A ‘sede vacante’ lexicon: Know your congregations from your conclaves
The Church has a lot of lingo. Here's what people are talking about.
As cardinals from around the world gather in Rome, and with global eyes now fixed on the Vatican, the Church has entered a period of papal interregnum.
The loss of a pope, and the wait for a new one, is a dramatic moment, and can be even a traumatic one — but it is also inevitable, each time a new pope is elected.
And the Church has detailed laws governing who does what until the next Bishop of Rome emerges on the loggia of St. Peters.
But the terminology can be a little confusing, as can the mechanics of who does what, and when over the next few weeks. So, to help readers grasp the vocab to better follow the news, The Pillar presents a sede vacante lexicon:
The College of Cardinals
The College of Cardinals is a group of clerics selected by the pope to help him govern the universal Church, either through serving in specific offices or by giving the pope the benefit of their advice.
Of course, their most famous duty is the eventual election of the next pope, though not all of them can or will participate in that function.
However, it is widely understood that the cardinals govern the Church in place of the pope until the election concludes — though it is not the case that they exercise papal power as a group.
On the contrary, canon law allows that “During the vacancy of the Apostolic See, the government of the Church is entrusted to the College of Cardinals solely for the dispatch of ordinary business and of matters which cannot be postponed, and for the preparation of everything necessary for the election of the new pope.”
The cardinals cannot make any innovations, or do anything — by action or inaction — which touches the rights and powers of the Apostolic See. Nor can they add, subtract, modify, suspend or dispense any part of papal law.
The College of Cardinals does, however, have the faculty to interpret doubtful or controversial points of law — except any concerning the papal election process — and these are resolved by “the majority of the cardinals present.”
“Present where?” you might ask.
The short answer is “in the room” where the cardinals discuss these things on a daily basis.
And those meetings are called…
General congregations
Before the conclave, (which we’ll get to in a minute), the whole College of Cardinals, including those members over 80 years old, hold a series of meetings called “general congregations.”
The meetings are held daily — including on the day of the papal funeral — in the Apostolic Palace, and are led by the Dean of the College (we’ll get there).
The starting date for the congregations is chosen by the Camerlengo of Holy Roman Church (we’ll get there) and the senior cardinal electors from each of the three “orders” of the College of Cardinals.
This year, the congregations began on Tuesday, April 22.
The law anticipates that these general congregations will begin before all of the cardinals are able to arrive in Rome from around the world, since among the first orders of business are setting the times and place for the display of the deceased pope’s body for viewing, and arranging the papal funeral and burial.
Apart from those immediate responsibilities, the general congregations are held so that the camerlengo (just hang in there) can “hear the opinion of the [cardinals], and communicate whatever is considered necessary or appropriate” — and so that individual cardinals can express their views on any possible problems, or ask for explanations on complicated issues.
Of course, the general congregations are also the venue in which the electors begin to really get to know each other and when all the college can make interventions and remarks on what they believe are the pressing needs of the Church when considering the upcoming election.
It’s the first time real candidates, rather than just presumed front-runners, begin to emerge. And while the general congregations aren’t under the same kind of super-secrecy of a conclave, all the participants have to swear an oath “to maintain rigorous secrecy with regard to all matters in any way related to the election of the Roman Pontiff or those which, by their very nature, during the vacancy of the Apostolic See, call for the same secrecy.”
Of course, which matters relate to the election of the Roman pontiff and which do not is often treated as a matter of interpretation by the participants.
Once the conclave begins, the governing functions of the college devolve from the general congregations to the electoral assembly.
Particular congregations
While the general congregations are open to all 252 living cardinals, who are all expected by law to attend — even those who have otherwise renounced or lost their right to participate in a conclave, like Cardinal Angelo Becciu, may come if they wish.
But a group of 252 isn’t exactly ideal for dispatching the daily business needed to keep the Vatican going, so “particular congregations” also meet throughout the period of a papal interregnum.
Particular congregations are basically executive subcommittees charged with approving the ordinary business of the global Church or Vatican affairs, as needed.
The particular congregations are led by the camerlengo, who together with three cardinal electors, chosen by lottery from among each of the three ranks of the college, decide on “questions of lesser importance which arise on a daily basis” — anything major goes to the full general congregation for a majority vote.
Three new cardinal electors are picked at random every three days until the conclave starts, at which point the governance of the Church shifts from the whole college to the assembly of cardinal electors — the cardinals under 80 — in the conclave, who continue to select three of their number by random to serve on the particular congregations until the new pope is elected.
The Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church
The cardinal camerlengo is — within carefully defined limits — something like the chief executor of the Church until the next pope is elected, with responsibility for safeguarding and administering the goods and rights of the Holy See, working with the College of Cardinals through the particular and general congregations.
