Papal conclave, 1621

Papal conclave
February 1621

Coat of arms during the vacancy of the Holy See
Dates and location
8–9 February 1621
Apostolic Palace, Papal States
Key officials
Dean Antonio Maria Sauli
Sub-Dean Benedetto Giustiniani
Camerlengo Pietro Aldobrandini
Protopriest Ottavio Bandini
Protodeacon Andrea Baroni Peretti Montalto
Election
Candidates Pietro Campori
Elected Pope
Alessandro Ludovisi
(Name taken: Gregory XV)

Papal conclave 1621 (February 8 – February 9) – convoked after the death of Pope Paul V, elected Cardinal Alessandro Ludovisi, who under the name of Gregory XV became 234th Pope of the Catholic Church. It was the shortest conclave in the seventeenth century.[1]

List of participants

Pope Paul V died on January 28, 1621 in the 16th year of his pontificate. At the time of his death, there were seventy cardinals in the Sacred College, but only sixty nine were valid electors. Fifty one of them participated in the election of the new Pope:[2]

All the electors were Italians, except Zapata and Borja y Velasco, who were Spaniards. Thirty two were creatures of Paul V, fourteen of Pope Clement VIII, four of Sixtus V, and one of Gregory XIII.

Absentees

Eighteen cardinals did not participate in this conclave:[2]

Non-elector

Cardinal Infante of Spain was not an elector because he was only 12 years old:[3]

Factions in the Sacred College

There were three main parties in the Sacred College, with cardinal-nephews of the deceased Popes as leaders:[4]

Three cardinals of the Italian ruling families (d'Este, Medici and Sforza) were not counted among the members of these factions.

It was generally thought that the next Pope would be the candidate chosen by Cardinal Borghese, because he was the most influential person in the Sacred College. He wanted to elect his friend Cardinal Campori, and already before opening the conclave he had obtained twenty four declarations in his favor. Although Campori had two significant opponents (Republic of Venice and Cardinal Orsini), Borghese was sure that he would be able to achieve his election on the first day of voting, by acclamation.[4]

Aldobrandini and Montalto, who formally were leaders of factions, were not able to play any significant role during conclave. Aldobrandini was gravely ill at that time and died a day after the election of new Pope. In these circumstances the actual leadership of anti-Borghesian cardinals fell to Alessandro Orsini, who was the main opponent of candidature of Campori.[5]

The election of Pope Gregory XV

The conclave began in the evening of February 8. On the next day, Cardinal Borghese tried to elect Campori by acclamation, but failed because many of his friends defected and aligned themselves with Orsini, who had secured French support for his action against Campori. Facing such strong opposition, Campori withdrew his candidature.[4][5]

In the subsequent scrutiny (the only one during this conclave), the greatest number of votes received (fifteen) were for Jesuit Cardinal Robert Bellarmine,[4] but he had already declared in the previous conclave that he would not accept papal dignity in the case of his election. Now, at the age of 78, Bellarmine did not change his mind.[6]

The rest of the day the most influential cardinals: Borghese, Orsini, Zapata, Capponi, d'Este and Medici, spent on looking for a compromise candidature.[4] The election of Cardinal Bourbon del Monte was proposed, but Spain rejected him.[7] Finally, the leaders of factions agreed to elect aged and ill Cardinal Alessandro Ludovisi of Bologna, who seemed to have been ideal candidate for a temporary pontificate.

On that same day, at about 11 o’clock in the evening, all the cardinals assembled in the Capella Paolina and by acclamation elected Alessandro Ludovisi to the papacy.[8] He accepted his election and took the name of Gregory XV. Five days later he was crowned in the Vatican Basilica by protodeacon Andrea Montalto.[9]

Legacy

Pope Gregory XV in his Bull "Aeterni Patris" (November 15, 1621) prescribes that in the future only three modes of papal election are to be allowed: scrutiny, compromise, and quasi-inspiration. His Bull "Decet Romanum Pontificem" (March 12, 1622) contains a ceremonial which regulates these three modes of election in every detail. The ordinary mode of election was to be election by scrutiny, which required that the vote be secret, that each cardinal give his vote to only one candidate and that no one vote for himself. Most of the papal elections during the sixteenth century were influenced by political conditions and by party considerations in the College of Cardinals. By introducing secrecy of vote, Pope Gregory XV intended to abolish these abuses. The rules and ceremonies prescribed by Gregory XV were substantially the same until Pope John Paul II issued constitution "Universi Dominici Gregis" in 1996.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Vatican History: Konklavechronologie
  2. 1 2 List of participant of conclave, 1621
  3. ↑ He obtained active and passive voice in the conclave only in 1634
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Vatican History
  5. 1 2 The Triple Crown
  6. ↑ Vatican History: Konklave 1605 (Paul V)
  7. ↑ Cardinal Bourbon del Monte (by S. Miranda)
  8. ↑ Konrad Eubel, HIERARCHIA CATHOLICA MEDII ET RECENTIORIS AEVI vol. IV, p. 15
  9. ↑ Pope Gregory XV (by S. Miranda)
  10. ↑ The Catholic Encyclopedia (public domain)

Sources

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