VATICAN CITY – The upcoming conclave runs into yet another logistics problem as there are 13 cardinals too many, 14, if Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu were to be admitted, according to Il Messaggero.

 After the ceremony marking the beginning of the sede vacante, the papal apartments were sealed, including suite 201 of the Domus Sanctae Marthae, where Pope Francis resided throughout his life. This would entail that 120 rooms were left free to the cardinals – and even less if it is decided that the entire second floor where the Pope lived must be left free. Since the death of the pontiff there were 133 cardinal electors present in Vatican City and this number did not even include Cardinals Canizares and Puljic, who could not present for health reasons, as well as Becciu, who was convicted in 2023 in Vatican Court for fraud and embezzlement. 

 A legal clarification has yet to come, as to who would be eligible to vote in the upcoming conclave as Pope Francis had exceeded the limit of cardinal electors that had been established by Pope Paul VI at 120 and there has yet to be any defections. According to number 33 of the Universi Dominici Gregis, “the number of cardinal electors must not exceed 120.” On the one hand, since it was Pope Francis himself who created the exception to the rule of the number of 120 cardinals wanted by Paul VI, the cardinals should theoretically be able to enter the Conclave. However, a more restrictive interpretation of the rule could be followed, which would therefore impose the entry into the Sistine Chapel of only 120 cardinals. 

 Who could be excluded? 

 If the Vatican were to proceed in order of seniority and the 13 excluded could start from the order of creation, thus, the 13 most recently created Cardinals would be excluded. This would entail that the following cardinals would be excluded: Jaime Spengler, bishop of Porto Alegre; Ignace Bessi Dogbo, archbishop of Abidjan; Jean Paul Vesco, archbishop of Algiers; Dominique Mathieu, archbishop of Tehran – Ispahana; Roberto Repole, archbishop of Turin; Baldassarre Reina, vicar of the Pope for the diocese of Rome; Francis Leo, archbishop of Toronto; Rolandas Makrickas, archpriest of Santa Maria Maggiore; Mykola Byčok, eparch of Saints Peter and Paul of Melbourne of the Ukrainians; Timothry Radcliffe, theologian; Fabio Fabbio, undersecretary for the section of Migrants and Refugees of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development; George Koovakad, president of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue; Domenico Battaglia, archbishop of Naples.

 However, rule number 36 of the Universi Dominici Gregis, states that “a Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, who has been created and published in a Consistory, has for that very reason the right to elect the Pontiff, in accordance with number 33 of the present Constitution, even if he has not yet been given the hat, nor given the ring, nor taken the oath”.

 Even so, If all 133 are called to enter the Sistine Chapel, it was not yet clear where the additional 13 cardinal would be able to stay given that there do not appear to be enough rooms at the proverbial inn, the Domus Santae Marthae. 

 There has been some talk of unused apartments within the Vatican perimeter that could be used for the cardinals or even the Ethiopian College, the place where Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican Secretary of State and then Dean of the College of Cardinals, once lived. The fact remains that, beyond the dinner, which is eaten all together, the cardinal electors would be, for the first time in recent history, scattered across the small city-state and it would appear that this is the result, ultimately, of the unfinished reforms of Francis.

 og