Capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1893-1895, 1895-02-04

a. soon a. rs - Gear tnaf the pope
soust die coon al the cardinals oonpos'
Ing the sacred college who are IN rome
Vstter al n bsdside and on their knefs
wair for -ba end The sscristan bishop
fninister= TIE viaticum ana me eN-
,rena unctiou: the grand Penitentiary
rivrs ais-oiuiion; the penitential psalms
,~a fhen iutoued: the sacristan bishop
urououuces the consecrsted formula; the
dving pope, il he has the strength 70 10
so gives hi benediction 70 the assem-
blv. and the dirge Of the hymns for the
dead continues to the last Then the
ramerlengo, 10 make the official record
Of the death. with small silver ham
mer strikes three light blows on the
dead mans head and calls him by his
Christian name.
When in 1873 the dead pope was Plus
TX f(;iovauui Mastai -Ferretti), the cam
erlengo, Cardinal Pecci, the present
pope, after striking the three blows with
the hammer. called. Giovanni! Clio
vanni! Giovanni then, turning to the
assembly, said, The pope IS really
dead " Thereupon, while the assembly
Is EDeelinc. the camorlengo intones the
HDe Profundis. " The master OF the
chambers then removes from the dead
pope S finger the fisherman ring and
hands il to the camLrlenCo, a symbol OF
the temporary transfer Of the authority
# the holy see At the first plenary
meeting Ct TIE s.crCd college this ring,
the seals and other insignia OF office
connected with the late pope are broken
1p and destroyed The temporary sover-
siguty has passed into the hands Of the
acred college.
In its choice Of a pope the sacred col
iece is Not limited by any law or regu-
alton To Italians, though it is $40 years
incr q pope Of any other nationality
1as lera ,lcctod. The last was Adrian
Florcrt, @ NetherlanGer, Pope Adrian
VI. in l.-2-3, whose nearest non-ltal-
an predecessor was the infamous Rod
igo Bofcia, Pope Alexander VI, elect
Il the year Of Columbus discovery OF
America. Neither is the college restrict
ed BIZ law to cardinals or to priests.
Any faithful Catholic, even though no
be a layman, is eligible The conclave
has the whole Catholic world to choose
from, but for precedent for layman
pope it would have TO go back to 1924,
when the Patrician Crescentius became
Pope John XIX. The only indispensa-
Die rules are that a majority of all the
cardinals living shall be present, and
that Of those present a majority of two
thirds is required to elect. Thus if the
sacred college had its full number Of 20
cardinals, which it rarely has the latest
list contains only G2 names), 81 of these
must be present at the conclave, and at
least 25 of these would then have to
agree on the same candidate. There
were 90 cardinals present at the con-
clave which elected Plus TX and 60 at
that which made Leo XIII pope. OF
the 62 cardinals now living who will
have the right to elect the next pope 80
are Italians and 80 belong 10 other ma
tiunalities.
The bull issued to regulate the next
conclave confirms to the sacred college
the exclusive right TO elect the pope,
absolutely excluding any Intervention
on the part Of the secular power. All
previous rules as to the duties of civil
and municipal magistrates in connec-
tion with the conclave are done away
with, leaving tho regulation of all mat
ters concerning it in the hands Of the
cardinals. Should the pope die at Rome
the cardinals present must decide at
once by majority vote whether the
conclave shall be held ont of Rome and
ont Of Italy, or not, If held in Italy.
the moment any pressure is brought TO
bear on it either by private persons OF
by tho government, the conclaye must
dissolve and reassomble ont Of Italy.
The pope expresses his personal wish
that considering the peculiar position
Of the holy see, the next conclave be
held out Of Italy.
In times past France, Austria and
Spain have vetoed papal elections, and
these countries still claim the right 10
veto II any one Of them were TO try 10
exercise il, il Is very likely that Italy
would claim the right too. The papal
sec has never acknowledged the legality
uf these claims, but the possibility Of
the intcrpositi0n Of veto undoubted-
ly has weight In the selection OF can.
didate. New York sun
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