Electing a new Pope: The Conclave and all that

Prof. George Menachery

 ONE

Many Popes have altered the rules for the conduct of the gathering of the cardinals called the Conclave (con = with, clavis = key – that is, behind locked doors) which elects the new Pope. Pope John Paul II has added {Universi Dominici Gregis, Shepherd of the Lord's Whole Flock - 1996) to the many significant changes made by Pope Paul VI (1967, 1970, 1975). Of these changes in procedure made by John Paul II one will have very far reaching consequences. According to Pope Paul VI’s rules the winning candidate had to get two-thirds plus one votes of the number of cardinals present and voting.

Simple Majority may be sufficient  in 2005 Conclave

In John Paul’s rules the necessary number for election is only two- thirds (only if the total is not divisible by three it must be two-thirds plus one); but what is to the point: after 30 elections if still there is a deadlock and no one has obtained the necessary two thirds majority then the cardinals could decide to elect the person who secures a simple majority of fifty percent plus one. This means that if a cardinal gets 50% plus one at the beginning his supporters could simply sit out and wait for the 30^th election to be over, when he could be elected with the same number of votes that he polled at the commencement of the election. The very much more comfortable beds and rooms which will be made available to the cardinals this time could make such a waiting for many days feasible, which could not have been imagined in the previous elections where the cardinals were housed in hallways and corridors on folding cots with inadequate conveniences. In fact when I visited the conclave area in and adjoining the Sistine Chapel in 1978 October, two days before the beginning of the last Conclave, as a specially selected representative of the press,  with 59 other fellow journalists (out of a total of 1300 accredited media representatives, this time I am told there might be more than 4000) we found the accommodation provided for the cardinals much less satisfactory even than the amenities provided by the cheapest pensione. This time over, although the election takes place in the Sistine Chapel, the cardinals will live in the five-story Domus Sanctae Marthae, a Vatican residence with 105 two-room suites and 26 single rooms, some thousand odd feet from the Apostolic Palace, built in 1996. The rooms, as in previous Conclaves,  will be allotted by lot. Last time the Cardinal from Krakow Karol Wojtyla got room number 91 in the Conclave area. As a result of the present change in rules it is almost certain that a Cardinal with Pope John Paul II’s views is almost sure to be elected since out of the 117 Cardinals under 80 eligible to vote 114 have been elevated to the post by John Paul II himself, most of whom reportedly with the same outlook as Pope John Paul II himself. It is my personal opinion that this part of the regulation will have much opposition in the coming days and most probably the next Pope will considerably dilute this clause so as to avoid hardline stances, because as it is there is not much meaning for the two-thirds stipulation. Under these circumstances chances of Cardinals who have received much exposure during the recent papacy and the recent ceremonies and who also have contacts and knowledge of languages on their side will be considerable.

Secret, Top Secret

Each and every step in the present system of electing the Pope has developed from differing experiences, situations, and circumstances down the centuries… and to study these developments is most interesting and quite rewarding.

In 1271 the 17 Cardinals started the election at Viterbo, 40 miles from Rome. On account of various external pressures they could not agree on a Pope for two years and a half. Finally the angry people intervened. They locked in the Cardinals and even closed all holes in the walls with bricks. They even punished the reluctant electors by taking off the roof of the building, subjecting the Cardinals to the wrath of nature. And they were even starved.

Finally the Cardinals arrived at a compromise: they elected a six member committee from among themselves to take a decision for them. Thus was elected blessed Gregory X. Naturally he was forced to begin the process of today’s secret conclave because of this experience. 700 years ago at Lyons were established the first Conclave rules. Many of the Popes, including John Paul II have made changes in these rules “What leads me to take this step is awareness of the Church's changed situation today and the need to take into consideration the general revision of Canon Law which took place… While keeping in mind present-day requirements, I have been careful, in formulating the new discipline, not to depart in substance from the wise and venerable tradition already established” –JPII. John Paul II has forbidden the 2005 Conclave to elect a Pope by the Compromise or Committee method.

