Conclave

‘I thought it wiser not to eat with the cardinals. I ate in my room. At the eleventh ballot I was elected Pope. O Jesus, I too can say what Pius XII said when he was elected: “Have mercy on me, Lord, according to thy great mercy.” One would say that it is like a dream and yet, until I die, it is the most solemn reality of all my life. So I’m ready, Lord, “to live and die with you”. About three hundred thousand people applauded me on St Peter’s balcony. The arc-lights stopped me from seeing anything other than a shapeless, heaving mass.’

POPE JOHN XXIII, DIARY ENTRY, 28 OCTOBER 1958

‘I was solitary before, but now my solitariness becomes complete and awesome. Hence the dizziness, like vertigo. Like a statue on a plinth – that is how I live now.’

POPE PAUL VI