Conclave 1730
The conclave of 1730 elected Clement XII. as the successor to Benedict XIII.
background
Pope Benedict XIII died on February 21, 1730 at the age of 81. The following conclave is the longest and is considered the most corrupt of the 18th century. It was opened on March 5th with 30 cardinals when many cardinals were still on their way, 56 cardinals at the top. The cardinals from Portugal were absent due to tensions between Rome and Lisbon. In the course of the conclave, nearly half of the cardinals were proposed to succeed him.
Factions
The 12 cardinals, Benedict XIII. appointed, but it was not under a unified leadership. A second group were the cardinals appointed by Pope Alexander VIII who were allied with the French cardinals, who in turn represented the interests of Louis XV. represented. The "imperial" cardinals were all subjects of Charles VI. , including Giovanni Antonio Davia , the former nuncio in Vienna, who received a salary from the imperial court. The Spanish party was at odds with one another, but largely adhered to the emperor. In addition, there was a Savoyard faction that represented Victor Amadeus II , the King of Sardines , the Zelanti , who opposed secular interference, and finally the Tuscan faction (under Grand Duke Gian Gastone de 'Medici ), who tried financially, Lorenzo Bring Corsini through.
None of these factions were strong enough by themselves to get their candidate the required number of votes.
Political Influences
From around 1600 to the beginning of the 20th century, some Catholic monarchs claimed the ius exclusivae , i.e. H. a right of veto for the election of the Pope, which could be brought forward by one of the Crown Cardinals Each state that demanded the veto was allowed to exercise the right once per conclave. Therefore, the veto was waited until the last moment until the papal election was close to a result. This conclave saw sophisticated maneuvering by the various parties to induce another to veto prematurely. The Spanish party, on the other hand, threatens to leave the conclave if an opposition candidate is about to be elected Pope.
Cardinal Cornelio Bentivoglio declared the veto of Philip V of Spain against the election of Giuseppe Renato Imperiali - in the conclave of 1700 Imperiali belonged to a group of cardinals who had tried to withstand the pressure exerted by foreign powers on the papal election. In 1720 he had tried to get the Republic of Genoa to arrest Cardinal Giulio Alberoni , a former favorite of the Spanish court and later Duke and Grandee of Spain . However, the veto was signed by the Spanish Secretary of State and not the King and was therefore contested. Things dragged on while a messenger was sent to Madrid for confirmation.
The emperor had sent his opposition to Cardinal Pietro Marcellino Corradini when he was in the lead with 30 votes. Corradini had opposed the imperial attempts to influence the Papal States, as well as the attempts to make Hugo Franz von Fürstenberg bishop of Hildesheim .
In mid-May, Italy experienced a series of earthquakes . Tension was high, both inside and outside the conclave, as many interpreted the earthquake as a divine sign of displeasure at the cardinals' inability to elect a pope.
Result
Finally, Cardinal Juan Álvaro Cienfuegos Villazón convinces the German cardinals to accept Lorenzo Corsini as an alternative to Corradini. The Spanish and French political groups agreed. After months of controversy, Corsini was elected on July 12, 1730; he took over the name of his sponsor and called himself Clemens XII. He was 78 years old when he was elected and ruled for almost ten years. One of Clemens' first acts was to set up a commission to investigate embezzlement by officials among his predecessors.
