPE is ELECTED.
Past and Present Methods-Where and How
Cardinals Meet.
Baltimore Sun

Past and Present Methods-Where and How
Cardinals Meet.
Baltimore Sun.
The manner of eIecting a pope of the
I Roman Catholic church is not an unin-
terestiug subiet at the present time, in
! view of the feeble health of the reigning
| pontiff, Leo XIII, and the probable
| necessity for the naming of his successor
! at no distant day.
| Time was when the election of the
| supreme head of the church was vested
! in the cardinal bishops, with the con-
sent of the other cardinals and the clergy
| and people Of Rome, saving, also, the
| honor due to the king of the Romans -
! But this recognition of Il kingly and i'm
perial right to interfere with papaI cleo
! tiOns was the cause of endless troubles.
| It proved to be a fertile source of anti
| popes and other veXatiOns, and finally
! became so intolerable that Alexander III.
! took away from the imperial line the To-
Gus standi IN papal elections, and a gen.
eTaI council later on, held at the Lateran,
decreed that the elections should thence
forth rest with the cardinals alone -
This Lateran decree was confirmed and
developed at the council of Lyons, pre-
sided over by Pope Gregory Y , and in
all its substantial features the discipline
then laid down still obtains in all papal
elections.
The immediate body or convention
which chooses the head of the church is
called a cOnciave; the building or hall in
which such convention is held is also des-
ignated by the same name conclave. The
election of pope must begin ten days af-
ter the death of the last incumbent. It is
provided that the election shall neither be
delayed nor precipitated; that the electors
shall be in no fear for their personal safe
ty and that they must not be subjected 10
any external persuasion in casting their
vote. Immediately on the death of the
pope one of the secretaries of the Sacred
college notifies each cardinal of the pom
tiff S demise, and summons them to the
city in which the pope breathed his last
| The election must take place IN the same
city where the death occurs.
Should Leo XIII. go to Madrid for an
asylum, as has been moOted during the
past few days, and die there, the con-
clave to elect his successor would there
fore be held in Madrid Within
the ten days the conclaye must be con-
structed in the Vatican in Rome, OF in
some other suitable building if It be held
in another city. On the tenth day SOL
emu fhass is said, at the conclusion of
which the cardinals form in the process
sion and march to the conclave. The
conclave is open to the public during the
whole of the first day, and friends of the
electors are permitted TO visit them. At
8 O'Clock that evening the conclave is
closed, everybody is turned out except
the cardinals and their immediate at
tendants, and no visitors are allowed to
enter the portals again until the election
of pope has been declared.
The conclave is under the absolute
charge of two guardians One of them
is prelate of high standing, previously
selected by the sacred college, and is
called the governor. The other is a
prominent layman, whose official an
pellatiOn Is marshal. Each cardinal
is allowed to have two members of
his resident household in personal
attendance upon him. A number of
other attendants and minor officials are
also there in the common service of the
conclave, including a sacrlst, a monk or
fTiar to hear confessions, two or three
barbers, eight or ten porters, and a num-
, her of messengers. But one entrance to
the building is allowed to remain open.
and that is in charge of prelate officials.
They must exercise q strict surveillance
over everybody going in or out, and pre-
vent the entrance OF unauthorized per-
sons. They must also examine the food