Fortunately no 20^th century papal election had lasted more than a week. Pius X was elected in a day. To elect Pope John XXIII the 51 Cardinals of his day took only three days.  111 Cardinals coming from the five continents found their leader in the Pope of the eternal smile John Paul I in a single day. John Paul II himself was elected in the seventh poll on the third day of the Conclave.

Conclaves and the Sistine Chapel

It was originally permitted to have the election anywhere. Elections have taken place in many different towns of France and Italy. It was Pope Clement the VII of the Medici family – the illegal son of a Medici – who ordered that all papal elections must take place in Rome. Now the elections must take place in the Vatican only. Though there was no objection to having the election anywhere in the Vatican the Cardinals have traditionally preferred the Sistine Chapel for the election. And they could not be blamed for that. If asked which is the most beautiful man-made space in the world many art lovers would not hesitate to reply “The Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Palace”. Every square inch of this chapel – whether it is the ceiling, the walls, the floor…of this 136”x 48”x 86” structure depicts the works of the best known renaissance artists – Perugino, Ghirlandhao,..and of course Michelangelo.

The great warrior Pope Julius II asked Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the chapel with stars and traditional decorations. “Painting is not my trade”, said Michelangelo. “I am a sculptor. You may give this job to Raphael,” he said to the Pope. Finally he agreed to do the job so that he could get the commission to sculpt the marble tomb of the Pontiff. Michelangelo believed sculpture much superior to painting, and had many arguments with Da Vinci on the matter. Today the ceiling, some 86 feet above ground, is filled with the incomparable 5600 sq. ft. series called the Genesis or the Creation. After many years the altarpiece of the chapel, 2000 sq. ft., was also painted by Michelangelo himself – The Last Judgment.  These four hundred years and more the Last Judgment has been attracting millions of art lovers every year from all over the world.

No wonder John Paul II orders the Conclave – the actual election of the Pope to take place under these paintings. “At the same time, in view of the sacredness of the act of election and thus the need for it to be carried out in an appropriate setting where, …and where, on the other, the electors can more easily dispose themselves to accept the interior movements of the Holy Spirit, I decree that the election will continue to take place in the Sistine Chapel, where everything is conducive to an awareness of the presence of God, in whose sight each person will one day be judged.”

   TWO

In the year of the three Popes - 1978 when this writer had an opportunity to examine the secret arrangements of the Conclave the floors of the Sistine and environs had already been paved with timber to level the floor. Thrones for the Cardinals and utensils for the conduct of the election were already in place. Touching all those paraphernalia brought to mind some special features of that most secret of election processes.

Anybody can be Pope, even a layman or in theory at least even a non-Christian. In the first 800 years of Christianity it was the deacons of Rome who became Popes. It was only after that period that a bishop became Pope. However in the last 700 years only Cardinals have been elected to the position, except Gregory the XVI in 1831 who was not yet a bishop when elected. From1523 to October 1978 papacy was the monopoly of Italians, so to say.

 True, Peter was from outside Italy. But of his 264 successors to-date only 59 have come from outside Italy. 15 Greeks, 15 Frenchmen, 6 Germans, 6 Syrians, 3 North Africans, 3 Spaniards, 2 Dalmatians, 2 Goths, 1 Thracian, 1 Englishman, 1 Portuguese, and 1 of Dutch origin – the nationality of another one is not clear – and finally John Paul II, a Polaco.

Sylvester I the first French Pope (999 – 1003) was a great scholar and is thought to have been the model for Dr. Faustus.

Nicolas Breakspeare was the only Englishman to occupy Peter’s throne and he took the name Adrian IV (1154 – 59). Though a second Englishman has also been elected he refused to become Pope.

In 1305 the ongoing conflicts between the imperialists and the republicans split the city states of Italy so that the seat of the Pope had to be shifted outside Italy to Avignon in France. For well nigh  three quarters of a century Avignon remained the seat of corruption and greed  until Pope Gregory XI restored the seat of papacy to Rome.

