The Secret Cardinal

15

As a constitutional matter, all cardinals and Archbishops in charge of departments in the Roman Curia officially lost their jobs the moment the Pope died. As with any change in national administration, this purge of top officials allowed the newly elected Pope to install his own team of senior advisers.

The deposed secretaries continued to oversee their domains within the Vatican bureaucracy but acted in caretaker mode during the interregnum. Any serious or controversial matters were to be deferred until the new Pope was installed or, in the event of something requiring immediate attention, brought to the College of Cardinals for a provisional decision.

Donoher considered this as he looked over the gathering of unemployed cardinals mingling with their diocesan brethren in the Pauline Chapel. Like the other curial cardinals, he was a lame duck in his dual roles as head of both the Vatican Library and Vatican Intelligence. There was, of course, the possibility that the new Pope would ask him to stay on, but that depended on which cardinal was elected. Although on good terms with most of the papabili, he knew a few would doubtless broom him out. Such was the nature of politics, even in the Vatican, and Donoher had decided early on to leave his fate in God’s hands.

Only three of the curial cardinals retained their jobs during the interregnum. The vicar of the Diocese of Rome, who provided for the pastoral needs of the diocese, still enjoyed all the powers he held under the Pope. Overseeing confessional matters related to the Holy See, the major penitentiary also continued at his post, because the door to forgiveness should never be closed.

Third among the Vatican cardinals still employed was Donoher, in his most recent appointment as Camerlengo. Only with the passing of the Pope did the power of this office become evident as Donoher administered all assets of the Holy See. Initially shocked at being named Camerlengo, Donoher came to believe that the Pope sensed his impending death and the effect it would have on the effort to free Bishop Yin. In naming him Camerlengo, Pope Leo gave Donoher the power to act during the interregnum, should he choose to do so. With Kilkenny and his team heading into China, Donoher appreciated the late pontiff’s prescience.

One of the cardinals assisting Donoher, a dark-skinned Venezuelan named Ojeda, who headed the Congregation for the Clergy, moved through the crowd toward him.

‘They are all assembled, Your Eminence.’

Donoher smiled. ‘Would you do us the honor of an opening prayer?’

Ojeda called the congregation to order with a stirring invocation. At the conclusion of the prayer, Donoher nodded his thanks and moved to the lectern. Around him loomed Michelangelo’s last frescos: The Crucifixion of Saint Peter and The Conversion of Saint Paul. The images perfectly illustrated the Church’s ongoing battle with evil in the world — a struggle in which martyrs lost their lives balanced against the hope that even their persecutors could be redeemed.

Donoher looked out on an august assembly of men in scarlet-trimmed cassocks and zucchettos. Nearly all those who qualified as electors were now present, with only a few settling last-minute affairs or struggling with difficult travel arrangements from remote dioceses.

Prior to the election of the new Pope, two kinds of congregations would assist Donoher in his duties as Camerlengo. The particular congregation consisted of Donoher and three cardinals, one drawn from each of the cardinal orders of deacon, priest, and Bishop. The trio of cardinal-assistants were drawn by lot and served for three days, after which three new assistants would be selected. The particular congregation would deal with only minor questions, reporting their actions to the general congregation consisting of the entire College of Cardinals.

‘My Eminent Lord Cardinals,’ Donoher called out, ‘it is time for us to begin this preparatory general congregation. I believe you all have received a packet containing a copy of Universi Dominici Gregis, which describes our duties and responsibilities during the interregnum. As required by article twelve of this Apostolic Constitution, I shall now read aloud the portion regarding the vacancy of the Apostolic See.’

As Donoher recited from the constitution penned by the late Pope, he recalled the words of Cardinal Antonelli, a layman who served during the nineteenth-century reign of Pope Pius IX and was the last lay cardinal, regarding a conclave:

Nothing, for that moment, nothing stands between us and the Lord Jesus. All our lives we have someone above us — our parents, the priest, the superior, the cardinal, the Pope. But now, nobody. Until we have a Pope, this is it. And we are it. An appeal from us for help can reach no higher authority. We stand at the brink of the chasm between what is human and what is divine.

Donoher then answered a few questions regarding specific clauses in the constitution and how they would be implemented. The questions were thoughtful and reflected the seriousness with which these men regarded the impending conclave. When all questions were answered, Donoher turned the floor over to Cardinal Scheuermann for the swearing-in.

Scheuermann was a lanky German whose salt-and-pepper hair had naturally receded into a medieval tonsure. In addition to his elected position as Dean of the College of Cardinals, Scheuermann also served as cardinal-Bishop of Ostia and Vellitri-Segni and prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith — an office known in earlier times as the Inquisition.

‘We, the cardinals of the Holy Roman Church,’ intoned the seventy-six-year-old Scheuermann, ‘of the order of Bishops, of priests and of deacons, promise, pledge, and swear, as a body and individually, to observe exactly and faithfully all the norms contained in the Apostolic Constitution Universi Dominici Gregis of the Supreme Pontiff Pope Leo XIV, and 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.’

One by one, the cardinals approached Scheuermann.

‘I, Norbert Cardinal Clements, so promise, pledge, and swear,’ the Archbishop of Toronto vowed. Placing his hand on the Gospels, he added, ‘So help me God and these Holy Gospels which I now touch with my hand.’

After the entire congregation was sworn in, Donoher returned to the lectern and reported on a list of business items as required by the Apostolic Constitution, including the schedule for the funeral rites and the status of preparations for the conclave. He also announced the schedule for the requiem masses to be offered by the cardinals at the titular churches in Rome during the novemdiales — the nine days of official mourning that would follow the Pope’s funeral.

As he neared the end of his list, Donoher motioned to an aide who brought forward a small wooden box. He placed the box on the lectern and opened it.

‘On the night of the Pope’s death, I took possession of the fisherman’s ring and the leaden bull of the Pope’s holy office. These items have been continuously in my possession, and I report to you now that they have been destroyed.’

In his right hand, Donoher held the broken fragments of the golden signet ring. A chisel had cleanly halved the image of Saint Peter as a fisherman. Similarly, the leaden bull used to seal all the Pope’s public pronouncements lay in pieces. Donoher returned the remnants of papal authority to the box and locked it.

‘Last, as there are no extraordinary circumstances known at this time that may delay the start of the election, the conclave to name the successor of Pope Leo XIV will commence in twelve days’ time.’