PAPAL ELECTIONS, VETO POWER IN

The jus exclusivae, or secular veto, in papal elections was a device used by the Catholic powers of Spain, Austria, and France to prevent the election of a candidate thought unfriendly to their interests. Although secular rulers tried to influence papal elections earlier, the Emperor Charles V is the first known to have drawn up lists of acceptable and nonacceptable candidates, which he gave to cardinals friendly to Spain. Philip II allowed such names to be made public. These procedures developed slowly into the "immemorial right" of exclusion (also known as the veto, or Ausschliessungsrecht ). Only in the late 17th and, more clearly, in the 18th century was a formal claim made by France, Austria, and Spain to exclude one candidate each during a conclave.

The wishes of the ruler were made known to a cardinal chosen for the purpose. The cardinal had to exercise his judgment as to the necessity of making the exclusion known in a formal session of the conclave, or of attaining the desired end by hints or warnings in private conversation. Timing was a critical concern because the exclusion should be pronounced only when a cardinal was near attaining the two-thirds vote necessary to elect a pope. Because several candidates might be undesirable in the sovereign's view, the cardinal would wish to hold back the use of his single veto as long as possible. On the other hand, after the election itself the veto would be meaningless. Sometimes the opportunity was lost: an unforeseen shift in the vote would result in election; in 1846 the cardinal bearing the Austrian veto arrived after the election.

St. Pius X in Commissum nobis (Jan. 20, 1904) abolished the veto absolutely.

See Also: popes, election of.

Bibliography: t. ortolan, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, ed. a. vacant et al., (Paris 1903–50) 3.1:720–727. a. molien, Dictionnaire de droit canonique, ed. r. naz (Paris 1935–65) 3:1319–42. j. b. sÄgmÜller, The Catholic Encyclopedia, ed. c. g. herbermann et al. (New York 1904–14; suppl. 1922) 5:677–678. l. lector, Le Conclave (Paris 1894). h. thurston, "State Interference in Papal Elections," Month 102 (1903) 337–348.

[m. o'callaghan]