Both the foreign Popes of the 15^th century were members of the notorious Borgia family of Spain. They, Calistus III and his nephew Alexander VI, made the papacy a family affair. Pope Alexander the Sixth made four of his nephews and an illegitimate son Cardinals. The Borgias made poisoning  into a fine art. The attempt of the Borgia father and son to poison a rival misfired when Pope Alexander drank the poisoned drink by mistake and died within a week When one enters the Borgia rooms in the Vatican Palaceone trembles with fear in spite of the Raphael paintings. The person elected from outside Italy before John Paul II was the Dutch Adrian. He had to face the consequences of Martin Luther’s revolt. When Adrian, who had confessed the errors of the Church and had tried to correct them, died there was no one to mourn his death. A floral crown appeared at the door of the Palace Doctor who had failed to save the Pope. Because of that Dutch Curse no one had been elected Pope from outside Italy for 455 years, until 1978.

Although Indian Catholics form only a small portion of the Catholic population of the world some three percent of the electoral college comes from India: Cardinal Vithayathil of Ernakulam, Cardinal Dias of Bombay, and Cardinal Toppo the chairman of the CBCI. Cardinal Lourdsamy and Cardinal Pimenta have no votes as they have crossed 80. The former Nuncio to India Cardinal Caciavillan is another voter.

The Commencement of the Conclave  

Why is it that the election begins only after 15 to 20 days (in Pope Paul’s regulations 15 to 18 days) after the death of the Pope? Blessed Gregory X had ordered the Conclave to start ten days after the death of a Pope. Gregory’s rule was followed without interruption for 648 years. But the rule had to be changed in 1922. American Cardinal O’Connel of  Boston boarded ship to attend the August 1914 Conclave. But when he arrived Benedict XV had already been elected Pope. The depressed Cardinal returned to Boston. In 1922 he again started by ship for the next Conclave. But by the time the Cardinal entered the Conclave white smoke had begun to appear from the thin Sistine pipe.

The disappointed Cardinal got wild with the Cardinal Camerlengo. It was felt by many that the election was being held on the tenth day of the demise of the Pope only to exclude Americans from it and to insult American Catholics. However the newly elected Pope Pius XI decided that thereafter the Conclave should start only 15 days after the death of a Pope, and if necessary the commencement could be postponed by two or three days to enable all Cardinals to arrive. O’Connel who was Cardinal for a long time once again started from Boston for the 1939 Conclave. By this time his hasty departures had become the subject of many jokes and cartoons.  But on this occasion he did reach the Vatican in time, and attended the Conclave from beginning to end. The Pope elected at this Conclave was Pius XII. But by 1939 it was possible for American Cardinals to reach Rome by plane, reaching Rome often much before many other Cardinals.

John Paul II has declared in his regulations for the 2005 Conclave:

“When the funeral rites for the deceased Pope have been celebrated according to the prescribed ritual, and everything necessary for the regular functioning of the election has been prepared, on the appointed day — and thus on the fifteenth day after the death of the Pope or, in conformity with the provisions of No. 37 of the present Constitution, not later than the twentieth — the Cardinal electors shall meet in the Basilica of Saint Peter's in the Vatican, or elsewhere, should circumstances warrant it, in order to take part in a solemn Eucharistic celebration with the Votive Mass Pro Eligendo Papa. This celebration should preferably take place at a suitable hour in the morning.”

 During the occasion of the last Conclave this writer was fortunate enough to be included in the fourteen journalists officially admitted to cover this Votive Mass Pro Eligendo Papa or  Mass for the Election of the Pope, when I was able to take a rare photo of Cardinal Woityla who at the end of that Conclave became Pope John Paul II. 

“From the Pauline Chapel of the Apostolic Palace, where they will assemble at a suitable hour in the afternoon, the Cardinal electors, in choir dress, and invoking the assistance of the Holy Spirit with the chant of the Veni Creator, will solemnly proceed to the Sistine Chapel of the Apostolic Palace, where the election will be held.”

There is also this provision: “However, should any Cardinal electors arrive re integra, that is, before the new Pastor of the Church has been elected, they shall be allowed to take part in the election at the stage which it has reached.”

So much for the wailings of the Cardinal from Boston.

THREE
The Election Process

The papal election and election processes are keenly watched and studied by the world; especially by politicians all over the world, irrespective of country, religion, or political ideology.

