Access (election mode)

Akcess is the name of a possible form of papal election until 1904 .

The election of the Pope took place through an accessus, if in the conclave at the Scrutinium after several ballots the two-thirds majority required since 1179 was not achieved. The voters now only voted for candidates who had previously received votes in the election through access in the new ballot. No voter was allowed to vote whoever he had previously given his vote to. The newly resulting numbers of votes were now added to the votes of the first ballot. This process continued until a new Pope was elected with a two-thirds majority.

After Pope Pius X had already banned the exclusive in the Apostolic Constitution Commissum nobis on January 20, 1904 , on Christmas Day 1904 he issued the Constitution Vacante Sede Apostolica, a new electoral ordinance in which he declared the access to be abolished. This mode of papal election has not been practiced since then.

literature

• F. Giese: The applicable papal election laws . Bonn 1912.