Die Konklavereform Gregors XV. (1621/22). Wertekonflikte, symbolische Inszenierung und Verfahrenswandel im posttridentinischen Papsttum (review)

Abstract

Die Konklavereform Gregors XV. (1621/22). Wertekonflikte, symbolische Inszenierung und Verfahrenswandel im posttridentinischen Papsttum. By Gunther Was silo wsky. [Papste und Papsttum, Band 38.] (Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann. 2010. Pp. x, 406. euro112,00. ISBN 978-3-777-21003-2.) Since the early-fifteenth century the call had been heard for in head and members in the Church. This valuable, clearly written volume calls our attention to a reform in the head that has been nearly completely overlooked in the literature of early-modern Catholic Reform. Pope Gregory XV, shortly after his election, issued on December 17, 1621, the bull Aeterni Patris Filius that was followed by a Caeremoniale in electione Summi Romani Pontificis observandum the next April 22. The two documents represented a complete reform of the procedure and ceremony for the election of a pope, brought to completion a long campaign for this reform, and led to the first truly secret and so (as the author argues) truly free papal election - that of Pope Urban VIII in 1623. The papal action represented a triumph of an ethic of conscience and commitment to the common good over one characterized by pietas or loyalty to one's family, patron, or place of origin that was widely accepted in early-modern Rome, where cardinals often voted in gratitude for past benefits or in anticipation of future ones. To support his argument, the author draws heavily on a rarely used source - the diaries of the papal masters of ceremonies now found in copies in the Archivio dei Maestri delle Cerimonie Pontifice (sic) as well as in other Roman archives. The author observes at the start how little research has been devoted to the procedure and ceremonies of a papal election as opposed to its politics. A sixteenth-century author, the Augustinian hermit Onofrio Panvinio, wrote in an unpublished manuscript of eighteen different methods that had been employed to choose a pope starting with Je sus' s installation of Peter. Crucial in the development was the determination of Pope Alexander III in 1 179 that the cardinals alone would elect a pope - so defining their basic function - and that a two-thirds majority would be necessary. But nothing was prescribed about the method of election. The conclave was introduced in 1274, and oral and written scrutinies were conducted, but they were not secret. Gradually there evolved a procedure that became a method of election first employed in the election of Leo X in 1513, election by adoration. One group or faction of cardinals, after negotiations, would gather around a candidate even in the middle of the night, recognize him as pope, and kiss him in the hope of attracting two-thirds of their number to join them. No one wanted to be the last to jump on the bandwagon of the winner lest he lose any chance for advancement. …