The various steps and procedures for the election of the new Pope as revised and promulgated by John Paul II in 1996 may be summarized as follows: The cardinals assemble in the Sistine Chapel to elect a new pope 15-20 days after the death of the reigning Pope. The utensils necessary for voting – pen, paper, ink, ballot papers etc. will be on each Cardinals’s table, distributed by the Masters of Ceremony. Then are selected by drawing of lot, from among all the Cardinal electors, three Scrutineers, three persons charged with collecting the votes of the sick, called for the sake of brevity Infirmarii, and three Revisers. The Cardinals are not to have any contact with the outside world during the duration of the Conclave. They cast their secret ballots, disguising their handwriting, into a chalice with a paten. Though in theory any Roman Catholic can be chosen, only a Cardinal is chosen in practice. Four ballots are conducted each day -- two in the morning and two in the afternoon. Each time, after both votes of a session, the papers are all burned, along with chemicals or other material (wet or dry straw for example) to produce black or white smoke as the case may be. ( Last Conclave I especially noticed the small bundles of straw, two bags of charcoal, a box of firewood, iron sticks, pokers, and spoons for feeding and stirring  the fire, and sticks of chemicals with the labels “White” and “Black”.    If a Pope has not been elected after three days, nobody having secured two-thirds of the votes, according to the new regulations there will be a short break – of a day – for prayer, an exhortation by the top Cardinal Deacon, Cardinal Priest, or Cardinal Bishop, and discussions. There will be similar short breaks after each seven unsuccessful ballots. After thirty ballots if still no one obtains two-thirds majority, the Cardinals will elect the person who gets simple majority, i.e. 50% plus one votes. The election is announced after the newly elected person consents to be Pope and chooses the name by which he will be known. The newly elected pope then emerges and gives his first papal blessing: Urbi et Orbi ("To the City and to the World") to the crowd in the St. Peter’s Square.

Cut off from outside Contacts

John Paul the First died on 25^th September 1978. On October 14^th the doors of the Conclave were locked and sealed from inside and outside. From the next day onwards voting took place twice in the morning and twice in the evening. However this time it is possible that a single ballot may be taken in the first afternoon itself. The ballots were deposited in the golden chalice kept on the white cloth spread over the papal altar of the Sistine Chapel. Following previous practices tape-recorder, Vidieo, newspaper, cell-phone, TV,  camera – all are forbidden in the Conclave areas. Periodic eclectronic checking will be carried out to ensure this.

In fact there are no candidates in this election, no ‘proposers’ and  ‘seconders’. In one sense it is only the Holy Spirit who proposes, in the   privacy of each voter’s heart.

Election by Acclamation Forbidden

The scene was the funeral ceremonies of Pope Alexander II in the 11^th century. Suddenly a voice arose: “Let Hiederbrand be Pope!”  Everybody repeated that demand. Thus all the assembled congregation took Hiederbrand to the church and  enthroned him as Pope Gregory VIII. But the new regulations do not permit election by Acclamation. Or by Compromise. Only election by private individual voting is allowed. In any case election by acclamation and by committee has not been resorted to for many centuries.

Criteria for Election

The age, country, administrative experience, holiness of life, knowledge about the teachings of the Church, scholarship, attitudes, Curia membership, knowledge of languages – especially Italian and Latin, travels…all count in the selection of the proper candidate. Agatho from Sicily was elected when he was a hundred years old, and yet ruled for three years. Among the nine recent Popes only Benedict XV died before 80 – and of course John Paul I. The longest reigning Pope was Pius IX who ruled for 31 years. The second  place goes to John Paul II – 27 years. It is traditionally believed that St. Peter ruled the longest. Stephen II died two days after he was elected Pope. In 1605 Leo XI ruled only for 27 days. The third shortest rule was that of John Paul I – 33 days.

