White smoke and mirrors.

Conclave: The Politics, Personalities, and Process of the Next Papal Election 

John L. Allen, Jr. (Doubleday, 2002, 256pp.)

A CONCLAVE, THE PROCESS through which a new pope is chosen, is the closest thing to a democratic election in the Catholic church. The last conclave took place in 1978. To be more specific, the last two conclaves both took place that year, because Pope John Paul I died--much too early--after only 33 days of his papacy. As John Paul II has reigned for the past 24 years, many, especially young Catholics, are missing the experience of differing styles of papal leadership. The only impressions they might have of a conclave would have to be gleaned from such Hollywood movies as, "The Shoes of the Fisherman." This 1968 film, based on a novel by Morris West, starred Anthony Quinn as a former Russian political prisoner who becomes a cardinal and eventually assumes the papacy. One could speculate that in the minds of some it prefigures the present incumbent.

The fact that this pope is a more-than-usually powerful figure inside the Catholic church, and has become an even more important world leader incited Allen, the Vatican correspondent for the US-based National Carbolic Reporter, to write Conclave: The Politics, Personalities and Process of the Next Papal Election. He aims "to help interested people who don't know much about the inner workings of the Catholic church to understand what the big deal is about a papal election" and promises to offer "everything you need to know about the next conclave, under one roof." (p5)

Some people would argue that it is the Holy Spirit who chooses the pope and furthermore would regard any attempt to describe the process of the papal election in secular terms as erroneous. Allen quotes Cardinal Ratzinger as saying, "I would not say so in the sense that the Holy Spirit picks out the pope, because there are too many contrary instances of popes the Holy Spirit would obviously not have picked." (p135) And popes haven't always been elected in a conclave. As Allen notes, "If Saint Peter were somehow to show up at a modern conclave, he would have absolutely no idea of what was going on." (p4) Conclave might well be the book that Saint Peter would pick up.

The book is divided into five parts: The introductory part deals with the question, "What does the pope do?" While some readers may be familiar with the vast array of tasks a pope has to fulfill, this part helps people of other denominations or religions to understand why it matters who will become the next pope. In the next part, Allen identifies the voting issues that are certainly on the minds of the cardinals when they start the conclave, such as the question of collegiality among the bishops or the role of the laity, especially women.

The central part of the book gives an impression of how the conclave works. Allen excels in painting a detailed and multi-faceted picture of events to come. Analysing the conclaves that took place during the last century, he makes a projection into the future that is thrilling to read. While some medieval rituals still mark the stream of events that follows the death of the pope until it leads to the installation Mass of his successor, the process contains every element of a modern drama. Though there is no election campaign before the conclave, and to be seen campaigning can sound the death knell for any of the papabile, or likely candidates, the cardinals do try to make a favourable impression on their fellow voters. The way in which some candidates have hustled around in the past to secure votes in the race for the papacy is well described.

As a journalist, Allen is very much aware that the media plays an important role in conveying the viewpoints of the candidates. The rules for the conclave, which begins when the cardinals enter the Sistine Chapel and ends when the new pope accepts his election, have been altered by John Paul II to prevent an ongoing deadlock between two candidates. While this could be seen as favoring the more conservative candidates, Allen proves that this change would have had no effect in the conclaves that took place in the last century.

Papal elections are shaped by the interplay of political factions. Out of this scenario, Allen establishes, in the fourth part of the book, a classification system for grouping the College of Cardinals into three different political parties. Though there are no formal boundaries or even declared membership of these parties, the reader is well advised to check this classification against his or her own views. Surprisingly absent in the list of criteria is the association of some cardinals with ultra-conservative movements like Opus Del. Other commentators see ultra-conservative movements as a determining factor for the outcome of the papal election.

In the final part of the book, Allen gives the reader his list of the twenty front-runners for the papacy. He overcomes the temptation to lay his cards on the table by placing the names in alphabetical order as well as offering insights into some "also-rans."

Allen offers us an intriguing view behind the scenes leading up to the election of the man whom may well be the most powerful religious leader on earth--and the only one with direct influence at the United Nations. Before reading Allen's book, the only pictures I associated with a conclave were white smoke billowing from the chimney above the Sistine Chapel and the presentation of the newly elected pope to the people in Saint Peter's Square with the call: Habemus papam--We have a pope. Because the rules of the conclave shroud the actual event in secrecy, the images of the next conclave, transmitted by numerous TV cameras into every corner of the earth, will not be any more elaborate. In reading the book, I felt as if I was accompanying the cardinals into the conclave.

Allen also gives some well-informed opinions about who stands a chance of winning the papacy. His arguments for predicting that the next pope will not be a carbon copy of John Paul II are convincing. Nevertheless, we still have to hope that the voices of the People of God will find their way into the conclave and will not get lost in a power struggle among prelates. The voice of a large section of the faithful were gathered in the document, "A Pope for the Time to Come," signed in 1998 by some 145 Catholic reform groups worldwide giving us some reflections on the qualities the next Bishop of Rome will need.

Conclave fulfills its promise to offer us all we need to know about the next conclave. The list of all the cardinals that are currently eligible to become the next pope, a glossary of the more unfamiliar terms and an index make this book an invaluable reference point. When the next conclave takes place, be sure to have Allen's book at hand to help explain the drama as it unfolds.

THOMAS ARENS is the international coordinator of We Are Church, Germany.