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Papal conclave, 1903

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The Papal conclave of 1903 was caused by the death of the 93 year old Pope Leo XIII, who at that stage was the third longest reigning pope in history. (Pope John Paul II (1978-2005) broke his record a century later.)

It saw the election of Giuseppe Melchiorre Cardinal Sarto as Pope Pius X.

Contents

Background

Pope Pius X (1903-1914), the victor in the 1903 conclave, wearing the 1834 Papal Tiara of Pope Gregory XVI.
In 1903 the twenty-five year pontificate of the liberal diplomat, Pope Leo XIII came to an end. For fifty-six years the papacy had been led by just two men, Leo and his predecessor, Pius IX. While Pius had been a conservative reactionary, Leo had been seen as a liberal, certainly by the standards of his predecessor. As cardinals gathered, the key question was whether a pope would be chosen who would continue Leo's policies or return to the style of papacy of Pius IX.

Favoured candidate vetoed by Francis Joseph of Austria

When the cardinals assembled in the Sistine Chapel attention focused on Count Mariano Cardinal Rampolla del Tindaro, Leo's Secretary of State. Rampolla was seen as the leading papabile (a cardinal thought likely to be elected pope). As expected, Rampolla was close to being elected, but was then vetoed in the name of Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph by Prince Jan Maurycy Pawel, Cardinal Puzyna de Kosielsko, the Prince-Bishop of Krakow in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The putative reason for vetoing Rampolla was that he was suspected, with dubious evidence, of being a Freemason. The actual reason for the veto was Rompalla's support of France while he was Secretary of State.

Three leading Catholic heads of state (the King of France, the King of Spain, and the Holy Roman Emperor (the Emperor of Austria after the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire) claimed the power of veto. This was rarely exercised; no candidate against whom the veto was claimed had ever been elected Pope, though in 1846 an attempted veto failed when the cardinal whom the Austrian Emperor had entrusted to issue the veto arrived too late to find the conclave over and the man he was meant to veto publicly announced as pope.

Patriarch of Venice elected

Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph, who vetoed the cardinals' first choice for pope
Enlarge
Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph, who vetoed the cardinals' first choice for pope

The blocking of Rampolla threw the conclave wide open. The eventual victor, Giuseppe Melchiorre Cardinal Sarto Patriarch of Venice, was a lower-class populist conservative, closer in attitude to the papacy of Pius IX than Leo XIII. In the last ballot, he received 55 of the 60 possible votes. The new pope took the name Pope Pius X.

Veto abolished

Pius X on his election took two decisions. He abolished the veto of heads of state and declined to reappoint Rampolla as Secretary of State. Like his predecessors Pope Pius X disputed the Kingdom of Italy's right to own Rome. He gave his Urbi et Orbi on a balcony facing into St. Peter's Basilica rather than to the crowds outside to symbolise his opposition to Italian rule of Rome and his demand for a return of the States of the Church.

Conclave factfile

PAPAL CONCLAVE, 1903
Duration 4 days

Number of ballots 7
Electors 64

Absent 2

Present 62

Africa 0

Latin America 0

North America 1

Asia 0

Europe 61

Oceania 0

Mid-East 0

Italians 36

Veto used by Emperor Francis Joseph of Austria
DECEASED POPE LEO XIII (1878-1903)
NEW POPE PIUS X (1903-1914)

Papal Conclaves 1800–2005

1800 | 1823 | 1829 | 1830–1831 | 1846 | 1878 | 1903 | 1914
1922 | 1939 | 1958 | 1963 | 1978 (August) | 1978 (October) | 2005

 

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