Note: Pl. inform if any other aspect is to be described.There are quite a few.    E- Mail: kunjethy@yahoo.com

Prof. George Menachery had read and written much about PAPAL ELECTIONS. When he went to Rome as a free lancer for the October 1978 election where the conclave of Cardinals chose the present Pontiff His Holiness Pope John Paul II, he had merely wanted to experience at [1. Title page of The Agony and the Ecstasy]first hand the joy and excitement of a papal election as [2. Title page of The Cardinal] described in classics he had read many times over such as Morris West’s ‘SHOES OF THE FISHERMAN’, Irving Stone’s ‘The Agony and the Ecstasy’, and Henry Morton Robinson’s ‘The Cardinal’. But his Roman holidays turned into a memorable adventure. Read about it here. The Cardinals were arriving one by one for the ‘Mass for the Election of the Pope’. They entered the cobbled courtyard behind St.Peter’s Basilica in huge cars and walked towards the special back-door of the Basilica quite close to the main altar.After the Mass they would enter the Conclave (‘with key’) and proceed to elect behind locked doors the next spiritual leader of the crores-strong Catholic community of the world and the temporal head of the State of Vatican. I was the only Indian among the 1300 press reporters from all over the world in Rome that October accredited by Archbishop Pancharoli’s Vatican Press Office.Of these 300 belonged to the English-speaking group. The Italian group was 320-strong, the French were 200 odd, and the Spanish/Portuguese 140. In addition there were more than 300 TV crewmembers. Apart from two or three selected TV teams only fourteen of the 1300 reporters who had arrived to report the papal elections were permitted to enter the Basilica for the function to report and to take exclusive photographs. [3.Vatican accreditation given to George Menachery by the Vatican Press Office] These were selected by lot during the briefing sessions and I was extremely lucky to get one of those fourteen coveted cards. Some well-known magazines and papers from the United States and France were willing to pay huge amounts for this card. In fact some of the fourteen photographers present [4.The card to visit the Conclave Area]now at the Basilica door represented the most famous magazines and newspapers of the world, having procured the cards from the original lucky winners paying quite hefty sums. One of the very first to arrive to attend that crucial function before the all-important Conclave locked its doors against the outside world was Lawrence Cardinal Picachy of Calcutta. As he got down from the huge car on to the vast brick-paved yard and proceeded towards the Basilica my Minolta flashed twice or thrice. One or two other pressmen also photographed the Cardinal from India, I noticed with pleasure.       [6.Card. Picachy of Calcutta with JPII at the "Coronation"] It was with a huge coterie of admirers and followers that Cardinal Siri arrived. So also Cardinal Benelli. Both were front-runners in the first ballots in the previous election and one of these two was expected to come out of the Conclave as the new Pope. Hence the photographers vied with each other in taking [7.Card. Lourdsamy - then Archbishop - with Card. Rossi at the entrance - Mass for the Election of the Pope]their pictures. I also took one each. But I was now mainly waiting for the arrival of Cardinal Parecattil of Ernakulam, ‘my Cardinal’ [Pics.8 & 9] Then came Cardinal Rossi of Propaganda in the company of Archbishop Lourdusamy (now a Cardinal). They talked serious business for a while before the Cardinal entered the Basilica and Lourdusamy went back. I didn’t forget to snap the duo. But now the sound of music from inside the Basilica was growing louder and louder. Like the Wedding-guest in Coleridge’s ‘Ancient Mariner’ I had to still reluctantly tarry waiting for my [10.Rare photo taken by Prof. Menachery - Card. Woityla arrives for the Conclave]Cardinal to arrive. There was still no sign of his car. Most of my fellow photographers were preparing to enter the church to cover the Mass and the decisive guide-line speech to the Cardinals. It was then that I noticed a solitary figure in red approaching from the huge gateway. This Cardinal looked lonely, tired, and crestfallen, yet somehow upholding the dignity of a prince of the Church. He alone among all the Cardinals arrived on foot, walking hurriedly towards the Basilica. No camera aimed to take his picture coming as he was without benefit of admirers and supporters. One or two of the big-time photgraphers from the US were looking at this pitiable figure almost it seemed contemptously. “There are lots of unused frames in my Minolta. I need only a few more to cover Cardinal Parecattil. So why not snap him, whom nobody appears to care for?”, I thought. And so I took a photo of this lonely man. He raised his head in some surprise, and went in silently. Soon