Most immediately, it is the camerlengo’s job to seal the papal apartments and, in consultation with the most senior cardinals of the college’s three ranks, to make all the decisions and arrangements regarding the pope’s funeral — in line with the existing liturgical norms for the event and the directions left by Francis himself for his own burial.
In addition to leading the particular congregations, he also leads the three cardinal committee, composed of himself, the former secretary of state, and the president of the governing commission for the Vatican city state, which makes the logistical arrangements for the conclave — including the accommodations for the cardinal electors — and ensuring the electors are kept sequestered throughout the election.
The Dean of the College of Cardinals
Elected to as primus inter pares of the college by the members of its most senior rank, the order of cardinal bishops, the dean acts as chairman of the college and presides over the general congregations.
The dean usually presides at major liturgical functions during the sede vacante period and is expected to preach the papal funeral, barring the deceased pope having made other provisions.
He is also expected to preside over the assembly of cardinal electors within the conclave and chair the election process.
But the current dean of the college, Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, is 91, and more than a decade too old to participate in the conclave. As it happens, so too is his deputy the subdean, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, who is also over the age limit of 80.
As such, while Re is presiding over all the pre-conclave congregations and liturgies in line with his office, it will be the senior cardinal-bishop under 80 tasked with leading the assembly of electors in the conclave.
Of the four cardinal bishops under 80, Cardinal Fernando Filoni is both the eldest and has been a cardinal the longest. However, by quirk of tradition, Cardinal Pietro Parolin actually outranks Filoni in the order of precedence, because his name appeared first in the 2018 announcement that both men had been made cardinal bishops on the same day.
Cardinal electors
Until the reign of Pope St. Paul VI, all cardinals of the college participated in the conclave and the election of the pope.
But since 1970, there has been an age limit on participation.
The current law is that any cardinal who has been created and published before the college has the right to elect the pope except “those who have reached their eightieth birthday before the day of the Roman Pontiff's death or the day when the Apostolic See becomes vacant,” and those “cardinals who have been canonically deposed or who with the consent of the Roman Pontiff have renounced the cardinalate [and therefor] do not have this right.”
Only those 135 cardinals who did not turn 80 before the death of Pope Francis, or who had not lost their right to vote — Cardinal Becciu — can participate in the conclave.
As importantly, all of the 135 cardinal electors have the right and duty to participate in the conclave, which is why the law allows for the start of the conclave to be delayed up to 15 days — and even 20 in extraordinary circumstances — after the death of the pope, to ensure they all have time to arrive in Rome.
While canon law does provide a limit of 120 cardinal electors, that limit is created (like the entire college of cardinals) by ecclesiastical law, promulgated by the popes, and not divine law.
While there is such a thing as cardinals named in pectore, that is, cardinals named in secret by the pope, unless the pope publicly makes their appointments known before he dies, they cannot enter or vote in the conclave — no matter what that movie you saw may show to the contrary.
The conclave
Most people know the origins of the word, meaning “with a key,” and the necessity of locking the cardinal electors together until a new pope has been elected — originally to force them to come to a decision, rather than shield them from outside influence.
The conclave does have to take place in Vatican City, with the actual sessions of the election famously taking place in the Sistine Chapel, while the cardinals eat and sleep in the Domus Sanctae Marthae guesthouse.
The cardinals are forbidden from the beginning of the election until its conclusion and the public announcement of its outcome, to communicate — “whether by writing, by telephone or by any other means of communication” — with persons outside, unless the particular congregation has given prior approval for an elector to deal with an issue which cannot wait.
While we tend to think of it being a strictly cardinal electors-only event, in reality there are a number of people allowed behind the security cordon, including those charged with feeding the electors and cleaning up after them.
And the law actually provides for a fairly large number of non-cardinals to be present to help around the election process, including the secretary of the College of Cardinals, who acts as secretary of the electoral assembly; the Master of Papal Liturgical Celebrations, along with eight masters of ceremonies and two religious attached to the papal sacristy; and a cleric chosen by Cardinal Parolin (who is subbing in for the Dean of the College), in order to assist him in his duties.
The law also requires that there be a number of priests available for hearing confessions in different languages, and two doctors for possible emergencies — as well as a nurse for any cardinal elector who is infirm.
They are all, though, bound to the same level of secrecy as the cardinals and have to swear oaths to that effect.
Priests available for confessions in many languages 🥰🥰🥰. That is absolutely lovely to know 💛
"including those charged with feeding the electors and cleaning up after them."
One imagines that things might be better if the cardinals got better at cleaning up after themselves...