Cardinal Rampolla

[roscoe]

**I don’t think Della Chiesa was sincere in his affections him. In the last 26 years of Card Rampolla’s life he(like Card Raphael and Pius X) kept Della Chiesa at a distance.

In the 1914 conclave, Cards Raphael(Z) and Gaspari(P) were the most papabile. In fact, Card Raphael(like Card Laurenti in 1921-he absolutely refused the Tiara) was practically Pope by acclamation. Some conclaves are strange and I guess it is not impossible that neither was elected, but to have the least papabile given the Tiara smacks unmistakenly of foul play.

**

 

[Volodymyr_988]

Isn’t there some penalty for revealing what went on in the Conclave?

Besides the obvious…

 

[roscoe]

Before his death, Pius X proclaimed new rules requiring much stricter secrecy in Papal elections–probably because of the choas in 1903. This is why we know comparativly little about what transpired in 1914

 

[Volodymyr_988]

**I don’t think Della Chiesa was sincere in his affections him. In the last 26 years of Card Rampolla’s life he(like Card Raphael and Pius X) kept Della Chiesa at a distance.

In the 1914 conclave, Cards Raphael(Z) and Gaspari(P) were the most papabile. In fact, Card Raphael(like Card Laurenti in 1921-he absolutely refused the Tiara) was practically Pope by acclamation. Some conclaves are strange and I guess it is not impossible that neither was elected, but to have the least papabile given the Tiara smacks unmistakenly of foul play.

**

Granted, my quote comes from Wikipedia, but it mentions nothing of the Cardinals you cite as being Papabile.

The conclave itself assembled in the Sistine Chapel on 31 August. From the beginning of the conclave, it was clear that there were only three possible winners. Alberto Cardinal Serafini, a Benedictine and assessor at the Holy Office won the support of the Curia to continue Pius X’s anti-modernist campaign as his chief priority. However, many other cardinals, such as Carlo Ferrari and Desiré Merciér, believed that a Pope with a different focus was needed and supported the Archbishop of Pisa Pietro Cardinal Maffi, considered very liberal but tainted by being close to the House of Savoy. Giacomo Cardinal della Chiesa, Archbishop of Bologna, stood intermediate between Maffi and Serafini, but in the early ballots he was equal with Maffi and seemed to be winning some support from conservative factions. Della Chiesa drew ahead by five votes after the fourth ballot, and once it became clear Maffi had no hope whatsoever of gaining two-thirds of the votes, Serafini became Della Chiesa’s opponent. By 3 September 1914, on the tenth ballot, all of Maffi’s supporters had switched to him and Della Chiesa had been elected pope. He took the name Pope Benedict XV.

Reportedly Della Chiesa had been elected by one vote. According to the rules in force at the time, the ballot papers had a numbering on the reverse side, so that, if the election was decided by only one vote, it could be checked whether or not the elected person had voted for himself, in which case the election would be void. According to that account, Cardinal Rafael Merry del Val, who had been Pius X’s Secretary of State, insisted that the ballots be checked to insure that della Chiesa hadn’t voted for himself - which he hadn’t. When the cardinals offered their homage to the new pope, Benedict allegedly said to Merry del Val, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” To which the unabashed Merry del Val replied with the next verse of Psalm 118: “This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.”

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_conclave,_1914

 

[roscoe]

**I definitly would reject wikpedia’s version of events. Quoting(not verbatum) from page 313 of Francis MacNutt’s PAPAL CHAMBERLAIN—

‘One of the Cardinals whose seat in the Sixtine Chapel was next to Card Raphaels reported that the latters reaction to the election of Della Chiesa was --" BUT THIS IS A CALAMITY"–’

If one wants an example of the perfidious nature of wikpedia, look up the mayor of Rome from 1907-1913–Ernesto Nathan. Nowhere is it mentioned that the full name of this person is actually Ernesto Nathan Rothschild–son of Karl Rothschild of Alta-Vendita fame**