Eligible voters
With the death of Pope Benedict XIII. on February 12, 1730, the college of cardinals comprised a total of 67 cardinals. With the beginning of the conclave on March 5, many cardinals were still missing to elect a new head of the church in the Vatican. In the decisive election for the new pontiff, 52 cardinals were present. However, a total of 55 cardinals took part in the conclave
The 55 participants in the conclave were:
- Lorenzo Corsini , Bishop of Frascati
- Francesco Barberini Bishop of Ostia and Velletri, Sub-Dean
- Francesco Pignatelli , Bishop of Porto-Santa Rufina and Cardinal Dean
- Giacomo Boncompagni , Bishop of Albano
- Pietro Ottoboni , Bishop of Sabina
- Tommaso Ruffo , Bishop of Palestrina
- Giuseppe Renato Imperiali
- Annibale Albani , Camerlengo
- Ludovico Pico della Mirandola
- Giovanni Antonio Davia
- Antonio Felice Zondandari
- Pier Marcellino Corradini
- Armand Gaston Maximilien den Rohan-Soubise , Bishop of Strasbourg
- Curzio Origo
- Melchior de Polignac
- Benedetto Odescalchi-Erba , Archbishop of Milan
- Henri-Pons de Thiard de Bissy , Bishop of Meaux
- Innico Caracciolo , Bishop of Aversa
- Nicoló Spinola
- Giberto Bartolomeo Borromeo
- Giulio Alberoni
- Giorgio Spinola
- Cornelio Bentivoglio , Cardinal Minister of Spain
- Luis Antonio Belluga y Moncada
- Michael Friedrich von Althann , Bishop of Vác
- Juan Àlvaro Cienfuegos Villazón SJ
- Lorenzo Altieri , Cardinal Protodeacon
- Carlo Colonna
- Fabio Olivieri
- Carlo Maria Marini
- Giambattista Altieri
- Vincenzo Petra , Prefect of the Congregation “Propaganda Fide”
- Prospero Marefoschi , Vicar General of Rome
- Nicolò Paolo Andrea Coscia Archbishop of Benevento
- Angelo Maria Quirini OSBCas., Bishop of Brescia
- Nicoló Maria Lercari , State Secretary
- Prospero Lambertini , Bishop of Ancona , later Pope Benedict XIV.
- Francesco Antonio Finy
- Sigismund von Kollonitz , Archbishop of Vienna
- Philipp Ludwig von Sinzendorf , Bishop of Győr
- Vincenzo Ludovico Gotti OP:
- Leandro Porzia OSBCas., Bishop of Bergamo
- Pietro Luigi Carafa
- Giuseppe Accoramboni , Bishop of Imola
- Camillo Cibo
- Francesco Scipione Maria Borghese
- Carlo Vincenzo Maria Ferreri Thaon OP, Bishop of Vercelli
- Alamanno Salviati
- Alessandro Albani
- Alessandro Falconieri
- Niccolò del Giudice
- Antonio Banchieri
- Carlo Collicola
- Damian Hugo Philipp von Schönborn-Buchheim , Bishop of Speyer
- Bernardo Maria Conti , major penitentiary
The following 11 cardinals did not participate in the election:
- Agostino Cusani , Bishop of Pavia
- Nuno da Cunha e Ataíde
- Wolfgang Hannibal von Schrattenbach , Bishop of Olomouc
- Imre Csáky , Archbishop of Kalocsa and Bács
- Léon Potier des Gesvres
- Thomas Philippe d´Alsace-Boussu , Archbishop of Mechelen
- Carlos Borja y Centellas Ponce de León , Patriarch of West India
- José Pereira de la Cerda , Bishop of Faro
- André-Hercule de Fleury , consultant in France
- Diego de Astorga y Cépedes , Archbishop of Toledo
- Joáo da Motta e Silva .
The cardinal protodeacon Benedetto Pamphilj could not appear in the conclave for health reasons. His illness was so severe that he died on March 22, 1730, shortly after the beginning of the conclave in the sedis vacancy.
All of the cardinals present in the conclave came from the pontificate:
- 4 cardinals from the pontificate of Pope Alexander VIII.
- 1 cardinal from the pontificate of Pope Innocent XII.
- 25 cardinals from the pontificate of Pope Clement XI.
- 1 cardinal from the pontificate of Pope Innocent XIII.
- 24 cardinals from the pontificate of Pope Benedict XIII.
literature
- Ludwig von Pastor , History of the Popes, Volume 34, St Louis 1941 (German: History of the Popes since the End of the Middle Ages, 16 volumes, 1886–1933)
- Remigius Ritzler, Hierarchia Catholica, Volume 6, Padua 1958
- Ferdinando Petruccelli della Gattina , Histoire diplomatique des conclaves. Volume 4. Brussels 1864