The Conclave, from the ius excelusivae to fake news: how interferences have changed to eliminate unwelcome candidates

VATICAN CITY – In itself, in eight centuries of proper conclaves, it would not be new. The last time the August 2, 1903on the second day of the Conclave, when Cardinal Jan Puzyna of Krakow, at that time under Austrian domination, pronounced the exclusive, or The veto of Emperor Francesco Giuseppe against Cardinal Mariano Rampolla del Tindaroformer Secretary of State of Leo XIII, because it was pro -Fine. The ius exclusivaeor The right of veto actually exercised by the Catholic powers was then abolished by the neoeletto Popethe patriarch of Venice Giuseppe Sarto, who took the name of Pius x And a few months later, with the Apostolic Constitution Commissionum Nobis of January 20, 1904, he put things in clear: Any external intervention on the conclave was sentencedalso « in the form of a simple desire », and excommunication was expected latae sententiaethat is, automatic, for anyone who had made larver or interpreter.

All very clear, the commission established by Sarto who had prepared the document – based on the research of a young but brilliant minitor of the Secretariat of State, the twenty -seven year old Eugenio Pacelli, future Pope Pius XII – did an excellent job. But he couldn’t imagine that One day, an abundant century, to try to exercise veto power could be more elusive and ambiguous powersperhaps hidden behind anonymity or the network mirror games: a new veto power exercised, in the time of social media through The slander or « fake news » What do you want.

It is not over, the time of interference. Even the slander to try to eliminate unwelcome candidates have always been there and it would be enough, in the last conclave of 2013, the matter of the lung of Jorge Mario Bergoglio. Before the election the rumor was scattered that he had a lung alonesome cardinals asked him to the conclave. It wasn’t true: In 1957, at 21, he had suffered the removal of the upper lobe of the right lung Because of three cysts and in the meantime « the right lung has expanded to occupy the whole Omolateral Emitarace » he explained himself. But those were still chatter, even if The slander can be tenacious and many, after twelve years of pontificate and death, still remain convinced. The problem is that today the chances of spreading false news have multiplied. You can hit an even more effective candidate, spreading lies: on health, or perhaps claiming that he has covered pedophilesor even worse. The conclave is summoned between 15 and 20 days from the death of the pontiff, just enough to spread a suspicion.

Bergoglio’s pontificate has known a traditionalist resistance on well organized and financed network. It has its epicenter in the most conservative sectors of the Church of the USA. In 2019 a book by journalist Nicolas Senèze came out in France on the « American schism », entitled How America wants to change pope. The maneuvers conducted by the « galaxy » of the Estrem Right Catholic USA were reconstructed with acrybia to guide a new conclave. A « group for a better government of the Church » had presented a « Red Hat Report » to possible donors to possible donors who had a million budget to draw up « in two years » a dossier for each cardinal voter, focusing on accusations and voices of « abuse », « corruption » etc. One of the objectives was to change the wikipedia profiles of the cardinals: «If we had done it before, perhaps we would not have had Pope Francis». The same galaxy had released the so -called « dossier » against Bergoglio by Carlo Maria Viganò, in the meantime excommunicated: in the USA the National Catholic Register thought about it which is part of the EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) network, the media epicenter of the opposition. In December a site was opened, The College of Cardinals Report that presents the portraits of some « eligible » Also as « resource for members of the sacred college ».

The Holy See has enhanced the VaticanNews.Va and Vatican.va sites, with news, documentation, biographies. The danger, moreover, can come from anonymous hackers attacks. Cardinal voters live the days of the isolated conclave between Santa Marta and the Sistine: shielded environments, no cell phones or PCs. But all this does not apply to the previous days. Recently, in his book The conclave and the election of the Pope, The historian Alberto Melloni had suggested some reform proposals, for example anticipating the cloister to the discussions between cardinals preceding the Sistine. But now there is no time: the most delicate days are these.