The conclave that will choose the successor of Pope Francis on Wednesday (7/5). The basic rules of the elections were defined by Pope Gregory 10 in the 13th century, after a three -year conclave – the longest in history.
Wednesday (7/5), the conclave begins that the successor of Pope Francis will choose (1936-2025). The papal elections will follow the basic rules established several centuries ago.
Pope Gregory 10 (1210-1276) has established that the cardinals in charge of electing the maximum leader of the Catholic Church should be closed and isolated from the outside world so that they can make such a significant decision.
Some rules have undergone changes over the centuries. But the essential bases established in the 13th century remain in force until today.
Gregory 10 was not even a priest when he was elected Pope. His pontificate lasted only five years (1271-1276), but would have become one of the most transcendental popes in history.
To understand the life of that pontiff, you have to know your historical moment.
Divided church
In the middle of the X13th century, Christianity was deeply divided.
Since the 11th century, life in Europe was marked by the dispute between the papacy and the empire formed by the king of the Franks, Charlemagne (742-814).
Today I am known to historians as a sacred Germanic Empire, he mainly occupied the territories of current Germany.
“The pope and the emperor of what we call the German Roman empire today had a wrestling arm for the leadership of Christianity,” said the service of the BBC (BBC Spanish Service) BBC) the cathalpose in medieval history Alejandro Rodríguez de la Peña, from the Universidad San Pablo Ceu of Madrid, Spain.
“The emperors faced the popes over the course of several centuries, to the point of reaching military clashes,” says the professor. “And the last great emperor, Frederico 2nd [1194-1250]It had been excommunicated. “
To these two great powers, just united France was added, which had completed the conquest of southern Italy, forming “an international panorama that could not be more complex”, according to Rodríguez de la Peña.
This was the world when, on November 29, 1268, Pope Clement 4 ° (1190-1268) died in Viterbo.
At the time, Viterbo belonged to the pontifical states, which far exceeded the edges of the current Vatican. Today the city is part of Italy.
Following the tradition, the voters of the cardinals moved to the place where the Pope died to elect his successor.
But the cardinals were divided into two groups, which reflected the tensions of that moment.
On the one hand, a group of Italian cardinals aligned with the interests of the Empire. They were known as Gibelinos.
On the other hand, the French cardinals did not accept that the enormous political, economic and religious power of the Catholic Church was under the control of the sacred German Empire. They were called Guel.
The rivalry was so great that the months passed, without the cardinals being able to reach an agreement. No candidate has obtained the necessary qualified majority, which prolonged the duration of the conclave.
The elections would have lasted almost three years: the longest conclave in the history of the Catholic Church.
Tired of waiting for a result, the sovereigns of the city of Viterbo ended the cardinals in the building where the meetings were held. They also limited the daily quantity of food to force voters to reach an agreement.
‘Minor character’
Finally, the conclave eventually elected Arcidiaco Teobaldo Visconti, who had never been ordained a priest. At that moment, he was in a crusade against Muslims, in the city of San João de Acre, in the Middle East.
“Because they chose a smaller character who, moreover, was on the other side of the world is a mystery that we could not solve with the available sources,” says Rodríguez de la Peña.
Visconti was Italian. Although he had not received priestly orders, he had known and worked with many French cardinals in various functions.
Therefore, he had excellent contacts and “we can hypothesize that perhaps he was elected candidate for commitment”, according to the Spanish historian.
But the interruption that occurred in the Catholic Church did not end immediately. Visconti took months to return from the Holy Land – and he also had to be ordained a priest and appointed bishop of Rome before being crowned pope.
Once on the throne of San Pietro, “Gregory 10 showed that it would have been an independent Pope, who would not be under pressure and ended up making a good papacy,” says Rodríguez de la Peña.
The new Pope tried to heal the internal wounds of the Catholic Church. He sought understanding with the Orthodox Church and underlined the importance of ending the crusades with the reconquest of the “Holy Land”.
But his most important inheritance would be another.
A more rigorous system
Gregory 10 tried to strengthen the independence of the Catholic Church in the face of “earthly powers” with the insert of the package Ubi periculumpromulgated to the Council of Lyon, in France, in 1274.
According to Rodríguez de la Peña, “the leaflet of the package tries to isolate the cardinal voters of pernicious influences from abroad and the pressure of the sovereigns of the time, interested in controlling such a powerful institution in the medieval world as the papacy.”
The flyer has established that the cardinals should remain isolated and incommunicable in the building where the Pope died. And with the exception of the disease, they could leave the site only after the successor elections.
They should live in the community, separated only from the screens for the entire duration of the conclave. And from the third day, only a daily food dish would be allowed.
From the eighth day, the cardinals could only eat bread and water.
The provisions made the life of the cardinals difficult for the duration of the conclave. Gregory’s apparent intention was to force an agreement, preventing the circumstances that occurred in his elections to repeat.
Rodríguez de la Peña also highlights a theological dimension of the rules. For him, “the idea is that the isolation and the absence of external pressures from the powers of the time would allow them to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and make a good decision under their inspiration”.
Gregory 10 died in 1278. It was beatified in 1713.
Some of its most rigorous provisions in the papal elections were softened by the subsequent pontiffs and others fell into disuse.
But the essential idea of the isolation of cardinal voters is maintained to date – and will again be practiced in the conclave that will elect Pope Francis’ successor.
Source: Terra
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