afterwards Cardinal Parecattil came from the gianicolo hospital where he was staying, smiled at me, and went in, the very last Cardinal to enter the Basilica. With thousands I stood in the Piazza San Petro between the colossal columns of Bernini near his fountain and the huge obelisk in the Vatican looking at the thin pipe raising its head to the left of Michaelangelo’s mammoth dome from the famous fresco-adorned Sistine Chapel to see whether it would spit [11. The card for the Mass for the Election of the Pope]white smoke this time, fifty-six long hours and seven ballots after the Cardinals had been locked up inside to elect one, most probably from among themselves, as the new successor of St. Peter. Two days back I had the rarest of privileges to study the arrangements in the conclave area as the goddess of fortune had given me one of the sixty cards distributed by lot among the 1300 journalists to inspect the secrets of the Conclave . I was especially attracted to the pepper containers on the table of each cardinal who will be attending the Conclave. I told fellow journalists how two millennia back 100s of 1000s of gold coins minted by Caesar Augustus who forced pregnant Mary to travel all the way to Bethlehem, Tiberius Caesar the master of Pontius Pilate, and the ‘fiddling’ Nero had found their way into distant Kerala in exchange for Kerala’s pepper and pearls and how Alaric the Goth had asked for 3000 pounds of Indian pepper[Pic.12]. as ransom to free the Senate Fathers of Rome. From the stoves arranged to burn straw and chemicals to produce the white and black smoke I put some coal pieces into my coat pocket as mementos of this historic visit to the Conclave area. Now, standing in the St. Peter’s square or piazza I looked at the balcony of the Basilica to test my newly bought binoculars. Some days back I had gone up to the roof of the basilica to examine the marvels of its architecture. As a student and teacher of art and architecture this exercise has always given me immense pleasure. On this occasion however I had another motive also. I had always wanted to touch the thin white pipe that would inform the world the election or non-election of a Pope. So with the intention of touching the pipe I approached it. But many wooden barricades had been erected to prevent just such an attempt. While I proceeded towards the pipe disregarding the barricades I could see from the corner of my eye a policeman coming towards me to prevent my proceeding further. Pretending not to see the arm of the law coming nearer and nearer and now shouting something very loud, I walked quickly to the pipe and touched it. Turning around I saw the furious policeman who immediately caught hold of my arms. I innocently asked him in Malayalam what the matter was. He shouted again. I repeated my question in Malayalam again. Then in broken - very broken - English I told him I could not understand what he was saying. In despair he brought me out beyond the mobile barricades and pushed me in the direction of the staircase and shouted something like GOOOO! That was a week ago Now I was standing in the square or piazza looking at the balcony of the Basilica and the Sistine roof. Suddenly the tip of the pipe began to spit white smoke. The crowd began a deafening non-stop shout “Bianca! Bianca!” It’s white, it’s white. “We Have a New Pope! We Have a New Pope!” Tens of thousands were soon[13.The week's magazines]  [14.Newspapers of Oct.16, Late Evening Edns.]concentrating their attention on the balcony where the new Pope’s name would be announced and where the Pope himself would eventually appear. But within twenty-four minutes of the election of the Pope Osservatore Romano the official organ of the Vatican came out at 6.43 p.m. carrying a half-page picture of the new Pope. I bought a copy from the boy selling the paper like hot cakes among the crowd to see who had been finally elected. To my surprise I saw the lonely hero of my photograph keenly looking at me from the front page. He was the new Pope. But I didn’t know until then the name or country of Karol Joseph Woyitila. Even when Cardinal Felici announced the name in sonorous Latin very few in the crowd could recognize it. Once again the Italian adage was proved true: “He who goes into the Conclave Pope comes out Cardinal” - and the last and very least became the first, a Polaco, a non-Italian in 400 years, that too from the underground of a communist country - from the fourth world, so to say - as had happened to Anthony Quinn as Kiril Cardinal Lakota in the Holywood version of The Shoes of the Fisherman[Pic.15]. The huge lamps of the Vatican Palace and the Propaganda College started to flood the St. Peter’s Square, together with the huge Roman moon lighting up the whole area and converting night into day. By this time the crowd had swelled to some two hundred thousand souls filling the whole square and the Via De La Conciliazione up to river Tiber. [16.First Blessing 'Urbi et Orbi' of JPII]It was another half an hour before the Pope appeared on the balcony to give his blessing Urbi et Orbi - to the City and to the World. Before giving that Latin blessing he talked to the people in simple Italian - to their great delight and to the displeasure of the Curia officials. ‘Viva il Papa’ Long Live the Pope, the crowd shouted again and again. ‘ Polonnia! Polonnia!’ Poland, Poland. Bearing witness to the birth of a new era the bells in the four hundred churches of Rome began to ring, led by the eleven ton Kanchenone of the St. Peter’s Basilica. Morning. When I came to see Cardinal Parecattil once again at the hospital Gianicolo where he used to stay when in Rome I showed him the pictures I had taken. Of himself, Lourdsamy, Picachy and the new Pope as they were arriving at the courtyard entrance of the basilica. He couldn’t believe that I had taken a picture of the Pope before the election, because nobody thought he would be elected. It was in a way my visit to Cardinal Parecattil at Ernakulam to bid him bon voyage that was the occasion for my deciding to go to Rome. Bishop Sebastian Mankuzhikkary who knew the Cardinal’s affection for me jokingly said to me then, ‘Are you not going with the Cardinal to Rome?’ I replied, ‘ I will go if he takes me with him.’ Of course the picture of many cardinals during previous elections taking an assistant with them came to my mind – that was not possible now after Pope Paul the Sixth had forbidden the custom in his directions for the papal election. After the departure of the Cardinal to the airport on his way to Rome for the election I brooded over the possibility of going to Rome for the election. I had read up so much on the election for many, many years that my desire to be in Rome during an election had become something of an obsession with me. This was my last chance, I thought. Fortunately for me the largest circulated daily of Kerala and India agreed to part finance my expenses and what is more to publish my reports from the Vatican – if in fact they reached India in time – chances for which were quite nonexistent in those days. When I told Bishop Kundukulam of Trichur and others the same day about my desire they all encouraged me very much in this matter. And so I arrived in Rome just two days after the Cardinal’s arrival, which itself was a miracle – what with visa regulations, reservation hitches and what not. He was very glad to see me there. I was able to meet him there often and learn about the discussions among the Cardinals about the forthcoming election. Cardinal Picachy and Archbishop Lourdusamy also talked to me often. It all helped me to send relevant reports to India. After meeting every Cardinal individually and after meeting the heads and representatives of the various countries who had arrived to congratulate the new Pope His Holiness gave an audience to the Press on the eve of the “Coronation”, to which not only [17.Prof. Menachery, the Polish nun of Radio Vatican - with the Pope]the 1300 journalists with Vatican’s accreditation but many more were invited. While waiting at the bottom of the Great Staircase leading to the hall in the Vatican Palace where the audience was to take place somebody who appeared to know me told me from behind to proceed. I didn’t know why I should try to go before the others. Any way I tried. But the two Swiss Guards stopped me with their extended spears. Picp& +caption Dejected, I climbed down the steps. Then somebody from the Oriental Congregation appeared from behind the Swiss Guards from near the audience hall and beckoned me. Though the guards protested at first finally they allowed me to go up, also possibly because they were amused at my timidity. When I entered the hall many seats were already taken by officials and so on. The bearded official from the Congregation was leading me in when a Rev. Sr. took me under her charge and led me to the benches. She sat at the aisle end of one bench. When I tried to take the seat by her side she asked me to take the seat behind her. At that time I took it as an insult. (My 1972 experiences of segregationist attitude in the New York Sub-Way were only too strong in my mind.) But she only smiled. She was the official on Radio Vatican who was in charge of all the Polish programmes, and as such was very familiar with the new Pope as he used to give many talks to his people in communist Poland over Radio Vatican. She was a close friend and room-mate or something of the Rev. Sister in charge of the Indian programmes and hence had seen me often at the Radio Station. That was why she took me under her charge. When the Pope finally came into the hall and was proceeding to the rostrum he looked in our direction, and seeing the Polish nun came towards us. He came and stood in front of us and began to talk to the Rev. Sr. Although the well-built ecclesiastic who