Giovanni took his seat in the second row on the right. He had been intrigued to find he was under investigation but not really surprised. It would not be the first time the Holy Church had reacted fiercely against anyone who questioned the fallibility of the doctrine. On each desk there was a copy of Universi Dominici Gregis – The Whole Flock of the Lord, Pope John Paul’s revised rules for the election of his successor.
Giovanni looked around. Cardinal Thuku from Kenya flashed him a broad smile, as did Giovanni’s preferred candidate, Cardinal Medici of Ecuador. Giovanni hoped for the sake of the Church that the election would be a short one, but if it went for two or three days, it would at least give him a chance to catch up with so many of his friends.
The Camerlengo, Cardinal Monetti, a short, bald, slightly built man, held up his hand for silence. ‘Let us pray,’ Cardinal Monetti began: Almighty God, we your servants ask for your guidance as we gather together in your name. Grant us wisdom as we deliberate on whom amongst us is to assume the awesome responsibilities as the successor to Peter, on whose rock your Holy Church has been founded, through Christ our Lord, Amen.
‘Amen,’ Giovanni joined the chorus of his colleagues.
‘I will remind you again, Eminences,’ the Camerlengo intoned, ‘of the oath you have sworn to follow the rules of this election, to observe with the greatest fidelity the secrecy regarding everything that relates to the election of the Roman Pontiff and what occurs in this place of election, and if you are elected, to defend the rights of the Holy See.’
Six cardinals had been elected to assist the Camerlengo in the conduct of the election – three cardinal ‘scrutineers’ and three cardinal ‘revisers’ tasked with scrutineering the scrutineers – and the Camerlengo nodded to them as a sign for the ballot papers to be distributed.
Giovanni smiled his thanks as he took the small rectangular slip of paper inscribed with the Latin words, ‘ Eligo in summum pontificem ’ – ‘I elect as Supreme Pontiff’. Obeying the quaint instruction to disguise his handwriting, he inscribed his ballot with the name of Cardinal Rodriguez Medici and folded it. He took his turn to file up to the altar holding the ballot above his head.
Giovanni placed his ballot on the paten covering the chalice and knelt at the altar, praying silently for the Holy Spirit’s presence, and as he rose he said, ‘I call to witness Christ the Lord who will be my judge, that my vote is given to the one before God I consider should be elected,’ and then using the paten he dropped his ballot into the chalice.
When all the votes had been cast the first scrutineer covered the chalice with the paten and shook it to mix the ballots, and when the scrutineers, checked by the revisers, had satisfied themselves that there were only 115 ballots in the chalice, the vote counting began.
The first cardinal scrutineer noted the name on the first ballot and passed it to the second scrutineer who did the same. The third cardinal scrutineer read the name out loud for the whole college to note.
‘Cardinal Lorenzo Petroni,’ the third cardinal scrutineer intoned, and he pierced the card through the word ‘ Eligo ’ and placed it on a thread that would join the votes together to be burned or, if a Pope was elected, kept for his retention.
‘Cardinal Giovanni Donelli.’
Giovanni shook his head but smiled. It didn’t hurt to get one or two votes he supposed.
‘Cardinal Rodriguez Medici.’
‘Cardinal Lorenzo Petroni.’
‘Cardinal Daniel Thuku.’
‘Cardinal Giovanni Donelli.’
At the end of the first vote the Camerlengo read out the results: ‘Cardinal Lorenzo Petroni, forty-two votes.’
Cardinal Petroni nodded imperceptibly.
‘Cardinal Giovanni Donelli, thirty-two votes.’
Cardinal Petroni’s eyes hardened. Donelli. Obviously the announcement of the investigation had had some effect but not enough and Petroni wondered who might be voting for him. Petroni decided to reinforce the dangers of heresy and of a long Papacy during the lunch break.
‘Cardinal Daniel Thuku, twenty-four votes.’
Cardinal Petroni nodded to the Kenyan. It was around the number he had calculated. Again the counter to the Third World of ‘not yet’ would have to be reiterated, and he thought about how he might swing Thuku and his bloc of African votes over to his side. A twenty-four vote bloc, together with one or two more coming over, would give him at least seventy and put him comfortably in striking distance of the magical figure of seventy-eight. Once a candidate got close, Petroni knew that the next vote usually clinched it as the other cardinals all rushed to be on the winning team.
‘Cardinal Rodriguez Medici, twenty-two votes.’
Again Cardinal Petroni nodded in acknowledgement. The Latin American bloc of Liberation cardinals would be harder to swing, but he had already listed those who might be vulnerable. The other votes were scattered in twos and threes and the Camerlengo gave orders for the ballots to be burned with a candle so that black smoke issued from the chimney.
Jerusalem
‘There must be something we can do, Patrick,’ Allegra said, her anger still flaming as Patrick O’Hara showed her in to his lounge room.
‘I have to agree with you, Allegra, it’s got Petroni’s trademark all over it but the trouble is, once a conclave starts, the cardinals are sealed off from the outside world.’
‘No doubt something Petroni was banking on with his timing,’ Allegra said bitterly. ‘Sow the seeds of doubt in the minds of those who are wavering on their candidate to ensure Petroni gets himself across the line, then he can claim it was all a misunderstanding.’
‘Sorry to interrupt, Bishop O’Hara,’ Sister Katherine said from the doorway. ‘Tom Schweiker is calling from Rome, shall I ask him to call back?’
‘No, no, we’re in between a rock and a hard place here anyway, Sister Katherine. I’ll take it in the study but you can serve the tea in here.’
It was nearly fifteen minutes before Patrick returned but he had a bounce in his step and his eyes were dancing with a mischievous anger.
‘Tom phoned me on a personal matter, but I took the trouble to raise last night’s broadcast with him and he is just as irate as we are,’ Patrick said. ‘He’s got reason to believe that when Petroni was a bishop in the Vatican he was involved in covering up the Church’s involvement in paedophilia.’
Patrick kept the allegations general. Tom Schweiker hadn’t said as much, but Patrick had been around long enough to sense there was a deeper personal issue for the journalist, and he had told Tom his door was always open. There had been a sense of gratitude in Tom’s response that heightened Patrick’s suspicions.
‘Tom tells me there was a heated argument in New York just before the item was aired. With only seconds to go before the bulletin opened, the CCN anchor was handed a brief headed “Breaking news from Rome”. When she had a closer look at the date, she could see the information had come through from Petroni’s office nearly a week before.’
‘Then there’s a link between Petroni and the CCN News Director,’ Allegra said.
‘Tom’s certain there is.’
‘So that would rule out any chance of Tom getting a story up that suggested the timing of the allegations is political.’ Allegra was getting angrier.
‘It doesn’t stop us airing the allegations against Petroni,’ Patrick said. ‘I made a call to the one person in the conclave who is connected to the outside world, the Camerlengo. It’s a long shot, but Tom’s agreed to back us. The Camerlengo’s absolutely furious, but I told him the media already had the story and it would not look good if it subsequently emerged that he refused to see us. To give us credibility I gave him Tom’s number if he wanted to check. It took a fair bit of arm-twisting, but he’s very reluctantly agreed to listen to us.’
The Italian in Allegra came to the fore. She put her cup down, leaned over and gave an astonished Patrick a hug.
‘Patrick, you’re a marvel!’
‘Don’t get your hopes up too much, Allegra,’ Patrick cautioned. ‘He’s only agreed to see us. The Curia can be very stubborn. Will David come?’