was the Pope’s body guard tried to prevent it I shook hands with the Pontiff. The Sr. whispered to me, “Say something to the Pope, you may never get such a chance in your whole life.” I gathered all my courage, and in spite of the tough body guard’s piercing looks [Pic. 18], asked the Pope:” Your predecessor Pope Paul the Sixth did not come to Kerala when he came to India, though there is an Apostolic Church there. Will Your Holiness visit Kerala?” I completed the question somehow. I do not know whether the Holy Father heard or understood me fully. But he replied in perfect English, “Why Not?” That was quite enough for me, and for the body-guard too I suppose because he whisked the Pope away towards the rostrum with all his might. After that the next day’s Mass for the Commencement of the Ministry and “Coronation” - the term is no more used and the three tiered crown is no more seen - was not such a great treat though it was pleasant to watch the whole function on the steps of the Basilica’s facade from the vantage point of the balconies over the Bernini columns in the company of great journalists from the world over. Why was Cardinal Woitila so late that day on which the Conclave began? Why was he so tired-looking? These questions troubled my mind often in the next several years whenever I looked at the rare Photo that I had published in some papers and at the Vatican accreditation card and all those other rare and wonderful press cards I was lucky to draw. Then I went to Rome once again in 1985. I had an appointment with the chief of the Vatican Museums. I had persuaded him to allow me to take the photographs of the hundred odd statues of almost all the popular Hindu Gods and Goddesses that the ethnological museum possessed for my Indology volume (i.e. of the St. Thomas Christian Encyclopaedia of India). Such an exhaustive collection I hadn’t seen in India even. But when I arrived in the museum for the final sanction the director was absent. However he had made arrangements for me to meet his assistant Msgr. Pankowiski, who was from Poland. To curry favor with him I told him that I had organised much of the Malankara Golden Jubilee Exhibition at Kottayam in 1980 that was inaugurated by the Polish Cardinal Rubin, and a large picture of the Polish Cardinal had been displayed by us in the exhibition hall which is today the home of the St. Ephraem Ecumenical Research Institute. Then I told him jokingly that I was the only journalist who knew a Polaco would be elected to the Holy See, and I told him the story of the late-coming Cardinal Woitiva and my taking his photo. The asst. director jumped up from his seat and told me the following interesting story breathlessly gesticulating and standing all the time. “Do you know why he was late that day?” I said I did not know. Then he said: “ You know he is a great devotee of the blessed Virgin Mary, like most of us Poles.” That was quite true. Most Poles gift you pictures of our lady of Chestochowa [19. Pic. of O.L. of C. presented to the author by the Rev. Sr. from Poland], as the Rev. Sr. from radio Vatican had done when we met during the Papal audience for journalists.” Almost the whole weekend before the commencement of the Conclave ( the Msgr. continued) the cardinal was away at the Mountain Shrine of Mary at Mentorella, praying for the Church to get a Good Shepherd at the election. On the morning of the Conclave after the prayers he stood talking to a Polish monk there for a few minutes. So when he came to the valley climbing down two miles the only bus to Rome had already gone. Rome was far away and he had to reach Rome before the doors of the Conclave were locked. Then he got a bus but it broke down some thirty miles away from Rome. (Cardinal Woitiva travelled only by bus, and always wore only tattered old black clothes.) There was no other bus. As directed by a sympathetic villager he approached the driver of an unused bus who was on holiday and told him his plight. The driver felt pity for the Cardinal and took him to the Vatican, the Msgr. concluded. Now I understood why he was late that morning and also why he looked so tired and depressed. Only then did I understand the reason why the Pope soon after his election flew to Mentorella in a helicopter (not in a bus this time!) to venerate the little wooden statue of Mary there. That journey was the prologue to the new Pope’s many journeys to destinations beyond the Vatican and Rome, even to the ends of the world. Contact me if necessary:kunjethy@yahoo.com OR Browse: http://www.indianchristianity.com or http://education.vsnl.com/thomapedia My profile: http://www.indianchristianity.com/html/profile.htm My parish: http://www.ollurchurch.com My Archdiocese: http://www.archdioceseoftrichur.com My Church: http://www.thesyromalabarchurch.org Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India: http://www.cbci.org/ The Holy See: http://www.vatican.va/